Farrer Away in NJ

March 16, 2010

Sorry I didn't have a chance to write last week. We had a zone activity that was way far away from the library, so we simply didn't have the time. Yesterday I would have written but all the missionaries that are going home with me got to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. That was tons of fun. Every missionary that leaves this mission gets to have this trip before they go home. It was worth the wait.

The last two weeks were about the same. We are trying very hard to get people to come to church. Sushil is the one who we walked with to the church just to show him how to get there. He wasn't feeling well so he couldn't come last Sunday. I hope to see him at church before I leave. The good news with him is that he is praying to get baptized, become a Christian, and not follow Hinduism. I would be a huge change for him. He would be the only Christian in his family. I hope that God answers his prayers.

We thought we flooded the engine of the car when we drove though a deep puddle on a super rainy day. Firemen were closing the street so people wouldn't suffer like us. Elder Warner got out of the car and pushed as I steered. Three firemen helped push the car to a safe road. We thought the car was ruined for sure. All we did was wait a few days and it dried out and started again. Thank the Lord!

Since our car wouldn’t start we had to walk to church on Sunday. It seemed like it took forever. I may have served in a walking area for nine months but my muscles forgot about that. It's all good.

I told you briefly that we went to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was a great trip in which we had so much fun. All the Elders I came out with are so excited to go home. As for me I honestly know it’s coming soon but I don't let it distract me. I know I go home soon but I won't go home until my time is done. Elder Warner and I are working hard and doing our best. We oversee a very small struggling branch. We hope to see more families get baptized so we can have a Primary [Sunday School for children]. There is one young man and no young women to my knowledge. So there's a lot of work to be done but we can only do one thing at a time.

March 1, 2010

Sweet googally boogally aaaahh, what a life I have!

Every time someone asks me if I'm going home soon I tell them that they heard a rumor and someone lied to them. I am most excited to see my nephews and niece. That will be swell. Maybe I'll cry like you Mom.

So it snows a ton sometimes and then melts and snows again. The weather here is awful. I love when I get snow in my shoes when I walk over and through snow mounds.

Well this week was as good as any other. We have been working hard to help Sushil progress. He's our investigator from Nepal which is above India. I didn't realize it till just recently that he's only 18 and still in high school. We've tried so hard to get him to church for the past month and nothing works out. We've set up ride and he didn't want to go. Then we showed him on a map how to walk to church and he got lost on the way. This past Sunday we were going to walk with him to make sure he gets there. He grandpa died a few days before this and he had to help plan for his funeral. Anyway those are all obstacles he's had to deal with to just come to church. At least he still wants to come. He's progressed a lot since I've been here in Elizabeth. He knows what he's been taught is true he just has to understand the need to get baptized again.

I had a good experience when I was asked to teach the Priesthood lesson. I'm not used to teaching big groups and topics that I don't often study. I taught from Ann Dibb’s talk last conference called Hold On. She talked about how people were painting a bridge and they weren't using their safety harness. When the scaffolding broke some died and others had to hang on a 1 inch lip of steel for over an hour. She compared that to how we need our safety equipment to help us. We need living prophets, personal prayer, scriptures, and the Holy Ghost. I prepared as best I could and prayed to God that I would fill up an hour. I stuck to my outline most of the time but then I started talking about other points I didn't even think of sharing. I asked good questions, had the class participating, and bore testimony. When I looked back on it later I couldn't give any credit to myself. God helped me when I really needed it. People loved the lesson. It was a great lesson to me to do your part to prepare then ask God to help you with the rest. I really really prayed for help a lot and God helped guide me.

That was my biggest story of the week. Other than that we try to do a lot of less-active and former investigator work and it’s worked out well here. We are doing our very best and trying to improve.

That's all I have for this week. Have a blessed day.

February 22, 2010

This week was good as any before it. I got a new companion named Elder Warner from Midvale Utah. This past October during General Conference he told me that we'd be companions. He was right. He's really cool. It's always hard to get used to working with a completely different person. So far so good. We are working hard and he has a lot of member missionary work ideas that worked in his last area of Newark.

The Elizabeth branch needs this kind of encouragement. I love the branch but I can't deny that it is struggling in lack of leadership and responsible people. I hope as we do member missionary work that this branch will grow as we help people join the church. We are doing our best to build our teaching pool. I've never had so much success in teaching former investigators. It’s a different way to work and it’s been very good here.

This week we met with Dorthea a former investigator. We've been able to recently start teaching her again. She's very receptive and loves to see us. She and her husband are in their 70's. She's the one that said I had a sanctified look on my face.

We almost got our investigator Sushil to church this week. We think he must have got lost on the way. He's from Nepal which is above India. He's 18 and goes to a local high school. He's pretty much the only one in his family that can speak good enough English. So far we've taught a few main lessons and he says he knows it’s true. The decision he's having a hard time with is to know if he needs to be baptized again. He was born Hindu and was baptized in that religion. I haven't asked him how that is exactly done.

Lately we haven't heard much from Wellington. He has been investigating long before I got here. He knows our set appointment each week at the church and he didn't show up for our last appointment. He has called in the past and told us if he couldn't make it. We waited for him to call and so far nothing. We baked brownies this week and left it on their door step. Hopefully that will soften his heart. This is not like him at all.

This past Saturday we got to go to a Seventh Day Adventist Church. We were invited to go by a media referral. We found out he is the recent promoted Elder for the church. It was a Spanish church so we had a translator. Out of all the church's I've been to this one had the most true doctrine. Most of the sermons I've heard are spiritless except for the hymns. We hope to later share more about what we both believe. During the service he praised us and he had us stand up. He told the church that we knock on doors preaching the Word no matter what the weather is. So that was way cool.

This week we also had dinner with some other former investigators named Greg and Judith. There from the Unification Church. They had their friend cook for us and he is a chef. Everything we ate looked pretty. I had to eat fish—gross.

February 15, 2010

I don't have much time to write. Since it was a holiday yesterday we didn't get to go to the library. In other news transfers are today and Elder Jackman is getting transferred. So I'll have a new companion in a few hours. I'm sad he's leaving because I thought he would be my last companion. Someone else will have to deal with me till the end. I just hope we get along. Me and Elder Jackman sure did. I'm a little overwhelmed because I've only been in this area for one transfer and I have to know where everything is and really help direct what we teach since the new Elder will be lost for a few days.

This past transfer has been really good. We've had the most success in starting to re-teach a few former investigators and a few of them are progressing well. We started to teach Greg and Judith. Judith is a less-active member and Greg is not a member. They came to church on Sunday. It was the first investigator at church this transfer. They said they might come and they did. They loved church and were fellowshipped well. Plus they told us they plan to feed us in our next visit. This kind of work is new to me but it is where we are having the most success.

Sorry, I’m out of time.

February 08, 2010

Don't worry about me being trunky. I almost never think about home unless someone asks about it.

One thing to note is that my mission was supposed to end March 30, 2010. President Bahr has extended it one more day because the departing missionaries get to bare testimony for the new missionaries at transfer conference. Plus there would be one night in which I would spend the night at the Bahr's home before everyone else flies home. So I don't know how that works exactly with the days. Please call Sister Lamb to make sure you buy the tickets for the right days.

Now that business is over this week is fine. Wellington is stuck still with his wife's disapproval of him coming to church. We gave him a comfort blessing to help. Even though he's going through so much just so he can come a few times a month he hasn't given up when most people would. I'm surprised at his persistence in trying to get through to his wife. He tells us weekly that his wife doesn’t believe in what we are doing, but he sure does. We committed him to read the Book of Mormon daily to get direction. We hope and pray that his wife’s heart will be softened.

We had a great experience this week with a lesson. We got to teach this man named Leroy. We met him on the street and he asked us if we believe that Jesus is God. We said we don't, the Godhead are separate beings all unified. We had a lesson recently and through his own studies of the Bible he believes the Godhead is separate. I can't explain everything that happened but it was cool to see someone did that much soul searching for truth. He just ate up most of what we taught him.

We got to sing at an area conference with all the missionaries in the mission. We did it for a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy. It was a great conference and I got to see a lot of members from my past three areas. I knew at least 30 people. It felt good to see that they hadn't forgotten about me.

That’s all I have this week.

February 1, 2010

The email I started was deleted so that’s frustrating. Well I have a new email address: shawn.farrer@_ _ _.net It had to be changed because Myldsmail has been updated.

Wellington is doing well. We can’t do much for him except to pray. His wife doesn’t want him to see us or come to church. I pray that her heart is softened.

We've had a lot of success with following up on former investigators. One older couple named Dorthea and Frank let us in. She had questions about the Plan of Salvation. The missionaries before didn't get to teach it yet. She wondered what happened after death. We taught some of the Plan of Salvation which answered her questions. During the lesson she paid me the greatest complement ever. "You have a sanctified look about you. When you look at me when you teach I feel you want me to listen. It looks like you really believe in what you’re doing. Is that right?" I answered, "Yes." When we left her home she said, "With a face like that I know the Holy Spirit was in my home." She could tell by looking at me that I live what I believe. That was definitely the highlight of the week.

Because so much of the email that I started was deleted I don't have time to fill in what was lost.

January 25, 2010

There are a few members [in our branch] from Haiti that had family members die in the earthquake. Not too many of their family members died. I heard one member was lucky enough to hear most of her family has survived. I hope the church can help a lot of people there. Me and Elder Jackman have been to a few other churches and they all are trying to make a lot of donations to help out. It seems everyone is trying to help.

This week was really good. We are looking for people to teach because our teaching pool is very small. We have seen some great success in finding some prepared people. A 12-year-old boy ordered a church video awhile back. We had never met him till this week. His name is Willie Harden. His Mom opened the door and was just fine with us teaching him. We were able to teach him the Restoration discussion. We found out that he's done a lot of research on different Christian churches. His Mom was glad that we came by and told us that he's home schooled so we could stop by pretty much any time before 4:00 pm. She also said she'll join us next time. So not only does she want us there she wants us to come by any time. Hooray!

I don't think I've told you about our branch mission leader Brother Harrison. He does a great job doing his calling and helps us out but he's completely less-active and doesn’t come to church. He tells us he'll see us at church but doesn’t come. Sometimes he'll say he's sick on Saturday and can't come on Sunday. He has his reasons. It’s just an interesting situation. I love the guy, he just needs to be active.

One of the coolest things that happened this week is that we checked up on a former investigator and he was happy to continue to investigate. Elder Jackman asked for a referral or someone else we could teach or help. He referred us to a lady that is having a tough time. He gave us some false directions but we did find her. He told us to look for the super small house with the lady that rides a bike. We saw a lady standing outside her home with a bike so we knew it was her. Her name is Caroline. We asked if she wanted to hear more about Jesus Christ. We taught her the Restoration discussion. When Elder Jackman told her about Joseph Smith’s First Vision she said, "It’s true, it happened, I can feel it." She's probably in her late 60's or early 70's. We her taught a very simple lesson and never used any scriptures. She was very open. We hope to teach her again soon.

Since church starts at 1:30 pm we have a few hours on Sunday mornings before church starts. We went to an Episcopal church to see what that was like. I loved the hymns because they’re very old like ours. I wish I could share more about it but I don’t have enough time. I felt the spirit while singing the hymns but not at all after. So when I went to church in our branch I felt enlightened and uplifted. It was a black and white difference. Elder Jackman saw the Pastor munching on the rest of the sacrament during the service. Having different church experiences has made me appreciate our church more. I've learned a lot and seen some truth.

That’s all I have this week. Thank you for the other Elder Farrer's [his cousin Boman who is on a mision in North Carolina] email address.

January 19, 2010

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day so no libraries were open. We had to wait until today to send email. [My new companion] Elder Jackman is from La Quinta California. I believe that is in southern California. I intend to make the rest of my time here the best. I don't plan to slow down in doing my best.

Last Sunday Elder Jackman and I went to a Baptist church to see what it was like. [He wrote about that in his last email.] There was a list of people on the church’s program that were sick and the preacher suggested the people needed a visit. So we decided to visit all the people we could from their list. We never told them how we knew their name we only offered our help. Some said they’re not interested in help but one did set an appointment with us and he was impressed that we offered to help when they needed it. We also met some other prepared people while we were in that area. So it was nice being where God needed us to be.

Right now in our area we are trying to build up our teaching pool. We have a few progressing investigators. We set a baptismal date with Wellington. We are trying to soften the heart of his wife. She isn't very fond of us at all. It’s hard for Wellington to make just one visit a week because his wife doesn’t like us to come to their house. He is open to the truth and is doing well. We hope he can come to church at least two times because that is required to be baptized.

There are a few members in the Branch that have family in Haiti. Because of the large earthquake there some of their family members were killed. So it has been a really hard time for some of them. Since we don't watch TV I really don't know how bad the damage was but I know it was bad enough to kill a lot of people.

That’s all I have for this week I hope all is well.

January 11, 2010

So I got transferred to Elizabeth, NJ, with Elder Jackman. Elizabeth is right next to Bayonne and next to Bayonne is NYC. Elizabeth is a port town where huge cargo ships the size of a football field are loaded full of goods that travel overseas to the world. There are these huge crane like machines that pick up cargo containers the same size as a semi truck. It’s pretty cool to watch. Elder Jackman like Elder Kempler is from California. They are nothing alike at all. Elder Kempler reminded me of Clarke never serious and a goofball. Elder Jackman is very laid back like me so we get along just fine.

Elizabeth is nothing like East Orange at all. There is a mix of different races, mostly Spanish. We have a car which I've never been so thankful to have one. We don't get to walk much at all except when we're tracking. I haven't tracked at all since before I came to East Orange because all we did was check up on people. I enjoy being warm in the car when it’s so cold outside.

We don't have many investigators that we're working with so we are looking to build up our teaching pool. We get people’s information but they never call back or answer their door. Both Elder Jackman and I are determined to work hard for good investigators and finding the elect. We have seen two people show some interest so we'll have to build off that.

One of our best investigators is named Wellington. He can only meet with us once a week and is trying to adjust his work schedule so he can come to church. His faith in the Book of Mormon has grown. His wife doesn't like us at all and it was a battle between them to let us see him once a week. It seems like his coming to church would be out of the question. We'll see what happens when we ask her to cook dinner for us. Maybe we could answer some of her concerns.

One of the councilors to the Branch President comes out with us to appointments all the time. He's only been off his mission for a few years. His knowledge of the gospel surprises me. Church for us starts at 1:30 pm now so we have a lot of time before church begins. We passed a church called Union Baptist Church. Elder Jackman asked me "You wanna go in for church?" "O yeah!" It was so much fun. There was a lot of singing before the service started. People were yelling amen and hallelujah. Everyone except us was black. The ushers welcomed us warmly. There was an all old lady choir in front of the congregation which started to sing. The one man in the choir had his time to shine as he sang a line and everyone copied him. There was the organ being played as someone was praying for 10 minutes. I couldn't help but to smile the whole time. I was happy and excited but no spirit was present. They had all visitors stand up. We both stood up with one other black man and the whole congregation cheered for us. So we had a wonderful time and felt most welcome but it was a relief to go to our church. No one at the LDS church was randomly playing the tambourine.

Congratulations Dan and Sara with Bella. So Bella was born and I have another niece and two nephews I've never seen before in my life. For all I know they all could be adopted.

Well I'm sorry to hear about Ben's wife’s father passing away. I hope that goes well and I wish the best for them.

Thank you for the prophesied care package. I look forward to seeing pictures of Bella. That is about it. Thank you all.

January 04, 2010

We got a call this morning and I'm getting transferred tomorrow. I don't know where I'll be going until transfer conference tomorrow. I'm not sad to leave but I wouldn't have minded if they left me here. I look forward to being with a different companion and a new area. I know the members in the East Orange Branch will miss me since I became like a member of the Branch. So this means I'll be going to my last area and probably my last companion.

I went on a great exchange with an Elder in my district named Elder Sopena'. He's from a Spanish speaking country so he was able to share the gospel with every Spanish speaking person we met. That was very useful because we met some very prepared people that only spoke Spanish. If I was with Elder Kempler we would not be able to be lead to them. We got a few names and addresses and we gave them as referrals to the Spanish Elders in Newark.

As we were checking up on a few people we ran out of planned people to see. So I thought to myself what do we do now? I had a thought come to me to visit Sharlene but then I remembered that she's never home at night, only mornings. But I followed the prompting anyway. Sharlene wasn't home but we met a man that was on his way to the hospital for an appointment. He said that he just moved up here a few days ago from South Jersey. I felt really good around him so I knew that this was the man that God needed us to share the Gospel with.

On the way home we always pass by a fried chicken place. I said to Elder Sopena', “Do you want to eat?” We went in for the first time and ordered. We met this other guy named Derrick that was also interested in the church so we got his contact information. These were small miracles but it was a good lesson to always follow spiritual promptings. If we had not followed the spirit we wouldn't have got that man’s information.

I think I told you about Pastor Franky. We attended a few of his Bible studies a month ago. We were able to share the Restoration once with them before they left to the Philippians for a month. They came back a few days ago and we were again able to share the Gospel. This time we taught the Plan of Salvation. It was very powerful and the spirit was there as we testified of the truth. We made sure to use Bible verses so he and his wife could see the connections. He accepted our beliefs very well. Elder Kempler was very brave and followed the spiritual prompting to invite him to accept baptism. He politely said no the spirit says not to but if God does tell me to I will. So that is so cool that we are teaching a Born-again Pentecostal Christian pastor. He said he is willing to learn from us if we are willing to learn from him. Well, it’s a deal, I hope it goes well in the future.

Next week I'll let you know where I was transferred to and who my new companion is.

December 28, 2009

What else can be said when I just talked to you on Christmas? I had a few experiences this week I wanted to share with you. I told you about caroling in downtown Newark. That was so much fun to be able to sing Christmas carols with 30 missionaries. Some people gave us some weird looks but most really appreciated us doing that. I definitely wouldn't walk those streets alone. It would be very unsafe.

We finished up all the lessons with Britta Saturday night. It went very well. We didn't have much time because our district leader Elder O'Gwin was coming to give her a baptism interview. Elder O'Gwin used to be my companion in North Bergen. Britta struggled the most with believing in God. She told us during the last lesson that she did believe in God. We learned later that she only said that because she didn't want to disappoint us. Elder O'Gwin did a great job asking the right questions and helped her open up more. She really thought about how God has blessed her and she said finally that she did believe in God. So she passed the interview.

We gave her the option of choosing who she wanted to baptize her. She surprised us and chose Elder Consuli who lives with us to baptize her. Even though Elder Consuli is older in the mission, he's never baptized anyone. He always gave that opportunity to someone else. He was very honored to do it and we were very excited for him. The water was warm at the beginning and then turned glacier cold.

It was such a blessing to see Britta’s whole conversion process. We were able to see her start getting taught, become converted, and then see her get baptized. I know God sends prepared people in our path so we can show them the way back to Heavenly Father.

That’s all I have for you this week.

December 21, 2009

This week was wondrous. All of us a few zones at a time got to go to the Mission home and we all had a Christmas brunch breakfast. I got to see Elder Rydalch and we sat next to each other as we ate. He asked about all the people we worked with together. We all as a companionship made our own ornaments to put on the tree. We did ours early morning before we had to leave for the brunch. I had the idea to make a house out of pass along cards. We did and we left it open so you could see our pictures in it. The food was good as always and the Bahrs gave us all very nice wooden plaques that had a quote on it.

We've had an investigator that lives in a building project. Projects are very dangerous places to live. People are smoking weed in the lobby and a few people have been killed. Anyway we've tried our hardest to get a hold of Julie but her sister Sandra has shown more interest. So we are focusing on Sandra more.

We had our Temple trip this past Friday. After the temple we saw the Rockefeller Center where there is the big Christmas tree and ice skating rink. There was a huge line of people waiting to skate. The decorations were so vibrant. People here are crazy for not wearing any hats when it’s so furiously cold.

The greatest news this week is about Britta. We still plan for her baptism to be on the 27th of December. We are trying to finish the lessons up but she still struggles with gaining a testimony of the basics the Godhead. She is praying and feeling the spirit as she reads the Book of Mormon. We just have to connect the dots and let her know that feeling the spirit is God's way of telling you He's real and loves you. She only has time for two more appointments before Sunday. We hope and pray we'll be able to cover everything. Britta is so cool in her own way. She is a professional trombone player and teacher in a few instruments. She played some familiar Christmas songs on her trombone. Plus she's the one white person in Newark that I know of.

Something else that’s been going on is that we are trying to work in the top part of our area. It’s a lot richer and we hope to find more committed people there. Most of the people I've worked with here are not solid and don't know how to say, “I'm not interested.” So we get their way of saying they’re not interested when they don't show up for appointments or don't call us back. We take a light rail train all the way to the top of our area and we're going to see all the less actives and former investigators.

It snowed finally. It was only six inches but that was enough to cancel church. So for service we shoveled a few members’ driveways. That felt good to do.

I'm not sure when I'll call on Christmas Day so I'll call Christmas eve and let you know when. I too am very excited to talk with you soon. Dan wrote and said he looks forward to talking with me but he'll be all the way in Wyoming. So maybe he can call on your cell and you can put him on speaker. I wonder if you can do that for all my siblings.

That’s all I have to say so I'll talk to you on Friday. [LDS Missionaries can only call home on Christmas and Mother's Day.]

December 14, 2009

This week was awesome. We have been teaching Britta our very white investigator that lives in a very black town called Newark. She's a private band teacher and tutor and she also plays in symphonies on request. We've taught her for some time now. Her growth has been amazing to see. She didn't have a religion background at all. So she struggled at first about understanding the Godhead and their relationship. We've been able to help her recognize the spirit and connect the dots.

She had been out of town for a few weeks and didn't call us the whole time so we were worried. This week we reviewed 2 Nephi 31 which talks about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We focused on baptism being needed to be saved. We also taught the Word of Wisdom which she was willing to follow. She could see the blessings for following it and that it brings spiritual blessings. We told her that the Word of Wisdom is proof that Joseph Smith was a prophet because there was no way to prove that smoking was bad for you back then. God knows our needs and gave Joseph Smith that revelation to bless us. I asked her, “Will you follow the Word of Wisdom?” And she said Yes.

She feels the spirit as she reads the Book of Mormon but wondered why it doesn't last. She wants to feel the spirit 7 days a week and not 3. We told her that in order to feel the spirit more often one needs the Gift of the Holy Ghost. You need to keep the commandments and the spirit will be with you always. You get this after you are baptized and its only possible because the gospel was restored. By the spirit I was able to invite her to be baptized. She accepted! We set a date with her for December 27 which is the last Sunday of this transfer. Yesterday she got to see the other Elders’ investigator get baptized. This was the best thing for her to see because now she really wants to get baptized. She knows this is something she wants to do.

The most random thing happened during Sacrament meeting yesterday. David Archuleta who competed in American Idol sat in for part of our Sacrament meeting. He's a member of the Church. We found out later that he was here because he is on tour singing the songs on his new CD. One of the counselors knew who he was and called upon him to sing for us. So he sang “How Great Thou Art” with no piano and no hymn book, it was all from memory. It was AWESOME because he got so loud. All the little girls attacked him after church and Elder Kempler took a picture of him with a sister in the branch. Then he quickly got in the car with his agent and left. I didn't get a picture with him or of him. It was weird having him show up.

I haven't got the [birthday] package yet so I'll probably get it tomorrow at District meeting. I have done some Christmas shopping and I will be sending a box today. I even bought presents for my nephews. I thought of everyone as I selected gifts. When you get it, open it because I want you to see the pictures I have in my memory cards. The sooner you look at them the sooner I can have new memory for my camera. I haven't received the Oldham's card or your card ether. I got cards from Aunt Bunny, G'ma and G'pa Farrer, and G'ma and G'pa Davis, and a random family in your ward. Don't worry, I sent them all Thank You cards.

I'll wait to sign up for the ACT because Elder Kempler just took it this past Saturday. I asked a teacher when the next one is and she said it would be in February. So if I stay another transfer I'll sign up because we are so close to the high school. If I sign up now and I get transferred nowhere near this high school it would be inconvenient. I had to wait four hours till Elder Kempler was done. I studied the scriptures for two hours and I couldn't do any more. Then I organized a mountain of pictures in a photo album. So I used my time wisely.

December 07, 2009

I'm not sure even where to start. I haven't got the package yet but I'll most likely get it tomorrow or the next day. That’s definitely something I look forward to. Latifa and her kids baked me a fresh chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. They later sang Happy B-day over the
phone. So I had a very happy birthday.

We got this new investigator named Rozzie F. She's 84 years old and tells us the same stories of her life every time we see her. She told us she's still really sad that her only son died of lung cancer a few years back. I felt inspired to read from Alma 28:11-14 which talks about the resurrection. It talks about two different kinds of people. Unbelievers were sad to see their friends die in battle because they thought death was the end. Believers in the Gospel were sad because of all the death but they were comforted in their knowledge of the resurrection. So I told her death is not the end. It’s hard to know if she understands but I think that brought her some peace of mind.

This is a somewhat funny story. We were invited by a man named Owen to teach him in his home. When we got there he was on the porch about to walk in the house. We stopped him and asked if he's ready for us. He's visiting from Nigeria and is staying at his parent’s house. His parents didn't want us to teach him in their home because they hate us. We shared the Restoration as far as we could. When we were almost done his mother rudely demanded that we leave. Elder Kempler said "He's a grown man." She said "I'm his mother." Owen didn't stand up for himself when he was interested in being taught. We had to leave quickly and had no choice at all. As we were praying she was complaining and told us to leave. How disrespectful!

Right after we walked away on old potential investigator we tried working with approached us and asked for help. She was super drunk and wanted help to stop drinking. Her brother is a recovering alcoholic and told her where there is a free rehab clinic. We scheduled an appointment to see her. Thankfully when we did see her she wasn't drunk. We had to explain things very simply. What I thought was simple we had to break down. She wanted to know how the Restoration will help her quit drinking. We told her God will help you overcome all trails because Jesus Christ suffered for all our sins and knows how you feel. That was a great experience.

We watched the Christmas devotional with my favorite family in our branch—the Hinds family. We didn't expect her to feed us Thanksgiving leftovers. So we had Thanksgiving dinner all over again. We ate nearly all of what she gave us. I ate more that Elder Kempler and we were both pretty hungry.

I’m sorry to hear Grandpa Farrer fell down and had to go to the hospital. I hope that he is recovering well. I want to thank G'ma and G'pa Farrer, G'pa and G'ma Davis, and Aunt Bunny for the money they sent for my birthday. I want to buy my family Christmas presents, so what do people want for Christmas in my family? Let me know because I may start shopping today. Please let me know Bo's email so I can write him.

November 30, 2009

Well, I didn't get transferred and I'm still here in East Orange with Elder Kempler. This means that by the time this transfer ends I'll have been here for nine months. I surely thought I was going to leave. Usually we get a fax Saturday night and we leave Wednesday morning. So on Sunday you can tell everyone that you’re leaving. This time we got the fax Monday night and we would have left Wednesday morning. So I said goodbye on Sunday expecting to leave. My zone leader said he was told by the AP's that they plan to keep me here till the end of my mission. I don't know if that is true but I wouldn't mind if they did. I'm happy that I get to stay for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. We had to eat twice on Thanksgiving and
had to make them believe that we were hungry both times. I didn't get sick thankfully.

We met this really cool media referral named Roberta. As we were working we didn’t any appointments and Roberta called and wanted her free Book of Mormon. We met her outside her home and gave her the book. She was very excited to read it. She always makes time to read the Bible daily. She says she knows the truth when she feels it in her spirit. She loves the fact that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. She's very open to receive more spiritual knowledge. She doesn’t like it when people don't want to learn more about other religions. She thinks they shouldn't have an opinion on something they know nothing about. Her Mom and Dad died when she was 13 she has read the Bible every day since then. She said the Book of Mormon is all she has left. We both said to each other, “she'll be baptized this transfer if we work really hard."

A lot of things happened on Saturday that I don't want to forget. We visit a less active member named Sam every week. As we share a spiritual thought as we sit on his comfortable couch. Elder Kempler fell asleep and had his head face down toward his chest. The funny thing was he was drooling down his tie big time. There was a river of drool dripping down almost the full length of his tie. I laughed at him then and after the appointment.

Later that day we had a big spiritual experience. We met this man named Ali on the street. He first showed a lot of respect for us for showing what we believe is important by talking to everyone. He's been church going all his life but also falls short by smoking weed and other things. He says he knows better and he wants to change. Then I felt like God just filled me with the Spirit and used me to teach him. He asked, "What made you want to serve God so strongly when people our age are wanting to please themselves?" I told him, “I know what we share blesses lives and families. We've been given power and authority from God to do what we do. Plus a Prophet of God has called us to this work. Our message not only centers on the Bible but also the Book of Mormon. God has restored needed knowledge and has given us new scripture. If you find out that the Book of Mormon is true will you be baptized?” He said, “Yes.” Then I told him, “I know you’re willing to change but it is solely up to you to do what we ask you to do. Will you come to church tomorrow?” He said yes, but he didn't come to church. But it was still a great experience. I hope that in the long run people like Roberta and Ali will progress. I've seen plenty of prepared people say they are ready and some of them don't go the distance for some reason. I pray that they will.

November 23, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

[In our last email we asked what he wanted for his birthday and Christmas.]
Your idea for the boxes of small Idaho gifts is a great idea. I'm not sure how many you want to make but I would hate to not have enough to give to everyone. I think the best thing to do is make one for me, my companion, and the two other Elders who live with us.

As far as my birthday goes I have all the winter clothes needed to keep warm. I really liked that creamed or whipped honey from Shelly Idaho. It had a big bee on the logo. [Cox’s Honey] Your apple butter sounds amazing. I love Quaker Oats granola. It comes in a blue box, it has NO RAISINS, and costs $5.00 a box. Last Christmas you sent a grow your own Christmas tree. I planted it and it actually worked. When I was in North Bergen it had grown an inch tall but the wind blew it off the window ledge and there was nothing left in the small pot. So one of those would be good. I know you'll send ties. I’d like old school ties from the 70's that are thick with crazy patterns and are abstract in every way. You can send things that are useful or whatever reminds you of me.

Most of all, I don't have much personal funds. I don't think it’s my place to transfer money myself. Please put some money there just in case I want to buy something to remember New Jersey.

Just to let you know, transfers are this Wednesday and we find out who's getting transferred tonight. Chances are high that I will leave because this is my fifth transfer here in East Orange. I saw Elder Rydalch at choir practice and a “little bird” told him I was leaving. So it is to be expected. The new area will probably be my last area.

One Miracle we saw this week was on this past Saturday night. Lately every Saturday night we've joined in on a Bible study of a Pentecostal Born Again group. How do those even relate? Before the study even starts they sing their church songs which are very upbeat compared to our hymns. Pastor Frankie plays the guitar as everyone else rocks out in the name of Jesus. Hearing Pastor Frankie pray was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. As he prayed everyone else was chanting whatever they wanted to say; Amen!, Lord Jesus!, Praise the Lord!, or Thank You Lord!. The first time totally caught us off guard and it was sooo hard not to laugh. The second week we still laughed during the prayer. As we all held hands Elder Kempler rubbed our hands on his side. That made me laugh out loud, softly.

This past Saturday no one but us showed up for bible study but us. So we asked if we could finally share with Pastor Frankie. We taught him the Restoration lesson and it went very well. Whenever we asked him a question he would lecture us for awhile then we would continue teaching. By the end he was willing to read the Book of Mormon and then he said he found no real difference in our religion. So we'll have to explain there are some very big differences. So, long story short, we're teaching a pastor from the Philippines. They feed us good food.

Let me know Bo's [Elder Boman Farrer] email so I can write him.

November 9, 2009

This was last week’s email that I tried to send but I ran out of time. As you saw I wasn't successful in sending it out.

I had a great week this week. Last Monday we did a mission hike. President Bahr chose a hiking trail near Morristown. We hiked a somewhat large hill. Since we walk everywhere I had no problem walking a few miles up the hill. The whole mission was there so I got to take lots of pics with Elder Rydalch. It's amazing to know how much I love Elder Rydalch now that we're not together anymore.

One of the greatest appointments we had this week was with Ruben. He was dropped as a potential investigator two transfers ago. He was in his car and saw us walking and wanted to meet with us again. He said he needed to change for the better. We thought we would be able to teach him but he need to vent to us. He told us his life story in which he grew up as a foster child. His foster parents pretty much raised him to be a gangster. His foster family didn't teach him right from wrong. He has sold drugs and he shot anyone that offended him. Someone stabbed him in a fight and he stabbed him back eight times. He was a DJ in Brooklyn and sometimes made $1,500 a night. He bought whatever he wanted; cars, $400 shoes, etc. All his friends were involved with drugs. His girlfriend inspired him to change for the better. So slowly he stopped selling drugs and guns. Plus he quit smoking and drinking. Now he feels better as he earns what he buys. He's proud of what he has because he worked hard for it. He stays away from people that are a bad influence. Overall he wants to change even more than he already has.

We encouraged him to come to church, pray, and read the Book of Mormon to help resist temptation. Last time Elder Rydalch and I saw him he had guns hidden everywhere in his apartment, in the ceiling and furniture. He had illegal guns too, like AK 47s which is what the Soviet army and terrorists use. He just barely got rid of all those guns. That really was interesting. He trusts us and we felt no fear sitting with him.

As Elder Kempler and I were walking we found three bags of coke on the ground. We opened them and emptied all of them and stomped on the bags on the ground so no could use it. I asked a few gangster friends how much there worth and they cost $10 each. In other towns they are worth $60 each.

I think I've written before about Brionne one of our investigators. She explained to us why she's been missing church and appointments. We've been helping her try to quit smoking. She relapsed big time with weed. She gets $140 a month in welfare and she spent it all on weed then smoked it. She got 16 bags of it. Each bag fits in the middle of the palm of your hand. She smoked it all in a few days. We put a list of goals together to help her change her life. She said she's willing to do anything to quit drugs.

November 17, 2009

This week was also good. Again I don't have as much time as I'd like but it’s better than nothing.

Yesterday we moved. In the apartment building we live in there are three floors. We used to live on the third floor. We switched floors with the members that live on the second floor. It took up all of our P-day yesterday so we had no time to do anything else. The only cool thing about our new apartment is the painting job is prettier and we have a small balcony porch. The members go to church in the Spanish speaking branch in Newark because they are from Brazil. They will most likely move in the long run because they can’t afford the rent anymore. So they wanted us to have the better apartment.

If you can forward my emails to Bo and Bob [cousins] that would be great.

November 02, 2009

Elder Kempler is from Orange California. I find him to be a lot like Clarke in that he laughs at himself we he sees himself being goofy. He's soooo cool and it doesn’t help that he can be just as distracted as me, so some things don't get done quickly. I find myself being the one getting us back on track. That’s hard enough for me to accomplish.

There are a few experiences I want to share with you this week. We dropped a potential investigator named Steven because he never returned our calls and was never home. He was investigating the Church in Jersey City when I was in North Bergen. The sisters that taught him had him very close to baptism. I saw him at church when I was there. He's a gang member and has killed two people. He's been stabbed a few times and shot in the leg all the way through. He stopped us on the way to an appointment. He just got out of jail for carrying a "poker" or a knife. He showed me his new knife that he was carrying. He recently bought a car for $19,000 and had no money left. His car broke down with no gas and flat tire. He needed to get a custom tool to get the lug nuts off the wheels. He said he wanted to go back to selling drugs again. I told him "As your friend I love you." He said "I respect that." I told him, “You just got out of jail. If you’re caught selling drugs you may never get out of jail. I thought you were done gang banging. You have a choice to not get involved again.” He showed me his new stab wound and he had many scratches on his face from fighting. He said he's invincible. I told him, “No, you’re not." He didn't take my advice. I got his new number and he left. I feel God always puts me in his path. Since I've had contact with him here he's moved three times and changed numbers many times. I feel I'm his only connection for a good influence. He said he doesn’t like friends because they slow him down. He didn't say I wasn't his friend. I do my best to help him change. He was doing very well for awhile and had two jobs and was staying out of trouble. As soon as he gets out of jail he wants to go back to his old ways.

Today the whole mission gathered at a hiking place. We all took lots of pictures and had a great time. A few days ago that I found out what the “Format All” option is on my camera. I said OK and it deleted nearly 4 GB of videos and pics. I was so depressed for a day and learned my lesson never to do that again. So I took a bunch of pics to make up for what I lost.

I need to know what Elder Plumb’s and Elder Farrer’s addresses are at the MTC so I can write them a letter.

October 26, 2009

You asked about my shoes, they are just fine. My black Liahona shoes are the most wore down. The heels have holes and in the middle of both shoes is a small opening where water can get through. So I can't wear them in the rain. I have another pair of black shoes that I still need to put holes in. I only wear my brown Liahona shoes on Sundays so I'm good with shoes, thanks.

We had a great lesson with our investigator Ranee. She’s really hard to get a hold of because her phone never works. We were able to sit down and have a lesson. We had a great review of the Restoration. We helped her understand what the Spirit is. We asked if she's ever felt it before. She said she did once before in church. I asked her if she's felt the spirit as we've taught her. She said she did. We asked her if that means what we've taught comes from God? Yes. Do you believe that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet? From what I've read, yes. We want your family to join us so they can learn of the truth. She was ok with that. In between all this we asked her to be baptized. She said I've already been baptized. We explained about the Apostasy and the need for authority to make baptism valid. She understood and told us she wants her husband and kids baptized too.

A few appointments ago she told us the church she was going to was talking bad about Joseph Smith and him not being a prophet. She asked how can they be so sure that he's not a prophet? We told her you need to read Book of Mormon and that is the proof that he is a prophet.

We had another great lesson was with Britta our very white investigator in the very black city of Newark. We are building her faith in the very basics: there is a God, Jesus is the Savior of the world, and the Holy Ghost testifies of truth. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She told us she had no religious background growing up. That explains a lot of things. We helped her realize that she's exercised faith by praying to God for help in understanding the homework we left her. She said she got more out of the study than if she never prayed at all. So that we said that is evidence that God is real. She's repenting because she knows she needs to pray more daily. When she did pray daily in the past she had more spiritual promptings. Because she hasn't been praying she doesn’t get as many spiritual promptings.

We told her that getting baptized shows faith and you need it to get into heaven. The gift of the Holy Ghost will be with you always and not just part of the time as long as you’re worthy of it. You need to repent to keep the spirit with you and endure to the end. Repeat all these steps to the end and you'll have Eternal Life. We have been blessed to always have members come with us to teach her and it helps so much.

A couple in the other Elders’ area got married by our Branch President on Saturday. The so called photographers didn't take any pictures compared to me. I really found a lot of joy taking pictures of everyone and I did a video of the whole ceremony. It was so much fun. What was hard was they were married in the Primary room and the reception was in the chapel. So I couldn't take pictures of them sitting down or cutting the cake. They should have been married in the chapel and had the reception in the Primary room.

We invited a dozen people to church and no one called back or they said they had other plans. As I called more people I prayed out loud in the hall that someone would come to church. Sister Boon planned to not attend church because of work. She surprised me and called back later and said she changed her mind. Whatever business that was going to happen was cancelled. Plus my prayer was answered when she brought two of her neighbors to church.

Mattie and her daughter loved church and they want to be taught. Mattie wants a Book of Mormon and a Gospel Principles book. Since Elder Kempler and I have been together I showed him the ghetto ropes. There nothing much he can do to help me plan because we have a sea of potential investigators we are working with. We counted at least 90 people including investigators, potential investigators, and less active members. As we walk around I point out where people live and that’s helping him learn the area. But the majority of the lead is me in lesson focus and the work in general. I feel the weight of responsibility more than ever. It’s not that Elder Kempler isn't helping at all but I hope I can teach him to help me. He doesn't have ADD like me but he does get distracted as often as me and that’s not a good combo. I do my best to try to refocus us both but it’s not easy. I ask the Lord to help me to focus so I can bring people the truth effectively and not think of Dragon Ball Z too much.

Love your ADD son, who is doing his best, but still needs to improve.

October 19, 2009

Transfers were this week and Elder Rydalch was transfered to Sparta. It’s out in the country and you often see deer and bears. He's spent the first year of his mission in the Newark area so it’s the complete opposite.

My new companion is Elder Kempler from southern California. Unlike me and Elder Rydalch, we already knew each other. Elder Kempler is 6' 6" so he's super tall but not as tall as my trainer Elder Wenzel who's 6' 8". I've been out only one transfer more than Elder Kempler so he's just as old as I am really. He's way chill and we get along just great. We have helped each other out naturally. He started handing out more pass along cards so I did the same and we talk to more people as we walk to our appointments. He asks, “I'm going to be in bed on time are you?” So we encourage each other to be better. I was worried a little about who I would get as a companion but every change is good.

We've met some very prepared people this week. There is a media referral named Lynn Lee that ordered everything free that she could get. She told us that the spirit inspired her to order all the items. She admitted to feel the spirit as we taught her the Restoration. Her biggest concern was why is there so many different religions teaching false things? She wants to join a church that is more unified. After teach her about Joseph Smith it made sense to her that God would call a prophet to end all this confusion. As we pieced everything together it made sense to her.

Latifa who was recently baptized told us something really funny. She said her friend was jealous of Latifas big butt and wanted one. So she got a tummy tuck to get all the fat sucked out of her stomach and then all fat was pumped into her butt. She said Latifa inspired her. She told us that after we read from the Book of Mormon. So it wasn't expected.

We finally had an appointment with a nice school teacher just a block away from our apartment. This was Elder Kempler’s and my first real teaching appointment together. This happened to be one of the most powerful lessons on my mission. Elder Kempler let me lead the lesson because he wanted to see how we do things here. I felt the spirit guide me the whole time. We asked Belinda and Aquarius good questions that made them think. I used a variety of scriptures to teach my point. When the lesson was almost done I felt prompted to invite them to be baptized. I said, "If you feel the spirit tell you the Book of Mormon is true will you be baptized?" Belinda the mother said yes with no problem. I told her that when you do find out the Book of Mormon is true that means Joseph Smith truly was a prophet and he restored the same church Jesus organized when he was alive. Belinda said "I'm looking for truth in my life" I'm thankful the spirit helped me to be bold when God needed me to be.

Elder Kemler said I was a great teacher and he liked how I used a variety of scriptures. He said that was the best baptismal invite he's ever seen. And if he did it he wouldn't be as bold. I never thought of myself as a great teacher. When I was with Elder Rydalch I felt I relied on him enough to make him wear the pants. He led every lesson. When I lead the lesson I did it very differently than he would have. In a way maybe I felt a little held back and now the baby bird learned how to fly.

Elder Rydalch answers people’s concerns by his knowledge alone. So it’s almost never by the spirit. For me my knowledge is not the greatest so I rely on the spirit to help me teach. What I learn in my personal study is what the spirit brings to my remembrance and then I share with people what I know to be true.

Elder Kempler and I had an hour with nothing planned. We had already done what we planned that day so we decided to visit a potential investigator that is hard to get on the phone. We sparked her interest again in actually studying with us. She asked why her church and others are so sure that Joseph Smith is not a prophet. I said the Book of Mormon is the proof that he is a prophet. We read a chapter in the Book of Mormon that related to her situation of stress and trail. She for the first time set up an official appointment. I felt confident knowing how to lead and where to be.

I took Elder Kempler to see Sister Boon and she said she saw this change of confidence sense Elder Rydalch left. On Sunday she was going to teach the Gospel Principals lesson on the subject of Exaltation. I was a little worried about it because that’s not something I remember teaching her before she got baptized. All she wanted help on was finding more scriptures about the Celestial Kingdom in the Bible. There weren't very many that I had found in my studies. She had found many of the ones that I discovered already. I shared a few she didn't have and she was impressed with my scripture knowledge. She told me I was getting better.

That’s a lot I have shared about myself. At first I felt lost without Elder Rydalch. But I have come to realize I could have done this a long time ago. He lit my fire to be motivated to do missionary work. I know I can do all things with God's help.

Much Love from your nearly frozen, holes in shoes, and confident Son.

October 13, 2009

We've had a lot of success with Brionne whom we have been teaching for about a month. We are helping her quit smoking so she can get baptized. I think I told you, a few weeks back an investigator in the other Elders’ area got baptized. Brionne stayed for it and felt the spirit. She asked us afterwards when can I get baptized? We told her as soon as you quit smoking. So she told her family not to offer her any cigarettes or have them buy any for her. I wish she came to General Conference. We helped her understand that Jesus suffered everything we'll ever go through so she needs to rely on his atonement.

Another great person we started teaching is Britta. She [may be] the only white single woman in Newark. We gave her a pass along card and told her to order the Book of Mormon so she can understand the Bible more. She did order one and we have been teaching her for a few weeks. She doesn’t have a testimony of the very basics. She doesn’t believe in God, Jesus, or the Holy Ghost. So even though we shared the Restoration with her it didn't go anywhere because she doesn’t believe in God. She doesn’t completely deny there is a God.

We asked her to pray for understanding every time she reads the scriptures. She says she feels she gets more out of her study as she prays for understanding. We pointed out that she got an answer to her prayers and that is evidence that God is real. Who else would give you that inspiration? She did show a lot of faith and came to the first two sessions of General Conference. She loved it and felt the spirit. She feels the spirit every time we teach and we point it out but she doubts that is the Holy Ghost. She plays a lot of instruments and wants to play the piano at church.

Transfers are this week, Friday I think. They extended this transfer one week longer than usual. When we were at the other Elders’ baptism President and Sister Bahr were there. He told us that the magic number of months being together was eight to ten months. We have been together for only five months. So perhaps we'll stay together or at least one or two more transfers. We'll see.

I know this work is so very important and we see so many miracles. I hope that angels protect us because we need it. Elder Rydalch and I stopped by a store on P-day to buy something. We weren’t wearing our church close because we were sweaty. As we walk down the street to the store I felt a lot of fear without my name tag on. We were the only white guys in whole town and no one knew we were missionaries. Our name tag truly is the Ghetto pass.

Love, your very obedient, hard working, God loving, amazingly happy, Son who's a servant of God.

October 05, 2009

In the past I wouldn't describe myself as stubborn or negative. I was the most depressed with Elder Macedone and was not happy at all with him. He never let me teach or help share the responsibility. He didn't support my opinions. Missionaries and members knew I wasn't happy being with him. That’s why we only had one transfer together.

You said "The harder they tried to make me happy the more I resented them and their attempts to make me act like them." First of all, every one of my companions have taught me something with our time serving together. There were only a handful that helped break my shell of shyness. Elder Macedone started to by helping in teaching role plays and helped me teach clearly plus use scriptures. Elder O'Gwin helped soften my shell and taught me how to have fun. He wrote me a note as we watched General Conference yesterday. He said he will never forget what we taught each other. He saw potential in me that he knew I could achieve to be better. He was hard on me and encouraged me the most to always act happy even though I wasn't.

What brought me the most unhappiness was the fact that I never saw any real success in missionary work until I was transferred here to East Orange. In all my areas before this we were looking to find people to teach but we never found anyone really solid. So I did have an attitude of not expecting any success because I never saw any. That attitude changed when I was transferred here to East Orange. I went from nothing the majority of my mission to over time 90 plus people that expressed interest. It wasn't easy to get used to at all. Physically it was really tough not having a car and walking at least 5 miles a day. In time I got used to it but I had no motivation at all. I wasn't used to working so hard and trying to manage so many people. I did the work anyway as cheerfully as I could. I eventually learned to love to work hard so now I'm not complaining inside.

Also being able to see people you teach get baptized really helped me to be happy too. First Sister Boon, then Latifa and her two daughters. I will forever be thankful to Elder Rydalch for letting me baptize Latifa and her daughters. That gave me the testimony that Missionary work works. So I know that the prepared people that we teach can really join the church and be truly happy.

I never resented anyone I just had to figure out how to change my attitude and way of thinking. I am much happier now and that has nothing to do with the ADD pills. I take those faithfully everyday and they do what there created to do help me pay attention and not daydream (as much) about skydiving and DragonBall Z. The pills don't make me happy, God did. I hope what I said set a few things straight. I am 100%happy as can be.

When I left for an overnight exchange with my Zone Leader everyone mourned me being gone. I asked why and they said I really entertain everyone and set the tone. There are two other Elders that live with us and they all love me because I make them laugh every day. Elders that knew me when I was much shyer have seen the enormous change I went though and are so surprised. I want to maintain the way I feel now for the rest of my life. I never want to crawl back inside a shell of shyness ever again. Members and missionaries see the real me and help me be myself. I can describe myself as a cat. If you feed me I'll love you forever but if you don't I'll stab you in the back. I've never been so open with so many different people. I summed up this whole process to Elder Rydalch. "I'm not the viewer of the game. I am in the game."

So lastly the pills do help a ton. If I miss a day my personal study in the morning is worth nothing. I'm not able to get what I want done and I can't ever control my racing thoughts of the random stuff. But if I take a pill it doesn’t cure the problem but I do get a lot more done.

I enjoyed Conference. I loved Elder Holland’s talk about the Book of Mormon yesterday. Who can disagree with that? Unfortunately none of our investigators came for any sessions on Sunday. I wish they did.

This transfer is one week longer than usual so transfers aren't until next week.

Much Love from above, :)

September 28, 2009

I might have told you about Julie one of our investigators. She kept on cancelling all her appointments and we thought she was losing interest. We stopped by where she works and she wasn't working. We reviewed the Restoration and it ended up being very powerful. She told us she would like to believe what we teach. We read some of Alma 32 and told her to nourish the seed of faith by scripture study, prayer, and coming to church. The spirit was really strong as we continued to review the same principles over again to make sure she didn't misunderstand. We explained in depth what a dispensation is. God has always called prophets and Joseph Smith was one of them. We felt like we saved her from dropping us.

This week another investigator Mimi dropped us and wants to go to a different church. She had also cancelled appointments for over a month and never told us why. She doesn’t have a phone so it’s hard to get in contact with her. She joined a church that has people in there that are also recovering from drug use. She feels support from them because they’re from the same rehab program. So she doesn’t want to be Mormon because she doesn’t relate as well to the people. She read a lot from the Book of Mormon but didn't understand it (that’s because she never let us explain anything). She said we were a part of her recovering process and she feels God has lead her to this other church. She is very happy there and wants no hard feelings between us. I'm happy if she is happy but what is sad is she was very close to baptism and all of the sudden she cancels every appointment and couldn't find the courage to tell us a long time ago. Hopefully she will recover from using drugs for good.

We had our interviews with President Bahr. President talked highly of me in two other people’s personal interviews. Elder LeBaron who lives with us said the President told him "He's come a long way. Before he was impossible and once he started writing everything down he was able to apply what he learned and he has become a great missionary." I'm not sure what he meant by impossible or starting to write stuff down. I've always written down what I learn.

In Elder O'Gwin’s (my last companion) interview the President said about me, "You were companions with Elder Farrer right? Yeah. Something really caught his fire doing missionary work. Putting Elder Farrer and Elder Rydalch together was pure inspiration. They have had a lot of baptisms (5 so far together). You should be proud to have been his companion. He's a great missionary." So not to brag but it felt good that President Bahr would talk about me like that.

This past Saturday was interesting. The whole mission got together and did a blitz where all the missionaries tract and contact the same area. We paired up with a Spanish missionary because Dover is a very Spanish area. We tried to look for less-active members that have moved in and never had found the Church yet. We found no less-actives but we talked to a lot of people in English and Spanish. They only gave us a few small streets to work for four hours. We thought we would tract everything and have no other work to do. Thankfully we had an apartment complex that filled up the rest of the time. This was the first time I've seen the whole mission in one place trying to make a ward into a branch.

Sunday was an awesome day. The Elders that we live with had a baptism. Only one of our investigators we invited came to church. She and her family are weed-heads but she felt the spirit as church went on. I helped her realize what the spirit is. She admitted that there is no spirit at her home because of the loud music downstairs. She even stayed for the baptism. So Brionne also felt the spirit seeing the baptism. Me, Rydalch, LeBaron , and Consuli all sang “Be Still My Soul.” Elder Rydalch doesn’t sing well at all but with heaven’s help we weren't bad at all. President and Sister Bahr who were there loved it. By the end of the baptism Brionne asked me "So when can I get baptized?" Elder Rydalch said, "As soon as you stop smoking". She has a lot to repent of but we are grateful she felt the spirit. I introduced Brionne to President Bahr and let him answer her question about the picture of the current 1st Presidency and modern prophets.

President Bahr told us pretty much that we are going to stay together for awhile more. He said the magic number of months together is 8 to 10 and we’ve only been five months together. To top off the week we got a media referral to a person that is the only white woman in Newark. She's very prepared and knows nothing about God but is willing to learn. So in a way we are helping her to build a basic testimony about God.

September 21, 2009

This week was great for me and Elder Rydalch. We got this new investigator Jehed and he wanted us to come and teach him because his grandmother died. We gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and he actually read it. No one ever does the homework we ask them to do. So we expected to teach the Plan of Salvation. Jehed's friend Take started asking us questions related to the restoration so we tried teaching that. We didn't get far because their ride came to pick them up. The pamphlet made Jehed think about a lot of things and it comforted him. So that was exciting to us because he did his homework and pondered on it.

Like I said it takes a lot for people to even read one verse by themselves in the Book of Mormon. We get media referrals from Salt Lake every once and awhile. We hadn't been able to see this one lady for a long time and we finally were able to visit her in person. Thankfully we had a member with us there to help. Emilia Giles is from Haiti and at a young age she was disowned by her parents so she was put in a foster home. She was adopted at age 16 and got to move to America. Her foster mother is now over 100 years old. Emilia tells everyone she's rich because God has blessed her so much. Teaching her the Restoration went really well and the spirit was there to help us answer all her concerns.

The coolest thing happened this week. We have been teaching two sisters that live just down the street. Their names are Star and Malaya. After a few visits teaching the Restoration and watching a related video Malaya who's 9 prayed for wisdom and understanding. When she went to bed she had a voice come to her that said, “The video that you saw is true.” She tried to ignore the voice but the voice said, “If you want to come back to me you need to continue to follow the missionaries.” She told the voice she believed and would follow then the voice went away. Star started talking about something else and Malaya said "Oh, I was expecting you to ask me to get baptized." Then Elder Rydalch invited them to get baptized on October 11. They both accepted.

Star hasn't yet received an answer about the truth but she is willing to work toward it. I'm so surprised to see Malaya so young paying attention to the spirit and exercising faith in God. Elder Rydalch and I have been praying for a baptism this transfer and this was our answer. I hope they will work toward this and get baptized. It is a mission goal to get one baptism each transfer. This would be our only chance this transfer.

We are teaching a lot of people but few of them are going anywhere. If they are interested it doesn’t last. They cancel appointments, don't call us back, and in a way fall off the face of the planet. People are lazy and don't want to change. We don't give up on them but they seem to give up on us.

God is good.

September 14, 2009

My Labor Day wasn't as eventful as yours but that’s alright. I'm sure working and making Tiger Ears made you smell like oil. I hope no one working with you smoked afterward because they might start themselves on Fire. That might cause a lawsuit. That’s so cool that Bob and Bowman [Shawn's cousins, Boman Farrer and Bob Plumb] got there calls around the same time. When do they leave to the MTC? [Missionary Training Center]

Our lesson with Lee this week was interesting. We've been talking about the Plan of Salvation with him for a long time. As we tried to finish a customer came in and wanted to join our Bible Study. Because she had different questions and concerns we split up. I finished with Lee as Elder Rydalch taught this girl. She didn't believe in God or Satan. Before we split up Lee started teaching everything we have taught to the other girl. Lee may know things knowledge wise but he doesn’t know it by the Spirit. We encourage him to pray, which he does but he doesn’t read.

We started teaching a new family named Foster. The apartment that they live in it has two floors. Everyone who lives there are really good friends with each other. As we teach the whole apartment seems to join in when they can. Tammi and Brionna are the ones that live on the top floor. Everyone comes in and out as they please.

Tammi's lover/boyfriend is super good with the Bible, just like Enrique, but he is never contentious at all. He quotes stuff from the Old and New Testament. The lesson goes a lot faster if he isn't there because he asks so many questions. Thankfully we were able to have a member there to help us teach and he knows the Gospel very well. So far we've been able to answer a lot of their basic questions but haven't taught the full Restoration lesson yet. They feed us every time we come and never want to see us leave or let us leave. So we feel loved. We're not used to being fed in this area.

We have slowly been able to start teaching one of our investigator’s family and friends. Julie has been to church a few times and a few of her sisters have joined in the lessons. They live in the Projects which are really cheap apartments and many drug dealers and bad people gather there. We never knock [tract or go door-to-door contacting] in that area.

Sorry this is so short I can't think of anything to add.

September 08, 2009

We were finally able to drop Enrique this week. He's the one that was a bashing with us every time we taught him. We keep on showing him examples in the New Testament that plainly say God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are separate people but unified in purpose. I am marking those scriptures as I study so the next time someone has questions about the Godhead at least I can show them why we believe certain things. It really wouldn't go very far but at least I can show people the church is true by the scriptures too.

A few investigators have strayed away from us because they don't have phones. One lady named Mimi keeps juking us and Raheem is never home and just moved out of our area. Committing people to keep their appointments is one of the hardest things to do here. A newer investigator named Julie is doing well. She's come to church a few times and doesn’t juke us. President Bahr wants each companionship to have one baptism per transfer. We hope to help those like Julie progress towards baptism.

Miracles happen every day here and I'm only able to tell you a few. Latifa's family is way against the Church and tries to turn her against the Church but she is so solid that she doesn’t let that get to her. We stopped by Latifa's Grandmother’s house and a few other family members live there. We again taught the Restoration lesson. The Grandmother had heard it but it was a good review. Latifa’s cousin Sharrel was there and hadn't heard about it before. It went well. So I believe slowly we'll soften the hearts of Latifa's family so they don't think she joined a cult.

A pastor stopped us and looked at a picture of Jesus on Elder Rydalch’s planner. The pastor thought it was Joseph Smith and that we worship him. Elder Rydalch corrected him and said, "No this is a picture of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane." He was sure surprised to hear we are Christians. It really shows how ignorant people are about the Church, even pastors.

August 31, 2009

I have good news, this week is the last week of this transfer and me and Elder Rydalch are staying another transfer together. This will be our fourth transfer together in this area. The Elders that live with the AP's told us that me and Elder Rydalch have the most baptisms in the English speaking part of the mission. That was really cool to hear. I believe that if we keep baptizing they will leave us together for awhile more. Elder Rydalch was made district leader which took him by surprise. I jokingly told him, “I'm not gonna follow anything you say.”

Our lesson with Lee was great. He ended up teaching us what we have been reviewing for the past few weeks. He taught about pre-earth life, the creation, the fall of Adam, our life on earth, and the atonement. He knows about all those very well. Both Lee and his friend Willie said that their past Bible study didn't satisfy how spiritually thirsty they were. When they meet with us they feel satisfied. He wants to know if the Book of Mormon is true but hasn't read it yet at all. I said it’s hard to get answers to questions you know nothing about, so read then pray.

We had a better lesson with Enrique the Bible-basher. We fasted most of the day to be able to teach by the spirit. It really helped and this time he didn't walk all over us and rub it in our face. He let us teach for a half hour and the spirit was there to help us answer some of his questions. For once he actually stopped to think about what we had to say instead of finding a way around it to bash us. We were a lot more prepared to answer some of his concerns by the scriptures. If we can't answer it by the scriptures he doesn’t believe us so it’s not easy to teach him. When he started to teach us the spirit went away and it became knowledge for knowledge. The questions we did answer were a small amount compared to everything he has researched. He skips all the simple doctrine like faith and asks deep questions like becoming Gods. Sense we hadn't studied about that we couldn't answer them. He wouldn't let us leave his house and he made us a half hour late to a dinner appointment. Fasting really helped a great deal and my testimony of it has increased.

I haven't got the letter with scriptures [about the Godhead] from you yet but I should get it soon. Thanks for the help. Maybe I'll send you a copy of all his questions and contradictions. We asked a lot of people for help and we recently got a book full of scriptures about different topics like exaltation and Godhead.

I went on an exchange with my district leader in his area. One of their investigators who is single asked me to ask God if I needed to marry her. So I got proposed to on my mission. :) She ages very well and doesn’t look 40 at all.

We have been able to get new people coming to church which is good. It's always a struggle trying to continue to teach people after one lesson. A new investigator named Julie has been to church for the second time and we were able to teach her the Restoration. We found out her sister is an old investigator Netu. So we are trying to teach more of their family. We got Julie's other sister to join us. I love being where God needs us to be. We had lost contact with an investigator named Raheem and he wants to study again with us at Latifa's home. We caught him on his way inside his home and set up an appointment. Since he doesn’t have a phone we were grateful we ran into him.

With this transfer starting I am down to one hand in counting the transfers I have left. I have five left. If all transfers go by as fast as this one then this will all be over very soon. How sad.

I meant to thank Aunt Bunny for the great letter and the extra $. I wasn't able to write a real thank you note because I have no stamps.

August 24, 2009

This week was really good. We had a discussion with a Muslim this week. I gave him a pass along card and we started to talk about what we believe. There was no contention, I just proved the Church is true.

He told us that Muslim’s believe Allah is all powerful so he doesn't need Jesus to forgive sin. Allah is both just and merciful. To say that God needs Jesus to save us from sin is the worst sin one can commit. Because all Christians believe that, we are all going to hell. To be Muslim means one who serves God.

I said I feel I serve God, does that make me Muslim? He said, no, because you have to say memorized prayers. I told him, "God is just. If we die in sin we we'll go to hell. God sent his son Jesus Christ to save us from death and sin. Everyone is naturally sinful because of the Fall of Adam and Eve. We would all perish if not for the Atonement. Jesus was perfect and sacrificed himself for all. He is full of mercy which overcomes the Law of Justice.

Muslims believe in the Torah, Koran, and the Bible. The Torah (Old Testament) teaches about the Law of Moses. He didn't know what that was. To repent they had to sacrifice perfect lambs for forgiveness of sin. This was symbolic of Jesus being perfect and being sacrificed for our sins. His sacrifice was infinite (Alma 34:8-10). We need Jesus Christ to be forgiven of our sins. The Bible teaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life. How can what you teach be true if the Torah and Bible contradict what you believe? Both clearly teach we need Jesus Christ to be saved. The only thing he could say is the Bible has been corrupted. I said all versions of the Bible teach this. He walked away. It felt really good I'm not gonna lie. I was able to make my point and I listened very carefully to what he believed and I corrected what he was missing. I'm not really one to handle conversations because Elder Rydalch is better at that. But when I do listen and think, then I feel what I say is by the spirit.

Now that we're on the subject of bashing we lost really bad to a investigator that really knows his Bible. We couldn't answer any of his questions about the Godhead. He knows about Joseph Smith’s 1st vision and knows we believe that God, Jesus, and Holy Ghost are separate but one in purpose. He did his homework and showed us in the Book of Mormon and Bible how God is described as a spirit or all as one with Jesus. So it looked as though he found contradictions in the Book of Mormon. We couldn't find anything in the Bible or Book of Mormon that said the Godhead is separate. Simply sharing what we know to be true fed his fire against us. We couldn't show him why we believe this, so he didn't believe us. Even our testimonies he found faults in. We felt awful leaving his home. What made it worse is he set up an appointment because he wants to convert us and prove us wrong. We had an interview with President Bahr recently and we asked him what to do. He showed us John 16 and the stoning of Steven. So it’s a start. We haven’t dropped him because we haven't answered his questions yet. We are looking into it. I think he knows the Bible is true just because he has knowledge and it makes sense. But I don't know if he has had a spiritual conversion.

I saw my trainer Erik Wenzel yesterday at a fireside. When I hugged him it seemed like my head was on his bellybutton.

August 17, 2009

Guess what? Sister Boon’s Daughter Dreena got baptized yesterday! Dreena didn't care who baptized her and I was volunteered to do it. So I got to baptize her. Sister Boon shared the Restored Gospel with Dreena who was here to visit for a month. She was taught a little by Sister missionaries in Texas. She spent a few weeks at Sister Boon’s until returning to Texas. We filled in the rest of the lessons and she was baptized. She was the most prepared person I've ever taught. She accepted everything, was willing to follow Word of Wisdom, and obey the commandments. She felt in her spirit that what we taught was true. I'm glad President Bahr let her be baptized even though we had only a week and a half to teach her.

Dreena's baptism was on Sunday. Since she is a big lady we filled up the fount just enough for her to sit down. (I had to pick out hair and dead spiders before she came in. :) I couldn't physically baptize her it the normal way. I had to redo it twice because her hand and jumpsuit floated to the top. It was an honor to baptize again.

We had a great lesson with Lee and his friend Willie. Most of the time Willie is with us as we teach Lee. Lee told us no minister has ever answered some of his questions and we are the first to do so. Both Lee and Willie agreed that the church must be true. They both agreed that they will continue to read, and pray. But they don't want to come to church until they know the Book of Mormon is true. They said when they know it’s true they would get baptized. So Elder Rydalch and I have fasted that they'll get their answer.

We had dinner with the Juan Marie Family. One of their kids named Joey is really hard to understand. He is about three and can't make a decision whether to speak Creole or English. Not even his parents know what he's saying most of the time. They just remodeled there house and moved in when Joey got a hold of crayons and drew all over the walls. Sister Juan Marie said "What can you do?" I would have got in a lot more trouble as a kid if I did that. For some reason he always runs around the house half naked with just a shirt on. As you can imagine it’s a little distracting.

One of our new investigators Julie read by herself all the way up to 2 Nephi chapter 3. She came to church for the first time and loved it. It was also Mimi's first time to church. As I explained the sacrament to her she said "When I'm baptized . . .". She already wants to be baptized! The Gospel Principles lesson was on the temple and she wants to get sealed to her boyfriend.

So it was a great week!

August 10, 2009

There was so much that happen this week. Not too long ago we contacted a man named Tyrone and he told us some of his family members were baptized Mormon in 2000. He is not a member but is practicing Muslim. He told us he wants to make sure he makes it to heaven. We didn't get to teach much but we found out a lot about his wife. His wife had two kids in a previous marriage and all three of them were baptized in 2000. The kids that they had together were not born into the Church. She was born Baptist and went back to being Baptist. She doesn’t remember anything about Joseph Smith or Mormon doctrine.

Tyrone loves us like we've been friends since birth. He gave us a DVD player he didn't want and we gave it to Latifa. Tyrone invited us to a birthday party at his house last Saturday. Out of all his family he was the only one super drunk. At the party I learned what soul food is. Tyrone's brother explained that an ideal Sunday or birthday dinner for black people is fried chicken, collard greens (gross), and mac n' cheese. It’s food for the soul. I felt so at home with his family and accepted by them.

We had great lesson with Lee. As we started teaching about Adam and Eve a random girl named Julie wanted to join our Bible study. Lee then started teaching her what we taught him. He got 95% of it right. This was the first time we gained a new investigator as we were teaching another one. For the last three appointments with Lee we've talked about Adam and Eve. So lessons are good but progress is slow.

One of Sister Boon’s children came to visit her from Texas. Dreena didn't know that Sister Boon had been baptized. After sharing her conversion story Dreena wants to get baptized. Dreena was taught by sister Missionaries in our mission. She recently moved into Sister Boons home until she goes back to Texas on the 21st of this month. So we have hardly any time to teach her. Our district leader is supposed to ask President Bahr what to do. I hope he says it’s OK because this is the only chance for a baptism this transfer. Pres Bahr’s new standard is one baptism per transfer per companionship. We'll see what happens.

We had a great lesson with Sister Boon’s Daughter Dreena. We reviewed the Restoration pamphlet that she got for homework. She understood everything except the apostasy. In the pamphlet it says that all the prophets were eventually taken away because the people disbelieved in them. Truth was lost over time without prophets preaching God's will. She thought it said all truth was lost. I knew that didn't sound right and they both ganged up on us because they didn't understand. For a time we didn't fully answer their questions. So I prayed for God's help to answer her. I told her the only thing that was lost was the authority after the apostles’ death. So baptisms and confirmations performed from the death of apostles to Joseph Smith didn't count. God being merciful isn't going to let those people be dammed just because they lived in a time without the fullness of the Gospel. That’s why temples are so important for baptisms for the dead to give everyone a chance to accept the fullness of the Gospel. My answer was good enough and it broke down the wall of doubt. She understood everything by the spirit and I was thankful it went so well. Sister Boon said she should have never doubted my teaching. That was the biggest spiritual experience this week.

Mimi is another great investigator that is really doing well. She was being taught before I came to East Orange, but when I got here she disappeared and we couldn't get a hold of them. They got a new apartment and we have started to teach her again. She makes time to read the Book of Mormon every day. She feels church is true because she feels good after our lessons. She wants to come to church but is very poor so Sister Boon is going to hook her up with some clothes from her charity. Mimi also believes that God made other worlds that have people on them. We didn't even bring that up.

I really love the members here and feel 100% comfortable with them. The Hinds family loves me because I make them laugh. I hope I stay a long time here. In past areas I felt I've had a shell on me or I couldn’t be myself around members.

My trainer, Erik Wenzel, is coming to visit New Jersey at the end of the month. He wants me to take him out to work of a few hours. I'm so excited for that.

August 03, 2009

I totally forgot my planner and without it I couldn't tell you what happened three days ago. I heard you got my memory cards. I hoped that you would have gotten the chance to see some funny videos or pics but you were camping. You'll have plenty of pics to update my blog.

I'm glad that Latifa got to email you and said what she did. I'm glad I made a difference in their lives. I love her family so much. You should get each other’s numbers and talk with each other.

The other day we had a lesson with and investigator named Raheem and we took him to Latifa’s home for a lesson. We talked about the Atonement and how it’s infinite for everyone. He might still feel guilty for past sins but this lesson I believe gave him hope. Latifa bore strong testimony of the Church and encouraged him to be baptized. That was cool to see.

There was an intense lesson that was pretty much a bash. This guy asked questions that we weren't able to answer. His main focus was "God can't lie right? So why does it say in the Bible that God is a spirit and Joseph Smith says he has a body? The Book of Mormon contradicts the Bible so why would I want to read it?" He gave us an anti Mormon pamphlet that was the outline of everything he said. The author is a former Mormon who thought it’s easier to just have faith in Jesus rather than follow the steps of reptance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The guy believes we have a Mormon Jesus and the Bible has its own Jesus. What an airhead! There's only one Jesus. I can't bash to save my life, so I don't.

I'm trying to remember what else I could tell you but I honestly can't remember and know this email is lame.

July 27, 2009

I just looked at the family blog and I'm not gonna lie it made me feel trunky. Maybe the reason I never miss home is because I never look at the blog. I'm seeing what I've missed. O well.

Last Monday there was a big gang shooting all over town I heard over a few weeks at least 15 people were shot and killed. Three of those people lived one block from our apartment. Scary huh? Luckily we missed the whole thing by an hour. We were teaching a really cool media referral named Lee. We have been over the restoration a few times and he remembers everything really well. When we last taught him his friend Willie was there. Lee taught Willie the whole restoration. He taught that the authority was lost after the death of the apostles. Both admitted that there church was false and had no authority. Lee told us he wants the Priesthood that we have. Well there’s only one way to get it and that’s being baptized. So Lee is doing well.

Another person we're teaching named Raheem is speeding through all the lessons really quick. He came to church last Sunday and really enjoyed it. He wants to know the scriptures like we do.

On our way home a cop pulled up and told us to come to his window. He asked us if we heard any gun shots. We hadn't yet that day (just kidding). He had is gun resting on his leg with his finger on the trigger ready to fire. That was cool to see.

This transfer we had about 90 potential investigators that we needed to call. It took us 3 hours to call them all and set up 10 appointments. But we also dropped 10 people. I've never had to work with so many people in my life. Every week we see a less-active member named Sam. He never comes to church because before he was baptized he was an elder for a few churches so he's always busy doing activities with them. He never makes church with us a priority. He says he believes faith in Christ will make other church’s sacraments work. I testified boldly that it doesn’t count. Only in our church was the gospel restored fully and that includes the sacrament. Salvation comes through our church only and if you truly believed that then you'd be coming to church. He kept talking around it and making excuses and I repeated myself to make my point.

Last night was a huge rain storm in which we both got soaked. My umbrella didn't help at all because trash clogs the storm drains on the street there were puddles past our ankles that we couldn't get away from so we walked through them anyway. We had to change all our clothes. We saw a rainbow. Hadn't seen one in a few years.

I'm 16 months out already :) I weigh 155 now not 175.

July 20, 2009

Elder Rydalch and I will be staying together another transfer as I thought. One of the coolest lessons we had this week was with Sister Boon. President Majors our branch president told us that Sister Boon really struggles with paying full tithing each month. Pres Majors said you can hold a calling at church but you can't go to the temple if you’re not a full tithe payer. She was set in her ways and didn't want to do it. After we did service for her she opened up on all her concerns about tithing. All we could do was promise blessings and encourage her because she's now the President’s responsibility. I promised her if she paid full tithing for one month she would see blessings. She told us whenever we promise blessings they always work. So she committed to two full months of full tithe paying. That was really cool to see.

She told us she pays tithes to other churches and she gives the majority of her social security check to her charity Hope Unlimited. I asked her what’s more important, keeping the commandments or Hope Unlimited? She said Hope Unlimited. She calls her charity her ministry because she tried to retire but couldn't do it. She would rather give her money to those who have nothing than spend it on herself. Although she is serving God as she serves others that won't get her salvation unless she obeys the Lord’s commandments.

We got hugged by a drunk Latino man. Some of his family members were outside as he was drinking vodka. Elder Rydalch for some reason asked him for a hug. The man hugged him and gave me a hug too. His family was so embarrassed and didn't want to be seen.

One other crazy story. There is an overpass that we walk over every day. It’s built over the railroad tracks. There isn't a good drain leading up to the bridge so there is rainwater that backs up and never goes away. People throw their trash in the water and on the steps of the overpass. The water stinks like poop and sometimes people poop in it. We saw a bum named Anthony bathing naked in the water and he was burying his face deep in the water. We always wondered how he lost both of his legs. Maybe swimming in this water was the cause. It was sick.

That big less-active family we found last week came to church on Sunday. They are the Jackson family. One of their little kids couldn't stop moving around or talking during church. It was very distracting but they seem to have the mindset of being active again.

I'd write more but there's not much else to say.

July 15, 2009

This week a lady stopped us and told us that whatever Elder Rydalch shared with her on the street a week ago inspired her to go to rehab to quit heroin use for good. This lady is in her 40's and is addicted to drugs. She had her own apartment and good job but lost everything. This was her third time in rehab and now she's doing it for herself not for anyone else. I pointed out the beer she was drinking could cause her to relapse and buy drugs again.

I know the street we live on is the main place to buy drugs in the area. But I didn't realize it’s more than weed. That’s probably why people are so surprised we live on 9th Ave. in Newark.

We got Latifa's family together with Sister Boon and they decided themselves to have a contest to see who could bring a convert into the church the fastest. That was really cool to see.

This past Sunday we were trying to visit a potential investigator but he wasn't home. So we got to teach his Grandma instead. Then I was surprised to hear Hope (Latifa's Daughter) call my name. It turns out Latifa’s Grandma lives right next door to where we were. So after teaching we got to teach the Restoration with Latifa's G'ma. She listened but didn't really take into consideration the message. She doesn’t want to go to church because she worships God everyday in prayer. Latifa was very bold in sharing the gospel. She asked "What if your church doesn’t have the proper authority, what are you gonna do?" The lesson went nowhere because she wasn't open to the message. Latifa was really awesome.

There’s this homeless man named John Goodman that we see all the time. It seems God always puts John and his girlfriend in our path. They’re the ones that recently had a baby but it died at birth. John’s girlfriend asked for another comfort blessing. There wasn't any privacy at all so we gave her a blessing off the sidewalk. In the middle of the blessing John joined the blessing and put his hands on top of ours. It was a little awkward. That’s never happened to me. Who knows, maybe he helped. :)

We found this less active family of 8 that told us they want to become active again. So they should be at church. We contacted this lady named Catherine and she is less active too. We hope to get her to church as well.

We ran into an old investigator I know from Jersey City named Steven. We thought he lived out of our area but I'm glad to find out we can visit him. He was really close to being baptized but moved away to Newark somewhere unknown until we ran into him. This is the second time. He really has no future or goals in life. He’ll need a lot of work.

P-day for us is changing from Wednesdays to Mondays. So this Monday I'll get to email you again. That will be hard to get used to. Transfers are this Wednesday so we'll find out what happens. I talked with our zone leader today and he talked to the AP's about me and Rydalch staying together and said it is a good idea. They both agreed so that means we're both staying for sure.

July 08, 2009

On Sunday I got to baptize Latifa and her two daughters. I had the biggest smile on my face and felt very honored to baptize them. It gave me more hope that people really can go all the way. Since I've never seen a baptism in any area that I've been in till now I felt all the hard work paid off. Elder Rydalch volunteered me to baptize them. I asked him why and he said I want you to because I have more time left on my mission. I really appreciated that because I really wanted to so bad.

I didn't think Latifa would get baptized this transfer. So that makes four baptisms in a transfer. After the baptism after I got fully dressed I found out I didn't drain the font. So I had to get undressed and put on my wet clothes to unplug it.

Sister Boon is doing sooo good. She taught Gospel Principals like a pro on Sunday. She really had a 360 change of heart. She went from being very stubborn to being even more loving and happy. I did get your gift from Sister B, thank you. [A lady from the ward Shawn is serving in stayed at our house a few nights recently. Nancy sent him a little music box that plays “You Are My Sunshine.” We sing it “You are my son Shawn.”] I'm not gonna lie, it did make me trunky.

On Friday we went to see a potential family but they weren't home. But we did get to see their cousin named Dep. I saw him on the porch and I said, “What’s up Dep?” Immediately he said, “What’s up my Niga!” Then he gave a big Bro hug like we've been friends forever. He was really impressed that I remembered his name and said I have a really good memory. I pointed to him and said I won't forget it. The reason this was so cool is because only black people call each other “niga”. So a black man calling a white man a niga is a big deal. That means he has respect for me and we're tight. So I could have been depressed and about to kill myself and this experience would totally change my mind. He's a real gangster that sells drugs.

July 4th was really cool. We were invited to go to a BBQ at some investigators’ backyard. There were tons of family and friends there. It ended up being a really good finding activity because we taught some really cool people. Elder Rysdalch cooked two peach cobblers and they were both gone in minutes. It tasted just as good as he said it would. We didn't get to see any good fireworks. The other two missionaries in our apartment saw a special 400 year anniversary of the Hudson River firework show. They said there were six large boats shooting off the same fireworks at the same time. Each one was huge.

We were able to find a couple that we thought had moved. We never saw them after awhile and we finally found out why. They went through a lot trying to move. Some unauthorized people shut off their electricity, water, and took their fridge and stove. Now that they’re almost moved in and they want to be taught.

Yesterday we had interviews with President Bahr. He was impressed with my studying ideas. I do scripture chains that go along with each lesson of Peach My Gospel. He said the reason I feel more like a sharp tool in God's hands is because I've been more obedient. Most importantly he said my wooden tie is OK. I was so excited and it made me very happy. I think missionaries will want to be my companion just so they can sign the wooden tie.

I've had the most fun being in this area and with the other missionaries I live with. I feel like I've been more like my true self with them. It’s hard for me to open up to just anyone. But with this group I make everyone laugh every day. I've never felt this way so often. Elder Rydalch told me something interesting. He believes that the reason we've had so much success is because of me being humble and spiritual. I've never heard anyone call me humble. I just do my best, I'm nothing extraordinary. Maybe it’s hard to see that in yourself unless you’re prideful. Elder Harrison whom we live with said he wants me to be his last companion before he goes home. I've gained the title of Elder Rydalch's favorite companion. Don't know how I did that.

Thanks to all who write to me. I enjoy all the emails and letters, even though I don't always have the time to write back.

July 01, 2009

This week was great. We were doing service for Sister Boon and she told us that Michel Jackson had died. For the rest of the week I heard Michel Jackson songs playing in everyone’s car. His death really hurt the Black community.

One of the biggest experiences happened this past Friday. We teach a man named John Goodman every once and awhile. When we saw him this week he told us some bad news. His girlfriend gave birth to their first baby girl and it was stillborn. He delivered the baby himself and it was breech. Plus he was recently kicked out of his apartment and is now homeless. He's very knowledgeable with the gospel and understood that his girl is in a better place. They couldn't support the baby even if she lived. His girlfriend was really depressed and John asked us to talk to her. We bought them BBQ to eat sense they have nothing. I shared the verses in Alma 28:11-14 which talks about believers in Christ knowing that they'll see their family and friends that died in war. Those that didn't understand the Plan of Salvation feared that death was the end. I bore my testimony that she would see her daughter again. John interpreted the scriptures correctly and explained it to his girlfriend.

I gave my first comfort blessing to her outside. It was raining and Elder Rydalch and I gave her a blessing. She told us later that it helped a lot. I told her that comfort is found in our message. I also talked to them about Amiee so I could relate to their situation.

We have a Muslim neighbor down the street that knows us. She invited us to her wedding on Saturday. This was my first Muslim wedding and it was really simple. We arrived on time but the groom and bride didn't show up until a lot later. While we waited we received the greatest fellowship I've ever had. Tons of people flocked to us teaching us about Mohamed. I saw many faults in there doctrine. They really never let us say much at all. We got to see their prayer session before the wedding. I was surprised to see them use one of the same things as we have in the temple. That was weird.

There was a great speech done on the importance of marriage. Then the bride’s father sat on the floor with groom and the groom asked for permission to marry his daughter. The father said it was okay and that was it. All the men were upstairs and the women were downstairs. So the bride didn't get to see it all happen but all the women heard it downstairs. We didn't even have to wait in line for food because someone gave us each a plate. So we were treated really well.

Our last lesson with Latifa and her family was great. I was able to commit them to baptism this coming Sunday. Their interviews are today. So if all goes well then we should have three baptisms this Sunday. This past Sunday I was also able to confirm Sister Boon and give her the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a great experience. Brother Clark, one of the bishop’s councilors, said I did a great job for it being my first time. I was really happy to be able to do that.

I found out why one of our investigators wasn't calling us back. One of the staff members of the apartment told us that he was arrested for stabbing someone. Well, I guess we can't teach him anymore since he’s in jail.

There were a few lessons this week in which I felt like a sharp tool in God's hands and I said what they needed to hear. Elder Rydalch admitted to me that when he teaches it isn't by the spirit. He said that when he sees me teach he always feels the Spirit. He told me he answers everyone’s questions based only on his knowledge and not on the spirit. Knowledge wise it all makes sense but one needs to teach by the spirit to convert people. He feels promptings in his mind but doesn't know how to let the spirit speak though him. He asked me if I feel the Holy Ghost when he teaches and I was honest and said I don't. So he's trying to fix that problem himself. I told him to not be so quick to answer questions by his knowledge but to chill and see what the spirit has to say. Not every lesson is as spiritual as others but I believe when the spirit jumps in one needs to be sensitive so you can tell people what they need to know. Elder Rydalch lets his knowledge take over. So we're working on teaching more unified and by the spirit.

One of our investigators drives an ambulance for his job. We saw him parked as we were on the way home and he gave us a ride home in an ambulance! Cool huh. He even turned on the lights, but not the siren.

As far as the wood tie goes I'll take your advice, even though I don't like it, it’s probably best. [I advised him to stop wearing the tie and ask President Bahr personally if he didn’t want Shawn to wear it.] He is anti fun and he won't soon forget me when I'm done with my mission.

Love, your very obedient son.

June 24, 2009

Miss Boon, or should I say Sister Boon, did get baptized this past Sunday. She was really discouraged and didn't want to do it, but with the help of Brother Clark who's the 1st counselor she went through with it. It was really cool seeing my first baptism. Sister Boon asked Brother Hinds to baptize her. She said she needed a strong man to do it sense she's a big lady. I was so happy to finally see the fruit of our work. Without Brother Clark she wouldn't have got baptized. He really connected with her and helped soften her heart. She's a very stubborn old lady but she sure spoils us. She sometimes gives us extra bakery products so the pastries helped me gain back the weight I lost.

It felt good seeing that missionary work works. I've reactivated less active members which is equally important, and I have planted some good seeds, but I have never harvested until now. Before I leave East Orange I will probably see Latifa and her two daughters baptized also. They are so close.

Last Thursday we got to wash Sisters Boon’s cat named Jessie. We closed the bathroom door and filled a plastic storage tub full of water and tried to drop her in. The cat jumped right out of the tub. Elder Rydalch held the cat while I hosed it down with the removable shower head. There were only two temperatures; wicked hot and Alaska 50 below zero. After I washed her body twice with shampoo I rinsed her off. She was clawing Elder Rydalch the whole time. Then Jessie started to cry. It wasn't the usual meow, it was a mournful cry for help :( I couldn't help but to laugh. We wrapped her in a towel and she was shivering for awhile. When we let her go all her legs we shaking. She smelled so good after her bath.

As we were walking to a members house we saw a very buff black man running after a rooster. Elder Rydalch put out his leg to stop it but it jumped right over. I'm guessing the man was having a cock fight. The rooster tried to cross traffic but kept weaving through people on the sidewalk.

The biggest spiritual experience this week was when we went to teach Nakiema for the second time. We asked her to read 3 Nephi 11 but she read Moroni 10. Elder Ryadalch asked how she liked it and she said she felt blessed for reading. She was low on money and needed diapers for her baby. A friend gave her $40 and she got what she needed. She felt that was a direct blessing for reading. We asked if she knew the Book of Mormon is true and she said it was. Elder Rydalch asked her to be baptized in three weeks which is before she goes into the Army. She accepted the challenge. In order for this to be possible she had to come to church this past Sunday, get baptized the next Sunday, and confirmed the last Sunday. She didn't come to church this past Sunday so it isn't going to work out. I was afraid it was too good to be true. Maybe she'll look into it was she gets home in a few months. That would have been so cool if it worked out.

We had a Zone Conference early this transfer and another one yesterday. President Bahr really is the polar opposite of former President Parkinson. Parkinson was soooo chill to let us study church books outside of the mission library and let departing missionaries watch a movie before going home. President Bahr is very by the book and strict. It takes time getting used to. He set new mission goals like finding six investigators a week instead of five. Then the biggest goal: one baptism per transfer per companionship. I guess we got our one for this transfer and possibly three with Latifa’s family this transfer or next. I’m sure it would be possible if people would be home when they say they will. People don't tell us they have to cancel until we call them at their door. That’s frustrating in itself. So I hope we can meet the goals he wants us to.

I was told President Bahr doesn’t like it when I wear my wooden tie to Zone Conferences and Transfer Conferences. Other Elders wear ties that have been signed by people. Mine happens to be the only one that’s wood. I'm beginning to be known for the wooden tie and I love it.

June 17, 2009

This week was great. Elder Harrison whom we live with is training this transfer. His greenie is Elder Lebaron. We have a lot in common. I never thought I'd meet someone that loves toast as much as me. He can't spell to save his life. He reminds me of my trainer Elder Wenzel because he's really tall and eats so much. He never gains any weight, even when he’s eating unhealthy. I've been eating healthy since I've been in East Orange and I've lost 8 pounds already. I went from 175 to 167. I don't notice a difference. I still muffin top it in my jeans. :)

Last night we had a member come out with us to meet with some investigators. After we were done he asked about Miss B. and we told him about her concerns of the Church being racist. Brother Clark went to visit her and whatever he said made her decide to be baptized this Sunday! If the Baptismal interview goes well it might just happen. That would be the first time anyone I've worked with gets baptized. Seeing that happen would change the way I look at missionary work. I'm so used to seeing people not progress that I don't expect much to happen. It would give me hope. If it doesn't happen this week then it should happen soon.

We're also working with Jonathan. He's so cool. He and I relate well because we both have ADD so when he gets frustrated trying to focus I know how he feels. I feel he's one of those people that God sent me here to specifically teach. Progress is slow only because we have to go at his pace.

I believe God has a sense of humor. During companion study Elder Rydalch was telling me what he learned. I wasn't paying attention at all. I was having a sweet daydream in which I was rocking out to the 80's Pop band Flock of Seagulls. The song was "And I ran, ran so far away, I couldn't get away." I was listening to this and doing donuts in a car in the snow in Idaho. Later that day I heard that song but it was redone in a R&B version. It sounded awful. I don't think that was coincidence. God was trying to cheer me up and knew I love 80's music.

We continue to find new investigators every day. Most people cancel on us even when we make sure the night before that they will be home. They don't even tell us that they’re not home until we call them at their door step on time. That’s the most frustrating thing about this area. We taught this guy named Juan on his porch. He had been shot twice in the face and lived. The bullets weren't able to be taken out and are still in there. He liked the Restoration discussion. His girlfriend Ivy listened in to most of it as well. They said they were interested and would read in the Book of Mormon. On our way out Ivy's Mom started asking us questions so we taught her the Restoration as well. That was pretty cool.

I hope that Latifa and her family will be baptized soon. They are so close. They need to read and come to church more often but that’s it. That’s really cool to see. It’s all new to me having people ready to be baptized.

June 3, 2009

This week we had Zone Conference and our Temple trip. I got to take some sweet pictures of a bunch of missionaries playing ultimate frisbee last P-day [preperation day]. I'm glad I have a good camera. I got pictures of people catching the frisbee in mid air.

Zone Conference was great as always. Again I always feel rebuked like I'm not doing good enough. Maybe that’s a good thing. President Bahr said some great things like, "What do you want? Pay for it and take it." and "At the end of the day was the spirit your senior companion, junior companion, or was he even there?" Everything focused on trying to have the spirit with you.

This past Sunday we had two of our investigators come to church. This was the first time both of them came to church. None of the others that usually come to church came this time. One investigator, Jonathan, struggles with ADD too. So knowing how frustrated it can be I feel we have a connection there. Jonathan is really smart with the Gospel. The other investigator, Natalie, was fellowshipped big time and was loved instantly by some Sisters. It was really awesome.

Yesterday was our Temple trip. We got to do baptisms for the dead and do an endowment session. Afterwards we got some pizza close by and walked around Time Square. One of the roads was closed and a ton of people were sitting in chairs in the middle of the street reading books and relaxing. We thought it might have been a strike but we saw no signs. I got to see a few members I know that work at the Temple. They are from my old area of Fardale.

I guess Wyatt is now a year old. That’s so cool. He'll be talking and everything when I get home. The backyard at home sounds like it’s going look like the Garden of Eden with all the fruit trees.

June 11, 2009

Transfers were yesterday and me and Elder Rydalch are staying together. One of the missionaries we live with is training this transfer and had to leave early, so we never got a chance to do email yesterday.

This past Thursday I had the best exchange ever so far with my district leader Elder Henry. We taught a lady named Sonya who's a media referral. She's slow in speech and understanding but really wants to learn. We're not sure if she's accountable or not.

We've been working with a lady named Janet for awhile now. We were knocking on doors before an appointment and Janet came out of one of the doors. She was at a friend’s house. We were able to teach her early because of this. We need to get her a large print Book of Mormon so she can read it since her eyes are bad. She's one of the few that actually does the homework we leave her. She'll read the Book of Mormon and I hope good things come from that. We taught her that God chooses his servants. You don't get the authority to teach by an education at a Bible school.

We also had a great lesson with Miss B. We do service for her charity organization twice a week and try to teach her once a week. She has the concern of the Book of Mormon being racist because the Lamanites were cursed with a skin of blackness. The change of skin was to let the Nephites know not to mix with them. God has called mostly if not all white prophets and she thinks that’s not fair. I testified that I knew God had prophets in Africa and all over the world. They probably have scriptures like the Book of Mormon waiting to be found. We don't have that yet but we do have the Bible and Book of Mormon to study from. We need to study what we have. That wasn't good enough for her. She said the Book of Mormon is a way to brainwash black people into thinking that white people are the righteous people and black people are wicked because of their skin. She's way off of her interpretation and we thought of dropping her but we found out that she was following a Book of Mormon reading schedule with the youth. Our branch president asked her to read and follow up on the youth’s reading. So I hope her reading will change her heart.

The greatest thing this week was we were able to teach by the spirit and build off of each other. We never felt like we interrupted each other. Me and Elder Rydalch don't usually teach like that. I don't feel as unified. Elder Rydalch teaches most of the time. When I feel prompted to say something he keeps on talking and I can't share because the subject will change before I can share my thoughts. So we have been working together to figure out how to teach together as one voice not just one voice speaking. It’s been a slow process but the quality of the lessons has increased.

We are working with new investigators named Daniel and Annemarie. We showed up to say hello and they were having a BBQ. They invited us in to eat. Daniel’s sister Maria was there and wanted to know more about the church. As Elder Rydalch taught her I tried to join in but ended up entertaining Daniel. His friends’ little three year old offered me beer twice as he delivered it to his dad. I of course said no. They are super cool and love us.

Sunday night there was a police search for someone that punched a cop. I guess the cop punched him first. The guy ran away and the Police had a helicopter circle around our apartment looking for this guy. There was a spotlight and a ton of cops driving down the streets. People watching outside were cursing at the police! We found out the guy who ran away was our neighbor next door. That was a surprise.

I’m trying to burn a CD for you so you can see all my pictures from the past seven months. Now that I have a few memory cards for my new camera I'll be better about sending pictures home. Tell Sarah congrats on the new baby. I hope it’s a girl this time.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

This was a great week. We had a great lesson with Miss B. who's investigating the Church. We do service for her charity business twice a week. She's progressed very slowly and she told us what’s holding her back. What she has read from the Book of Mormon she knows is true. She just wants to read the whole thing to make sure it’s all true. The problem is she isn't reading. She said she had a lot of doubts and told us she didn't want to come to church or be baptized. After a lot of strong testimony and watching the movie “The Testament” she had a change of heart. She ended up coming to church on Sunday.

Tracting here is a little different sometimes. A ton of people hang out on their front porches. They talk, smoke weed, but mostly cigarettes. So you don't always have to knock on the door to talk to people. We were teaching these kids on their porch and a man walked up to us and started preaching to them and giving them advice. He told them to get a job because God provides for those that help themselves. He gave them his business card. So, that was random, but those kids needed to hear that.

The crazy story for this week is a potential investigator of ours started to streak down the street we live on. We were talking to his mother and she told us how worried she was about him. She knew he was doing some heavy drugs. We found out that the popular new drug to use is dipping a cigarette in embalming fluid and smoking it. That’s the stuff they fill your body with after you’re dead. Some funeral home must have sold some of it to a drug dealer because more than one person has done it. This stuff messed him up. As we talked to his mom on her porch we saw him pour alcohol in the middle of the street and try to light it on fire with matches. It didn't work so he came and swore rudely at his Mom. He told us his gang tried to kill him so he joined another gang. Then he took off all his clothes except his socks and whitey-tighties and walked down the middle of the street harassing people and stopping traffic. His mom called the cops and they showed up quick. He told us he wanted to talk with us later. Yeah, right.

So we ran home only a few houses down and got our cameras to video him. He tried knocking on our door and I thought he was going to kill us. When the cops came he ran circles around the cop cars and jumped on the trunk of one of the cars then ran off. We joined the whole neighborhood and went to see where he went. He was eventually arrested. I heard a few people say that summer has finally started. One of the paramedics told us this was the fourth time something like this happened that day. I guess too many people have dipped there cigarettes in embalming fluid.

We had another great missionary experience. We are teaching a man named Jonathan. He's a lot more solid investigator because most people say they'll be home but aren't. Most of our appointments cancel on us. It’s really frustrating. We had a great review of the Restoration discussion with Jonathan. He reminds me of myself because he has ADD so he struggles to retain what we teach but he really loves us. He is a really good judge of character and can tell if people have good or evil desires.

On our way out [of Jonathan’s house] I tried to give a few pass-along cards to some guys in a big car. The driver claimed to be an apostle. We tried to tell him some of our basic believes and he wanted to bash with us. It didn't matter what we said, he still believed we are a cult. He said we should know he's an apostle just by being in his presence. All I felt was contention because he was just trying to prove us wrong. There's a difference between people like him and those that don't want to join the church but still find what we have in common and we feel the spirit. He said he was inspired to say things but I knew God wasn't inspiring him, it was Satan. We could not find any scriptures to use to answer his questions because there was contention and the spirit wasn’t there. God couldn't inspire him to say anything if his intention was to bring down other churches. That’s not very Christ-like, is it? Later we said a prayer together at home to not feel any contention against him. The spirit was very strong.

I made the mistake of telling the “apostle” where Jonathan lives because his friend in the car lives there also. They said they will try to preach to them. We worried that he might be antied [given anti-Mormon information] by them. I prayed in faith that Jonathan would use his great judgment of character to not give in to what they say. The spirit told us he would be baptized, so we'll see what happens. I now know not to talk with those who have contention. [In the future] I will bear testimony and leave.

May 20, 2009

This week was just peachy. We had a finding miracle as we were on the way to an appointment. A lady told us she was just baptized at her Baptist church and is really studying the Bible. Tyshina told us she wanted a Bible study right then so we taught her the Restoration at her home. She really enjoyed it. We all shared our favorite scripture from the Bible and the spirit was really strong. She told us that she read a verse that answered her prayers. I told her the reason she was able to find it was because she's open to let the spirit guide her in her life. If you weren't open then you may have missed the meaning.

One of the Elders I came out with is now my Zone Leader. His name is Elder Wells. I've never been able to serve so close to him. I got to go on exchange with him in Irvington and we had a funny tracting experience. As we were walking down the street we heard an organ playing in the distance. As we got closer to the sound we saw a guy sitting on his stairs playing his electric piano that played different sounds and beats. He was playing the organ in a upbeat Baptist style. He told us he gets paid to play for different churches. So he plays some cords randomly as the preacher is free styling and people yell amen. He said he started playing only a year ago. He recorded different sounds and combined it all in one melody.

Then his friend comes out of nowhere and started rapping to the melody. He does this all off the top of his head. He said the F-word a dozen times and said something about shooting a black man in the spine. He was way younger than 19 and he was smoking. We just sat back and watched the show.

One thing that I've found hard here is that many of the appointments we set up cancel or aren't home even when we remind them the night before. If one does cancel than someone else is home and we teach them instead. So it all works out.

We had interviews with President Bahr on Monday. I told him my motivation to work is not good. I honestly never want to work but I work hard anyway. I pray for the desire to work, then I see blessings, and then I thank God and work though it. He told me to not let the poor motivation stop you from working. I never let it stop me so I guess I'm doing good. He told me he was proud of me.

May 06, 2009

So, I got transfered to East Orange in a walking area. My new companion is Elder Rydalch. Guess where he's from? He picked potatoes as a job and loved to eat at Garcia’s where I used to work. That’s right, he's from Idaho Falls. Cool huh? He said he was there at the theater for the opening of National Treasure 2 in 2007, so maybe we saw each other there. His parents are Day and Julie Rydalch.

I'll make a list of what I want to tell you [on Mother’s Day]. I plan to call you at 1:00 pm your time and that’s right after church. Try getting in contact with my companion’s parents before Sunday. That would be cool.

April 29, 2009

Transfers are today and we're on the way to find out where I go. I'm a little worried because President Monson told all mission presidents to leave missionaries in areas for 8 to 12 months. So since I only have 11 months left this could be my last area. I'm guessing I'll have two more areas. I wanted to stay here longer but I have no control over that.

The mission doctor put me back on Ritalin. It’s the same stuff I started in 2nd grade. My main struggle is in my personal study. I never get what I want done and my wondering mind keeps me from progressing. But since I've taken the medicine I see it helping me a little. Elder O. said that he sees it helping me in general. I shared a spiritual thought the other day and Elder O. pointed out that I read the scripture without stuttering. Most of the time it’s not so smooth at all, I read slow and lose my place.

This week we got a few parking tickets so I had to take out cash to help pay half.

This past Saturday our ward had a movie night at the church and many members invited there non-member friends. The cool thing was is that a super less-active member of ours came and really enjoyed herself.

Last night a member in Jersey City named David took us and our zone leaders to a Fondue restaurant in Hoboken. This place was so expensive! Each plate of food was shared between two people and one plate cost $95. He bought three plates and dessert which cost all together about $400 or $500. It was the best service I've ever seen but I would never eat there again even if I was rich. I've had better food in my life but it was fun cooking slices of meat in different oils. David must really love us.

I hope I love my new area and companion. I hate having to go through the process of getting to know all the members names, getting to know your companion, and learning a new area.

April 15, 2009

This week was good. We found a family of 12 to teach. Larry the father of the family invited us back to teach him this past Wednesday. His family is from Romania and they’re Gypsies. Larry was so prepared to hear about the Restoration. He was really excited to about it all. He asked great questions of the soul and we were able to answer every one of them. The spirit was very strong as we talked about true doctrine. We'll be going by tonight to teach him again and he said he's inviting some friends too. That doesn’t happen very often. Elder O. seemed to have a natural close connection with Larry.

Elder O had an ingrown toenail that had to be fixed. His recent convert in his last area is a doctor and he fixed it for free. All he did was kill the infection and that was it. Elder O dug most of it out himself and nearly cried from the pain.

Zone conference was yesterday and that’s always a great experience. I love when we think we're doing good and when you go to zone conference you see how much you need to work on. I made sure to take lots of notes so I can remember what I learned. I wish Clarke could have seen me because I proudly wore my wooden tie that had all my companions’ and Presidents’ signatures on it. [His older brother Clarke made it for him for Christmas.] Many were impressed and a lot of people didn't know it was wood until they saw the hinges on it. I'm going to wear it every Zone Conference and Transfer Conference. I joked and said I got it on sale at Home Depot.

Not much else happened this week. I hope to soon send some more pictures home to you. Also I talked with Sister Bahr and she's going to have the Mission doctor call me to order ADD pills. I know if those help me here on the mission they might help me in school as well. I'm glad Dad had a happy B-Day along with Clarke too. We're all growing up so fast.

April 08, 2009

It’s been busy over here. We've done a lot of service this week. Last Wednesday we took most of our P-day [preparation day] to help do some yard work at the Mission Home. We bagged up all the dead leaves and cut down some old trees. There had to be at least a couple hundred huge bags full of leaves. They have a forest of a backyard and I didn't know it.

Almost every Thursday we do service at the Salvation Army. We remove certain color tagged clothes to ship to other stores. We met a really nice man named Bernard and stayed a few hours talking with him about the Church. Hopefully we will see him again tomorrow.

We finished our goal of reading the Book of Mormon in 12 days. It was tough and I'm glad it’s over. I did get a few things out of it but it’s nice not to worry about it. To make it easier we listened to it on my CD's. So we finished it right in time for General Conference. I loved Elder Scott’s talk on the temple and the Plan of Salvation. I like when he said he knows he'll see his wife again but isn't complaining that she's dead.

I've noticed that things seem to be getting harder by the day. I feel really picked on by Satan and he wants me to give up every day. I never give up no matter what but it seems a lot rougher than my past year.

I learned a lot on my exchange with Elder Davis my zone leader. This is his first transfer as ZL and he's only nine months out. We worked in Jersey City for the day and it was super busy. It rained all day and we still had a lot of success. Wherever we were we magnified that area and talked to everyone. We had huge success finding people ready to hear the gospel. We set up many return appointments. As we went and talked to everyone I felt pretty confident. Before being companions with Elder O I never really talked with everyone. But with his example and encouragement I've been the bravest so far on my mission.

I've never felt so busy in my life. There was no time to relax because there was always something going on. When I felt tired and wanted to take a breather, I thought to myself "Am I wanting my will over God's?” So I learned that God is in charge, not me. So I worked as hard as I could anyway and it ended up being a pretty good day. Elder Davis made me feel good and told me I am a powerful contactor.

President Bahr hasn't talked to me about the ADD pills so maybe I should call to ask.

April 01, 2009

As you know I hit my one-year mark this past Thursday. I really feel no different but I had to push myself extra hard this week.

We had interviews with President Bahr this past Friday. That's when President Bahr suggested the ADD pills. I don't know how that's going to be paid for or what to do. Today we are doing service for the mission home so I'll ask President what I need to do. I was really surprised to hear he thought I needed pills. I didn't know wither to take that as an insulted or not. I've just learned how to deal patiently with it. He thought I was taking pills all along. Some days my studies are good but others are terrible and nothing gets done. So maybe pills will help. I'll be fine with or without them.

This week we had a pretty good lesson with Charley. He's embarrassed about his apartment because he lives with his mother and he's 50, so we meet outside on benches where there is busy noisy traffic. It’s hard to teach by the spirit when it’s so distracting. I'm glad he's been coming to church often. Last week he didn't make it because he was too tired. Hopefully members will make the time to have lessons with him in their homes.

We met this mentally ill woman named Susan. She requested a visit from us from a pass along card. She's a super animated and happy old lady that talked way too much. She told us her life story in two hours. She got first place in the Special Olympics for running. Every story lead up to how different people accused her of being "crazy in the head" or "are you nuts?" We were trying to leave and we were in the car and had the car on and Elder O. couldn't close his door because she was blocking his door. That was another hour-long conversation. Both of us were really worn out by the time we finally got to leave. She was sweet but has no need to be baptized because she is celestial already. She does swear a lot though. She gave Elder O. a big smelly kiss on the cheek on the way out. It was funny.

I thought you would freak out to get a call from President Bahr. Like you thought I was in trouble or something. I'm glad he thinks I'm working hard, that means a lot.

That’s all I’ve got this week.

March 25, 2009

My one-year mark is tomorrow. It’s really weird to think it has already come so soon. I hear the last year goes by even faster. I don't think we’re doing anything to celebrate if it requires money because all of us are broke.

This week was good. It was fun doing service for the Salvation Army. All we did was find clothes that had yellow tags and pile them up in big bins. It was funny to see all the missionaries singing along with the radio to familiar songs we love. It was all soft rock stuff. [LDS missionaries are not supposed to listen to "worldly' music.]

We had lunch this last Saturday with a less active member we reactivated. His name is Mauro. His wife and kids are not members of the church. I think I may have told you this already but his family seems to be fond of us. Two of Mauro’s daughters were taught by missionaries a few years back. We are trying to gain a good friendship and we hope to soon invite them to take the lessons again.

All the missionaries and ward missionaries are trying to figure out a way to get our ward to do more missionary work. Everyone has the excuse of working really late everyday in NYC. Some people work till 1:00 am if they are accountants. So hopefully people will make the time to have lessons in their home or give us referrals.

I've told you about Charley before. He's someone we knocked into and he has come to church for about four weeks now since we met. He's an interesting character. He's almost 50, divorced, lives with his mom, recently got out of jail for a year for beating his ex-wife, and he has a sweet old dog. He is doing well and we have taught him about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. In the past he was taught by missionaries so he knows a little about the Restoration already.

I think it’s funny to think how different my and Elder O's mission experiences have been. He left his first area with ten people almost ready to be baptized. For me seeing Charley come to church for a month and he still wants to learn more is the greatest success I've seen so far. That hasn't happened anywhere I've served. But Elder O. came here thinking it would be easy. But we have to work hard for what we get. In his last area members would give them referrals every week to keep them busy and they would teach them. Here in North Bergen you really have to work hard for one referral in a transfer. So this is what he calls a hard area. This area doesn’t even compare to how hard the Emerson and Fardale areas were. This area in on fire to me.

Every new transfer our zone leaders make up zone goals for us to try to reach. This transfer I have really struggled with the goals. 1) Read Book of Mormon in 12 days before general conference starts. 2) All of us try to talk to 33 people a day. In six weeks that all adds up to 15,000 contacts. 3) One baptismal invite a day. I don't mind the 33 contacts a day because it forces me to talk to everyone I can and that’s a good habit. What I struggle the most with is all the reading. We have to read 45 pages a day and that’s about three hours. I hate being forced to read. I have the hardest time reading out loud and understanding what’s being said. I'm reading at turbo speed for me which is slow and not smooth. As I'm reading I'm not really paying attention and I'm in my own little world. Sure I'd like to get a lot out of this but mentally it’s very tiring to me. Elder O. thinks I don't care or I am using all this as an excuse. He has no idea how hard it is for me. Being a missionary it’s normal to be tired all the time but this just stresses me out. It is only “12 days of light” as they call it. I have always struggled with reading comprehension and I've learned to work around it at my own pace. Because the pace is so fast I've hit a mental wall. I just have to work with what God has given me. [President Bahr called us on Saturday and asked what we thought about having Shawn take an ADD drug to see if it allows him to concentrate better. We agreed and we’ll see if it helps.]

Funny story; One of the new Spanish-speaking Elders somehow burnt a hole in the carpet using the vacuum. After a month we finally told the landlady and the carpet was replaced. After all that she cooked us a whole chicken to eat ourselves.

My biggest spiritual experience of the week will interest Mom quite a bit. We had a district Meeting and I was asked to give a spiritual thought. So I read a scripture I found that reminded me of Amiee. It talked about the Plan of Salvation. In the Book of Mormon at the time the people were sad that many people had died in the wars. Those that weren't believers thought that death was the end and were sad that they couldn't ever see them again. The believers were sad too, but they found comfort in their knowledge of the gospel. They understood the Plan of Salvation and that they would see them again after death in heaven. It talked about how Satan used discouragement on the non-believers to make them feel like there was no hope for their friends. The believers knew better and trusted in the atonement and resurrection. So it bought a lot of comfort to me as I thought about Amiee.

I also shared with Elder O. that after Amiee died I couldn't remember any memories of me and Amiee together. He asked me a few days later why that is and I thought about it and realized that it was such a shock to me that I prayed with all my heart to keep my sister alive [and she still died]. I knew God could do it but God needed her in heaven. So I guess I wanted to forget about all of it and I made myself forget most memories of us. I remind Elder O. of the first time I found this scripture and how I felt the spirit. I told him that in 2Nephi 32:3 it says that angles speak by the power of the Holy Ghost. So when you feel the spirit it could be the Holy Ghost or an angel. I think Amiee helped me feel the spirit and let me know that she is there helping me to teach by the spirit. So I think that was really cool to realize.

March 18, 2009

I actually looked at my blog online and it’s really cool. [I guess it's the first time he has been able to look at this blog I made for him.] I hope to send you some new pictures soon.

This week was very busy doing things that were good, like service. We got new senior Sisters in our district and they wanted us to paint the walls of their apartment. It took a few days to fill in holes, sand the walls, and do the painting. Then we moved in all their stuff into the apartment. Every day was filled like this so we didn't have much time to do real [missionary] work.

We did get to visit a less active member that we have reactivated. He wasn't there but we got to talk with his non-member wife, daughter and her boyfriend. Felicia, his daughter, is a former investigator so I brought that up and we had a gospel conversation and we taught them a lot in a casual way. She is super cool and she wants to see us again so maybe we'll be able to teach Mario's family. She said she's looking for the happiness her Dad found by joining the Church. So we shared our testimonies with them.

I went on a companion exchange for a few hours in Jersey City with one of our Zone leaders. It was a hard change going from doing service all week to real missionary work. All we did was tract but we were able to get a lot of new investigators and return appointments that looked good. We found a lot of elect people that were ready to hear the gospel. It looked so easy to do all this. I thought how different our area is in that it’s not that easy. It felt good to see that God will bless us if we go out and work hard. I needed to feel like I was really working even though at first I wasn't that motivated. We taught whole lessons at the door. We didn't know that we had taught a pastor of a church until we saw his name on the sign as we left. He was really knowledgeable, I wonder why?

As far as people thinking I'm not excited, I’ve come to a conclusion. Elder Moore gave me some of the best advice I've needed. I told him of missionaries assuming that I'm not happy and excited. He said not to worry about it and be yourself. If you try to please everyone it’s hard to please yourself. If people assume I'm not excited than I will prove them wrong. I will smile more, and I don't have to be like Elder Mac. or Elder O. Elder Moore is done with his mission now and is home already. It made me feel good that he called me to say goodbye. He's easily my favorite companion so far and I know we'll be lifelong friends.

I'm having a lot of fun with Elder O. and we make really funny videos everyday. I love the GPS it really helps us find our way in this crazy road system. It can be so confusing.

March 11, 2009

Elder O. has been sick for a few days so I haven't felt like we've done much real missionary work in awhile. We’ve had some good discussions about being confident and having a positive attitude. I want to work on being more social so maybe over time I can do that. I have the desire to talk more and if Elder Mac. can do it than I can too. I'm really as happy as a fat kid eating ice cream on a hot summer day.

I told you about Charley last week. He came to church again and we got to teach him two times this week already. The cool thing is he was taught in the past by missionaries so he is familiar with the lessons already. We brought a member to Charley’s house to help with our last lesson. We taught him about the restoration of the gospel. The message was delivered fine but I really had a hard time teaching. Elder O. said he felt the spirit as he taught. I stumbled over my words and I don't think I made much sense at all.

I do lots of things in my day that invite the spirit, like reading the scriptures and praying for help. I can always have more meaningful prayers. I always compare teaching with the spirit with my first lesson with Raymond. I taught the whole lesson by the spirit and this past lesson with Charley doesn’t even compare. I still don't know what I did wrong but I'm confident when I teach by the spirit.

I bought my new camera and I love it. I've taken lots of pictures.

March 04, 2009

It has been a different week. I wish my e-mail last week went through because I lost it. So I’ll try my best to summarize. We had a district meeting and I didn't want to be there because I kept on being put on the spot with the game they were playing. I also wasn't the biggest fan of Elder Mac. His over happy personality rubbed me the wrong way. So I didn't want to be in the same room. Everyone could tell I wasn't enjoying myself. After the lesson was over Elder Mac. talked with me and asked what’s wrong. I assured him that I didn't like the attention. He's seen me be really talkative before when we were companions in Fardale. He said when I make the choice not to be social it’s like night and day. He wanted to help me be more social because he said he used to be like me. I found that very hard to believe because everyone in the mission and members know that he is the complete opposite. Over time he worked on being more social and encouraged me to try. I felt really good to vent to him even though we aren't companions anymore. When we were he never offered to help. He helped me realize that I'm not very confident and I could work on having a better attitude. So I went from not liking him at all to appreciating him and respecting him. He gave me a comfort blessing and I have felt a lot more confident since then. He checked up on me and said I look like I've changed a little already.

This week was good. We met a former investigator that let us into him home. We just got to know each other. He and his girlfriend smoke so much that smoke is the only thing you’re breathing. When we left everything from our coat, sweater, shirt, thermals, and skin smelled like we smoke all the time.

I did get the [care package]. Thank you! I enjoyed eating it and looking at the pictures. Wyatt and Benjamin look like studs. [Nephews he hasn't met yet.] We spent a whole day cleaning carpets (our own twice and one other apartment). We had a really ghetto cleaner because we used at least 20 gallons on a floor. We only needed three. So we went back and sucked up six or so gallons and then cleaned again.

There was a mission conference and the whole mission was there. So I saw past companions like Elder Moore & Valadez, who go home in a few weeks, and Elder Eddy & Elder Mayberry.

The coolest thing that happened this week was we tracted into a potential investigator that wanted to come to church and he did. He wants to be taught and we plan to see him soon. His name is Charley.

Last Monday was rough because we helped move someone all day (11:30am to 9:30pm). Most of this lady’s stuff wasn't in boxes so that made it hard. It was even harder carrying the heavy boxes up the stairs. Having an elevator would have helped. Elder O. wasn't feeling good that day and he overworked himself. The next day he was in bed all day and we couldn't go out.

I haven’t bought my camera yet because the one I want is so expensive. It’s the tax and warranty that makes it expensive. I want a camera so bad because I haven't had one in over a transfer. I need nearly all the $245. I promise to make sure I don't over spend again—my bad. I want to make video's and take a lot of pics.

February 18, 2009

Thanks for the encouragement. [His Mom sent him a list of all the things he has done in his life.] I need to print out the list of what I've done with my life. It made me feel good about myself and that I may be an interesting person.

This last Thursday night was really fun. The Spanish-speaking elders we live with invited us to their ward’s Valentines party. Maybe four of the adults spoke English ok and all of their kids spoke English and Spanish. So all of the time I had no idea what was being said. What was so cool is everyone knew how to party and have fun. All the moms got together and danced shaking their wide hips. It was funny to watch.

All the Spanish people loved Elder O. because he couldn't help himself and he danced a little. He got a few dinner invites even though they all knew we didn't speak Spanish. He didn't dance much at all but he is good. Everyone had a good laugh.

We were able to give away a Book of Mormon the other day. We met a senior in high school that said he was an atheist. He gave his reasons and said he wanted to do whatever he wanted and death is the end so enjoy life now. He let us in and we shared a little about the Book of Mormon and our general beliefs. His girlfriend listened in and he agreed to read the Book of Mormon if we read his anti-religion/God book. That was it, but we got in a door and that doesn’t happen very much at all.

While tracting in Weehawken we met a man that let us talk to him for an hour and a half. He was very Christian and tried to tell us that we're not. I now understand why most other Christians feel this way. Because the rest of the Christians believe in the Trinity that makes us the only Christian church that believes God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are separate. His definition of Christian is you believe in the Trinity. Because we don't believe in it that makes us not Christian? I always thought if you believe in Jesus Christ and try to follow his example you’re a Christian.

We pointed out the story of Jesus’ baptism with dove descending and God speaking from heaven. I guess [they believe] Jesus played all the parts, narrated, addressed himself, and was the dove too? I've never heard that before. He said God is all powerful and can do whatever he wants. With that we said then God can call prophets in America too, right? He said why not. But he always went back to us not believing in the Trinity, plus becoming like our Heavenly Father and being gods of our own worlds. The discussion was all over the place. We were throwing truth at him telling him that we believe in faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, plus the Plan of Salvation. It didn't matter what we said. He did invite us back to talk again. We'll see. I felt the Spirit telling me what to say but he was purely bashing with us. I felt it was an argument.

We had a zone conference yesterday and a general authority, one of the 70, Elder Dicksen was there. He only had one arm so we had to shake hands left handed. He gave us lots of suggestions and in general I felt chastised. He asked are you being 95% obedient or 100%? Why should I feel guilty when I am doing my best? I'm not perfect and my best most likely is not 100%. He said the hardest thing in missionary work is consistency in obeying the rules. He's right.

February 11, 2009

Elder O. is my new companion. This is my first time being a senior companion. I've been Co-senior. So Elder O. being younger relys on me to know what to do for planning. It’s a different experience having more responsibility. He's so different than Elder M. He's really talkative, outgoing, and funny. So it will be a good growing experience. I'm glad that he's willing to work hard.

I miss Elder M’s GPS. It’s so hard to find your way around here. I used a map yesterday for the first time in this area and I'm just as lost as Elder O. We were 30 min late to an appointment. Luckily it was just a member. I believe this transfer will really make me grow. I talked to Sister B. and one of the AP's and they knew this will make me grow. Sister B. said I pretty much have all the responsibility. We're going to work together but it's really mostly on me. I felt good about so it should be great.

Even though it’s really stressful to think about, I believe Elder O. and his personality will help. Sometimes I don't talk much at all around certain people. I found it a lot easier to talk because of him. Elder O. is from Orem Utah and he just graduated from high school this past year. That makes me feel old. We have a lot in common in that he had his hair long in high school. It was past his shoulders and he dressed up in 70's clothes like bell bottoms and buttoned fork collared shirts. I regret doing that much myself. He also traveled all around Utah in his rock band for four years during school. He sang and the Osmond kids played all the instruments. So he is really close friends with Donny and Marie, and their other brothers.

We have a family in our ward that got baptized because of the Osmonds. So the A. family is good friends with the Osmonds too. So Elder O. and the A's have this special connection because of that. Every time we've gone over they talk about the Osmonds and I'm so lost. I thought Donny and Marie were the famous ones. I have nothing to say because I don't know anything. That really bothers me. I feel so quiet all the time in general. I hardly say anything in dinner or visits. I wish I could talk like Elder O. but I feel so boring when they talk about his band. I'm not talented like Elder O. I honestly have nothing to say and I feel like I’m muted but I don't want to be.

Elder O. is really funny and makes me smile. He's fearless when it comes to contacting and giving out pass along cards. He doesn’t care if people are Spanish or not. Most of the time I let people pass by if they are Spanish because I don't speak Spanish. I won't really cross the street or go out of my way to give out a card. But Elder O., on the other hand, does that all the time. I have been more brave and handed out more cards that usual on my mission. Elder O. says not to be scared to share our message because it’s too important. I like that the most about him.

You know the H. family? We are teaching their daughter the lessons. Elder O. really related well to her level of understanding. He came up with metaphors that taught the importance of prayer. I would try to explain things in a simple way but he related best.

We were tracting in Weehawken and a cop was called in to stop us. Someone called the police and said we were “highway terrorists.” We are pretty harmless. We were told to leave and to tell the police when we were going to knock next time.

We are working with a less active member named M. and he doesn't come to church because he's remodeling his kitchen. Dumb excuse. He took us out to dinner and his non-member wife and another couple who are close friends came too. Their friends really liked us and asked us great questions about the church. We talked about polygamy and the Word of Wisdom. They really respect us for what we do. What was so cool is that even though M. hasn't been to church in four years he was teaching them about [the old practice of] polygamy and the Word of Wisdom. Hopefully they keep asking questions and maybe we'll be able to teach them.

We met with Raymond again and this was Elder O's first time meeting him. He told me later that he couldn't understand anything Raymond said because of his thick accent. I must have the gift of tongues because I talked the whole time. He talked a long time about how "whacked out" the Catholic Church is and how false it is. He was raised Catholic and never felt the spirit there but feels it with us. He knows the Book of Mormon is true and said he understands it better than the New Testament. I said that I know you know by the spirit that the Church is true. He kept talking about how much he saw changes in the Catholic Church. Mass used to be spoken in Latin only and you couldn't go near the alter because it’s holy. Nowadays you can walk by alter. So I said, "We are not the Catholic Church. The difference between us and them is we have a current prophet that receives revelation.” So I'm not sure what his problem is in not coming to church. He's praying for an "impulse" or a big desire to go to church. I think he's received plenty of proof that the church is true.

February 04, 2009

Today is transfers and my companion is being transferred. He doesn’t know where he's going or who his new companion is going to be. I'm staying in North Bergen and I'll find out who my new companion will be in a few hours. My biggest fear is that they put me with someone who is younger in the mission than me and they'll look to me to know what to do. I am getting older in the mission but I don't know this area at all. If you look on a map is a maze wherever you are. We had to get a GPS to get around. I'm excited to see what will happen.

I'm grateful I was able to serve with Elder M. again. That doesn't happen often at all being companions with your MTC companion. As we were tracting this week we met a really clueless Catholic woman that believed strongly that were not Christians because we don't believe in the trinity. I bore my testimony of Jesus Christ, I said we’re from the Church of Jesus Christ, and I was carrying a Bible. I could not convince her of her incorrect belief. You know how people say that when you bare your testimony that they can't disagree with it. That I found is false—at least with this woman it was. I just had to walk away I wasn't happy at all with is woman. I really wanted to throw a snowball at her face but I didn't. Aaron told me pretty much the same thing once, but he believes that I'm Christian.

We got to teach the H. family in the ward again. We are teaching their 11-year-old daughter. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Almost every time I get stressed a little about how we can simply teach her to her level. It’s always spiritual and the parents really enjoy it. I think of ways to explain things on the spot. Like I gave her my glasses and said not having the Gift of the Holy Ghost is like being blind. But when I put my glasses back on I can see clearly now that I have the Holy Ghost.

January 28, 2009

Some weeks I feel I can write a lot. This week I feel, what can I write?

Well I hear from my zone leaders that my companion has a great chance of being called as a zone leader next transfer. It’s not set in stone yet but most likely it will happen. We'll see.

You know the movie in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building at Temple Square? The same people that made that made another church movie with the same actors. The movie was about Emma Smith and we got to see it at a member’s home. I really appreciate her a little more even though she joined [a splinter] church.

I lost our cell phone for two days and we thought we lost it for good. It fell out of the car on the street as we walked to a member’s home. A neighbor gave it to the member and we got it back. The fact that it wasn't stolen was a miracle. We prayed so much to find it. Our prayers were answered. So having a cell phone is such a blessing it’s really needed to do effective missionary work.

This past Monday was my 10th month mark. That means I only have two months until I'm a year out. That’s a crazy thought. That day was also Elder M’s 21st birthday so as a district we all went out to eat.

There's this older lady in the ward that was nice enough to fix all the rips in my pants. I've done a fair job sewing myself but she's going to make it look good. My tracting pants have been high-waters since I've first had them.

We had a great lesson with Richard our investigator. We let him talk about what he learned for a half hour. His homework was to study the difference between Light of Christ, the Holy Ghost, and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. He enjoyed the study and understands that the only way to get the gift of the Holy Ghost is to be baptized. He told us he doesn't mind getting baptized so he could go to the temple. That really surprised us to hear him say that. He explained that he's looking for an impulse as he called it or a stronger desire to become a member. So we gave him a soft baptismal invite. He's so on the edge too. I hope he'll come around.

It’s good to hear that Grandma Farrer is doing well. I'll be sure to pray more. I thought from last week it was very serious the infection almost killing her. So I asked President if I could call her but he never called me. I could have asked my zone leaders but I didn't. I saw the pictures of Wyatt and he looks so happy in every one of them. It made me feel really old to see their family picture.

January 21, 2009

I'm pretty excited for President Obama. From what I've heard and seen (out of my control) he sounds like he'll do a lot, but can he deliver? We'll see. If he screws up there may never be a black president again.

So Grandma [Farrer] had foot surgery? Wow that’s weird. I will pray for her. Does [her foot problem] run in the family? Before I came on my mission the eye doctor said I'm at risk for glaucoma. It’s an eye sickness which leads to blindness. It’s like your vision is slowly seeing though a small tunnel that gets smaller ‘til you’re completely blind. I hope there's a cure when I'm old.

I have a funny story about the plane that crashed. We were driving to visit a less active member. The road we were on was Boulevard East which borders the Hudson River. The sidewalks were full of people taking pictures toward NYC. That was odd because NYC isn't going anywhere, plus traffic was really bad. We had no idea that the plane was in clear sight if I had just looked over my shoulder. The less active member that we visited had the TV on and showed us what was going on. We missed the whole thing. The plane crash thing was nothing short of a miracle. The crash was maybe the highlight for this week.

It’s the coolest thing tracting near Boulevard East because NYC is so close with the Empire State Building right there. We get to play basketball at Union City every other week and I really didn't want to play. Isn't that funny, because that’s something I used to love so much. I tried shooting the ball but air-balled it every time and embarrassed myself in front of other people. So I was ready to leave at that point. But as we played a game or two, I impressed myself being able to make a few shots and playing good defense. Elder M. and a few black teammates said they were impressed too, so that really made my day.

We again had the opportunity to teach the family in our ward. Our lesson was directed to their young daughter who's about ten. So we had to teach really simply. It was really cool teaching simple because I felt the spirit fast. The gospel can be very complicated and it can be very simple too. I really enjoyed talking about the Plan of Salvation simply. I wish people would listen to us at their door and see how simple it all is. The greatest thing was that her parents got a lot out of the lesson too. The lesson was simple and the parents still learned a lot. We all helped her understand it all.

So we were tracking in Weehawken which is right next to where the plane crashed. A street or two lost power to their homes so at every door we asked if we could simply help at all. No one accepted any help but we could see people were impressed that we were willing to help. One lady let us talk to her longer than she planned just because we only wanted to help. If people asked us who we were we would tell them.

The biggest thing that happened this week was zone conference yesterday. It’s always a spiritual feast. Since a few of my past companions and President Bahr were there I got them to sign the wooden tie that Clarke gave me for Christmas. Everyone that saw it thought it was really cool. I want everyone to want to be my companion just so they can sign the tie.

It seems to me that President Bahr is a rules guy, and that’s what he called himself. Besides the normal missionary rules he's asked us all to do a lot of things that seem to be strict. I feel like he's being anti-fun in a way but he's right in everything. He just wants us to represent respectability and work as hard as we can to find the elect. We aren't here on vacation but we are on the Lord’s errand to build up the Kingdom of God. It’s so hard doing what he says because I'm giving up a lot just being here fulltime anyway. I guess it a matter of if I'm really putting all of my heart, might, mind, and strength into the work. I do what I can and I'm proud to say I'm doing my best.

I can’t tell you how grateful I am for sending me money to buy another camera. I love taking pictures so later I can remember past areas and companions.

The Church is true, the Book is blue, and God loves you! :)

January 07, 2009

This week was good. With the Hudson River being so close the wind and humidity makes this area really cold. It’s been up and down with the temperature in the 50's one day and 30's the next. So a lot of us are getting sick because of it. I thankfully got over my cold.

We're actually working with people here! The sisters have an investigator named Fred in their area who needed a blessing, so we came to his house and gave him one. He was preparing to be baptized this past Sunday and his back wasn't doing well. He has a testimony of priesthood blessings because some of his past health problems have been healed. He was going into surgery for his eye not to long before this day. One of the Elders blessed him and the doctors said he didn't need surgery anymore. He said in great faith, “I'm going to be the best convert the church has ever seen.” He shows a lot of faith and is learning to recognize the influence of the devil and God better. Fred got baptized on Sunday and asked for another blessing before the baptism for his bad back. He was a very excited older man.

I really like the change of companions a lot. Me and Elder M. share responsibilities more equally. I suggested visiting people on the ward list that we don't know to see if they have moved or are less active. I guess Elder M. never has tried that before. So my strengths help him out and I feel I contribute toward success in our area.

We've had dinner at a few members’ homes and people are so cool here. I found myself talking a lot more with members here and I feel like I fit in better. One of the coolest things that happened this week was a lesson with a new investigator. Julia hadn't ever made the time to be taught till this week. She's was contacted a few months ago. So we taught the Restoration and it went well. I was glad we had a member there because he is a returned missionary and really taught well. The discussion couldn't have gone any better because she really accepted all of what we said. I'm sure she felt the spirit. She agreed to read her homework and wants her kid and boyfriend to come to church. Brother R. was the one to invite her to church and what he taught helped a great deal. She said, “I'm really open to find the truth and I'm like a sponge just soaking everything in.” She didn't go to church but I'm confident she will.

What I like most about this ward is it’s so different. This Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and when people said ‘good morning’ the whole congregation says ‘good morning’ back. There was a Chinese man who is over 90-years-old that sang his testimony. He was awful and I could not help but to laugh inside. No one gave him weird looks so I'm guessing he does this often. The sisters had investigators at church and there were visitors there that thought we were out of the loop. A member we later saw at dinner said she heard a visitor say, "This was the worst fast and testimony I’ve ever been to." One of the bishopric members had to define what it means to testify of the atonement and restoration. This reminded me of Clarke’s story of the testimony meeting in San Francisco that centered on Mr. Rogers' recent death and how he changed their life. It wasn't that bad.

My favorite thing that happened this week was a lesson with our investigator Raymond. We meet every Tuesday. He knows the Book of Mormon to be true and loves feeling the spirit. He just doesn’t want to go to church. That’s what he said his leap of faith is. This was the first time where I lead a lesson and taught the whole time. Elder Mac. would never let that happen. By the spirit I asked good questions that helped get more info out of Raymond. I testified boldly of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith being a true prophet. I helped him realize that he has a testimony of the atonement and the good feelings he has felt is the Holy Ghost testifying that what we're saying is true. He said he doesn’t want those good feelings to go away and he wants to hang on to it as long as he can. I couldn't exactly say well you first have to be baptized and be given the gift of the Holy Ghost so the Spirit is with you always. So I hope to better explain the difference between the light of Christ, the Holy Ghost, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost can't be with you always and he knows that already.

Elder M. is the district leader and he was very impressed with how I taught. The whole time I did all the talking and he was very quiet, which was fine. He said he wasn't prompted to say much. That doesn’t happen all the time. It was all the Spirit. I was also directed to share a scripture in Jacob 4:11-18 that I had read a few days before. That scripture reviewed exactly what we we're talking about. It is really directed to the Jews and says that they will never have a sure foundation unless they build on Jesus Christ as their stone. But I related it to us in that we have to build on Jesus Christ as our foundation. It was probably the best teaching I've ever done in my life and in my mission so far.

We watched the New Year’s fireworks in New York City from across the Hudson River. They weren't impressive at all. It was just cold.

12/31/08

I have been transferred to the North Bergen area. It borders the Hudson River so I can see New York City all lit up at night. It’s so exciting being so close to NYC. We live in Union City which has a lot of Hispanic people, so our area overlaps with the Spanish speaking Elders.

My new companion is Elder M. from the MTC [Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah]. We were MTC companions too. Since we've been out the same amount of time we’re both co-seniors. That’s pretty cool. Even though this is his 3rd transfer being district leader he doesn’t call himself a pro. So I actually feel like we can both rely on each other’s skills. I didn't feel like I had any say in with Elder Mac. It was a yes sir no sir planning and I wrote down what he told me to. People favored his happy personality over mine, which is fine. He smothered my candle flame compared to his forest fire. So I feel I can breathe now that I'm not in his shadow.

Elder M. is great and I can teach him a thing or two about tracting since I did that for six transfers strait. I think we can share responsibility better so this was a very good change. Union City and everywhere around us is suburban and a lot more city than I thought. There is lots of concrete, no trees, and lots of liquor stores.

My Christmas was great and I really enjoyed talking with everyone [in the family on the phone]. I wish I was able to talk to Amanda more. On Christmas Eve we had a huge breakfast at the Weight Family’s home. We went sledding in their backyard and I hit a small tree. We had a snowball fight in which I got hit in the face. Elder Mac. threw a snowball at my face and knocked my glasses off. Good shot. The Weights gave all four of us presents like cereal and small toys. That was fun. We had a secret Santa gift exchange for our Zone activity. I got cologne called “His Sexiest Desires”. That’s all I saw at first. We had a great dinner with the Manchesters. I got to read the nativity story while Sister Manchester acted it all out for their young son.

I’m glad I got to call you on Christmas Day. When I said I don't want to be forgotten you guessed right. I want to be an unforgettable teacher and really do good for my area wherever I'm sent. I don't think Chris will forget me. I told him my last Sunday that being able to see him baptized was my greatest success in Fardale. I think saying that meant a lot to him. I have his number so I'll call him later. That’s probably the reason I was sent back to Fardale. That and learning from Elder Mac. how to ask better questions during discussions.

Me and Elder M. got in a small car accident. As we pull out from under the underground Union City parking lot another missionary, who was not thinking, got out of his car while it was still in drive. So it slowly clipped the front of our car. Elder M. tried to go in reverse but put it in park and then it was too late. Stupid, right?

Happy New Year to everyone!

PS: G'ma and G'pa Farrer sent me a late Christmas package with a few really nice sweaters. I was so surprised because they had already sent $150 and said to spend it on family so I did. They spoiled me so much. I'll be sure to send them a ‘Thank You’ card.

December 25, 2008

No email from Shawn this week, but we got to talk to him for an hour on Christmas. [Missionaries are allowed to call home twice a year; on Christmas and Mother’s Day.]

They were not supposed to do any proselyting on Christmas Eve or Christmas. They had breakfast with a member family on Christmas and dinner with another family who let them use their phone to call home. [We are grateful for families who look after missionaries and give them food and comfort during the Holidays. It can be a hard time to be away from home--but Shawn said he isn’t homesick and he is glad he is there and not home.]

He is enjoying working with Elder Mac. and is learning to be a better teacher. Because Shawn hasn’t had many opportunities to teach he hasn’t had a lot of practice and lacks confidence. To help with this Elder Mac. is having Shawn role-play teaching scenarios and lessons and giving tips and advice. He is also trying to help Shawn have a positive attitude and find joy in missionary work even with limited success.

They continue to work with several less-active church members who are working as nannies in their area. Most of the homes in the area they work are owned by wealthy people who are not interested in hearing about the restored gospel, but some of their nannies are either already members or are interested in learning.

Mission gossip says that Shawn is being transferred to Jersey City next week. He’s never been very comfortable with change and he is anxious about his first real transfer (he has been living in the same house his entire mission). But he is excited about moving to an area that is known for having much more success in teaching and baptizing. Most of the people in the big cities live in humbler circumstances and they are more open to learning about the gospel and changing their lives.

He’s not sure he is ready to be a senior companion because of his lack of success and teaching opportunities to this point. Both his return missionary brothers were able to give him good advice and encouragement.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with Elder Farrer and he sounds like he is doing great.

December 17, 2008 I

It was a very busy week. We went to three funerals, had a mission conference, and two firesides put on by the mission. One of the funerals was really sad because nearly no one showed up. There were about 22 people; six missionaries and the rest were family members. It was sad because they were so sad. He had had a lot of health problems. One other funeral was cool. This guy was in the Air Force so some [airmen] from the local Air Force did the three man shot salute and folded a big American flag in a respectful ceremony.

In happier news, a mission conference is always a spiritual boost. One guest speaker told us that he writes in his journal every day and looks for ways God has blessed him. I got to talk with him later and I told him of my love of journal writing as well. I've never missed a day and I'm on my fourth journal already in eight months. The other three are over 200 pages long full of spiritual experiences, what I find funny, and hard times that make me grow. I'm very proud of that. He couldn't tell me how many he has. I told him I him I don't want to be forgotten. You will forget what you learn if you don't write it down. It’s my escape. I can't play video games so this is what I like to do.

One of my favorite sister missionaries I worked with in Emerson made me brownies for my birthday even though it was late. Sister Mc. made them from scratch to so they tasted better. That was nice of her and made me happy. The whole mission was there for the conference so I got to see past companions. We got to take a mission picture. Our AP's [assistants to the president] always give inspirational talks and President Bahr always tells us how we can become better missionaries.

The firesides the mission put on were a big thing. Everyone was invited. There was music from the mission choir and many solos. I wasn't in the choir. One soloist was my past companion Elder V. and he sang well. I really felt the spirit when I paid better attention to the words about Jesus. Not as many people showed up to the English version as the Spanish version. The Spanish one had head phones for English translation and not everyone got to have one. So I didn't know what the heck was being said. It was the same program as the English one so I had already seen it. All the missionaries in the mission got to sing Called to Serve. Two verses were in Spanish so I just hummed along.

After the Spanish fireside in Union City we went to the Hudson River front which was really close [to NYC]. We took pictures of New York City in the dark of the night. It was really cool being so close to the City [with its] bright lights and huge buildings. We were right next to a track and field so the other Fardale Elders raced each other in their suits and we got it all on video. The air was so much colder coming off the Hudson River and I had a lot of layers of clothes on.

During the week we got to see H.S.’s horse. She is a less active member we reactivated. Her horse Puck was huge. We got to feed it an apple which it ate whole. We were afraid it would eat our fingers. We got to see it run around and roll.

We met some cool uninterested people tracting. One man was training his dog commands in German "So people get screwed." One lady was Jewish and she has a lot of Mormon friends. She said you are the cool people. She also said, “How I can believe in God is evident. The world and the plants couldn't just appear.” One of her close relatives had on their tombstone "Science is man’s way of trying to understand God's miracles." That I thought was really cool.

We made our own Ghetto Christmas tree. We took a cardboard tube and taped green paper to it. We were lucky to find scrap pine tree branches out for trash. So we took those off the street and cut holes in the tube then shoved the braches in. We also got a long stick and put it out the top of the tube. Then I put the home made star on the top which isn't colored at all its just white. That was a lot of fun. I took a lot of pictures.

I'd say I'm pretty warm. I think it’s cold now, but it will be colder soon. Everyone thinks I wear too many clothes to keep warm. I did get the DVD Aunt Laurie sent but because it’s been so busy I haven't been able to watch it yet. I am going to send all the presents I bought for everyone in one box so it should come soon. I also got Christmas cards from Wal-Mart with pictures of me and Elder Mac. I will send all my pictures from last transfer of me and Elder M. and my videos. If you haven’t sent my Christmas package yet just look for stuff I can use like Dragonball Z post-its and really ugly old out of style WIDE FAT ties. No worries, I'm sure I'll love it. So I'm calling home on Christmas Day. I'll be calling as soon as I can but I don't want it to be at night. Elder Mac will be calling after me in the late afternoon.

Merry Christmas, Elder Farrer

December 10, 2008

So this week was crazy busy. For the past couple of weeks we have spent 33 hours helping to decorate for a wedding. The daughter of the Relief Society president was the one getting married. It was a little sad because she's less active and married a non-member. So they got married in the chapel. This was the first time I've seen this happen. Hey Dad did you ever get to marry anyone in the chapel when you were Bishop? I was told temple marriages are much more spiritual being sealed in the temple and all.

So I spent most of my birthday helping to decorate and I waited to open my birthday package there. Thank you by the way. We hung up the Christmas lights you gave me. Plus I look amazing in my new sweater. J.S., one of the coolest people in the ward, bought me a whole cheesecake. She's the best member missionary in the ward. She's the nanny that invites all her other nanny friends to hear lessons on occasion. She is so cool. It was so funny seeing her dance [at the wedding] with all the nonmembers, many of which were Hispanic. The groom is Hispanic.

I got to go on a companion exchange in Paterson which is really ghetto. I felt so out of place like I was in a foreign country. I was with Elder S., our zone leader. We addressed everyone as "Hey man how’s it going? We’re giving away a free DVD about Jesus and sharing a Christmas message." The liquor stores are the hang out places for all the black people. The [stores are] on every corner. I felt I stuck out like a sore thumb. I couldn't say "How you doing today sir?" They would probably say "What you talking about fool!"

We were very busy with appointments every hour. One investigator they met only a few days ago. She was golden. Did all her homework, was willing to pray about Book of Mormon, and enjoyed all we shared. I wouldn't be surprised if she gets baptized. She said the Book of Mormon just makes more sense and she gets more out of it. Remember this was only the second visit.

Everything in Paterson was dirty with trash everywhere and some people looked like they were gonna kill us. (Not really Mom). I tried [eating at] White Castle for the first time in my life. I didn't throw up. I heard from many that it’s gross. The fries were terrible.

Send [any] packages [and mail] to the mission office. It’s the safest way and they will get to me. Wow, I didn't realize you spent $40 to get my package to me [by my birthday]. Thank you. I hope you don't spent that much again this time around. I'm trying to think about what I might need for Christmas. Go on an ugly tie search and find me a few. I loved the one you sent me but look for polyester ones that are old and out of style. I love Cheese-its, and Quaker Oats granola with no raisins (fun stuff!). Be sure to thank G'ma and G'pa Farrer for the money they sent me for Christmas shopping. So knowing what I can get for you would be helpful. I’m going shopping today not really knowing what to get. I hope to figure out a Christmas card this year. The biggest thank you is for the extra money. Thank you Aunt Bunny for the thermals!

December 03, 2008

This week was great. So Thanksgiving was good. Thankfully we only had two [dinner] appointments. By the second one I wasn't hungry in the least degree. Somehow I was able to eat more without getting sick. The first one we ate at a Hispanic family’s home and they expected us to eat a lot. We ate one very skinny turkey that had hardly any meat on it. Then they brought out a second one and I thought we had to eat it all. Luckily we didn't have to and there were two other missionaries besides us to help eat. We went home and slept for an hour because the turkey put us to sleep.

We did service for a very elderly woman in the ward that just turned 90. We raked her huge yard and there were a few people with leaf blowers to help. She owns three forested acres. I'm sure it’s worth a lot of money. I thought we had to clean up the whole thing.

I think I might have told you about a member in our ward named B. She's the most different person I know. [She] used to be less active a year ago. [Her husband] Chris is the one that just got baptized recently. She gave her first talk [in church on Sunday] and told me she was nervous and bloated (TMI). She usually wears sweat pants and a NY Giants (NFL) jacket to church all the time but she dressed up in a skirt. She told me she was planning to wear pants but changed her mind and she forgot to shave. I told her she did a good job and she hugged me. I couldn't say no when her arms are already around me. [Missionaries are not allowed to hug.]

The past few Sundays we have reactivated a few less active members. Plus there are two nannies who are members and we are teaching all their nanny friends. There are about five total nannies that eat dinner every Sunday with us and we share a thought or lesson. I hope they stay interested. Most of them are from Spanish speaking countries and are learning English. So teaching the nannies has been the greatest success so far this transfer.

We helped decorate the church gym for a wedding that’s going on soon. I got to hang up lights. I've been happier as we've been busier. [This is the first time] I have seen this kind of success on my mission. It’s a good feeling. I hope to see my [Birthday] package soon, I'm excited.

November 26, 2008

This week was better in some ways. We taught a lesson to a man named Alex. He's friends with one of the counselors to the stake president. One of the counselors to the mission president was there as well. Alex is from Russia and was never taught anything about God and never went to church. So it was hard to teach him because he never had anything to build off of and no [religious feelings]. We had to teach so simply and not go into too much depth. The counselor to the mission president that was there played in the NFL for the 49ers. His name is Bart Oates.

We've had some good success so far in bringing three less active members back to church. Our goal this transfer is to get 30 less active members back to church. One less active member named H.S. is my age has come back to church for two weeks in a row.

We got to go to the temple last Saturday. It was so cold because all the cold air blows down the streets in a never-ending stream of horrible coldness. Everyone was bundled up except for crazy natives of NYC. We passed the Late Show with David Letterman studio [and I] got a picture of that. There were all kinds of nasty stores with naughty naked clothed manikins on the way there and back. [Being in] the temple was good. I had a better experience this time. We came earlier this time because a member Elder Mac. knows [went to the temple for the first time] that day.

This past Sunday was cool. Chris, who I told you got baptized last week, [was confirmed] this past Sunday. Because Elder E. and I taught him a first lesson a few months back, the senior missionary couple finished teaching him and he got baptized. Elder E. and I were the first missionaries he met so he invited me and Elder Mac. to join in the circle when he was confirmed. I felt honored. He was given the gift of the Holy Ghost by a member and I never had this experience before. Chris told me that I was the first missionary he met and we are tight. That made me feel good. So maybe the reason I'm back in Fardale was to become better friends with Chris.

I was telling Elder Mac. how I've had a hard time being myself, smiling, and knowing how to talk to people. It’s been a hard transition coming back to Fardale. It’s a plus that I know all the members already but I feel socially retarded. I’m not good at talking with people that I'm not comfortable with. I'm not sure why but I was not happy at all with myself and I did feel a lot better after talking with President Bahr. Some days I can't bring myself to smile and everyone knows I'm not happy. I am trying.

Elder Mac. is helping me sharpen my teaching skills. So when I'm confident in that, maybe things will be better. What did make me smile was that a less active member felt prompted by the Holy Ghost to call the bishop. So we got to meet with J.M. who hasn't come to church in many years. It sounds like he'll be coming back to church from now on and is ready to prepare for the Melchizedec Priesthood. He told us a crazy story of how his wife got in a bad car accident and got brain damage. She's now mentally imbalanced but used to be a vegetable. Her health improved and she lived. The way he explained it was amazing. He asked for a priesthood blessing and I gave him one. I was very nervous because I've only given three blessings so far in my life. It went really well and he said he felt healed right there. He said it was inspired so I felt a lot better. I've always been scared to give blessings because the last one I gave I didn't feel prompted to say anything. This was better.

As far as my birthday goes, I need more winter clothes. I have a good coat, hand gear, & scarf. If you can send warmer long johns, maybe made out of wool or more polyester than cotton. My legs are getting cold. Is there something else that can be worn on legs to put in between long johns & dress pants? Plain cotton/polyester long johns on my legs aren’t warm enough. Remember the nice sweater I got last Christmas? It’s gray and zips up and down. Send that to wear over a shirt & tie. It should be in my closet in my old room. I need more layers like super good sweaters made with polyester or wool. The wind goes right through me. I love Butterfingers & Paydays.

Thanks for the care package. It makes me so toasty that I sweat. :)

November 19, 2008

I hope you’re doing well. I guessed right when I said Elder Mac. was going to be my companion and I'm going back to Fardale. It’s been interesting. The ward was happy to see me back and I felt welcome really quick. So this isn't a new ward to me and I just have to get to know the new move-ins.

We spent a lot of the week separating the two areas and giving pretty much our whole area book to the other elders. Most of the former investigators happened to be in their area so we only have maybe six contacts and they have an inch thick of them. I was not happy to see our area have next to nothing to work with. It was really hard for me to accept that and try putting a smile on my face.

Elder Mac. is a very enthusiastic person and reminds me a lot of Clarke [older brother]. They have the same groovy personality and are never serious. He reminded me repeatedly to smile and I found no reason to. I tell him my face is tired and I don't feel like smiling. That doesn’t mean I'm not happy. I'm trying to fake it until I make it. So it was hard to smile because I feel like I'm going back to Emerson where I never taught at all. His over the top happy personality makes me look like I'm depressed. I feel like he smothers my fire and people only see his huge forest fire. Does that make sense?

When I was with Elder M. I was the happy one trying to keep him going. Now I feel like I'm like Elder M. and Elder Mac. is encouraging me. He doesn’t mean to, but it looks like the roles have changed. The only plus is that the members already know me and the Fardale ward is excited about missionary work for good reasons. The senior couple missionaries in the ward are about to go home in a few days and the other elders in the ward are going to take their place. They've done some good work because the past few weeks they have had baptisms, including one today for Chris. So the Bishop’s attitude has changed since I left. He is more willing to help us and so is the ward.

I got to be a witness for Chris’ baptism. He had to be baptized three times to get it right because his elbow stuck out. Maybe I was sent back to Fardale to see Chris get baptized.

During a lunch break we caught a mouse that has lived in our shack house for a few months. One of the elders was in the kitchen and heard the trap snap. I was surprised how brave the mouse was when we were so close to it and it pooped on the way to the trash. That was gross. One of the elders said he saw it struggle ‘til it died. How sad. :(

At a recent district meeting the whole zone met at the chapel in Paterson. So there were a lot of missionary cars in the parking lot. Our district leader discovered their car had been stolen right out of the church parking lot. They stupidly left a spare key in the car and the thieves got away. The great thing is that there are black boxes in all the cars so the police tracked the stolen car and caught them. The bad thing is they crashed the car and tried to run away in a field.

November 12, 2008

Wow! Guess where I'm getting transferred? I going back to Fardale! [That's where he started his mission.] Elder M. and I are both getting transferred. They are going to spilt the area since it’s so big. If it goes like I think it will I'll be companions with Elder Mac. most likely. They reopened Fardale at the beginning of this transfer and Elder Mac. trained there. So there’s a high chance of us being companions. I'm sure of it.

The problem of the spilt area is everyone the Fardale elders have worked with are on the other side. All my favorite members and all the investigators are in the other area. So we have to give all the work to the other elders. It really stinks. What makes this even worse it that the new elders are replacing the senior couple missionaries that are going home. All the people the senior couple are working with will be given to the other elders as well. So since we live on the other side we are left with no one to work with. I feel like I'm going back to Emerson where we worked our butt off and nothing really happened.

I'll tell you something I wrote in my journal last Thursday, "Elder M. helped me realize that since we've been in Emerson for three transfers we haven't filled out a single teaching record. That’s about three months without teaching a real investigator. That is a long time and shows what serving in Emerson is like.” I prayed for success in faith and I can't say I've seen anything change for the better since I've been here. Maybe our purpose was to simply plant seeds for the next elders. I hope God doesn't mind me wanting to see the fruits of our labors. I have become a lot better in tracting. “Count your many blessings.”

Well I sure hope Sean [makes progress] for the next elders. We met with him at his door and were able to set up an appointment for the next elders. I hope the seeds we planted in him will grow with the next elders. He seems very open to hear more I'm sad I can't see him grow.

Something happened on Sunday that really made me mad. We met [with leaders] before church started to talk about the progress of our area. We really had a hard time putting names down because we're not working with anyone. We only had a few media referrals. The sisters had on their progress record a ton of names, some of which weren't [real investigators], like people they talked to while tracting. [One of the leaders] compared our record to theirs and said, "Wow elders! Look they're beating you with more names to report on.” It made us look bad and lazy. We could have put all our potential investigators down to talk about but they haven't made any progress.

We had another meeting to talk about our progress again with [another leader]. We started filling out our weekly goals for them to see and graph. He saw the Sisters goals as high and ours as low. He said, "If you set ‘Investigators with a baptismal date’ as 0 it will stay that way." I said, "You have to have investigators first, then comes the date." He said, "Yes, but you have to have the faith that if someone is prepared to accept the gospel you should set a baptismal date. It happened in my mission." I thought to myself that it isn't a lack of faith, it’s a completely different mission.

It seemed to me that he thought we were lazy and it’s not true. I didn't like this at all. So I approached him as soon as I could to set him straight and say we are hard workers and I shouldn't have to prove that to you through big goals. I said, "I want to let you know that just because we have no baptismal dates doesn't mean we're not working hard." He gave me a look I'll never forget, it was like a brick wall with his body language. Nothing I said could convince him that we worked hard. He changed the subject and said, " Always set your goals high and you'll be more successful in your professional life." Then he walked away. I could not believe that the [church leaders] think we're lazy when I give missionary work all I have. We are hard workers. I know it, and God knows it, and I will never deny it. We're the ones that receive inspiration and although our goals are low they’re actually really high for this area.

I wish Elder M. was there to back me up. He would have said as soon as you give us referrals for 20 people that are ready to be taught, then you'll see baptismal date goals. We work so hard and I hate the fact that the ward, or mainly the [leaders], have to see high goals to think we're successful. It’s like strengthening a muscle. You have to pick up 20 pounds before you can lift 100. We didn't get a single referral from them. I fear that the ward will never think of us as hard workers and their impression of us seems to be permanent. It’s [not true]. In the nicest way...[edited rant]. I hope this wasn't too negative but it really bothered me to the core of my soul. I don't know why I'm going back to Fardale but I am. I'm not mad at all. I hope God has a work for me to finish there.

November 5, 2008

Hooray for Halloween! We were told not to go out to work [on Halloween] unless we had an appointment. Our only appointment with our only investigator cancelled. So my companion and I played a lot of chess. I'm really bad. It was really funny when one of the Elders we live with dared all of us to swallow a spoon full of cinnamon. It was really hard because as I breathed in it blocked my throat and I coughed and spit it all out. It was all on video. Elder M. did it too. We had a Mission Conference this week. The whole mission was there and we did a Mission picture. I believe it will be sent to you soon.

I was really happy to hear that one of the people Elder E. and I were teaching is getting baptized soon. We never got to meet with Chris much at all. Then the Fardale area was closed to missionaries for a whole transfer. But the senior Missionary couple there was able to meet with him and he is getting baptized. It’s nice to see that the seeds we planted with someone were harvested by the senior couple. So I can now say that someone that I worked with got baptized!

I sat next to Elder E. during lunch and mentioned this as the whole table was sharing different stories. He told everyone at the table that Fardale was not a good area. I told him that we did have success, we just weren't able to see it until now. Success couldn’t be noticed very much at all when we were there and it was hard.

It’s the same in Emerson. We don't see much success at all. We did find Sean but he hasn't returned any of our calls. I fear this is his way of saying he's not interested. It was such a great and spiritual first visit. I hope he wasn't antied [given anti-Mormon literature] by someone. It happens way too often. He lives so far away. We'll see if he's interested still. I hope and pray he is.

We delivered cookies to Church members’ homes for Halloween and it was really fun. There was one family that we were convinced hated us, or simply preferred we would drop dead. It was more just the mother of the family that we annoyed. We dropped by their home without calling and she didn't like that at all. As soon as we showed the cookies all barriers were broken and she let us in her home for the first time. She really opened up to us and gave us someone to check up on. She is a very forward person and tells it like it is. She reminds me of Mom's family. She invited us to come for Thanksgiving. She went from really untouchable to really cool instantly because of the cookies. That’s the power of the cookie!

Thank you for trying to look for thermals. I will buy some myself. Any winter clothes you found and sent will help greatly, so thanks. I can't wait for the contact lenses also, I may have to wear my glasses until they arrive. Transfers are this coming Wednesday so I may be moved to a new area. It will be hard to leave because I feel Emerson is the same since I've started here.

I don't know if Sean will go anywhere. If I leave I will have accomplished nearly nothing. We try to teach 20 lessons a week and we're lucky to teach 20 lessons a transfer. :( It's all very discouraging and I hope this area will grow. Plus I honestly feel like I am a very basic teacher and a little low par. However, I know what it’s like to teach by the spirit. I guess that’s all that really matters.

October 29, 2008

Not too much to report on this week. We had a bad experience with a cop that harassed us for tracting. As we tracted we saw two cops that were looking around with their spotlights on the other side of the street. We thought that someone might have called the cops on us. We decided to finish with the last house before taking off. The cop that harassed us was a mean overweight woman. She was very insulting and searched my backpack without a search warrant. We asked her if she had one and she said, "I've got the law and probable cause on my side." She didn't give us any reason to do that. She also thought we were frauds when we showed her our minister licenses she said, "I can make one myself at Staples." At the very beginning we heard her tell one of her officers she knew who we were. "I've dealt with Mormons before." The whole time she harassed us she acted like she didn't say that. She tried to find anything to write us a ticket. [We might file a] complain against her. So get this, one of the counselors to our mission president is a lawyer and he may file a legal complaint against her to the chief of police. She very well could get fired for what she did not having a search warrant and harassing us for no reason. She's harassed other missionaries in the past but they didn't do anything about it. If the church sues we could go to court but if she's smart she won't. Nothing like that has happened yet. We are just waiting to see what happens. So this was the big thing that happened this week.

A little more on the [situation with the] sisters. We sat and talked with them with our district leader and talked about them coming into our area. [They said] they thought visiting all ward members was ok. If they call and let us know they are in our area it will work a lot better. I hope they will do that. Since I've been here, when we eat dinner with members both the elders and the sisters are invited. The ward all agrees that we eat in our separate areas. The problem with that is only two or three families [in our area] will feed us. No one else has before. Plus there are some good cooks in the sisters' area. It makes me sad because it feels like a brick wall never to see cool members in their area. What really hurts is the ward members sign up to feed the sisters for dinner a lot more than us. It seems we have to beg for our dinners. O well, it just shows the ward loves the sisters more than us.

October 22, 2008

Not too much happened this week. Our biggest concern this week is that we have run out of things to do at night too often. Since I've been in Emerson we haven't taught anyone solid. We have visited all the less actives in our area and it’s hard to meet with the active members. Everyone is so busy.

On Sunday the only new investigator we had dropped us. It took us 33 hours to find him so it was really frustrating. He enjoyed the restoration lesson but his wife didn't want to hear it so he won't meet with us again. We thought it would take another 33 hours to find someone to teach, just to have them drop us anyway. But God blessed us with another new investigator after only four hours of tracting. His name is Sean (he spells it wrong). He let us in and we taught the Plan of Salvation. He was really nice and asked really good questions. I was very nervous because I can't remember the last time I got to teach this lesson. It could have been months ago. The spirit was present and he really enjoyed the whole thing. Plus we have a return appointment! This was nothing short of a miracle because we both thought that is would take so much longer.

Lately we have been tracting around [the streets of members who are on the] “Do Not Contact” list and treat them like we don't know they’re members. It’s worked out nicely. That’s how we found Sean. It was a very wealthy part of our area really close to the Rockland County, New York, border. We thought we wouldn't be successful. Sean seems to be ready to hear the gospel and I'm really excited to see what happens. Our district is having a fast for our area to this Sunday. I hope that will help us get our area going. Sean is the only success we've had lately. I know this fast will help us.

[edited rant about the sister missionaries]

October 15, 2008

I [wrote a long email then] totally just deleted my whole email so I have to start over and I don't type very fast.

This week was full of service and it was pretty hard. I don't mind doing service but it was a lot for one week. We got to rip out a whole cabinet that had rotted because of water damage. We used hammers and destroyed it. Then the same member we did that service for asked if we would mind doing a little painting. A “little” was a lie. She had us paint the whole foundation of her house. It took us about five hours to do it and we still weren't finished. It was really hard because the surface was rough. We had to go over the same places many times. It did look a lot better. She appreciated it because she can't afford to pay someone to do it.

She did feed us lunch and we had lasagna and what she called Peruvian shrimp soup.
The shrimp still had their HEADS on and I freaked out. I couldn't eat it and I cleverly asked for it to go instead. I swear the shrimp was staring at me with its beady little eyes and winked at me. [my companion] ate it and I just couldn't do it. It’s not right.

We did another service project for some non-members. They are good friends with the members next door. We shoveled a mountain of wood chips and spread them all over at different places in the yard. They were very thankful and we made a good impression. They did feed us lunch and we got to talk to them about the restoration. The sisters taught it and [my companion] tried to get a word in but couldn't because the sisters talk so much. It was weird because it is in our area and the sisters handled everything. We weren't too happy about that. They did do a good job though.

That same day we caught a squirrel in a trap our landlord gave us. It kept growling louder at us as we looked at it closely. We let it go. It was really funny.

I feel like we didn't do any real missionary work like tracting. We did have a few great member visits so that’s missionary work. It wasn’t a very spiritual week, so that’s it really.

October 8, 2008

General Conference was really good wasn't it? It’s interesting how I pay attention to Conference more closely as a missionary. I liked Elder Wirthlin’s talk about laughing at yourself and learning from your mistakes. A lot of the theme was don't get discouraged and stay together in unity. You think they are preparing us for the worst with the economy really bad? I hope we're not going to have another Great Depression.

This week we are getting used to working with three sisters instead of two. So far were working well. Sister F. was an aerobics instructor and a lot of missionaries came to do aerobics this morning. I've done it before but a lot of others hadn't. It looks really lame, like an 80s jazzercise video. "Come on, you can do it! 1, 2, and 3…" I know from experience if you do everything right it’s a great work out. Thankfully no one was wearing spandex. People under estimated it and I'm sure they'll be sore. I found out Sister F. loves 80s music as much as I do. She sang some familiar songs and I sang some Duran Duran.

We meet often with a semi-less-active member. He looks older than he really is, not married, terrible teeth, has two huge German Shepherds that are crazy, and his whole house smells like pee. We taught him the Restoration lesson and I felt the Spirit as I testified about the Book of Mormon.

We took a member out with us on a team-up to help us last night. Earlier we had been fasting to have enough to do with [him]. Ultimately we hoped that one potential investigator would be home so we could teach. We didn't have his number and he gave it to us. So I know that because of fasting he was comfortable enough to give us his number. So that is the power of fasting. Thank heaven.

What do you suggest about winter clothes? It’s fall now here and soon to be winter. I'll need thermals. I'll just have to go shopping somewhere.

I’m glad you had a great birthday Mom. Be sure to hug my nephews for me.

October 1, 2008

It was an interesting week. I haven't been transferred, so I'm staying with Elder M. again in Emerson. One of the sisters we work with is getting transferred and because the ward loves [her] we drove the sisters around a lot to visit members.

[We are working] hard to win the support of the members here. Every member we set up an appointment to visit cancelled. So often we ran out of things to do very quickly and we had to go home early because it’s too late to visit members. They don't like us visiting without calling before we come. It’s harder to not let us in when we are at the door and it’s easier to say no on the phone.

This coming transfer we get to work with three sisters. Sometimes there's an odd number of elders or sisters and three have to be together. So we get to work with a threesome of sisters. This should be interesting. The members love to feed us all together. So they'll have to feed five of us. We went out to eat a few times this week and both times we ate at buffets. Sister M. told me to try all the seafood that was available. I hate seafood but she told me to be brave. So I made myself eat everything that I would never consider eating, even if someone paid me. I ate muscles on a clamshell, crab, octopus, octopus suckers, the round tentacle part, and bacon rapped crab. So I struggled to eat it all and I almost gagged it all out. The best thing was they recorded it all and I made all kinds of funny faces as I almost threw it all up. I watched it all and laughed at myself. I proved to myself I could eat those things and now I can truly say that I hate it all with a passion.

One of the members in the ward is Philippino and made us eat balot. It’s an unborn duck that is almost ready to be born but you boil the egg and eat it. I feared for my life. I was lucky there was only one fully formed duck. Sister M. pulled it out and we all took pictures of it. Sister M. will eat anything and it won't gross her out. So she ate the duck and she wanted to.

I bore my testimony last Fast Sunday and it’s always good to do. I strengthen my testimony in doing so. I read 2Nephi 4:31-33 and said in the Book of Mormon Nephi always seems to me to make the right decisions. In this scripture Nephi is expressing his frustration over making mistakes. So he is praying for help. I know the atonement has worked in my life and the sins that I feel guilty for are forgiven. I don't feel the weight on my shoulders anymore after I repent. God wants us to do our best in keeping the commandments and that’s all he requires of us. We all fall short and make mistakes but the atonement makes up for what we can't do ourselves. Continue doing your best and God will help us in whatever problems that come our way. Humble yourself and you'll get help. This was my spiritual experience for this week.

Happy Birthday Mom! I feel bad I didn't send you a card. I’ll send one to you. Also I'm going to send you one of my picture memory cards so let me know when you get it. The 26th was Aimee’s death-day and my six-month mark. I've been out six months so far and it’s gone by really fast.

September 24, 2008

This week we had a couple teaching opportunities. We tracted into a Muslim man. He was interesting in learning more. He talked about the truthfulness of the Koran and that the text hasn't changed. He acted like were his potential investigators. “I've given you the opportunity to accept this message, this is the truth.” He gave us a Koran and we talked a little inside his home. He showed us the fancy Koran he uses. You have to be clean and showered to even touch it. He of course gave his cell number and invited us back to talk about the Koran. We haven't gone back yet.

The most exciting news this week is that we got our first new investigator this transfer. It took us 33 hours of tracting to find someone that invited us back. We taught him about the Restoration and he was pretty receptive and will allow us to come back in a month. By then I might be transferred. Transfers are this Wednesday and I'm not sure if I stay or go. Elder M. wants out of this area and I have requested to stay because I want to see this area grow. I'll feel better leaving this area in better shape than it’s in already. It is a really hard area but I enjoy the challenge and I appreciate the teaching opportunities more when we get them.

We got a new ward missionary leader who is really good. He's a little controlling, more than the last one that didn't help us out much. Last Sunday he set up all the speakers to focus on the importance of missionary work. The talks encouraged the members to be better member missionaries and give the missionaries referrals. The only problem was that all the referrals were given to the Sisters. They got eight and we got zero. That really shows the ward trusts them more because they've been in Emerson for 7 months together.
[edited rant]
We work so hard and the ward has never given us any referrals. I love working with the members. I believe our new ward missionary leader will help us get more referrals and I hope to stick around to see what happens.

I really don't hate the Sisters. The ward simply likes them better. The Sisters make up for everything with the brownies they make for us. I prefer the brownies they make over teaching people. They are sssoooo great. The Sisters aren't working with many investigators either. It would simply be nice to get referrals from the members. The ward does feed us a lot so that’s nice.

Say hello to my nephews.

Much Love from the happiest Missionary on planet earth and in New Jersey.

September 17

It sounds like everyone is settled in for school. Hopefully that all goes well.

Elder M. and I are getting along just fine. There are a lot of mission goals set that are pretty hard to achieve. President Parkinson wants us to teach 20 lessons a week. That’s also what President Monson asked all missionaries to do. We haven't even got close to 20 lessons taught this whole transfer. Plus we have no investigators, few potential investigators, not many less actives, and two former investigators.

We have sister missionaries we work with in our ward and their area has all the members and less actives. So this is a tracting area but that isn't very effective here. We try to work with the members as much as we can but we have a problem with the Sisters. They often visit the members in our area, which is fine I guess, but they don't tell us. So sometimes we would visit the same people on the same day, and the Sisters left just 15 minutes ago. Another time we showed up shortly after they did and knocked on the door. So we joined in on a pivotal lesson and we wanted to be the ones teaching. We talked with them and tried to get them to understand. They don't care if we visit members or tract in their area.

I want our area to grow and working too much in their area may not help us any. It’s like we are really in a foursome. I love working with the sisters but we aren't getting good results weekly. The sisters have been in Emerson for seven months so the members are more comfortable with them. We do work with the Sisters a lot and I hope we can get our area going so it doesn’t get closed. We want to spread out the responsibility more. It shouldn't be that hard now that they are aware of how we feel. The Sister are awesome, don't get me wrong.

Elder M. has never been in an area that is so slow. So he gets discouraged sometimes and I try to encourage him to have a better attitude. My whole mission so far I haven't got to teach that much and the areas I've been in are considered dead. I don't mind it at all because that’s what I'm used to. I really would like to see our area grow and I try to keep a good attitude and hope for the best.

One day Elder M. wasn't that happy and a little down about the area. So we prayed to find someone to teach and we taught an old man a first lesson. We didn't get a return appointment but I felt the Spirit and we gave him the opportunity and he didn't accept. He asked, “How do you know the Book of Mormon is true?” We said, “Through the Holy Spirit.” He said, “You could be hallucinating and I'll never know the true until I'm dead.” He might see God soon anyway, but he was a very nice man. I thought this would cheer my companion up but it didn't. He said we work hard and nothing comes of it. I thought it was God's way of giving us the chance to teach.

We had stake conference last Sunday and I was excited to see members from the Fardale
Ward. It was my last area. No other Elders knew who they were except for one.

I did get the cookies from Aunt Bunny and I really loved them all. There were so many that I shared a lot with all the missionaries at zone conference yesterday. I insisted that everyone got one and I walked around and people came to me. The Snicker-doodles were the ones that went quick. At least 50 missionaries got one. I figure it was a fast way to make friends. I don't think anyone will forget that. I felt a lot of joy doing so and there are a couple dozen left for Elder M. and me.

Sept. 10, 2008

It's so cool that I have another nephew. That's all really exciting. I'd like a picture of Benjamin as soon as you can. I never know how to open emails that have pictures so please send one in the mail.

I have a funny story to tell. The sisters we work with were invited back to teach a man they met tracking. When he answered the door he had a loose robe on and "accidentally" flashed them and was naked. The sisters quickly left and told us to come back later. So we hoped he wouldn't be naked still. He was half naked, just a shirt. Just joking, he did have pants on and is old and hairy. So we will check on him later because he looked disappointed not to see the sisters. Pervert. He's married too.

Haven't found anyone new to teach this week. We've done a little work with less-active members. One was very rude and the other was very nice, said we could come back. Elder M. made me teach the whole Restoration lesson at a dinner appointment. I didn't want to at all and I didn't agree to do it. But I did and at first I was not confident by myself. As I went on it got easier and I got more confident. The sisters said I taught simple and easy to understand and most important they felt the Spirit. I didn't feel an overpowering spirit like them but I did feel confident so that could be the Spirit.

That's pretty much all that happened this week. I hope Bethany is doing well. Congrats on being a father Clarke! Whoooooo hoooo :)

August 27, 2008

So I got a new companion, Elder M. He's pretty cool. I'm not sure the best way to describe him. We play chess for fun and he teaches me how I can make better moves. He likes to do math for fun. He pulls out a big dry erase board and does math I've never seen before. He said doing math is one of the best things he does on P-day. So he's a little bit of a nerd. He loves to read. We get along well and work hard.

Yesterday we tracked four hours straight. We got into one door at the end. I knew this guy was Jewish just looking at him. He was nice to let us in and we taught a big variety of lessons. We tried to get a return appointment but he said he'll call us. He probably won't, but he did learn something.

It turns out Raphael didn't get baptized because our Mission President said Raphael should get baptized in North Carolina. He's moved back already.

Fardale is closed to [proselyting] missionaries but there is still a senior missionary couple in there. They can't do a lot of tracking but it’s enough to work the area. I'm glad for the change in companions and I think we'll get this area going better and trying to teach people.

We've been fed almost everyday this week so that’s nice. Last night we were eating at some members’ house and their cat kept throwing up red stuff and was really sick. It was really gross hearing it. I thought it was dieing. I was trying not to laugh at the same time. We were invited to dinner on short notice and I wasn't hungry at all because we just ate. Somehow I made room and I ate like I was hungry. I've learned how to do that and it’s not a good thing because I gain weight. That’s part of being a missionary I guess. Eat or people get offended and go less active. That is so true when you eat at Spanish peoples house. They count how many plates you can eat.

Dad, tell me one of your missionary stories.

8/20/08

Great news, we have a baptism this Sunday. I mentioned it in my last email. Rafael L. was investigating out of state and wants to baptized in New Jersey because he was born here. We reviewed all the lessons with him yesterday and he's really excited and ready. This is a miracle and it was unexpected. He was really impressed with our Gospel
Doctrine teacher and his lesson on Sunday and asked him to baptize him.

Today is transfers and I'll be staying in the same area but getting a new companion. So Elder V. will be transferred to Elizabeth. I thought we would stay together for another six weeks since we are both new to Emerson. I don't know who my new companion will be. People talk and most know where they’re going and who they’re getting as a companion before transfers.

I was sad to hear that my first area of Fardale will be closed to missionaries for who knows how long. My trainer Elder Wenzel had Fardale for his first area also. But then it was closed for about a year and a half until he finished his mission and trained me during his last transfer in Fardale. So if it opens up again on my mission I'll ask if I can go back there. The Fardale ward doesn’t give people to you to teach at all so that’s why it’s not productive.

Our apartment fits four missionaries in it but there will be two people in a four person apartment. We don't entertain much so it will fit us. I hope I get along with my new companion who ever he is.

Thanks for all the letters. I’m sorry I haven't been able to write letters back but I love reading your letters to me. Thanks Aunt Bunny for all the letters and the extra cash. Thank you also Uncle Doug for your letter as well. I remember you sent me a letter in the MTC and said one of your companions from your mission lives in Morristown. It would be funny if I saw him and served there.

I was surprised to hear that a few of the missionaries I came out with are going to be district leaders already and senior companions too. We're almost five months out. I don't want that kind of responsibility this early. I hope they do well.

Do me a favor and forward my weekly email to Aaron Stewart and Erik Wenzel.

8/13/08

This week was good. I got to go on an exchange in Jersey City on Monday. It’s on the edge of the Hudson River. You could see New York City. There are so many different races there from all over the world. I loved the big city feel. We saw some drunk people trying to throw a ball in a trash can right in the sidewall. We witnessed two young black kids beating each other up in a parking lot. Interesting place.

Transfers are coming again soon, this one went by really fast. I think both me and Elder V. are going to stay since were both new to the area of Emerson. I hope we stay.

Yesterday we didn't do any missionary work at all. We met up to switch cars at a Chipotle restaurant. After eating we went to the church in Morristown to get a blackbox in the car. Everyday we take a break for an hour and a half to eat, nap, or study. We just got home early. I suggested we leave early because we got home early. Elder V. said he wanted to sleep. After the break all of us took time to clean the house. I expected to go out to work and I said I'm ready when you are. We never did go out. I showed I wanted to work. So there are little things like that that just happen.

I got some good advice from my trainer, he said to serve my companion and say you want to be more obedient. So I'll try it.

Something great happened this week. We met a man named Rafael L. who was investigating the Church out of state. He just moved in and wants to get baptized. He had been taught a lot before moving in so if I stay in Emerson he very well could be baptized very soon. That’s very exciting considering all the rejection we get and the area being slow.

I did get the package with the pictures. If you have any more please send them to me. Amanda looked great in her dress.

8/6/08

This week was good. We haven’t taught anyone new this transfer yet so we are still trying to build up a big teaching pool. We have been meeting with a part member family. Mr P. is a non-member but his hobby is to collect all the information he can to prove the Book of Mormon true. He has an old travel sightseeing book about New York. It describes forts like Captain Moroni built. These were the ones that had ditches, mounds of dirt, and timbers on the top. There was one in Virginia with walls 40 feet high. Over time people bought the land and farmed over the forts so there’s no evidence of them anymore. So people forgot about them but the information in the old books is still there. The only this that’s holding him back from getting baptized is to stop smoking. We visit and he lectures us and we don’t get to talk much. So were working on him.
This week we did a lot of service and had a lot of dinner appointments. I swear I’m getting fatter everyday. From the top of my chest to my tummy isn’t straight anymore. Nothing noticeable but I weigh at least 165 pounds. The whole being picked on thing last week was a lot. But I’m handling it ok. The other day we had a break and I decided to study. Among all the distraction and loudness from the other room I felt the Spirit as I studied about the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit of Promise. I felt spiritually recharged. I searched all I could about it and only then was I able to learn spiritually. Not every study is like that but I’m glad for what I learned.
[The other Elders] interrupted me from my study wondering why I was studying extra. I told them because I needed it. I’m not too sure what to do sometimes with Elder V. We work hard but he’s not exactly obedient to the rules. Even little things like looking at You-Tube. It seems harmless but I think we would be a little more successful if he didn’t do those things. I’m not perfect but I know what not to do. I try my best not to join in on [their] sometimes crude conversations. It doesn’t accomplish anything. So I did that study and I felt forgiven for joining in. Don’t get me wrong Elder V. has taught me a lot and is a great missionary. He could be blessed a little more if he was his whole best and not three-quarters. I don’t want you to feel like I’m speaking badly of him but I am at a loss at times. He’s my most interesting companion yet. I want to be obedient. I really should simply worry about myself but there are some things that I can control and I do what I can. Please don’t think I that I think I’m being blessed more or bragging. He’s not that disobedient really, there are a few things that’s all. I don’t want to make this look or sound like it’s a terrible thing. I feel like I’m justifying myself and rambling. I love Elder V.

7/30/08

This week was good. It’s been interesting. The only person were working with is a man named Marvin. We and the sister missionaries work with him. He's been investigating the Church for two years. Before he started to meet with missionaries he didn’t believe that Jesus and the scriptures were true at all. He's slowly come around and believes more in Christ. He comes to church every Sunday and is pretty much treated as a member. He has the responsibility of the announcements for church. He's really smart.

Elder V. has some health problems. He takes medicine of migraine headaches. So if he has a migraine we don't get out on time to work and he has to rest for a while and I don't know what to do with myself. So that’s not his fault. We aren't working with anyone so its not like were going to be late, but I am ready to work and this has happened twice. He had a sick stomach yesterday and we had to stick around the house most of the day. None of this is anyone’s fault I just don't know how to conduct myself. So I study or write in my journal to make good use of the time. The work is really slow and nothing has happened. I'm not perfect at all the rules but I told him I strive to keep them.

I was really picked on this week by [the other Elders]. (I admit it, I am a pansy). I am weak and can't really defend myself. They’re both huge people so they wrestle me and I struggle to escape. They got me on film being wrestled and defeated. I'm afraid they'll show it to other missionaries. I was harassed in everyway. I am extremely patient but I had some not missionary minded words to say. I was pissed! No Joke and I don't get mad. They really pushed my buttons and went too far. But it was all in love, but still. Don't worry I have forgiven them. If anyone else went though that I don't think they would have been nearly as patient.

I want to work hard but it gets tough. Sometimes Elder V. is too sick to work. I still love [the other Elders], I have just don't have any advantage over them.

7/23/08

Last week on P-day we did aerobics in the morning and we did it again today. The first time I was sore for a couple of days. Now I feel used to it and it’s good for me.

We went to a BBQ at a member’s house. It’s a part member family so there were a lot of members and non-members there. Some people were drinking beer and it was awkward. The funny thing was both counselors to the bishop were there and people were drinking.

I had interviews with President Bahr the new mission president the other day. He's really nice. Sister Bahr asked me about my family and I told her about Amanda's wedding and Wyatt. I also showed her a picture of Aimee and said I took her with me on my mission.

Nothing much happened with missionary work this week. We haven't had much success and we’re still looking for people to teach.

7/16/08

I have been transferred to the Emerson area, which is right next to my previous area in Fardale. [Emerson is east of Fardale in the northeast corner of Jew Jersey.] So I stay in the same apartment and just moved to the other room. My new companion is Elder V. and everyone says I'm lucky to be companions with him. He’s a big tall half-Mexican that doesn’t speak Spanish. When he plays the guitar and sings along it sounds like the radio.

Emerson is a lot like Fardale as far as tracking is concerned. The members are a lot more supportive and really want to help us. The members in Fardale are scared to share the gospel. There is a completely different attitude in Emerson and it feels like it should be this way. We don't have much of a teaching pool at all just like Fardale, but the members are a lot more supportive so missionary work should be better.

Last Sunday we were asked to give a talk with only one day notice which really made me mad. I asked the Lord for help and I felt comforted that I'd prepare a good enough talk. So I used a few books to study, made an outline, and shared a few stories. When I started I really didn't use my outline and did it by the spirit. It was a good experience and I wrote it in my journal.

I already know a few members from the week I worked the Emerson Elders before us. There's a Korean Ward that meets in our building and they gave us a free sandwich on the way out.

I still live in the same house with Elder E. and he's training now. He's having a lot of fun with it. It’s fun to watch. He's training Elder S. from Brazil and we always ask him how to say funny things in Portuguese just in case. Elder E. gives me a hard time now that we’re not companions. I don't really now how to defend myself at all as much as I daydream about it.

July 09, 2008

This week was pretty good. Today is transfers and I heard from other missionaries where I’m going and who my new companion is. I’ll be going to the Emerson area with Elder V. I met him at the temple trip earlier this transfer. He told me then that I seemed to be a cool person so I think I’ll like him. I’ll be staying in the same apartment so I just switch rooms.
I’ll also get to live with Elder E. because he stays in Fardale. He’ll be training for the first time and that worries me a little. He’s funny but is never serious about anything. I asked him if he is nervous and he said he’ll handle it like he did me. It will be interesting to see him train.
I got to say goodbye to a few favorite members yesterday. I got to watch the fireworks in Ridgewood and it was great. They closed down roads so people could walk around. There was an orchestra playing 4th of July songs. The fireworks were really close to the ground because we were close. It was raining to so we were soaked.
I got to meet our new Mission President and he was really nice. I’m afraid of what he’ll change, I hope it’s not too bad.

7/2/08

It’s hard to point out miracles. I keep on getting ingrown toenails on each end of both big toes. It hurts with all the walking we do everyday. The Elders I live with told me not to cut them too short. I've been able to take care of it pretty well. So that’s a miracle.

I learned last district meeting that in Preach My Gospel it talks about praying. It said you shouldn’t pray for guidance on every decision you make. Making decisions is part of growing in this life. God will give you guidance on important decisions. Those who keep praying for something that is trivial could by there own fantasy think up an answer in their mind and that’s false revelation. Use your best judgment, and if you don't get an answer God will let you know if its a bad decision. That’s what it says in PMG 101.

We don't have a teaching pool at all and we tract a lot. We have a couple of people that might progress if we could meet with them more often. I'm grateful that I can see how they grow.

Chris, Banana’s boyfriend, keeps coming to church and enjoys it a lot. He's really busy and we haven’t been able to meet. We haven't even been able to explain the restoration.

A lot of funny things have happened. Last Sunday a member from the RLDS church came for awhile. He said his church was cancelled for some reason. He joined us in Gospel Principals class. He kept interrupting class and asking really deep questions like becoming gods and original sin. Elder Cope one of the senior missionaries pulled him aside to talk about it. I could feel the contention in the room. Banana texted me and said that guy made Chris feel like the RLDS guy was satan. He smelled a little too. I'm sure he's a good dancer. The Copes met with him and he said he believes in Joseph Smith.

Amanda's in Virginia right? She emailed me and said she is selling with Derek.

This transfer ends soon and it’s gone by a lot faster. I hope I have one more transfer with Elder E. I'll find out this Wednesday if I leave Fardale or not. Also I get to meet the new mission president this Friday. I hope he doesn’t make us part our hair.

6/25/08

This week was good. Nothing that exciting happened.

Today we went to a park in Hoboken. It’s across from the Statue of Liberty. We could see New York City and the Brooklyn Bridge. We ate lunch and watched the kids play a little soccer. I liked seeing the sailboats on the Hudson River.

We talked to the stake president’s daughter’s best friend. She hadn't heard much about the Church at all. I was surprised. She was really nice and we'll be able to meet with her soon.

Gary [Pratt – Shawn’s best friend from El Paso] wrote me and said that Danny [Pratt] was getting married on the 27th of this month. So that’s news.

We were on a park bench in Ridgewood talking to some people we know and the Elders we live with drove by and yelled at us. One of the people we were talking to yelled back and cursed at the Elders. We said we know them and they are the Elders that live with us. It was funny.

A man passing by on his bike asked us if we were Jehovah’s Witnesses. People hate them here. We said, “No were Mormons.” Then he said, “What’s up Brothers?”

I'm not sure what else to say so I hope Wyatt, Derek, and Amanda are doing well.

6/18/08

Dear Family and Friends,

Thanks for inviting Aaron to the reception I'm sure he was happy to see you. Did you go to the Steak n' Shake in Grapevine? The people there would still know me. The reception sounded like it was a lot of fun. I sort of wish I could have been there.

Things are pretty good here. From the last email I thought you said you'd be too busy to write me. So I'm glad you were able to.

I think I told you about Banana. Her companion (as she calls him) came to church and he really enjoyed it. We taught him a little but didn't get too far. He's really big on the importance of family. Last Sunday was Fathers’ Day so people talked about family and he enjoy it. In Gospel Principals we talked about baptism and needing the priesthood to do it so I was afraid at first. We hadn't talked about that yet. He said it was all good teaching and he even participated in class. So I didn't worry anymore.

We as a district went to Red Robin for dinner, mmmmm. Last Saturday about 30 missionaries including us went to the New York City Temple. With travel it took the whole day. My missionary plaque at home is right next to Elder Solgato’s and I got to talk to him on the way to the City on the train. I got a little sick because of the movement. We walked about 15 blocks to the temple. It was so hot with our suits on. All the magazine stands had dirty pictures so we looked away. We saw a few really boring street performers that didn't do much. I forgot my camera so I missed out on pictures. We saw where the David Letterman show and other Broadway shows are performed.

The temple was very small and had an elevator to every floor. I didn't feel the spirit at all there but it was an okay experience. I had a stupid song stuck in my head and I couldn’t concentrate.

A few of us made our way to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. On our way it started to pour rain so my suit got soaked. People laughed as they saw men in suits running and jumping over huge puddles. It must have been a sight from their point of view. We all kept a good attitude about it all and there was nothing much we could do about it. I laughed a lot with everyone. The food was very expensive for just a burger. They had all kinds of great Classic Rock songs and music videos playing. There were TVs everywhere so it was hard not to look. (I loved the music, Aerosmith & ACDC). Our waitress was really dressed trashy. Her shirt and pants were all ripped up everywhere. All of us got our picture taken behind a wall of guitars. I got a picture on a small key chain. It was a good time.

I heard that Nathan Singley was at one of Amanda’s receptions. I can't remember the last time I saw him in person. It’s been a couple of years.

While we were tracting at one door a woman said we were half Christian and it made me really mad. I always think of the right thing to say after it's over. L

6/11/08

When you’re in Flower Mound invite Aaron Stewart to Amanda’s wedding reception. He would like to see you. Give him a call on my old cell phone or stop by at his house. Do it for me please. While you are there eat at Steak N' Shake too.

Thanks for the short sleeve shirts I need them now the weather is very hot and humid. I was fine with Texas heat but this is much more humid. It rained last Sunday and you could see the humidity like steam coming up from the ground. It was like walking into a bathroom that had steam in it. I often have to shower twice a day because of the heat.

People are nice enough to give us water even though we sweat out what we put in. Once we were given a soda then later on a cup of ice. So we chilled and drank a cold soda in the car with the AC going.

Two good looking girls answered a door with swimming suits on and we tried to act like it was a normal door approach. It was tough.

We are meeting with a girl named Marliyn. She is a troubled girl that has had a lot of bad stuff happen in her life. The few times we've met it was more like a counseling session than a regular teaching appointment. We sat as she was crying loudly in the library telling us how horrid her life is. So people were always looking at us wondering what was going on. We met today outside the library. We asked if we could meet at a member’s house next time and she was okay with it.

Last week we did even more finding for a total of 22.5 hours of tracting. We were able to teach one older man that had to have his shirt off because of a skin condition called shingles. It was gross because he was saggy alllll over.

I broke the Word of Wisdom for the first time in my life on my mission. We were helping an older woman who is a recent convert move a cabinet into her apartment. She wanted to give us ice tea and we said we don't drink it. She said it was herbal but it wasn’t. So I'm doomed. I laughed it off and we went out, got something to eat, and I drank a Mountain Dew. More caffeine. I don't think she knows she's breaking the Word of
Wisdom.

Me and Elder E. are doing great and we are working hard. I'll be sad to see President Parkinson leave. At the end of the month they'll be done with their mission. I had my last interview with him yesterday and he gave me a nice blessing to end it. He said I'll be a powerful missionary.

6/4/08

My new companion is Elder E. and he's from St. George Utah. Cool huh, since I was born there. This is his first time being senior companion so that’s new to him. I was a little worried at first because neither of us knows how to plan effectively. It’s worked out so far. If you haven’t ever lead a planning session it can be tough. We get along well.

At home he says he likes to shoot stuff, like bunnies and squirrels. There are so many of them around here and a few live in the roof of our shack. He said he likes to Bunny Bash. This is when you drive around looking for bunnies. You shine a light in their face and they freeze for a moment. Then you take a bat and bash it as hard as you can. Most die. Isn’t that awful but at the same time funny. He also shoots bunnies with a shot gun. If you get close enough their legs are blown off and they cry in pain. Then if it’s still alive you shoot it in the head with a pistol. I couldn’t do that.

Last week we tracted 19 ½ hours because were not working with anyone. We’re both willing to work hard so that’s good. Not really any complaints.

Last night we went to teach a less active sister named Banana. Yes, that’s her real name, she changed it because she doesn’t get along with her Dad. She says her Dad is in the mafia and she tries to not get involved with it. She brought her boyfriend named Christian who I had never met. We came to teach Banana but we taught Chris instead. He knows going to church is important to Banana so he was thinking about going. Banana surprised us when she said, "you know you should get baptized". He said he might. There is no one like Banana. We talked a lot about the importance of family and how the church works. He brought up the concern of controlling his anger and asked if the Book of Mormon could help. We couldn’t find anything at the time so we'll meet a different time. We were very unprepared and I couldn’t think of anything to share. We just read the introduction to Book of Mormon with him. He's very open and I'm excited to teach him. He might get baptized but I don't want to get my hopes up, but there is a high chance.

Tell Amanda good luck for me. Say hello to Wyatt, Grandma, Grandpa, and everyone. I'm officially old now that I am an uncle.
Thanks for the shirts, I'll need them when it gets hot.

5/28/08

Elder Wenzel left last Thursday to return home to Canada. So this week I worked with the other two Elders I live with. We worked in Emerson. They have a lot more going on there so we didn't work in Fardale. Today I'll find out who my new companion is. The senior couple in Fardale told me his name starts with an E. I asked around and there is only one other Elder besides Elder Evans that it could be. I am to stay in Fardale for another six weeks.

Memorial Day was crazy. A lot of people were drunk and very easy going. There was a gas leak in a street we walked though so no one could smoke or use the stove. We did a service project in which we moved some dirt around. This brother had a dump truck that dumped a few loads in his back yard. He was trying to make a flat spot. It was very hot we sweat a lot. We didn't have time to go home to shower. Then it poured rain so we got a natural shower. All of us were very unprepared for the rain and none of us remembered our raincoats. We did some tracting soaking wet and people still didn't have any sympathy for us. You'd think they would let us in and listen to us. Noooopppe.

The other Elders assured me that doing this would make my future wife prettier. But if you drop your scriptures it makes her uglier. It was a good time. No worries. We talked to some people who were on their porch drinking. They said to come back on a non-drinking day. We left them a pass along card.

The people in Emerson fed us sooooo much. I've learned to always save room because all the Hispanic people feed us. They get offended if you don't a least eat a full plate. Since Elder Wenzel left I have been invited to a couple of steak dinners in row and have been fed by all the Hispanic people in Emerson. I have gained seven pounds in two weeks. I weighed under 150 before the MTC and gained some weight there. In all I have gained 14 pounds and weigh 164 now. I don't think it shows thankfully.

I need three more short sleeve shirts—white button-down ones. Please use my money and send them to me. I can’t find the time to stop myself. I hear it’s really wicked hot here in the summer.

This has been a great week. Thank you for praying for me. Wish Amanda and Sarah the best.

5/21/08

Well this week was pretty good. We get our money at the end of the month and I had a lot of money to spare. I bought a lot of good food.

Elder Wenzel leaves for home tomorrow. I'll miss him. He's been a really good first trainer. He's done a lot of packing and email for college registering so we haven’t done much finding at all this week. I feel bad but Elder Wenzel does need to pack.

A lot of members have taken us out to eat. We were going to eat at a restaurant with some members but they couldn’t be there. They told us to order whatever we wanted. So I took advantage of this and got myself a 12oz New York Strip Steak, soda, creamy mashed potatoes, green beans, house salad, and cheese cake. Soooooo Goooood Yum! Those are some of my favorite foods. Juicy bloody steak, ooooh! The people who paid for it have connections so it went well. The waiters were good. Then two hours later we went out again to eat with another member. It was all you can eat pasta day. I was too stuffed. I took most of it to go.

Transfers are soon and I'll probably move. Our area is slow, people lose interest quick, and they are all so rich too. It’s so expensive here. We dropped one of our investigators yesterday. I got to see how it’s done. He wasn't progressing and he knew it. So he was cool with it. This was the drunk guy who forgot what he was praying about. We told him he's welcome to have the missionaries over when he's ready.

Please keep praying for me.

Love Elder Farrer

5/14/08

It was good to talk with you on Mothers Day. I'm doing fine. I work hard everyday. I try being obedient in every way. I am busy just to let you know. That’s why time goes by so quick and I'm tired all the time. Thanks for worrying about me though. You should have got your late Mother’s Day card. I got it in the MTC. Sorry the card is late. Happy Mothers Day.

Things are well here. We were thinking of dropping someone but he lost interest and dropped us. I want the best for him. We can't force someone to believe, you can only invite them. Many other people are hard to work with. We have found a few new investigators. One is this guy from Jamaica. He's really chill. He does have a Christian background. He hasn't disagreed with anything we've shared. He says he'll be baptized if he finds out the Book of Mormon is true.

I fear this area will be closed for how slow it is. If that happens we won't see the outcome of the good people we've found. We have senior missionaries are in our area, so they would take over.

5/7/08

I love e-mail for how fast it is but I enjoy getting letters too. Thanks again for the care package. The flip flops will be useful in the dirty tub. I do enjoy how everyone's dirty bath water is left for you to stand in because the tub is clogged.

The members are really nice here. The M’s are my favorite family. They remind me of our family a little. It was really raining hard one day and we didn't feel like going all the way home to eat. Elder Wenzel called sister M. on short notice and she fed us a hot meal. That was really nice of her.

The ants are still at war with us in the kitchen. I didn't realize that squirrels live in the ceilings. When they make noise we pound on the ceiling to shut them up.

I finally got to eat Jersey Pie (pizza). It was thin and greasy. Not bad!

As I said in my e-mail, I really enjoy adding my testimony to a lesson. It strengthens my testimony. We find people to teach and they say that they're interested. But when we show up they're not home or they give us a wrong number. It is a relief to see people interested and progressing.

I hope Amanda is doing well. I know she misses Derek being gone and everything. I miss him too. I did like Amanda’s wedding picture. It wasn't corny at all. Tell Amanda to study scriptures with a study guide so she'll get more out of personal study.

I'm in a public library that has timed computers so this will be short.

I guess I'll call you after four PM your time for Mothers’ Day.

Try to forward my emails to Aaron. I tried to email but it rejected it.

This week was but good its going by very quickly already. It feels like it was p-day just yesterday.

I went on my fist companion exchange yesterday. I didn't want to do it at first because I'm already comfortable where I am. I don't want to sleep in anyone else’s bed or eat their food. It ended up being good. I got to see what other missionaries are working with. One guy we visited said he saw Jesus in a vision and it helped heal him. He said there were no marks in his hands, he had a crown, he was holding a wand with a star at the end and he was all clean. We pointed out that it had to have been an angel because Jesus has marks in His hands.

We got the sink and tub fixed. The ants in the kitchen continue to invade everyday and the squirrels in the ceiling are making all kinds of noise.

I look forward to talking with you soon.

April 30, 2008

Thanks for the letters. It's exciting to get them. Thanks for the care package. I liked it a lot. That must have been a lot of fun. I also got Amanda's wedding invitation and it looked pretty good.

So the Heaths were in Utah. What were they there for, just to visit Amy right? [The Heaths are our good friends from Eagle River Alaska. Their daughter Amy just graduated from UVSC in Orem.]

The ward we are serving in is really small with only 50 active people. Elder Wenzel and I sing in the choir of maybe 10 people after church. This area is very slow for missionary work.

We're working with a few people but two are really doing well. One is Rob. We're trying to get him to stop drinking. He's drunk all the time when we come by. He's also disabled and living with his parents and he's 40. When we asked him to pray he said, "O God..." paused for a while then asked, "What did I just say?" Plus he doesn't read well either.

There are others we teach as well. The other day we were knocking on doors. This guy said, "I'm Atheist. I hate you guys. Rock on!" Right after that a huge muscled black guy walked by and said he wanted to hear more. He wasn't home when we came later.

What I enjoy most is teaching people lessons. I love when I testify of something and I know what I say is true. Plus doing this helps me answer their questions.

Because Elder Wenzel leaves early I might have to move out of our shack. I sure hope not. I'll find out today.

Mothers Day is coming soon I want to make sure you'll be home when I call. I'll try sending a letter today too.

I was wondering if they finished my mission plaque and it has the right scripture on it? (1Corinthians 2:9-11)

Elder Shawn Farrer
New Jersey Morristown Mission
1719 Route 10 Suite 309
Parsippany NJ 07054-4507

April 23, 2008

I can write letters and e-mails on p-day (Wednesdays). Send all letters and packages to the mission home. They are safer that way. E-mails are a lot faster but I can keep letters like a journal. I hope you keep my letters. I keep your letters.

If all the family e-mails me it would take forever to respond. Have extended family send letters but only sparing e-mails. It takes me a long time to reply to e-mails and letters.

Can you find out Aaron Stewart’s e-mail address? [Shawn’s good friend from Texas.] Look in my old phone and call him. I haven't heard from him. And it’s ok for me to write him.

Dad please do not touch my change coins. It took me a long time to collect them. [I asked him if he wants me to cash in all his coins and put the money in his bank account.] I ran out of church money on the debit card they gave me. I will get $180 a month to spend. I got half that when I got here. It went quick. That’s why I had to use my personal debit card for food today. I will try to budget better.

Again our family is ok to e-mail me I just don't want to get overwhelmed with emails and not have time to answer.

My companion is from west Canada, a town called Balzac. He does play b-ball but didn't get onto a college team. I was sad to learn he goes home early. His visa expired earlier than he thought. This is his last transfer so he leaves in a month.

We played soccer today I hhhhaaaatttteeed it. I just wanted to write letters but could not find the time. I wasn't any good at soccer.

April 17, 2008

It’s sort of a P-day today. [preparation day] My new companion is Elder Wenzel form Canada. He's 6' 8”. I feel so short. Today is a full day.

Yesterday we went to a transfer conference. All my friends from the MTC [missionary training center] are all over the place now. I was sent to Fardale, its very country. [Fardale is in northeastern New Jersey, in Bergen County, north of Patterson and just south of the New York state line.] The area covers a lot of territory. We drove to a different town yesterday to tract. Its nice being in a car.

I already had a good door approach. I asked what her favorite miracle was that Jesus did. I told her the First Vision was my favorite. I talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She wasn't interested though. On one road there were different religions at every door, Atheist, Jew, and Catholic. Today we did some street contacting, not much luck there either. “It’s all good in the hood.” This is a nice area to live in.

Our shack we live in is pretty bad. The bathroom is the worst. I can’t explain it. The shower is clogged with hair probably. There’s a wall at the end of the tub so you have to squeeze in to wash your hands. Plus the toilet is in the way and it’s horrid! There’s no dishwasher and not enough silverware to last three days. I'm going to buy plastic plates, cup, and eating utensils. I think this is unfit to live in. There are ants under the refrigerator. I guess I'm not used to being poor. I'll figure it out.

At least Elder Wenzel is cool. We live with two other missionaries. They’re nice too. Every P-day I can send e-mail. It takes awhile for me to type, but it’s faster than handwriting letters.

I hope you receive my letter soon from the mission home. I asked the right way to say our last name. Farrer—two syllables, right? But not a big “eeeerrrr” at the end. People give me trouble. I always heard it “far” as in far away. Let me know.
April 2, 2008

I’m doing a lot better now. Like I wrote earlier, the first few days were the hardest but now I’m used to the schedule and getting up early. The blister on my foot [from his new shoes] healed really quickly. Plus all my shoes are broken in.
Thank you for all the mail. It came all at once and people in my district were jealous. I have [spent some money] as you can see. Everything I bought was needed for class. I didn’t buy extra candy. I am eating well. I’m not used to eating so often. I make sure not to go for seconds. I always get salad and I drink a lot of apple juice. I may have gained weight.

I have a funny story to tell. After playing volleyball at the gym we left early to go shower. After I finished [showering] Elder Farero thought I [had left] because he saw no water [going]. After I was dressed he came back in to get his stuff. I hurried and got out. Another Elder was waiting and went in to shower after me but he saw Elder Farero in there. He thought we had showered together. Elder Farero told him, “He washes my back and I wash his.” It’s an inside joke now. Elder Farero is our district leader and he is a big tease, especially to me, but I don’t care.

I have never written so much in my life, in class and such. I have felt the Spirit most when we sing so often.

3/29/08

The MTC is really hard. Someone said it’s like drinking out of a fire hose. The 1st day wasn’t that bad. The 2nd day I feel more stressed out than ever. They give us assignments to do but I have a hard time making the time to finish. I have tried to finish this letter for a few days now.

My companion is Elder Mayberry. I can’t imagine being paired up with anyone else. Funny how that works.

Things have gotten a little easier. I have a hard time comparing myself to others. But that’s not a good attitude. People say it’s normal to feel not good enough. I try to keep a good attitude.

My teachers are great.

I love you. Pray for me.

Elder Shawn Farrer

Farrer Away in NJ

11/7/08

11/5/08

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11/2/08

Email Archive [Some names and other details have been edited to protect privacy.]