A trip to New York

 I'm happy to hear that all is going well. I'm especially happy that you are doing OK too mom. As you know, I'm a bit of a worrier, so I called sister Suzuki (the mission nurse) and asked her if she could check on you so that I wouldn't have to wait until monday for the results. If it makes you feel any better, I put your name on the prayer role at the temple in Manhattan when we went there on Wednesday. 

This week has been full of some up's and some down's but I guess that's how every week is-- no?

   

So let's take a look...

Monday: Monday was a great half-pday. We had to take a half p-day because we were going to be going to the temple later in the week. We finished our preparations, I got a hair cut from one of the sister missionaries who's a cosmotologist, and then Elder Smith and I started our exchange. Elder Smith is one of the zone leaders that we live with, and it was really great to work with him for the day. We had quite an experience while we were together. So we went to visit this really nice lady named Nori, who I taught once right before I left Dover a year and a half ago. It looks like the missionaries never went back after that, so to her, it probably seems like I never even left, but anyway.... We started talking to Nori and invited her daughter to come in and join us, and that's when it got a little awkward. We were talking about God, and who he is to us, and then we we asked Nori's daughter Kiera, this was her reply, "Look mom, hmmm, well I was waiting to tell you this, but... I don't really believe in this stuff... I'm an atheist." We were pretty shocked that such a confession would come right then, but the mom didn't seem too shocked as her brother had told her that before. We continued on with the lesson, and Elder Smith entered super spirit mode. He talked right to Kiera and told her how he knew there was a God, and he knew that she knew there was a God. I think the spirit must of pierced her, because she got up and left the room crying. We weren't sure if she was going to come back, and she didn't, but we continued talking to Nori and talked about how much this message would bless their family, and help Kiera come to know that there truly is a God.

Tuesday: On Tuesday I was able to go on an exchange with Elder Jernigan from the other Dover area. We went and saw a returning less-active Sister Vasquez. We decided to talk about the Word of Wisdom with her due to the smell of smoke in her house. From what I've seen throughout my mission, it seems that members, especially less-active one's don't understand the word of wisdom, or don't even really know about it. Hna Vasquez said that she drink a lot of coffee, and so we set out a plan for her to help her quit. Later in the week when we returned to follow up with everything, we took half her coffee away and got rid of it. We shall see if she can overcome.

Wednesday: Wednesday was a pretty crazy, hot day. On wednesday we headed out early toward Harrison New Jersey to take the "Path" into NYC. It was pretty fun going on the path and then walking from 33rd up to the temple.

The only bad part.... It was like a bajillion degrees outside and we were all wearing long sleeve shirts, and dark suits. I was sweating like crazy out there. There are so many cool sights in New York, but a lot of things you have to watch out for. And then the big relief comes as you enter into the peaceful beautiful temple. 

We had no Hecklers this time around, so it was a successful trip. We finished the trip off with some delicious 5- Guys back in Harrison and headed back to work.

Thursday: I guess I just have one funny story for Thursday. So on thursday Elder Ferrell and I headed to North Arlington so that I could see a Doctor about my IBS. They drew blood to test if I was allergic to anything, and after some talking, the doctor gave me a perscription with the warning that my insurance might not cover it. I'll say... So we went to the Pharmacy, and the doctor entered in the insurance into the computer. This is what she said... "John, this is a very expensive drug... Right now it's saying that your co-pay will be $956.... and the drug normally costs about $1,150." I was awestruck. How could a medicine cost that much? So obviously I didn't pay for it and the Pharmacist and my doctor were going to negotiate maybe using a different drug. I ended up called sister suzuki to see what I was supposed to do, and she said that she just needed to call mission medical and get the drug cleared. She did, and the co-pay went down to $10. What a relief right? wrong. So I called the pharmacist again telling them to go ahead and order the drug, and this was the reply, "So just so you know, this drug is normally used for women. There has never been a cllinic done on men, but maybe your doctor tried it with some of his patients and it worked." Hmmmm.... So then I started having second thoughts about this whole medicine thing, I mean, I didn't want anything weird to happen because I was taking a medication for woman, and sister suzuki agreed explaining that I probably wouldn't want to start getting a really high voice and such. So she said she would call my doctor and find out a little more about this drug.... So that was the crazy story of Thursday. I'm not sure if I want to make the church pay for a drug that expensive, and I don't want the side-effects to be worse than the symptoms I already have. So we'll see where things go from here.

The weekend came to a nice close. First with a trip to Newton. When I was here a year and a half ago, we found this awesome investigator named Ider from Ecuador. He was taught after a left but then got dropped. On saturday we returned, and although Ider wasn't there, we started teaching his kids Ider Jr. and Estrella. Estrella had tons of really good questions, and I think would get baptized pretty quickly, the catch is.... Next thursday she's going to Ecuador for the summer... Ug... Que Suerte.... But maybe we can plant the seed enough for her to get baptized when she gets home. Later that day we had an awesome Father's day party with tons of delicious food and mariachi singing hispanic songs.

Sunday came to a miraculous close, with a miraculous find. So as we entered the late afternoon, we still hadn't taught any lessons. We tried some less-actives, but to no avail. Elder Ferrell thought we shoud go try some other less-active that he knew across the way. We began walking over there, and saw a guy sitting a park bench (Perfect scenario right?) and we started talking to him. He said that he was a 7th day adventist but hadn't been real active. We testified and explained the restoration, and he seemed to be really receptive. After we explained the book of mormon, he began asking us if we were selling the book or something because he was curious to read it. You should have seen the look on his face when we gave him the book of mormon free of charge. He couldn't believe it, and he was so excited to read it. As we walked away from the lesson, we saw him open up the book and begin to read. He's super prepared, and I think he's dealing with cancer right now which makes this message all the more important. It was a great week!

Time still continues to fly by as the transfer is half over now. This week is going to be awesome with an all mission activity on friday. We get to go listen to an inspirational speaker named Chester Elton, and afterwards we are having like a field day with games and the such. I'm pretty excited.

I hope you all have a great week! The gospel is true! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Hicks

(Elder Jiks) - {I ordered a name-tag that says JIKS to see if that will help hispanics know how to say my name}

Hmmmm.....

Letter: June 18

 

The mission and time are mind boggling. Every new day on the mission seems to compress the earlier months into tiny files in my memory bank. It's starting to get hard to remember my time with Elder Jellen. I feel that those 3 months together was super short. I don't know... It's a weird phenomenon.

   

This week has been pretty great here in Dover. I really do love this area a lot, and it has so much potential. Elder Ferrell and I are doing a lot better together, and our teaching in Unity is getting so much better. As far as our investigators go, there isn't too much going on as of now. We had to change Mikaela's baptismal date to the 1st of July so that we have more time to teach her and prepare her for her baptism. This week we got to teach her about the word of wisdom, and her and her little sister Nicole were pretty sad about the whole ice-tea thing, but they agreed to it. It was pretty funny during the lesson when we were talking about it, the little brother tried to be funny and went and grabbed a gree-tea juice box and started drinking it in front of his sisters.

   

Two of our roommates Elder Smith and Elder Tippetts have been trying to get over poison ivy this past week. They had it so bad. Luckily neither I nor Elder Ferrel have been afflicted.

    

We've been working really hard this week as we set a goal to teach 30 lessons this week. We got really close with 27, so next week hopefully we can hit it. We just need to start finding some new people that actually want to hear the gospel instead of holding onto a bunch of people that don't want to progress. I get so tired of the excuse from our investigators that say, "Yo les llamo" which says "I'll call you." I don't think I can count how many times that has been said to me on my mission, and I don't think anyone has ever even called us. So it's time to do some family hunting to find a family that is ready for the gospel.

   

I think one of the biggest things I'm trying to develop now as a missionary is really teaching from the heart. After 22 months of doing the same things day after day, it can be pretty easy to go in robotic mode. I'm trying to be more dynamic in my teaching, using examples, telling stories and the such to make our teaching more powerful.

    

We went and visited this Uruguayan member this week, and she fed me my first uruguayan dish. I'm not sure what it's called, but maybe caleb would recognize it by the description. It was basically ground-beef wrapped in crepes, with tomoto sauce on top. It was like uruguayan lasagna. After we ate she pulled up this 15 minute uruguay promotional video about how cool the country was. The best part was when the guy said "So what's so special about uruguay? Well Nothing really." and then he just goes onto explain how it's a nice tranquilo place to live. I'd like to visit there one day.

 

This week should be pretty great. We have our semi-annual temple trip on Wednesday which I'm excited about. It will almost be exactly 2 years since I went to the temple for the first time, crazy right? 

Hector called me the other day on the phone and asked me when I was going home because he wanted me to come to the temple with him after he gets his mission call. He said he'll try to put his papers in as soon as he can so he can get his call and go to the temple. That would be a pretty incredible experience if I could go do that with him. We'll see :) 

 

My mission is moving quickly, and after this week, the transfer will be 1/2 over. I can't believe it. It really is all going by as if it were a dream. Last night I had some memories of things back home, and they seemed so familiar to me, as if it had only been a few weeks ago, and I was shocked to think it's been almost 2 years. I don't understand how it works. I guess that's what happens when you are busy all the time.

 

Thanks so much for everything. Thanks for the package! The Gospel is True!  I love you all muchisimo!

 

I'mmmmm Baaack!

Alright so here's the big news, and I must say it was quite a surprise for me as well. Elder Hicks will be finishing his mission in....... Dover New Jersey! That's right, I came back to Dover, the exact same area I served in a year and a half ago! I was so amazingly excited that they sent me back. I remember I was really sad when I had to leave the first time, and I didn't understand why I only stayed for one transfer, but now I'm back in the beautiful town of Dover. 

It's quite a contrast from Trenton where there's lots of trash, and it's a little more scary. Dover is so "tranquilo" and I feel so safe there. One of the best parts of coming back to this area, was when Fausta (My recent convert that went to the temple a few weeks ago) was asking my companion who the new missionary was, and he just said, You'll see. On thursday I knocked on the door, and when she opened it, she had such a surprised look on her face. It was pretty amazing!

    Here's an even crazier part. So remember how Elder Ferrell and I were both in each others area's both working to get each others recent converts to the temple, and they ended up going to the temple on the same day. Well... Now Elder Ferrell and I are companions! Can you believe it? We were both pretty shocked, because we thought we would be with younger missionaries as we both just got done training. But I guess the Lord wanted us to be together for at least one transfer to see how things went. So things should be  pretty amazing this transfer, and I'm way excited to work with him. My new address is 309 Washington Ave, N3, Dover NJ 07801. Things should be just fine to send right to my apartment.

So I had a crazy realization one of my first days back in Dover. I've always wanted to baptize someone from Uruguay on my mission, mostly because that's where Caleb served. I knew that the only way that would be possible is if I went back to Dover. And look what happened? Not to mention the fact that our next investigator with a date Mikaela (10 yrs old) for the 24th of June is from, you guessed it... Uruguay!  I'm just so happy to be back, and although a lot of the members don't remember me all to well, they say that I look familiar. I had the opportunity to give a talk this week in church (What a nice welcome back huh?) and I chose to speak about developing good family habits- things like FHE, Scripture reading as a family, and family dinner. It went pretty well. The funniest part of the whole things was the fact that Elder Ferrell and I were both speaking, but on the program it said first speaker "Elder Ferrell" and the next speaker said "Adler Hick". You think they would've had the idea that the missionaries were speaking, and my first name would be Elder... Maybe not :) It was pretty funny though.

   

 1. Luis Paz (A less active we've been working with)

  Benjamin Paz

It's been pretty crazy trying to get to know the area and all the investigators, but things are looking pretty good in the area. In the past 2 weeks Elder Ferrell and his Companion had 5 baptisms, so now we are just on the look out for some new investigators. Mikaela and her little sister Nicole (child of record) are both super excited for their baptism in 2 weeks, and we've found some other great peope this week through members. We found a guy named Evert and his friend Maribell through a lesson at Fausta's house. We also started teaching the daughter of a member named Viviana who's never been open or interested in the church before but decided to hear us out.

   

I feel like I have so much to explain, but hopefully what I've written will suffice. I was pretty sad saying goodbye to all the amazing people in Trenton, but I'm happy to be here, and develop great relationships with the people here, that I never had the chance to a year and a half ago. This is actually my first time in a long time where I have 0 leadership responsibilities. I'm an RPM again (Regular Proselyting Missionary), but I'm not sure how long that will last, because supposedly there are lot's of new trainee's coming in next transfer. I guess we'll have to wait and see. But I guess for now, I can enjoy just focusing on the work, and not worrying about other things.

  

The Church is True! I love being a missionary a lot, and I know that the Lord has a plan for each one of us. Hope you all have fun at the family reunion this week, sounds like a blast! Love you all mucho!

The Umana Family

The Trenton Elders

 Bowling. I went bowling for the first time today of my whole mission. 

The first game started out rough and I only bowled an 86, but come game 2, I bowled a 131! Yeehaw!

Nerve Ending

Wow, having transfers every 6 weeks is like having Christmas every six weeks. You get those butterflies in your stomach, or as I used to say back in the day "My stomach feels tingly" (Julia would probably know that one the best) . I've been super nervous these past 2 days of what is to come as my mission comes to a close. The transfer is over, and I only have 2 more left. I knew that whatever happened this coming transfer would most likely be where I finished my mission. So.... I couldn't get to sleep as I anxiously awaited the transfer text from the zone leaders. 1 hour passed, and 1 1/2 hours passed and the text finally came in to put rest to my anxiety. I read through the names, non of which included mine or Elder Jellen's name. So that meant we were staying together in Trenton for another one. I turned the phone on silent, and still had a hard time getting to sleep thinking about what it was going to be like to be together one more, and after about 20 minutes, I looked at the phone and noticed it was blinking. I thought, "Hmmmm... What could that be?" And this is what it said... ' hahahaha, sorry, Elder Hicks too.' My thoughts were, "What?! What in the World?, You've gotta be kidding me!" I had already accepted the fact that I was staying, and this text brought in another shipment of nerves and anxiety. So, yes, Elder Hicks will be leaving Trenton to go to some unknown land that has not been revealed to me.

I'm pretty nervous about where I'll go, and I just couldn't even give you a good guess. Possible area's I've been thinking of are 1. Elizabeth 2. West New York 3. Union City (Once again so I can go reactivate all my less active recent converts). What's your guess? 

 El Bautismo de Felipe (We kind of look like Giants in this picture) 

PS: I measured myself, and as of now I stand at 6'3 1/2"

Anyway... This week has been pretty great. The capstone of the week would be Felipe's Baptism yesterday!!!! Everything went well with his interview, he gave up drinking coffee, and he had Elder Jellen baptize him, making that Elder Jellen's first time baptizing somebody during his mission. It was a pretty special moment for me standing outside of the font looking at Elder Jellen in the water with our investigator Felipe. He pronounced the words, looked up at me to see if he said it right, and then put Felipe underwater. It was heartwarming to see how happy Elder Jellen was, and to see how much he has grown since we have been together. I may have been his trainer, but he sure has trained me in a lot of things, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to work with him. The baptism was excellent, and even Carlos came to see it (Hopefully he'll get baptized one day soon).

Sadly we haven't been able to see much progress out of our other investigators this week. One cool experience though took place on Friday.  The day before we had planned to go see a former (someone that Elder Wootton and I started teaching my first week here, but she had moved away for awhile to Kearny NJ.) We decided to go see her, and miraculously... She was there! She explained that she had just barely gotten back from Kearny the day before, and it was kind of like, what a coincidence that we show up again at your doorstep the next day. We taught her a quick lesson, and she seems to have tons of potential. She said she would be willing to be baptized once she is sure. She wants us to help her learn how to receive those answers.

   And so we move forward. I have really enjoyed my time here in Trenton. The branch is awesome, I love the members a lot, and the Lord has blessed us immensly in this area. I'm excited to go make new friendships with a new ward, meet new investigators, new less-actives to work with, and my overall goal, that of Baptizing a Family. I'm so grateful to be a missionary, and I love the work of the Lord. Time is cruising out here, and it's just gonna keep getting faster, kind of scary.

  The Gospel is True! I've been glued to my Jesus the Christ book these past 2 weeks as I'm trying to finish it before I get home. It's such an amazing book, and really helps my testimony of Jesus Christ grow. I know he is our Savior, and if we follow him, we shall receive eternal life. I love you all so much!

Michael and Delda (Michael is the guy that always comes out with us, 

and Delda is the one that loves to take us out to eat)

This is Carlos. 

He told us this week that he wanted to interview us on Live television 

to show to the hispanic community in trenton.

 I don't think that one would get cleared by President Jeppson

 This is Sara and Nestor. 

Sara is the recent-convert that went to the temple on the same day as Fausta.

 Justin Umana. This is one of my favorite little kids ever. 

He's hilarious, and he reminds me a lot of Noah. 

The Cobb Family

Who turned on the Oven?

(Letter May 29)

Did you know it's illegal to Honk in New York?

Wowser, New Jersey is heating up like crazy. This morning we went running, and it was like I was drowning in humidity. I couldn't really even tell if I was breathing or not. It turns out I was, otherwise I probably wouldn't be writing this letter. This week has been full of some of the greatest experiences of my mission, and hopefully I can provide enough detail to make it interesting.

    

First off, Felipe is doing awesome. We have finished teaching him all the lessons, and he has his interview on Friday, with his baptism planned for Sunday. It's definitely a quick baptism of only 3 weeks, but he seems willing and ready to do what it takes to be a member of the church. He's keeping his committments and doing a lot of things that some investigators take months to do. We are super excited for him, and his baptism this week should be fantastic! What's even better is that we have been able to teach him in the homes of members which has helped him get to know more people and to make some friends in the branch. I just worry, because most of the support comes from the women as we don't have to many men in the branch, but our Recent- Convert Henry has done a great job of supporting and fellowshipping him while he's at church. We pray all goes well for Sunday.

   

On Sunday Henry received the Aaronic Priesthood, and was ordained to the office of a Priest. He seems to be progressing quite nicely. I can't remember if I included this on the last letter I wrote, but about 2 weeks ago we went and saw Henry, and began discussing the topic of Tithing and how it brings forth the blessings. Henry re-committed himself to pay tithing, and that's what he did. A few days later he got a new job working in a hotel... Tithing Miracle!

   

Our zone conferece with Elder Kevin R. Duncan was an amazing experience as well. He talked a lot about how we can accomplish our goals, and do anything we put our mind do. He talked about the perfect teaching senario, and how we should invite members out with us to knock on their neighbors doors. Interesting concept. He really focused on how we should be looking for families, and that our Baptismal Goal for the month should never be just 1, because then we are just shooting to baptize one person, instead of a family. We get what we focus on, and if we want a family, we must focus on getting a family. 

Sadly that's one goal I haven't been able to acheive yet. The Baptism of a family would be an amazing opportunity, and that will be my focus for the next 3 months. I got to put this new emphasis into practice last week when we went and saw our investigator Antonieta. We went in, and Antioneta's husband was sitting on the couch and we headed to the kitchen for our lesson. During the opening prayer I had the impression or thought to invite Juan (the husband) to come in and listen. I've been sort of flakey about inviting the rest of the household to come in and listen during my mission, but this time I figured I would just ask. When he came in, he put up his Catholic wall of "We've always been Catholics, everybody in our family is catholic, and we stick to our traditions." We continued onward reading the intro to the Book of Mormon, and Juan really opened up to us. He talked about how he has problems with Alcohol, and he wants to quit as he see's the negative effects it has on his family. We stated that a daily supplement of Book of Mormon reading, and prayer would help to quit all that and live a better life. We came to the close of the lesson, and invited Juan to offer a kneeling closing prayer. He was a little hesitant at first because he was unsure how to pray, but we quickly taught him, and he agreed to it. As he started his reverant prayer, he began to cry. I think he could really feel the spirit, and this was a big moment for him to be praying to his Heavenly Father. It was an amazing experience.

  

We also have been working with another awesome Investigator named Ayda from Ecuador. We taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and invited her to be baptized. She couldn't say yes to a date because she's already been baptized, and we still haven't explained the restoration, but she's an awesome lady, and did her reading in Alma 32. She explained so clearly about how the chapter describes that faith is like a little seed. She has 3 sons between the ages of 18 and 21 that hopefully we can start teaching this week. Future Missionaries!

   

On Friday night we headed to Morristown to exchange Elder Jellen for Elder Ferrel. Elder Ferrel and I headed up to West New York that night to sleep up there before we were to head to the temple with our Recent-Converts. It was so amazing being able to see Fausta again. It's been so long since I've seen her, and she seemed so much happier. The spanish session went well, It was a tiny bit harder to understand, but all worked out in the end. I enjoyed the trip, especially seeing the temple workers that were members from previous units I have worked in. It was like a great big reunion of the people I've come to love on my mission. 

 The Bus ride (Me, Elder Ferrel, and Elder Harrington)

Fausta

Fausta, and Hermano Lucio, the one that baptized her.

As we were sitting in the celestial room at the temple, I went over to Fausta and asked her how she felt. She looked to be on the verge of tears, and expressed how much peace she felt. It was a heart-warming moment. That moment was another testimony to me of what missionary work is all about. And another cool part about the temple trip, was that we got to go to a sealing right after of a couple, and then the sealing of their kids to them. It was amazing, and a wonderful feeling of the spirit was present. 

Hanz (the investigator I taught in Union City and Passaic before he got baptized in West New York) also went on the temple trip to do Baptisms. It was so great to see him again, and see that he is actively participating in the Gospel. Right now he is the ward Pianist, and just a funny for the day, the Elders told me that he was playing prelude music the other day before sacrament meeting that sounded like Pirate music. They had to go up and tell him to only play hymns, but I thought it was pretty funny.

So that's the jest of my week. I hope you all had a good memorial day, as I'm sure it was a little heart clenching. Just remember... He does live, and because He lives, we all shall live again. I'm so grateful for the gospel, and the sealing powers of Heaven that allow us to be able to live as a family for eternity. I love you all so much!

Down to the Wire

(Letter May 22)

Things are going quite well here in New Jersey. The weather has been pretty beautiful (not too hot nor too cold), and time continues to drift on at racing speeds. I can't believe it's already Monday again. I have a feeling these last 3 months of my mission aren't going to go much slower. Really the only way to make time go slower on the mission is to stop working hard, and why would I want to do something like that. When you work hard, time seems to fly. This week Elder Jellen and I worked really hard to acheive our goals, and for the first time since we've been together, we hit the lesson standard of 20 for the week! I know that may not be a lot, but we were pretty happy just to be teaching.

    

Our investigators are doing really well. We've been able to teach Felipe twice. We saw him last monday, explained our purpose a little more, taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and then we set him with a baptismal date for June 3rd. He said he would do it, and on Thursday Elder Jellen and I made a baptismal calendar for him outlining everything that would need to take place for him to be able to get baptized on the 3rd. He seemed willing to follow it. We taught him one more time, invited him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and yesterday Elder Jellen said that Felipe felt really good about the Book of Mormon. Yeehaw! He came to church again yesterday, and we are going to see him tonight at dinner at a member's house. Yay for member work!

   

Ana... Well we actually didn't get the chance to see Ana this week. She cancelled the appointment we had set with her, and she is apparently going through a lot right now and for some reason isn't up to meeting with us until things are figured out? (I add the question mark, because I'm not really sure whats going on with her...)

   

On Tuesday I was able to go on an exchange with Elder Turnbow, one of our zone leaders. We were able to visit with a kid named Derek who goes on his mission to France in 2 months, and give him some pointers of what to expect. Later that night we had one of the funniest dinner appointments of my life. We went to see a member, and her inactive antichurch son was there, and he spent like an hour telling us stories about the crazy people he meets at work. (he works at home depot). Elder Turnbow and I were laughing so hard. It made for some good endorphins.

  

Miracle of the Sabbath goes to Victor! Victor came to church today, which was quite incredible. This whole time I thought the only reason he could never come to church was because of work. This is the guy that we talked to about drinking coffee. Well we taught him a lesson, one question led to another for us to discover that Victor's belief in God has wavered because of science shows he's been watching on the Discovery channel. At least we have a good place to start with him. (He's a member, but has been less-active for quite some time.)

   Yesterday Elder Jellen and I stuck around for a baptismal service for the Princeton English Elders. They baptized a 15 year old named Melvin, who actually has a pretty incredible converstion story. So get this... About a month or so ago, Melvin (at that time an Atheist) was looking up religions on Wikipedia. He found Mormonism, and said it was the one that made the most sense. That led him to mormon.org, and LDS.org where he watched the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration video. He referred himself to the missionaries in Princeton, and after a quick 2 and a half weeks of teaching, was baptized. What a miracle right? And from what I've heard about him, he's got the doctrine down really well. Just think Atheist to Mormon in just a small span of time.

 

So that's about the jest of the week. This week will probably fly by as we have a zone conference with Elder Kevin R. Duncan (of the Seventy) and Fausta's temple trip on Saturday! This make for a pretty good story. So when Elder Ferrel and I got dropped from being zone leaders, we both got transferred into eachother's old areas. Him in Dover, and Me in Hightstown. He told me that he had a recent convert here that I needed to prepare to go to the temple, and I in turn told him that I had a recent convert there that he needed to help prepare to go to the temple. Throughout these few transfers we have kept eachother updated on the progress of eachother's recent converts, and now, both our recent converts are going to the temple on the same day, same session. Coincidence? (That is, if all goes well with Fausta's interview this week). So we already have it planned out on Driving up to west New York, sleeping there Friday night, and heading over to the temple early Saturday morning. My first Spanish Temple Session.... Should be interesting. But I'm so excited! Elder High called me last week and told me that Hector (from Union City) is finishing up his temple classes as well, and should be headed to the temple pretty soon.

 

These are the last 2 weeks of the transfer, and then I'm down to the wire. I've gotta make the most of it. Work Hard, Have Fun, and make it the best 2 years!

 

I love you all so much! The Gospel is True!

 

As We Move Forward

(Letter May 14)

Let me just say how amazing it was to be able to talk to all of you last night. It was a definite blessing, and it was interesting to see how much the family has changed. I'm sure I've changed a lot too, but I'm sure you notice it better than I do. I did give you some updates on the week last night, so this e-mail can mostly be for journalism purposes, but there are a few events that I didn't get to share.

This week was actually a pretty amazing week, and the Lord blessed us immensly. We were able to find 6 new investigators this week, basically doubling our teaching pool, which is a definite plus. I already told you of the miracle yesterday, but let me just recap it. 

We went to church, still not sure if any of our investigators were going to make it to church. They didn't. But as we got out of our gospel principles class Brother Jessop (first-counselor) came to find us, and told us that there was somebody who wanted to be baptized, and that we needed to go and talk to him in the chapel. We went in there and saw a man sitting on the back row of the chapel. We headed over and began talking to him, and he told us his name was Felipe. He has come to the church in the past, but at this point in time neither I nor Elder Jellen had ever seen him. One of the first questions that came out of his mouth was, "What do I need to do to be baptized?". Those words are music to a missionaries ears! We explained that he would need to keep coming to church, and take some classes, upon which he asked," What do I need to do to get those classes?" That's where we come in. I told him we would need to teach him and everything, and he seemed ready for it all. He explained that his wife is a member, and that he wants to get baptized so that him and her can get sealed in the temple in a year. Que Milagro No?! So we get to go see him tonight, and we'll see how it goes. It's fantastic that he has those right intentions, now let's just hope he'll be willing to make the sacrifice needed to receive those blessings he seeks.

Another tender mercy of the Lord happened a little earlier in the week. On Wednesday the Princeton English Elders shot us a text saying that they had a referral for us from a member. We were pretty ecstatic, because member work is the best. We gave the member a call (Sis Kirk), and talked a little bit about the referral. She explained to us that the Referral (Ana) worked at shoprite with her son (Jared (sis kirks son)) and she had a lot of problems with Alcohol, and buying lottery tickets. Sis Kirk has been praying for her a lot, and even putting her name in the temple. Sis Kirk went onto explain that she has been receiving some promptings that it was time to turn her over to the missionaries. So we headed up to Princeton that afternoon to meet up with Sis Kirk and Ana, and got to know eachother a little bit over some Pizza. Sis Kirk doesn't speak any spanish, and Ana doesn't really speak english, so up until this point, the two of them haven't been able to really communicate, other than through the eye's and emotions. Elder Jellen and I became the translators and expressed to Ana what Sister Kirk has been doing for her, and how grateful she is that she has been so kind to her son at Shoprite. It was incredible being the translator to try and bring these 2 even closer together as friends, and Ana understood that she needed to stop the alcohol and gambling. We set up a return appoinment, and went to Ana's on Friday. She was so nice, she bought a bunch of food and stuff to give us, and we were able to teach her the first part of the Plan of Salvation and the Word of Wisdom. She's a sweet lady, and we're excited to see where things go with her.

  

Other peaces of news... Henry is going to receive the Aaronic priesthood next Sunday which is exciting. I also had a cool experience last Wednesday while we were doing service. As we were driving with Paul (the Jewish guy we serve with) he asked us if we would like to go see his "temple". I was a little hesitant at first to accept the offer, but Elder Jellen agreed to it, and for the first time in my life, I entered a Jewish Synagogue. I will admit, it was pretty cool. They had a really nice 'chapel' if that what it's to be called, and behind had some doors that Paul said contained the "Scrolls" aka The Torah. I asked if we could see them, but they are locked up, so that wasn't going to happen. I have always thought the Jews were an interesting people, and I just want to know more about them and know why they do some things they do. Paul is a conservative Jew though and not a Orthodox one. It was a pretty cool experience though to learn a little bit more about Judaism.

   

We also found a family this week. We went a tried a former investigator, who didn't end up living there, but we did find Rosa, Simon, and Gina because of it. They are a nice family from the Dominican Republic. Rosa seemed a little hesistant, but her husband was pretty nice. We shared the restorations, and explained the Book of Mormon to them. And as we were leaving Rosa told us that she has breast cancer, and has to receive 30 Radiation treatments. She asked us to pray for her. What better time than now to receive the restored gospel? Hopefully all goes well when we see them on wednesday!

   

 Interviews with President and Sister Jeppson went extraordinary this week and it was good to be around the "mission parents" again. President gave me great advice, and told me how he wants me to finish strong. He said if I slow down and don't finish strong, he doesn't want me to have to regret that forever. President truly is inspired, and it is such a blessing to have him here at this time of my mission. This week I have really been trying to be more consecrated, more obedient, more focused, and have tried to work with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. And I think that hs brought forth these great blessings we have received this week.

 

Thank you so much for all your support and love. It was fun to see how much little Jakey has grown up. It was kind of weird to see him singing happy birthday, because when I left, all he could really say was, "Wee" as in "Please". That video was a hit though, it still makes me smile. "Stop pulling my shirt!". HAHA. Thanks for sharing it with me.

 

Hope you all have a great week! Remember, The Gospel is True! I love you all so much!

 

Another year older and wiser too

Happy Birthday... To You Aaron and Becca!!!! Who knew that your birthdays were so close? I have been thinking recently... Isn't it weird to anybody else that I turn 21 in 3 months? That's just a crazy thought. And even crazier.. I graduated from High School 3 years ago. Where has time gone?

Anyway... Here's the update for the week

      

As for our investigators... Things aren't looking super promising as of now. Unfortunately Madelyn has become a workaholic, and usually doesn't respond to our texts or calls, and the last response contained the ever frightening "I'll let you know"(when she can meet with us) which according to my experience in the mission, never ever happens. But who knows, she may be different. So we dropped her date, and now I guess we just patiently wait and try to get back in contact with her.

  

An update of Elder Larsen. He's from Utah, and I think he was hiking up in american fork canyon with some other NJMM missionaries that got home recently. I haven't heard much since, but from last weeks report he was doing better, he just needed lots of time to recover.

   

Hermano Cajas is doing alright. We were able to take our Branch President, President Harrison to the last appointment with us, and we talked about the importance of Fasting, and how fasting brings forth even greater blessings and answers to prayers. We committed him to fast, but haven't been able to follow up with him to see if that happened. I'm worried that Hermano Cajas is just kind of in a rut. I'm not sure if he really understands the importance of the things we are telling him, and there isn't much we can do if he can never come to church. I guess we just need to keep praying that some arrangements will be made.

   

Manuel is doing pretty good, although we are a little disappointed he didn't come to church yesterday when he made it sound like he was down to come. We even went over to try and wake him up before church, but to no avail. We were able to take a member with us to teach him which was really helpful, but sometimes I get tired of peoples lack of committment to do things and make sacrifices, like coming to church. I guess I just need to learn to be more patient, and realize that people are taking big steps in their lives to bring their lives into harmony with the will of God.

   

Carlos is still.... well Carlos. A few weeks ago I ordered a DVD set from church distribution that has the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie on it (the movie they play up in temple square.) One of the reasons I wanted it was to show it to Carlos to help him gain a greater testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel. We watched the first half of it, and he said that it made him more excited to read in the Book of Mormon, and he borrowed the DVD so he could take it home and watch the whole thing. Unfortunately he didn't make it to church, but I think one of the real reasons he won't get baptized is for sociality amongst his kids, and his girlfriend, because he makes it sound like if they heard the message and wanted to be baptized, he would be down for them to all be baptized together. We'll keep working with him.

   

So that's the main update on our investigators, now I'll just relate too pretty cool experiences.

 

So on Saturday we went and tried one of our Less-Actives Victor. Victor has to work on Sunday's as well, and still lacks the sufficient faith to make some changes to his schedule. Our lessons with him have been somewhat bland, and we usually don't really know what he needs. But on Saturday we he shook my hand, I really thought that I smelt alcohol on his breath. I was like... Well, I guess it's time to teach him the Word of Wisdom. It turns out he doesn't drink alcohol, but by teaching the Wof W, we discovered that he has been drinking coffee, which I don't think we would have ever known otherwise. We talked about the importance of living this commandment, and he committed to start drinking less until he's able to give it up completely. Where the Alcohol smell came from, I'm not sure, but we were actually able to teach him according to his needs.

  

Later that day as we tried a member, she wasn't able to attend to us, so as we walked back to the car, I saw a door of a former that I had knocked a number of times with no answer, and decided that I would knock it again just to see what happened. I guy looked out, but then went away, then a girl walked out and started talking to us. I thought she was a member because she was being so nice to us, and recognized us as who we were, and she said that she just came from Virginia and was meeting with the missionaries there. She said she really like the church a lot, and that she would be interested in meeting with us. It was another one of those tender mercies from the Lord. And get this... Her name is Madelyn. What a coincidence

 

Sorry if the letter seems a little dull today. This week was definitely one of those slower weeks, but this week should be good as we go out and work with faith. I just need to keep stepping it up, working hard, and enduring to the end. We have interviews with President Jeppson this week which will be fantastic in helping me finish strong till the end. The Gospel is True! Love You!

What a Week...

(Letter April 30)

It sounds as if all is going well. It was definitely a great experience getting to call you and counsel with you about when I would be coming home. Sorry if the phone call scared you a little bit. I feel that the decision made was right, and President helped confirm that when I called to tell him the news, and he expressed feeling such as "that is music to my ears", "you made my night." President sure does love his missionaries, and knows how to help them feel confident. 

Sadly this whole "Departure Date" business has kindof put my mind in a spin, and I've had a tough time staying really focused this week. The decison to stay or go was like a 2 or 3 day process of counseling with my companion, praying, talking to the district leaders, president, and my parents. I'm glad that the decision is made and now I can get back on track. 

The other thing that has made the week a little crazy was having to go off all dairy products, which is super tough considering that's about all I eat. (Cereal and Milk, Cheese Tortilla's, and Yogurt) My tummy hasn't been doing it's best lately, and so I've been told to go off dairy to see if possibly I'm Lactose Intolerant. Bummer. But I've found a good substitute for Milk... Almond Milk! It's like eating cereal with melted vanilla ice cream, which is a pretty good trade off.

So with all that being said, the missionary work wasn't at it's high point. But I'm excited for a new week, and to start getting myself refocused on the important things. Here's the quick low down on our investigators...

 

Madelyn: We got to have a lesson with Madelyn on Wednesday, and we had to take the District Leaders with us for chaperones. It was pretty powerful having all 4 of us in there testifying and teaching. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the importance of baptism. Set her with a date for the 27th of May, and then headed out. The real problem is just going to be getting her to church because with her training in her job for the next few weeks, she works a pretty hectic schedule. She seems really cool though, and desirous to learn, hopefully we didn't push baptism too much.

 

Hno Cajas: He finally came home from Guatamala. We took a member with us to see him, and we talked about the importance of sacrificing to go to church. The member helped us out a whole lot, and my favorite part of the lesson was when we asked Hno Cajas... "Will you talk to your boss about getting work off on Sunday's?", his response, "well first I'm going to pray, and then I'm going to talk to my boss." That was a perfect response. Unfortunately I think his courage wore off after a few days because we called him and he discouragingly said that they don't give permission to have Sunday off. I think it's time we go to his boss, Mr. Marriott. Or maybe not. We'll see how he continues to progress.

 

Those are probably the 2 biggest pieces of news about our investigators. Oh I forgot to mention, this week has also been somewhat worrisome because one of my good missionary friends, Elder Larsen, who went home 7 weeks ago, fell while hiking, and was in critical condition as of Tuesday. But through lots of fervent prayer, he seems to be doing better, and was moved out of the ICU unit. He had a swollen brain, bruised lungs, and a fractured ankle. I'm so grateful that he's doing better.

 

Hmmm.... Nothing much to report. It definitely wasn't my favorite week of the mission, but I guess you have to have bad weeks to recognize the good weeks. I'm still trying to focus on becoming more consecrated, and correcting the little things that I do wrong, or where I may be lacking a little. I'm grateful for the opportunities each day to improve, and this week we just have to go out diligently and seek those ready to receive the Gospel.

  

I know that the Church is true, and that the Lord is mindful of each one of us. I know that he does hear and answer prayers, but sometimes answers them differently how we would expect. I've definitely found this week, that revelation comes line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little there a little, until the light gradually illuminates the darkness, and we can move forward. I know that Heavenly Father loves us so much, and wants the best for us, and I know that this is his Work, and it will go forth boldly, nobley, and independently. I'm so grateful to be a part of it.

 

Tender Mercies

(Letter April 23)

It's been a pretty busy week here, that included some more tender mercies of the Lord. It turns out, I'm staying in Trenton to finish up Elder Jellen's training. Who knows, I could be here for the rest of my mission, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. So here's the quick update for the week.

Sunday was just a wonderful day full of tender mercies and blessings from the Lord. It's amazing how you can work so hard to try to get things rolling and nothing seems to be happening, and then one day without any effort of your own, the Lord just shows forth his great power and blesses you. I have truly seen that the blessings come after the trial of your faith. Yesterday we were sitting in gospel principles not thinking that any of our investigators were gonna make it to church, when all of a sudden the door opens and in walks Carlos and Bridget. I remember seeing them, and just saying to myself... "No Way". I wasn't really expecting them because Elder Jellen had talked to Carlos on the phone that morning, and Carlos said he probably wouldn't be able to make it because his daughter or sister or something invited him to Catholic church. When I talked to him after the GP class, he said that they were on their way to church and had to make the decision if they were going to Catholic church or our church, and he said that God led them to our church that day! It was amazing. 

Then during sacrament meeting, Hermano Modernel (our ward-mission leader) did the confirmation for Henry. The end of the transfer was capped off with an amazing lesson with our new investigator Madelyn. She was a former and had been super busy, so she got dropped, but she texted us a few weeks ago, asking about general conference because she wanted to come. Unfortunately she had missed it, but she said that we would be able to come and see her the 22nd (Yesterday). We went over there and met her for the first time. She's 23, from the Dominican Republic, married, and has 1 child. We got a little bit of her background, and she said that she had been going to church for about a year straight when she was in the DR. She has read a bunch of the Book of Mormon. She said she reads the Gospel Principles book every day before work, and said that she can just feel that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet when she hears him speak. She stated that she wanted to be baptized so she could have the Holy Ghost, and hopes that she can get baptized, and then her husband will follow so that they can get sealed in the temple. As you can imagine, I was pretty blown away by this first visit. She's truly a Golden Investigator. And what's better is that she has been super busy with 2 jobs lately, but she just got a supervisor position and gets to start making her own schedule, so getting her to church shouldn't be too big of a problem either! That was such an amazing blessing from the Lord, and we are excited to start working with her more. 

     

Our Wednesday are service days.  This is Paul whom we do service with once a week.

We were also able to find a new investigator this week named Jose, who's a super nice guy. He seems really interested in learning about God, and said that he wants to make changes in his life. We also set a baptismal date with our Investigator Manuel which we are pretty excited about. So I would say things are definitely picking up in the Area, which makes me excited to be able to stay here for at least one more.

 

The training from the mission department was also a really great blessing. They came and talked to us about how our purpose correlates with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They talked a little bit about how Preach My Gospel came to be, and then they showed us a presentation of the future of Mormon.org, and it's ads that are going to be all over Hulu, Youtube, and Facebook. It's pretty cool. Hulu is a website where you go to watch TV shows, and there are ads in there that you have to watch, you can't skip over them, and the church is going to buy up some of the spots to advertise mormon.org. It was pretty crazy the growth of the church. He also showed us some new pass-a-long cards for mormon.org, that are going to have one of those QR codes on them for people to go straight to the site on their phones. I'm grateful that the Lord prepared a way for me to go receive that new training, and I'm really excited about the growth of the church.

My mormon.org profile picture

Those are the basic updates for the week. Not too much else to report. I'm pretty happy to stay in this area, especially with the blessings we received this week. A new transfer becomes another time for self-evaluation, and goal-setting to become even better. I hope I can continually improve as a trainer, and as a missionary, that we'll be able to do all in our power to make Trenton the strong area that it has the potential to be. I know that the Gospel is true! I know that it changes lives! And I'm so happy to be a first-hand witness of that fact.

  I love you all so much!