Dear Mom,
My first District Meeting went pretty good. I was a little nervous, but all the other missionaries really enjoyed it, so that makes me happy. It's pretty fun being District Leader. I talk to other missionaries in my District a lot more and that's fun.

The colors are still starting around here. I see leaves changing and leaves are already on the ground. But there are still a lot of trees that are all green. I've heard the same thing about last winter and this winter. I just hope it holds out for one more winter. It can go crazy next winter. I'll be coming home then so it doesn't matter. I'm just a little worried about driving in NJ in the snow. I think I have enough clothes for it. I have gloves, a scarf, and a coat, but I don't have a hat yet.

 

That's so crazy to hear about that movie. I can't believe they actually used Plainfield New Jersey. Too bad I can't see the preview so I could try and see if it really is in Plainfield and if I could recognize the street or something. That'd be cool.

 

I think I remember going to a haunted house a few years ago. I remember I went with Alan Walker.

 

I can't believe all my friends and I are out on missions now. Two in the States, two in Germany, one in Mexico. It'll be such an interesting reunion. Fun! I can't believe I'm coming up on 10 months now. The year mark is coming up soon. I think January, February, and March are going to be long months. April will start the downward slope for me. April bringing another General Conference and spring. It'll be a lot of un!

 

President Jeppson hasn't said anything about voting. I don't think he will either. I think we're kinda supposed to have a neutral stand on politics right now and just encourage people to do there best to vote for who they think is the best candidate. I still think Mitt Romney would be better though.

 

So this last Saturday night, we had a Multi-cultural event in the Scotch Plains Stake. It was a lot of fun! Every branch and ward put on something special to show their talents. There is a ward in Short Hills and they sung Called to Serve in like six different languages. Plainfield Branch put on two different dances, one from Peru and the other from Ecuador. They were awesome! There was also a lot of food. It was really good food. It was a lot of fun and there were quite a bit of missionaries there too.

 

Nothing else really interesting happened this week. We're trying to find some people that were investigating the church a while ago. We have teaching records to tell us how all the lessons went with them. We really want to find them because they look like they have a lot of potential. We also all went to Wendy's and bought the dollar booklet to get 10 free Jr. Frosty's. We go there every once in a while now to pick up a free frosty.

 

At church yesterday, we finally got our investigator Diego to church! He hasn't been in a while. His mom, Yesenia, is also meeting with us. She came to and brought her husband who came for the first time. It was really cool to see them all there. Then during the second hour at church, some random guy came into the building and told us that he wants to learn more. Wow! So we have an appointment with him this Friday to teach him more. He also told us that he came to church one time a while ago and talked with the missionaries. But now he wants to start coming again. Great!

 

Next week should be a pretty good week. We have Zone Conference, which means that President Jeppson is going to teach us. I'm very excited! Hearing from President Jeppson is always a treat! Also, Scotch Plains Stake Conference is coming up soon. In two weeks. The Stake President is going to be released so a General Authority is going to be there. We'll see who comes!!

 

That's it for this week! Love you mom! Miss you!

 

-Justin

Dear Mom,

 

I didn't get transferred. I'm staying in Plainfield and so is my companion. However, I did get a call to be the new District Leader. I've been learning a few new responsibilities that I have now. A big one, is holding District Meeting every week for an hour and a half. I'm a little nervous because I do it by myself. The best way to take it off my shoulders more is to involve everyone in the meeting. I would guess that the organization in the mission isn't known to a lot so here it is. The mission (our mission specifically) is divided into seven zones, with two zone leaders for every zone. Then each zone is divided up into two districts, each with their own district leader(s). Each district has from four to ten missionaries, depending on the district and where it is in New Jersey. Then there are two assistants to the President. They help out the President with a lot of things and have a HUGE load of responsibility. They get very little sleep sometimes, and on top of all their work load, they have their own area to proselyte in. So that's kind of how it works.

 

The announcement in General Conference was crazy! It's going to give such a bigger opportunity for sisters to serve missions. I think that a lot of sisters have to put off so much stuff like marriage to be able to serve a mission. Now they can start thinking about it after high school and serve on their 19th birthday. Crazy! I'm sure we're going to see a whole lot more sister missionaries in the mission. Also with the young men, we're going to start to see really young guys come out right after high school! Awesome! I'm so excited to see so many more young missionaries start coming out. President Jeppson we should start seeing the effects in the next three to six months. I would absolutely love to see Kelsie serve a mission! Norway or California is my guess for her. I really loved conference! It went by too fast. I really enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk in the Priesthood session about the small little airplane versus the Blue Angles fighter jet. I can really see the difference. Big strong wards and stakes in Utah versus a small not very functioning branch here in New Jersery or probably even smaller in South America somewhere. But Priesthood service brings the same joy anywhere in the world. I also really enjoyed Elder Robert Gay's talk about sacrifice. "Would you sell your soul for a nickel?" I loved Elder Nelson's talk about the missionaries and the story he shared!! As always, Elder Bednar is very powerful. Another very enjoyable one is from Elder Holland. He is always very, very strong. I love talks from Elder Holland.

 

I'm super jealous if Kelsie goes to Greece. Thinking about Europe makes me want to do study abroad in college really bad! That would be great. I could go to Spain, I already speak Spanish, so that would be great. Maybe if Kelsie waited, we could go to Spain, Germany, Norway, Italy, and Greece. Just kidding. But I would love to go to Europe.

 

It's so great to hear about Kyle, Julia, and Kaylee and their progress. It sounds like they're doing so well! I can't wait to see how much they grow up when I come home. I really love to hear about how they're doing in school and other things.

 

Fall is definitely setting in here in New Jersey. More and more trees are starting to change. It's getting cold. I am really not looking forward to winter on the mission. I keep telling my self how lucky I am that I only have to endure one whole winter here. Next year, it'll be just until the beginning of January. I'm just not looking forward to the proselyting in the cold and driving so much on slick roads, since we drive and walk all day. It's definitely fall though! My little weather station, called Oscar Outlook, has been telling me lately in the morning that it's about 45 - 50 degrees every morning. As soon as it hits 40 degrees, I'm not running in the morning..

 

Awesome quote! I totally believe it! Mom, remember the quote you sent me in the MTC from President Hinckley about the blessings of serving a mission? I still have that and keep it and read it occasionally.

 

 

So this week, Elder Jensen (the one with chicken pox) was released from quarantine this last week. When they stayed at home, they would play cards and study a lot. They both really wanted to get back to work and now he is cleared to get back to work. But this past week has still been pretty crazy. My companion got a little sick for a few days, so we were back to a trio in three areas. I've spent a lot of time in the English area. It's pretty different from the Spanish program. I met a young couple who both served Spanish-speaking missions (the husband in Ecuador and the wife in Spain) and the wife only speaks Spanish to her daughter and the dad only English. He is super smart. He graduated from MIT and is now a mechanical engineer professor at Rutgers University. You don't run into people like that in the Spanish program.

 

Other than that, it was General Conference this weekend. As a focus in the mission, we are concentrating ourselves in teaching about the importance of a living prophet today. It's been an amazing experience teaching members and investigators about a living prophet today and why it is so essencial for us. It's really cool!

 

Not much else..

 

Until next week!

 

Love you mom! Miss you!

 

-Justin

 

 

 Q of the W:

1.  Where did you watch conference at? I watched it at the Scotch Plains Chapel in English.

2.  What time does conference start for you?  With a different time zone I'm wondering if it's live or pre-recorded for you? It was two hours behind Utah, but it was still a live broadcast. The conference was at 12-2, 4-6, and Priesthood 8-10.

3.  Have you still been going to Casanovas pizza every Friday? Yes we do. And it's still as good as ever! We're getting to be pretty good friends with some of the workers there. We asked one of the workers there a little while ago how long the missionaries have been coming by. They said about 26 years!!!

 

 

Mom,

It's pretty crazy to think how close the year mark is coming up. I'm really not looking forward to the winter season. Last winter here was very mild. Hopefully it'll be like that this year too. Fortunately I'll only be here for one whole winter. The winter season after this I'll leave right when it starts. But, I have to make it through this cold coming up.

 

Thanks for the package! I'm really enjoying everything in it! I'm trying to enjoy it all I can and try to make it last. Thanks so much! Unfortunately, last week we didn't have much time after Ikea, so I couldn't find time to write some thank-you notes to both grandparents. I'll work on those today.

 

Next week is transfers. It's possible that I'll get transfered. Hopefully I don't. I like it here. But just so you know, don't send any letters to my apartment. Next week I'll know if I'm staying or leaving so I'll let you know. I really hope I can stay another transfer here. Great apartment Elders!

 

Wow, the whole Mitt Romney thing is crazy! Just the other day, we were visiting with this 16 year old girl who is a recent convert. She asked us what our stand was on the political side of things. I always want to clarify that the Church does not support any political party and that it encourages us to find out for ourselves who would be the best candidate for the Presidency. Then I tell them that I know that Obama has done some dumb things to the country so I'd vote for the other guy because he can't be much worse. The thing with the caffeine is ridiculous. Even President Jeppson clarified to all the missionaries that the doctrine behind the Word of Wisdom does not say anything about caffiene. It does not say anywhere in any doctrine that caffiene is against the Word of Wisdom. Doctrine and Covenants 89 says "hot drinks". That was later specified as "coffee" and "tea". People who think that Dr. Pepper, Coke, and Pepsi are against the Word of Wisdom need to do a little more research and be more careful on declaring what is the doctrine of the Church and their own doctrine. I've talked with other missionaries about this! haha.

 

That's a crazy story about Kyle! I hope he gets a cool scar on his hand. That'd be awesome!

 

Luke sent me an email 3 hours before he got set apart as a missionary! It's so cool to think that we're all on missions now.  Spencer emailed me a few weeks ago and was talking about having a man-night (that's what we called it when we all hung out). He was saying how fun it'll be to eat hot wings again and tell mission-stories. I'm super excited to talk with Luke in Spanish!! I'm super excited that at least one of my friends is learning Spanish! I'll be able to talk with him in Spanish so I don't forget it.

 

 

So this past week has been absolutely crazy! So to start out: There is a missionary companionship (Elder Kakiva and Elder Mills) that lives about 10 minutes away from us. They have the English ward split with the other missionaries that we live with (Elder Jensen and Elder Guymon) . So these four missionaries work a lot with each other because they work with the same ward. Well, Elder Mills had to go home for shoulder surgery, so Elder Kakiva came and is staying with us. So those three are all working together in two areas. Well, Elder Jensen got the chicken pox somehow! Crazy! Elder Kakiva, Elder Guymon, and I have all had chicken pox before so we're just fine. My companion on the other hand has never had it, but he had the vacination. Apparently, you can still be contagious if you've never had chicken pox before. So, Sister Jeppson, Sister Suzuki, and a doctor in SLC have told Elder Jensen and Elder Wettstein that they have to stay inside so they don't spread it. They have to stay inside until all of the pox on Elder Jensen are gone. That leaves me without a companion. So Elder Kakiva, Elder Guymon, and I are all working together in three areas! These last few days have been crazy because we're trying to coordinate between the three of us and our different areas. We're doing pretty good so far. Yesterday was pretty interesting. There's three of us and two churches that we had to go to. I don't know if you know, but we have to be with a companion at all times. The English ward and the Spanish branch are basically at the same time. Luckily, in the English ward, there is a returned missionary from Argentina. He just came back like a month ago. His name is Jordan Handley. So I called him up and asked if he wanted to be my companion through church and for a good part of the day. He gladly did so! It was an interesting experience to be the only missionary at church. Jordan was a good help though. He didn't do anything as far as setting up appointments because he's not a full-time missionary, but he talked to the members and taught really well during lessons. It was a really fun experience. I hope he enjoyed it. I did take him away from his family for a good part of Sunday, but he's already been home for a few weeks. He's working a lot right now, so he can't help out everyday, so I'm just working with the other two English missionaries. It's a lot of fun!

 

Another story: Elder Kakiva is Samoan and is from Hawaii. The other day, his cousin was in New Jersey and she wanted to take him and some missionaries out for lunch. Elder Kakiva and his cousin got special permission from President Jeppson so she could take out to lunch. She is also married to a starter-player on the 49ers from the NFL. She. is. RICH. I didn't get to meet him because he's practicing with the team, but I did meet her... at Longhorn Steakhouse. She bought us $25 steaks and dessert. I got a t-bone steak, medium cooked. SO GOOD! Wow. It didn't even need any steak sauce it was so good. It was a really good lunch. And dessert was pretty good too. Pretty crazy.

 

That's been about what this week has been like. I'm meeting more members from the Scotch Plains Ward around here. That's been pretty cool. I've also been teaching alone in Spanish to the Spanish members because the other two Elders don't speak Spanish. Fun! Also, President and Sister Jeppson made a surprise visit to our Branch for Sacarament Meeting. Jordan Handley translated for them for a while, until President Jeppson started getting a little sleepy and they both sort of zoned out. Haha! I can imagine that they are so tired all the time and not being able to pay attention because you don't understand what's going on is a little rough. It was great though. It's always awesome to see President and Sister Jeppson.

 

That's about it for the week. Love you mom! I miss you!

 

 

 Q of the W:

1. How was ikea? Were you able to eat there? I love Ikea so much. I recently went there by myself. I wanted to eat but felt dumb by myself. So I just had a 50 cent hotdog... Did you buy anything?

 

Ikea was great! The dining area is facing the Newark airport just across the freeway. I was watching the airplanes take-off while eating Swedish meatballs with Lingonberry jam. I bought some chocolate, some batteries, and another towel. Sometimes I take two showers a day and it takes a while for my one towel to dry off.

2. You forgot to bring your retainer! Do you need it? Or did you forget it on purpose?

 

I didn't even realize it. I guess I need it. Next time you send me something, you can include it.

3. How are you guys going to excercise in the winter?

 

We'll probably just exercise inside. Like do push-ups. A lot of missionaries have bought Iron Gym and have left them, so we can do pull-ups. I definately don't want to go running outside when it's like 10 degrees.

 

-Justin

Mom,

Thanks so much! I honestly didn't do much for my birthday. It's fine though. Thanks for the clock! I'll be buying batteries for it today and I'll set it up. I haven't gotten the other package yet. The mail should be coming this Friday from the mission office, so I should get it then. I actually couldn't see the videos you sent. The computer that I'm at doesn't have the video thing to play something from an IPhone. Maybe there's another way that I'll be able to see them.. I don't know much about computers.

 

Actually, I'm coming up to 3 months left until the year mark. It's coming soon! I think these next couple months should go by pretty quickly.

 

That's such a weird story about Chubs! He's so strange sometimes. I have no idea what that would be. Thanks for telling me that! Good to know that Chubs is still alive, haha.

 

That saying in Spanish, "Ya lo se." Literally translated it means, "I already know that." I've heard it before. And yes, you did spell it right! I think it would be a slang way of saying "I know". I would say it when somebody tells me something I already know, that I'm good friends with. Speaking of language in high school, I'm really losing my German. Remember the Italian guy at Casanova's? Well, he speaks a little bit of a few languages, like Portuguese, French, and German. And he also speaks Spanish fluently too. I try to speak some German with him sometimes, and I can't say much anymore. Sad, but I'm getting really good at Spanish.

 

That's funny about Spencer. They do have wierd things in Germany. I remember Julian, the ballroom friend from Germany thought Root Beer here tasted like cough syrup. Different tastes in Europe.

 

I'm glad to hear Quiznos is still going. I hope it at least lasts until I come home. I want to go say hi to Larry after my mission. I don't think I'll work there unless he asks me though.

 

I'm loving those quotes! I found a good one today in my study as well. It's from Joseph Smith. He said, “a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation.” Pretty good I thought. I was studying for Diego, one of our investigators. Diego is 14 and doesn't come to church because he has soccer games on Sunday. I'm hoping that when we see him again, I'll have enough things about sacrifice in the Gospel that it'll get him to sacrifice enough soccer for God. He's making me frustrated lately, because he really wants to get baptized but he just won't come to church.

 

Yerlin is super hard to get a hold of. We haven't been able to see them again yet. I'm praying that we can get in contact with them again. She would be an excellent addition to the Branch.

 

This last week, we brought a returned missionary out with us. His name is Jordan Handley. He's from the English Ward here, and he just got back from his mission in Argentina. He taught with us. Just by his teaching, I could tell he was an amazing missionary! He taught so well! I hope I can eventually teach like him. We'll be taking him out more often for sure. Interesting thing about Argentina, and also Uruguay and Paraguay. In Spanish, when there is a double L, like in "Yo me llamo" which means "My name is", the 'Y' and the 'll' both make the 'y' like in 'you'. In Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, they say all those with a 'sh' instead. So "Yo me llamo" would be pronounced "Sho me shamo". So, Jordan would always talk that way when he talked in Spanish. It was really fun to talk with him. He had some really interesting stories from his mission. I'm kind of glad I'm not in South America.

 

Yesterday, we ate at the Branch Presidents house. They didn't feed us because it was my birthday, they just fed us because they like us. It was really good!

 

That's about all I got for this week. It was a pretty good week!

 

Love you mom! Miss you!

 

-Justin

 

Q of the W:

1.  Do you pack a lunch everyday?  

 

No, we usually eat lunch right before we go out. I want to start packing a little something everyday so I don't come home at night and want to eat. Sometimes I come home and I'm hungry.

2.  Is there any food item or candy that you can't get in New Jersey that you miss from home?

 

Yes, JCW, Carls. Jr. and Costa Vida. Haha, I can't really think of anything right now though. I can usually find stuff at Walmart.

3.  Do you guys take turns driving?  Have you driven a lot in NJ?  Scary...

 

Yes, we do take turns. NJ roads are ridiculous. I don't like them. I'm officially used to the names though. I think about going back to the number streets in Utah, and it seems a little weird. But it would be a lot nicer. People here are super mean on the roads too. I've learned to be a little more aggresive to get around better. I'll definately be a better drive in Utah.

 

Two other updates:

I don't know if you already know, but Seth Smith joined the Army. He's in boot camp right now! He emailed me last Sunday and told me that he was leaving the next day. Crazy right!!

 

Another, we decided to go to Ikea today! There's one in Elizabeth, right next to the Newark airport. We're going to eat there too. I'm getting the swedish meatballs for sure! I'll take some pics.

 

Love you!

 

-Justin

 

 

Dear Mom,

 

So with Yerlin, hopefully I'll be able to stay to see her be baptized. They rescheduled the last appointment, so we haven't been able to see them since that last appointment. I really want to start meeting with them more often. She needs to be baptized soon!

 

It's kind of wierd to think about my birthday coming up. I don't really feel much different. In fact, it doesn't really feel like my birthday is coming up. We probably won't do anything special for my birthday. It doesn't really matter to me. We'll just celebrate when I get home! It's wierd how time flies, right!

 

I think just all of those songs that I had would be great. Be sure to make copies and send the copies if anybody is learning those songs. I imagine that Julia might want to learn them. I don't know if Kelsie and Kyle have given up on the piano or not though.

 

I'll definately look up those diners. I want to go to one of them so bad!

 

You finally finished! That's so awesome! I know exactly how you feel. When I finished I really wanted another book to be there to read on, even though there's not much to go on about. Those will be the first books I read when I get home. Christopher Columbus was definately inspired of God. Did you know he's actually mentioned (not by name) in the Book of Mormon? 1 Nephi 13. I didn't know that before my misson!

 

I miss hiking so much! I loved that hike on Timpanogas! That last part was pretty scary though. That'll definately be a tough part in the future though. I really want to hike it again though.

 

I do really like the missionaries I'm with. The other missionaries in the apartment are Elder Jensen from Arizona and Elder Guymon from Utah. He's from some place kind of south-east. Like 40 min away from Provo. They're both way cool! I love to hang out with them. They're planning on going to BYU and UVU. I'll try and hang out with them after my mission.

 

So we had a good amount that happened this last week. I brought my planner today to do email, so I can remember better! So every Tuesday, this family in the Branch likes to feed us. It's the Medina family. I think they have a thing for the missionaries, because they have a son who is on a mission now. Their meals have been come to be known as a Medina Meal. They're huge! They're always a challenge to finish. But it's really, really good food. So we ate the Medina Meal and shared a spiritual thought with the family. After the meeting, Brother Medina walked with us outside to introduce us to two guys he met. We set up a time to come meet with them today. They probably forgot about the meeting, so hopefully they're home and we can still teach them with Brother Medina. The Medina Family is always a great experience! After that, we had an appointment with the Pineda Family. We've never really met them, so we decided to go meet them. Brother and Sister PIneda have been members for two years now, and they love the Gospel! Brother Pineda is the second councilor in the Branch Presidency. He's a really good guy! Well, as we were driving over to their house, I got the feeling that they were going to feed us. This was literally 20 minutes after we had just finished the Medina Meal. Well, I was right. The Pineda family had prepared a little dinner. I couldn't finish it. It was also good food, but there was absolutely no room in my stomach! That night I realized that so far on my mission, there have been times where I've never eaten so little, and I've never eaten so much. Some days I have breakfast, a little lunch and that's it for the rest of the day. Then there's day like last Tuesday, where we went to Five Guys for lunch, had a Medina Meal, and another meal right after that. Fun experiences!

 

This last Wednesday and Thursday were really awesome! We had Leadership Training. Leadership Training was amazing. It was all the missionaries that entered the mission after January 1 of this year and all the Zone Leaders. Also, President and Sister Jeppson were there along with all the Senior Missionaries (meaning the couple missionaries). We went through all these fundamental lessons that we learned in the MTC: The Doctrine of Christ, Revelation through the Book of Mormon, Revelation through Prayer, Revelation through Church attendance, They commit We follow up, How to Begin Teaching, Teach People not Lessons, & The Role of the Spirit in Conversion. They were divided up into both days. President Jeppson and the Zone Leaders, the Assitants, all took turns teaching on each topic. Then after the training (that's what it's called when they teach about the topic) they did a demonstration role-play. Then we all broke up and did role-plays. We basically pretend we're teaching. The person pretending to be an investigator comes up with a concern, then we as missionaries try to teach them and help them. It really helps! It was an awesome experience. There were a few times when President Jeppson sat down with me and a couple other missionaries and watched me teach. I got a little nervous when President Jeppson was watching, but I think I did pretty well. All in all, it was an awesome two days of learning! About eight hours of sitting down and hearing a training then doing role-plays. Between each session though, Sister Jeppson and some other older sister missionaries had some food prepared. They also fixed lunch which was amazing! Definately a mom's cooking!

 

So something amazing happened that we saw this last week. The two other English Elders were knocking one day and they found a Spanish guy who told them that they could send the Spanish missionaries back. We finally got back to him one day. We knocked on his door and a lady came out. She asked us if we were looking for her. I thought that was pretty weird because we were looking for the guy. I asked her if they both wanted to listen. So they both came out. I was about to start asking them about what they know and if they've heard of the Book of Mormon before then the lady (Monika) said she was already a member. I was thinking, what?! We don't have any record of any members in that area. I asked her to explain more. She said that when she was 15 in Peru she and her parents were baptized. She really liked the church and then when she moved to America a few years later, she lost contact with the church and hasn't been since. It was a miracle that we found her! I told the English Elders this story and they just absolutely loved it. I told her where the church was and she said that she wanted to go. She said that she remembers that she really liked the teachings of the Church but she doesn't really remember much. So we said that we would love to start coming by and teaching them both about the Church. She came to church yesterday! They both left really quickly right after Sacrament Meeting, but they came to Church! It was amazing. We just taught her about the Restoration this last Friday and she started to remember it. That's about it with her so far.

 

 

Q of the W:

 

1.  Does anybody do anything for missionaries birthdays?

 

Not much. There was a birthday in the apartment last month. We just invited a couple other missionaries over and ate lunch together.

 

2.  Are the leaves turning colors yet?  If they are...you have to take pictures.  It is my favoritist thing ever!!

 

Not yet! I will definately take pics. Still very, very green here.

 

3.  Have you heard anything about how you missionaries can vote this year?  It's an important year to vote!! 

 

I haven't heard anything about voting. I really want to vote though.

 

 

Love you mom! Hopefully this week was a little bit more than usual. Good week! Love you and miss you!

-Justin

Dear Mom,

 

So to start out what happened this week, we have an investigator who is finally getting closer to baptism! Her name is Yerlin. I can't remember if I've talked about her before. Her husband is a very less-active guy from Puerto Rico. His family is a very active family back in Puerto Rico. Yerlin is open to anything religious. We just taught her last week about the Plan of Salvation. Carlos is the husband and he loves relearning about the church. As we were teaching the Plan of Salvation he kept bringing up things that he remembers. It's great to see him love to relearn about the Gospel! Yerlin was really into learning about the Plan of Salvation. She had basic ideas about where we came from and where we're going. She was very interested in learning what it was like in the Pre-Mortal Existence and the Spirit World. The lesson really got cool when we talked about Celestial Marriage and the Celestial Kingdom. We were talking about how amazing the Celestial Kingdom will be and how it has been our end goal before we were even here on Earth. I then brought up how we need to follow everything in the Gospel including baptism. She asked about what if she had already been baptized in another church. I reminded her about the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ and how we only have the authority to baptize. When she said she understood it was then the perfect moment. I asked her if she would be baptized. She said yes very enthusiastically! It was an amazing experience and the Spirit was definitely there. That's what every missionary looks forward to. Yerlin said she wanted to wait until Carlos' mom came to visit them in November because she's flying to the States to drop off her son at the MTC. This is all a great set-up to get Carlos and Yerlin a very happy family in the Gospel. We'll be teaching them again tonight about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm very excited to teach them!

 

Last night was a pretty good night. We went over to a less-active members house. He and his wife are pretty well off. They have all sorts of nice stuff in their house. They have a big expensive looking couch, a big TV, he has an android version of the i-pad, and she has an i-pad. They also have a flat screen TV over their kitchen table, haha! She also has an i-phone. Nice cars out front. It's just not a huge house. Anyways, we went over there to share with them a scripture and try to get them to come to church and help us out in missionary work. They ended up feeding us. It was an amazing dinner! She cooked this fish called swai fish with a very good sauce made with onions, bell peppers, and tomato sauce. For a good side dish, she made shrimp in a different sauce that was also very good. She made a lot of it too! It was hard to finish because there was so much of it, but it was delicious! Yesterday at church, they also made a couple Tres Leches cakes to end the church meetings. Amazing! It was gone so fast. Everyone loved it, especially the Relief Society. Great!

 

Not much else happened this week. I'll have to get some pictures going this week. There's a street I drove by this last week called Linden St.

  

The temple dedication thing sounds pretty fun! I wish I could go.

 

I would love to go to one of those diners, but I've heard they're pretty expensive. I don't know for sure. Sometimes I have to be careful when hearing something in the mission. Some missionaries will say something small, and it'll just take off. For example, there's this place called Aldi that we go shopping at. They have very cheap stuff and it's actually pretty good quality. I've heard for the longest time that they only accept cash. So we always go to a bank before we go shopping. The other Elders at our apartment told us that they were talking to a member and found out that Aldi does accept credit card. That whole 'Aldi only accepts cash' probably only started because there maybe was one time when Aldi's credit card machine was down. I don't know, but now I know they do credit card. So I have to be careful sometimes. Maybe the diners really aren't all that expensive.

 

I can't believe Luke's farewell already came. He still has a couple more weeks. That's pretty crazy! I'm so excited for Luke. Mexico City is going to be an awesome mission! I'm more excited to be able to talk with him in Spanish. That'll be the best part seeing him when he comes back. I can't believe Kenny's already back! That seemed to go by so fast. I can't wait to see him again and Josh. 

 

Every once in a while, a missionary will have a couple talks on CD. We listened to one the other day from General Conference in April 2010 I think from Elder Holland. I remember one really good quote. He said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. So, watch your step." Awesome!

 

Q of the W:

1. How do you say "I love you" in Spanish?

 

"Te quiero." It literally means, I want you, which I know, is a little strange. But that's just the way Spanish is! It makes perfect sense in Spanish and really does have the meaning of "I love you." You can also say, "Te queremos" which means 'we love you'.

2. How are you doing with your contacts and Diovan? (need more yet?)

 

Good and good. :)

3. General Conference is coming...where will you watch it?

 

Probably at the Scotch Plains chapel in English. I'm so excited for it!! I love General Conference!

 

By the way, I'm with a couple missionaries (good friends now!) that love music. Can you send some of my piano music stuff in my next package?? Like 100 years, Apologize, all those songs and stuff. By the way mom, I'm coming to absolutely love music, especially the piano. You're going to have to give me piano lessons when I come home and teach me everything you know, like the chords and all that stuff. I want to know everything!

 

Love you mom! Talk to you soon! Another idea for b-day present if you haven't figured out something: a little portable electric dictionary or something. My previous companion had one that was really cool that he got off amazon.com I think. Just an idea, I don't really need one. But anything is great! Love you lots. Te quiero!

 

-Justin

Dear mom,

 

Why in the world are they canceling church that Sunday because of the Brigham City Temple dedication?

 

I have to say, my Spanish is getting better I think. Every transfer it gets a lot better. I've actually had a couple dreams where I speak Spanish or somebody else speaks to me in Spanish. Pretty weird because I still wouldn't say that I'm fluent. But cool. That's exciting to hear that Julia and Kaylee might take Spanish. If they're still doing it when I get home I would be so happy to help them out!

 

I was the same way when I was reading the last book of the Great and Terrible Series. I was really sad when I finally finished. So good!

 

So today was a pretty fun day. We went down to Princeton and played football with some members from the English Ward over there. We actually went to the Princeton University to play. The original plan was to play in their football stadium, but it was being used. So we played in a lacrose field that we found. It was pretty fun. Not much that exciting happened this week. Just transfers happened, and I'm in charge of my area. I'm with a guy named Elder Wettstein from Washington state. He's pretty fun. It should be a good six weeks coming up. I'm getting to know the area pretty well and I have good relationships with the members. They really like me especially now that they know I can play the piano. Just yesterday, we went over to the Branch Presidents house for some dinner and to talk about the Branch a little. Apparently there are a lot of less-active members in this area. President Rojas says that there are so many members that come from their country and come once to church and never come again. He also says there are like 200 members in the Plainfield Branch. That's hard for me to believe. He's says another big problem is that people are so caught up in work that they put their work in front of their church attendence and their commitments to God. It's really sad. I don't know how to help them. Even if we could find them, I don't know what we would say. Some people are so hard to find. And I don't even know why they have phones when most of them don't work or they don't pick up. Super frustrating.

 

There's this new missionary in our district, and they live pretty close to us. He just came from somewhere in southern Utah, but he went to UVU for a year or so. He's pretty cool. We were hanging out today with them and we actually started talking about burger joints and JCW's. Man, I really miss that place! Along with Carls Jr and Costa Vida. But they actually have Five Guys around here a lot. We just went there today and it was really good. I haven't had a good burger like that in a while. There are so many McDonalds around here though. I was also talking to this missionary about Quiznos and how bad the headquarters people are. I can't believe that Larry had to close down his store! That's so sad! I can hardly believe it. I was really looking forward to going back to say hi to Larry and the rest of the people working there after my mission. If you get any more info on it let me know. I'm actually friends on Facebook with Larry's son named Eric Brassfield. You could maybe ask him on my Facebook more details on it. I don't know if that would be private stuff or not, but that's a way to see.

 

I honestly don't know for my birthday. Maybe Five Guys card. That alarm clock would be a good idea. I really couldn't think of anything else. Surprise me!

 

Q of the W:

1.  Do you know if you are able to vote this year??

 

I want to vote. Especially for Mitt Romney. I don't know much about him, but I'm pretty sure he'll do better than Obama. There are so many Obama fans out here. I don't know why..

2.  Have you heard from your friend from Quiznos?  I totally have forgotten his name?  I hope he has a job now.

 

Channing. I haven't heard from him. I wrote him a letter when I was in the MTC, I think. He never wrote back. Also, Seth hasn't written back either. I'll try them again. I'm pretty sure Channing had another job.

3.  Have you been taking pictures lately with your camera?  It would be fun to get pictures from you...:)

I've kind of forgotten about taking pictures. I really need to do better with that. Every once in a while, I'll find something cool or interesting. I should carry around my camera for those things.

 

 

BTW: I really, REALLY need a GPS. I'm going to have to buy one today probably. I'll try and keep it around $100. It's pretty much impossible to find addresses without one and my new companion doesn't have one. It'll be nice for the rest of my mission for sure. I also really need to buy new shoes soon. Maybe a gift card to Marshalls or Kohls too..

 

Love you mom! Sorry if my emails aren't very detailed. I'm working on that.

 

-Justin

Dear mom,

 

To answer the question about the hispanic people learning English. A lot of them don't need to learn English. They usually stick to one area.  They're not spread out. So in a particular area, they will have hispanic restaurants and stores where everyone speaks Spanish. Some people speak English. They also speak Spanish in their jobs. They have no need to speak English. They can easily survive on just Spanish. Some people really want to learn English because of better job opportunities. Also, English is hard for them to learn. They always bring up how English is harder to learn than Spanish because the way it is written is the way it is said. You can learn to pronounce it easily and English is so completely random at spelling. We always come back and say that Spanish changes the verb a million times. It's kind of weird to explain, but they both have their ups and downs. It's fun though.

 

I don't know about the Les Mis thing. I just heard that the new movie wasn't that great. I guess they can't say if it's bad or not if they haven't seen it though! Talking about movies, I just remembered the other day that a new Saints and Soldiers movie is coming out. It's called Saints and Soldiers Airbourne. I saw it in a Desert Book magazine. Put that on the list! haha.

 

I remember Mrs. Lee being a nice teacher but I think she would get a little frustrated sometimes. I remember I was playing with my glasses and she told me to stop. Other than that she was a good teacher. I don't remember much else from that class. That was Brandon Walker's last year at Aspen Elementary, I remember. I remember Mr. Taylor. I can't believe he's still teaching! I had Mr. Rigby though in 5th grade. I want to hear Kelsie and Kyle's schedule for this year. Kelsie's anthropology class sounds really fun. You should tell her to write me about it.

 

I miss those good hamburger places. JCW's, Carls Jr., Apollo Burger. They don't have anything like that that I've seen. Only Burger King and McDonalds. Bleh.. I'll keep looking for a good hamburger place though. I guess hispanics aren't big american food fans. And all the black people are all about the fried chicken.

 

I can't believe Kyle found a book to read! It's kind of a crazy book with lots of violence and some swearing. And even for me it was a little difficult to follow sometimes because there is always a lot going on at the same time. I guess as long as he's reading and enjoying doing it, it should be good. Maybe he'll move on to something else after. Good for him!

 

The last book in that series was the craziest book! I couldn't put it down! That's a really cool quote from Bono. It's totally true. I really love how the author puts all that stuff about the Church in there. I remember when I was reading, there was a lot of signs of the second coming in there. I'm sure you've read about the red moon now, right? I remember a couple others, but I don't want to give anything away. But, what other things have you seen in there so far??

 

So here's a funny story that happened to me just yesterday after Church. The English Elders had a baptism in the Scotch Plains 1 Ward right after church. We went over there to watch. (I ended up playing the piano.) So they did the baptism and it was really good. Afterwards, all of us were in the hallway eating. The English Elders had an investigator that came to church that day and also came to watch the baptism. He was from Ecuador, but since he spoke perfect English, they had been teaching him. There's also a lady in their ward from Ecuador. For whatever reason, she likes church in English better, so she was there too. She saw him and started speaking in Spanish to this 18 year old kid from Ecuador in Spanish. I was standing off to the side just listening in on their Spanish conversation. She asked him if his family was meeting with the missionaries. He said no because they're very Catholic. She then told him "that if there's something better you have to switch to it. For exampe, if there's a better job opportunity, you have to take it to survive. The same goes with the Gospel." He knodded. I then asked him in Spanish, "Does your family speak English or only Spanish?" He looked at me kind of puzzled. Then he said, "No. Only Spanish." I tried to explain that we could teach them in Spanish, but he cut me off and asked me in English, "Where are you from??? Are you from Portugal?? Where??" It was so funny! Apparently he's never seen an American speak Spanish before! I told him that I'm from here, the United States. He asked me in Spanish, "You learned Spanish??" I say, "Si." He went on to say how everyone here thinks that hispanics have to learn English if they want to live here. I told him that we believe that everyone will learn about the Gospel in their own language. I said there are missionaries here that learn Spanish. Missionaries go to Central and South America and learn Spanish. They also go to Europe and learn German, France, Italian, Russian, whatever it is. This guy thought it was pretty cool. I told him that if he wants us to teach his family in Spanish, that my companion and I both speak Spanish. Hopefullly we can teach him in the future!

 

Well, that's the cool story for the week! Transfers are here. My companion is being transfered. I'm staying here in Plainfield. Tomorrow, we will go to Short Hills, NJ for transfer conference and to pick up my new companion. Should be fun!

 

Just a few minutes ago, it was raining like crazy! New Jersery gets some crazy rain storms. Like completely drenched in seconds crazy! Super fun.

 

Q of the W:

1.  What would you like or need for your birthday? :) 

 

I haven't really thought about that. I'll let you know next week.

2.  Does your branch have 3 hours of church like us?  Do they have the same classes and auxillaries like we do?  Probably a dumb question but I was wondering...

 

Pretty much the same thing. Just minature sized. Elders quorum has like 8 or 9. Relief Society - 8 or 9. Primary, haha - 3, nursey, I think 3 as well. No young men, like 2 or 3 young women. And they all go to their classes after Sacrament and do their thing

3.  How often do you have personal interviews with President Jeppson?

 

I think they're about every four months. The next one's should be Christmas time or January.