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!