August 27th 2018~I'm So Happy That You Got To Meet Elder Mitonzi & Go To His Homecoming!!!So Glad That You All Had A Great Week At School!
Hello to my dear and awesome loved ones! Wow, What an amazing week you all had! Thank you all so very much for the amazing pictures and emails! You always make me so happy and I loved hearing about your week and I'm so happy that everything went smoothly with school starting back up! You are all looking so happy and like you are having so much fun! I love hearing all about your week and I'm so thankful for your emails! I am really excited to talk to you today and I'm so happy we can talk back and forth! I have so much to tell you and lots of fun things that happened this week! First of all, I'm so happy that you had such a fun week and that school was a success! It's wierd to think that when I left, everyone was in 10th, 7th, and 4th grade and now you are in 12th, 9th, and 6th grade! I'm doing so great and I love this area and the ward! It has been such a neat experience and the leaves are changing colors and falling really fast! I hope that we can do lots of taking service projects! Well, here goes my week! Enjoy!
Last P-day was a really awesome and fun day! I had tons of fun emailing you and I loved being about to talk back and forth! The weather has felt a lot cooler around here lately and we can tell that fall is in the air! I seriously feel like it was just fall about 20 minutes ago! Hehe! The leaves are slightly changing colors and so I'm very excited to see how pretty it gets! It was cool to hear Dad say that it looks just like Pennsylvania since he has been there before! It was fun to think that we have seen some of the same parts of the East Coast! I forgot to mention that we had something really cool happen in the parking lot before we went grocery shopping! There was a guy riding his bike and he was a little bit drunk and kept tipping to the side and when he saw us, he stopped and asked us if we were from a Church! We excitedly told him that we were and that we would love to give him something to read so we can teach him! He said that he had said a prayer a few days ago that someone would be placed in his path that could help him and so he was surprised and excited to see us! He told us that we were an answer to his prayers and that is just always a huge testimony builder for me and I know that Heavenly Father watches out for us as missionaries and loves us all! He placed Victor in our path for a reason and it was such a cool, faith building experience! I have loved serving as a missionary because it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I love wearing your name and Jesus Christ's name on my nametag so much! After our fun P-Day ended and we sent off the last of our emails, we went over to the Church to have dinner with Sister Campbell! She is a very nice lady and we are so thankful for her feeding us! Every time we are with her, I always mention how much you appreciate her too! She also invited the Sister Missionaries to come as well since we found out that Sister Webb is getting transfered and so Sister Campbell wanted to have a special meal and we had sausage, homemade tomato sauce, noodles, carrots, garlic bread, and peanut butter pie for dessert! She was a little bit late and so we got to call a few investigators and conform a few appointments that we had and then I felt prompted to share a scripture from the Book of Mormon and it had to do with President Nelson's revelation on using the full name in everything that we do!
"7 Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the Father in my name that he will bless the church for my sake. 8 And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel."
We also talked about the spiritual promptings that we recieve and how the Holy Ghost guides us and protects us! I shared about when that tragedy happened on Chambers Street in Manhattan where that guy drove the car down the bike path and how Elder Brown and I felt prompted to get out of there and go visit Brother Eades and Brother Forbes 30 minutes before it happened. We probably wouldn't have been on the bike path but we were in that area just a little while before it happened last fall. It was a great evening and Sister Campbell is so nice to the missionaries and makes it feel as much like home as she can! It was so great to talk to each one of you today! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!
Tuesday was such a great and awesome day! I just want to wish Brandon a very fun game at Ben Lomond and I hope you win! I'm so excited to hear how your team did and how much fun you had! GO RIVERHAWKS!! I was thinking about you all day and I was so excited for Brandon to have his Freshman orientation! I said lots of prayers throughout the day that everyone would have such an awesome day and Happy Back To School!!! I read a conference talk that Uncle Dan sent to me from President Eyring called "Continuing Revelation" and also read 3 chapters in Jacob! We had a very great day tracting and we even had a set lesson with the guy named George from Cuba! For some reason, he wasn't home at the time that he told us to come over but we did meet his wife and she said that he had to work unexpectedly and so she asked us to come back on Thursday at the same time. So then we decided to do tons of tracting and it was really successful! We just keep planting seeds everywhere and we are going to go back and visit those people that we were able to talk to a little bit and introduce to the Book of Mormon! We had some pretty funny things happen while we were tracting a huge street! Hehe! First of all, we were standing at a door and it was really quiet and all of a sudden we heard rustling in the trees and then a racoon popped out of the trees and ran off with some sort of food from a nearby garbage can! Then we knocked on a door and a lady opened, took one look at us and yelled, "It's ok! I already do my taxes!!!!" and then slammed the door. It was really funny! We felt prompted to knock on a door that was behind George's house and a man yelled through the window "Are you Jehovah's Witnesses?" We told him that we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and he said "Ok, come around back, I'll talk to you." He seemed to be in a big rush but we asked him about his religious beliefs and how we talk about how we can strengthen our relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and how we can pray and ask for comfort. He was in his 50s and had a Yankee shirt on and asked if we could leave him with a pamphlet and our number instead of teaching him right there. It was cool how interested he was! I looked at the clock and it was about time for Brandon to start his game and so I cheered inside my head for him! I couldn't even believe that school starts tomorrow and everyone will be back into the swing of things! I was also thinking about Mom and Puck as they went to back to school night and I hope that everyone had an amazing and fun day! We got to do more tracting after dinner and we passed out a ton of Family History cards. It was in a pretty area and a very nice part of Lake Hopatcong! One of the first doors we knocked on, a lady was just about to go get her son from Football practice and so it made me think of the boys! We passed out a ton of Family History cards and got to teach people about the Book of Mormon and introduce them to the Gospel by asking them questions. One of my favorite things to ask someone is if they know if one of their neighbors is going through a trial or if they recently lost a loved one. Almost every time, they will refer us to someone or they will be really friendly about it and tell us thanks for being so considerate. Today was a very awesome day and I sure was thinking about you a lot! Have so much fun on your first day of school everyone!!! Love you all tons!!!! Wednesday was such a great day! HAPPY BACK TO SCHOOL!!!!! I hope that everyone had a very awesome and fun day back to school and loved their teachers and seeing your friends! I hope that everyone had fun starting a brand new school year! I was sending lots of thoughts and prayers to you! I do have to say that it is looking a lot like fall around here! People's yard already need to be raked because of all the leaves in their yard! This is my favorite time of year and it is so pretty! The temperature has gone down quite a bit the last few days and even got down into the 60s! It has been so pretty up here! We went to the 1st district meeting of this transfer and I was excited to meet all of the missionaries that just got transferred into our district! It is hard to believe that I've been in Sparta for over 6 weeks now! We had a very special visitor come to our district meeting! President Hess! Since we are in the Morristown Zone and we are all so close, he decided to come and visit us today and it was so great to see him! He also made an announcement that this transfer's interviews will be this coming Wednesday! I feel like we just had interviews but he said since we have a mission conference coming up in the middle of September, then we would have interviews early this transfer and so we will be in Morristown next Wednesday! President Hess is just so nice and loves missionaries. He is so personable with everyone and is so humble. Then we ate some lunch and I have some excited news! We were finally able to meet with Patience! She is the lady that we met tracting and she is from Ghana Africa and we had an amazing lesson with her! She doesn't live at the house that we knocked on but she works there and takes care of a man who can't care for himself and so she enjoys when we come and teach her because she grew up in a strong Christian household and believes most of the same things that we do but hasn't heard of the Restoration. She can be hard to teach because she talks a lot and so we have to adjust our teaching to meet her needs. We were able to show her a video about what our sacrament meeting services are like and she was so excited to learn that we take the sacrament just like Jesus Christ told us to! She says that she was a teacher in Ghana for 23 years and taught religion and English! It was so cool that we found her because if she can come to Church, she will feel the spirit and love the Church and the members! We are praying for her to get a ride because she doesn't have a car but miracles happen and I know that things will work out! It has been a slow but rewarding process to teach her and things are really looking good for her! We are still praying so hard to find someone prepared for baptism! Elder Caccioppoli mentioned to me that it takes so many more contacts to get a baptism and takes so much longer to contact the same amount of people than it does in the city. People aren't as busy up her but there are less people. It has been such a fun area and I'm so thankful to be here! On the last street that we tracted, a man that was living in an old wooden, Brown house answered the door and we couldn't see his face and he had a deep, voice and we introduced ourselves and we still couldn't see his face but he said "You boys best get going, there's coyotes and bears out there!" We have only seen 1 bear and it was off in the distance but it was just funny how he said it! Hehe! It kind of reminded me of the Velveeta commercial where the guy says "Get yer own liquid gold!" Only he said "There's bears out there boys!" He sounded kind of like that guy! Hehe! We drove back and the drive was just so nice! The leaves are falling like crazy and most of the trees haven't even changed colors but there are some kinds of trees that have already changed and fallen and so I'm very excited for fall because it is so pretty! I hope that the kids had the best day ever going back to school and that all of their practices and work went well! You are all the best and I love and miss you so very much! You are in my every thought and prayer! LOVE YOU ALL TONS!!!!!
Wow! Thursday was another very awesome day! I have been thinking about you a lot and you have all been in my every prayer! I pray for your health, safety, and happiness every day and I have felt so many prayers from you all back at home! We woke up to bright, sunny skies and we had some cooler temperatures and it got down into the 50s! In my morning studies, I read about the Priesthood and I am very thankful for the Priesthood in my life and having men like Dad bless all of our lives! I studied the Priesthood because I knew that the kids were getting a Father's blessing for school! Our day was just so great and we worked so hard! By the end of the day, we are beat and ready for some sleep! We got to do our weekly planning and everything went really well! We do have some news about 2 of our investigators though. So we called Emily and Janelly and that is the Mom and Daughter that came to Church. Brother Thompson has been trying to get a hold of them for a few days now and it would always go straight to voicemail. We called them and were able to get a hold of them and Emily, the Mom, told us that her husband came home from work after a business trip and was not happy that they were meeting with us and that they went to Church. So Emily told us very politely that her husband didn't want us to meet with them anymore and so we were pretty sad about that but we just told ourselves, "time to go and find more people who are ready!" It can be hard to have someone who really loved Church and felt the spirit tell us that they don't want to meet anymore because of what someone else told them but we just told them that they are always welcome and have a big Family when they come to Church! We know how much the Gospel would benefit them but it just isn't their time right now to learn. We were just so happy that we were able to meet them! The work moves on!!!! Then we got picked up by Daniel for our split and he is just so awesome! He is very funny and makes everyone his friend! We got to visit with a few less active sisters who we usually can visit unless we have a 3rd male with us and so it is great to have Daniel with us so we can visit them! So we went to visit Sister Goodbar and Sister Cerrano and they are both less active but love the missionaries! We got to know them and Sister Cerrano is from Brooklyn. It was a great visit and we shared Ether 12: 4 and had a great conversation! We found out that Daniel loves taking bus rides to different cities and do some sightseeing and he has been all over the place. Tonight he is going to Columbus Ohio by bus and loves sleeping on the way. He tells people that he is "a quarter of a century old" instead of telling people that he is 25! Hehe! He makes people laugh! After dinner, we went tracting on a street called "Butternut Way" and it was such a pretty area. The skies were bright blue, and when I mean blue,.......I mean BLUE! There were people out walking their dogs and so we stopped and talked to them and we also met a friendly Bhudist and he looked like he was from the Philippians. The houses were gigantic and it made me wonder what people did for a living because it is really expensive to live here. Then we met a guy and he grew up Christian and remembers the commercials that the Church used to put out! Elder Caccioppoli says that he is pretty nervous to go home and isn't quite sure if he is ready yet. He has been fun to work with and is very, very quite. He has a hard time talking to people and so I'm trying to help him be bold and excited to talk to people. He is a great guy and I love having a New Yorker as a Companion! I was thinking about you the whole day and hoping that the Football games were going well! I hope that you are all well and happy and can feel my love because I can sure feel yours! Love you to the moon and back!!!!!
Friday was so very awesome! I woke up and was really, really excited to see your email about Brandon's games! CONGRATS Buddie! I was so proud of him for his awesome games and that he got to play both offense and defence! It sounds like his team is going to do amazing things this year! Guess what, we woke up to some pretty cool temperatures and I always check your weather over there in Nibley as well! It was 55 in Nibley and 65 here in New Jersey and it felt really nice! There was a slight breeze the whole day and so as you can tell, we REALLY enjoyed being outside! We got to meet the new Sister Missionary that will be companions with Sister Wagner and she is from Rigby Idaho and so it was fun to know that we live an hour away. It's just funny how we can both travel so far and know where each other lives! The food pantry was SO very busy and there was a line out the door. We get bread from Shop Rite down the street that was either overdone or is about to expire and so they drop off huge boxes of bread and fruits and vegetables and we have plastic bags and they can take as much as they need. It always amazes me that there is so many people in need and they rely on the food pantry for help and it's fun to help them! During my studies, I read in Jacob and how Heavenly Father knows our trials and will help us and can shape us into become better people and I love thst simple truth! I also found a quote that I really like!
"Gratitude is not just a reaction to our quality of life-it is how we determine our quality of life."
I read a talk about the Blueprint of Christ's Church and it talks about how just like no 2 Houses are the same, Christ's Church can only be matched up to 1 Blueprint that is exactly the same and that is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I'm so happy and glad to be a part of this Church and how happy it makes all of us! This truly is Christ's Church and His same Priesthood authority that we have today! It's such a blessing to know the things thst we do and have the scriptures to guide and comfort us! We got to tract for the rest of the evening and we had some great conversations with people! It must have been a great time to catch people at home because lots of people answered their door. Most people will say that they feel good when they go to Church and they are content with their religion and so we invite people to test it out by coming to Church and have the spirit help them gain a testimony of their own. We usually have a scripture for people to read about Faith or gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon and it is cool to watch people read the Book of Mormon for the 1st time right there on their doorstep! We tracted a really cool street that we felt prompted to go to and it was back country roads and houses were tucked into the trees. We met this guy who lives alone and he has one of the coolest voices ever. He kind of sounded like Al Michael and had a cool P.A announcer voice. I could almost picture him saying, "And now, your starting lineup! At offensive and defensive guard, Brandon Lindberg! At Wide Receiver, Parker Lindberg"! Hehe! He said that his Sister did a lot of Family History and so he knew where the Church is. He is a Buddhist and says that religion is personal but he was surprised to see us since he lives in the back country. We were able to pass out some Book of Mormons and the night went so well! On our way back to the apartment, we had about 10 police, fire trucks, and ambulances pass us and so we aren't sure what happened but it was really crazy! I hope each of you had the best day ever and that you are all well and happy! If there is anything I can do for you, let me know! I can feel so much love all the time and it makes me the happiest person in the world to have a Family like you! You are the BEST!! Love you so very much!!!
Saturday was a very awesome and busy day!! HAPPY SATURDAY EVERYONE!!! I am SO VERY HAPPY & EXCITED right now that you got to meet Elder Mitonzi!!! How awesome is that!! Seeing pictures of you with him is so surreal because we were JUST serving in the Bronx together and now he is in our living room! That was so nice of him to do and I am so thankful and grateful that he took the time to do that because that is so very special! He is such a great guy and I loved serving with him! I'm so happy that you go to meet him! WOW!!! Thanks so much for the pictures and fun email! It made my whole day!!!! I hope that the kids all had a great first few days at school! I always think about you and I'm always keeping you in my prayers and I love each one of you so very much! I have some exciting news about what we got to do today! Guess what I realized!?!? 4 months from today is Christmas!!!! Can you even believe that!?!? It was crazy to think that we are almost to September! I forgot to mention that yesterday we stopped by to set an appointment with Sister Marvin and her girls and they were home! They were in their backyard and we were able to set up am appointment for today! We were very excited to have a lesson with them because they have been really busy with it being summer. They start school in 2 weeks and so they should have a more solid schedule. It was cool to be in the right place at the right time and be able to set up an appointment! So we were excited for 1:00 to roll around for our lesson! In my morning studies, we studied the Plan of Salvation lesson to teach the Marvin girls and I read this really cool poem from President Monson and I thought you would like to read it! Enjoy!
"I met a stranger in the night Whose lamp had ceased to shine. I paused and let him light His lamp from mine.
A tempest sprang up later on And shook the world about. And when the wind was gone My lamp was out!
But back to me the stranger came— His lamp was glowing fine! He held the precious flame And lighted mine!"
I truly know that we are a light and the Gospel gives us the light to help others and I'm so thankful for the happiness and joy that we are so blessed to have!
I also read my patriarchal blessing and I love how different things jump out at different times! It guided me as I prepared to serve my mission and every time I read it, I remember back to that snowy day in December when we drove over and I got my blessing! It was such a neat experience that I will never forget! I just love you all so much and you are my greatest source of happiness! I say it a lot but I can't say it enough: LOVE YOU!!!!! I have grown so much in my testimony and I owe it all to you and for the experiences that I've had on my mission! It has been such a special, humbling, and life changing blessing to me to serve a mission! I feel so good and I'm ready to put into practice what I have learned and apply the things I've learned after my mission! I couldn't do it without your love, support, prayers, blessings, notes, emails, and pictures! I am so thankful for you and I love you SO, SO, SO very much!!!! After lunch, we had something very exciting happen! We had our lesson with the Marvin Family and guess what!?!? We set 2 Baptismal dates for September 22nd which is 2 weeks before Elder Caccioppoli goes home! We are so excited and thrilled that we were able to set a date with them and that our lesson went so well! We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation and it was a very great lesson and they remembered a lot from when they were taught a few months ago by the sisters! We set a date with Vanessa and Adrianna Marvin and we are praying that we can teach them and they can start to meet in a more consistent basis once their school starts! It is so fun to see our hard work and prayers pay off! Thank you SO much for all of your many prayers! There is such a strong power in prayers and we are seeing miracles! After our lesson, we were so happy that it all went so well and we did some tracting on a really pretty street and we met this lady who was interested to come to learn more about Family History and the Book of Mormon! The temperature was just right and so nice to be outside! We had some very cool things happen while we were out working for the night! We drove to Montague to visit Patti and she was the lady that was so interested in learning more about her ancestors! Her husband told us that Patti was away for a few weeks but we were able to do some tracting in that area and we found 3 guys in 3 different houses all in a row that are very cool! The first guy was in a rush but we told him about Family History and he said that he would go to the free class and then we met a guy from Mongolia and he says that his Family is all over the place and so it would be hard for him to find his ancestors but he was willing to have us come back again and teach him more about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration! Then we met the coolest guy of the day! He was outside working on his huge yard that he had and it must have taken him all day to mow it but it turns out that he is from Syria and so he believes that Jesus Christ is a Prophet and he loves reading scriptures! So we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and promised him that if he reads, he can overcome the desire to smoke because he mentioned to us that he hates smoking and wants to quit. I testified to him because I saw the miracles and obstacles that Robert was able to overcome when we would go over and read from the Book of Mormon with him! To make my day even better, I got your exciting email and was so excited for you all and I was beyond happy that you got to meet Elder Mitonzi!!!! That is so very cool and I'm so happy that he came to visit! You are all looking so good and I am so happy that you are happy! It was so awesome to see you all and I loved seeing your smiling faces! I'm so excited for your email tomorrow and I hope you all have an amazing Sabbath! LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!!
WOW! Sunday was so very awesome! I'M SO EXCITED RIGHT NOW to talk to you about your fun visit with Elder Mitonzi! I couldn't wait to get your email and see your pictures! Sunday night's are always so exciting! We headed off to ward council first thing in the morning and had a great meeting before Church started! It has been a fun experience to see how a ward council functions and how much the ward does for the members and how they help each other out! Today was one of the best Sundays in this ward so far and we had some really great lessons! We had a senior couple speak and they are from Idaho and they are in charge of the Insitute class for the New Jersey Morristown Mission and they talked about the scriptures and how important it is to gain our own testimony that the Bible and the Book of Mormon are the word of God. Brother Lloyd also spoke and he is moving to Utah with his 93 year old Mom and they have been here for over 27 years and so lots of tears were shed by the members who have been in this ward ever since it was a branch. He talked about his conversion story when he was 30 years old and the whole meeting was just so awesome! It was interesting how I could tell how the senior couple had an accent that I hadn't heard in a while. I have noticed a difference from West Coast and East Coast accents! Hehe! Stan Stankovich was able to get a ride from Brother and Sister Marecic and so it was great to have him there! Our lesson in Elders Quorum was about the talk by Brother Durrant in this last General Conference about Families and I had fun thinking back to all of our many amazing memories and there were lots of fun memories shared with the members of the quorum and it was a great lesson! Then we got invited to a couple of dinner appointments with the ward members and so we were excited about that! School starts up next week for most of the schools here and so people are having some vacations going in this week. Sister Asay gave us some yummy cookies and they tasted exactly like Mom's and Grandma's! I thought that you made them and sent them to her to give to me because they were just like yours! We found out today that Bishop Jensen is most likely going to get released next Sunday and so I'm excited to find out who the new Bishop will be! This ward is really awesome and the members take care of the missionaries that's for sure! It seemed like the theme today was about Family and so I was thinking about each of you all day and sending my love and orayers your way! After we had some lunch, we studied before going out for some more fun work! I was so very excited to see that you got to go to Provo and hear Elder Mitonzi speak! I'm so happy that you all had such a fun time! It was so fun to see pictures of you and know that you were with one of my mission companions! It puts a huge smile on my face and is so fun to think that you got to go to his homecoming! I was able to study the Christlike attributes sections and then we got the Sparta ward list of Families that they didn't assign Ministering members to because they didn't know much about them and so they assigned us to visit as many as we could that live in our area to find out more about them! It has been a cool assignment so far gathering information about these individuals and Families! The rest of the night was just awesome and the highlight was your AMAZING email and pictures! We got to visit a few members in the ward who are now returning to Church and it was great to feel their spirit because they have deep testimonies. We were able to find a lady named Shannon that lives in an apartment that a member used to live in! She might have lots of potential but she was really busy and asked us to come back next weekend! It was a really great way to end the day by finding someone! I was so happy and excited to read your email and I'm so glad that this last week was such a success and that you all got to do so much! Your email was so very awesome and I was smiling from ear to ear!!! You are the greatest Family ever and I love each one of you so very much!!!!!!!
Well my dear Family! I had a blast writing this email and remembering the great week that we all had! Have read your email a few times and loved every word as always! Your emails make me so happy and I feel so much love and I feel like you are telling me face to face all about your week! You guys are so awesome and I just want to thank you for everything ghat you do for me and all of your love and support! I'm so grateful that you take the time to support my companions as they come home and spend the time to drive up and see them! It was funny to think that Elder Mitonzi mentioned me! I still remember that day so clearly when we got our calls to serve in the New Jersey Morristown Mission! It was dinner time and I can vividly remember that moment when we saw President Smith on the caller I.D and just how right it felt that we were supposed to serve here! I am so excited for this next week and to hear how everyone's school, Work, Football, and other activites go! It will be an exciting week for sure! Again, thanks so very much for the fun email and pictures! It means a tons! I love, miss, and appreciate you all so much I know that this Church is true! I hope you all have a great day and I'm really looking forward to talking to you! LOVE & MISS EACH ONE OF YOU SO, SO, SO VERY MUCH!!!!!
HAPPY BACK TO SCHOOL!!! GOOD LUCK WITH SCHOOL!Good Luck At Your Football Games!
Hello to my dear and awesome loved ones! Man am I so very excited for today and that I get to talk to you! I felt like this week absolutely flew by and we got to see so many cool things happen and it was a very great week! WOW! Your week was just so awesome and I'm so thankful for all of the fun things going on! I'm so glad that Football and all of your activites are going so well! Summer is such a fun time and I'm very happy that you are all doing so great and happy as well! We had a very great and busy week over here in New Jersey and I'm so excited to tell you all about it! HAPPY BACK TO SCHOOL EVERYONE! I hope you have a great 1st day and I hope you all adjust well! Love you all so very much!!!
Last P-day was lots of fun and we had a really great time! We got to go to an antique store and they have some amazing stuff to look at! It has been fun to learn more about New Jersey and the history of the State! I loved emailing you so much and it was so great to talk back and forth! I always look forward to talking to you each week and it is a blast! Your emails were so fun to read and I was so glad to hear about your day! It rained and rained and the storm drains we backed up because they had so much water and it was really humid but we enjoyed looking through hundreds of years of history in the antique shops! We had a great P-Day and I'm so happy that you had a great day as well! After our fun P-Day was over, we headed out and the rain slowed down quite a bit! Wow! Let me just say that we had a night full of miracles and cool experiences! Thanks so much for your many prayers because we have been finding tons of cool people to teach that want to learn more! Your prayers help me so much! It was such a great night and we were just so excited with the people that we found! We drove to visit Curt and he was the guy that we met tracting a few days ago and he has lots of potential to progress! He was drinking a glass of wine and so we will teach him the word of wisdom later on! He said that he was reading the Book of Mormon and even had some questions and so we were able to schedule another time to teach the Restoration in its entirety! Then we tracted on some doors and found a guy who had just had back surgery a few weeks ago and asked us for a pamphlet for him to read instead of him standing at the door with a sore back! We hope he calls us back but he seemed really interested! Then, on the last door that we knocked on of the night, we met a VERY cool couple in their mid 20s with 2 boys both under the age of 4 and had an amazing conversation with them on their doorstep! She said that they are Reformed Baptist and they are quite similar to us in beliefs but the Restoration and Joseph Smith are new to them. We talked to them about Families and how important they are in returning to live with Heavenly Father and that is what they were most interested in. We introduced the Book of Mormon to them and she even asked us to write down her phone number! Usually we have to ask them for their number but she asked US to write it down! We are going to text her and set up an appointment and she is going to text us her questions that she has because she said that she has a lot of them! What a great way to end the day with finding a really cool Family of 4 that want us to teach them! We are being very blessed as usual! I hope your evening was great and that you all had a fun day! Love each one of you tons and tons!!!
I have some very exciting news!!! Tuesday was a very awesome day too! The weather was so nice and I checked your weather and it had cooled down to 58 degrees and I bet you were loving the cooler weather! We had such an awesome day and we got a ton done! I always love being tired at the end of the day because it lets me know that we worked hard and tried our best! We were able to have the last district meeting of the transfer and it was a really great meeting! I also have some exciting news about an email I got today!!!! Right before we left for our meeting guess what!?!?!, I got an email from the mission secretary about my release date!!! It was so exciting to know that I have 2 options to pick from! She told me that I could either come home on December 19th 2018 or wait until February 6th 2019??? Decisions, Decisions! She said that I could think about it for a while and that the mission department doesn't usually allow missionaries to come home not on a regular transfer day and so I will have to pick between the 2 days that are having a transfer on them! Isn't that so exciting! I uploaded a picture on my Drive of the email for you to see! I was wondering if you had any thoughts because I'm not sure quite what to do or when would be the best date but I will continue to pray about the 2 options but it's exciting to have a date that will finally be set in stone! She told me to think about it and email her back so they can purchase the flight plans home within the next little while! We had a great district meeting about some small ways we can make a big impact on our teaching skills that will lead to the most success whole teaching a lesson. We had an amazing rest of our day and even had a dinner appointment with Brother and Sister Averyt! They are really nice people and are so funny as well! So we did some tracting in their neighborhood for a few hours before going to our 6:00 dinner appointment with them! We had a very good time and a yummy dinner! They bought some Indian food and it was so delicious! It was kind of like a chicken gyro in a bowl with the pita bread, rice, white sauce, and onions and peppers! They also had some ice cold A&W root beer for us and we had a really great time! Brother Averyt has been in the Bishopric for 8 years now and so he thinks that he will get released soon. Then we went to a nearby street and visited a less active Family that the Averyt Family asked us to check up on. Brother and Sister McBride used to be active but they have gotten so busy with work and Brother McBride drives to Manhattan every day for work! Wow! Then we went to a street and did some tracting near Oak Ridge and we could spend a whole week just in this one area because there are so many houses pretty close together! We got an entire street done and knocked on close to 40 houses and talked to people as we went! People seemed to be winding down for the day and didn't want to talk and so we tried different ways to spark their interest! It was a very great day and I was really excited about my release date email! Both options are very great and I think that either would be a great time to come home but it is a hard decision. I will continue to pray about it and hopefully get an answer soon. I just want to be sure it is the right decision! Hehe! I just want to take the time and let you know how much I love you! I want you to know how much I appreciate this opportunity to serve as a missionary because I have grown so much and seen so many blessings! I am so proud to be your Son and Brother and love to see you all happy! I know that this Church is true and I have seen so many blessings pour into my life and your lives as well! Thanks so much for being the loving, supportive, righteous, Family that you are! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!
Wednesday was just so great and we got so much done! We had an amazing and very busy day! I woke up and was very excited for your email! Thank you SO much for your guidance and love and support! I really appreciated getting an email from you and it made my day! Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers! I feel like both dates have lots of positives to them but I will continue to pray about it! I am so thankful for you supporting me in whichever choice I make! You are just the best!!! We woke up to some beautiful weather and the temperature was just perfect! That morning in my studies, I reviewed the lesson for the Marvin Family and also the Janelly and Emily lessons! I read a few chapters out of the Book of Mormon and I really enjoyed reading! I was on lds.org and noticed that they had an article called "Using Agency and Revelation to Make Life Decisions" and it was a very cool article! I know that Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives and loves each one of us so much! He is so proud of us to and wants to help us in all that we do!
We had 2 lessons planned with the Mom and Daughter that showed up to Church and also the Marvin Family! We planned for our lessons and were so excited the whole day to teach them! We also had a dinner planned with Sister Stevenson and the mission vehicle coordinator told us that it was time for our car to have an oil change and so after our service with Sister Campbell, we went and got that all taken care of! We had some great service with Sister Campbell! We were able to saw down a huge, dead tree that she has been wanting to get rid of and we replanted 2 of her little bushes and flowers and scooted them over a few feet and then we spread some mulch around to freshen up the yard and it turned out so nice! We also used an electric hedge trimmer to trim her bushes down for the fall! I can't believe that it's almost fall! This is my favorite time of year and is always so pretty! We got pretty dirty from the branches and mulch and so we headed back to the apartment to shower and then we had our appointment with the Marvin Family canceled because she said that a friend took them out shopping and to play with their friends and so we weren't able to teach them but we were excited for our lesson with the Mom and Daughter that just showed up to Church! Brother Thompson was willing to help out with the lesson and he is a great teacher and even got to teach Janelly and Emily after Church last Sunday! He is in the Elders Quorum Presidency and his son is the one that drives us around to our destinations each week! We met Brother Thompson and had planned to teach the Plan of Salvation but Emily called Brother Thompson and told him that she had totally forgotten about the appointment and so we weren't able yo teach them but we felt strongly to tract in the area! As we were driving on the highway that leads to our apartment and the Church, I felt a strong nudge to stop the car, and tract the houses that are off the side of the highway. I told myself, "We pass these houses every time we go to the Church....next knock on them!" We knew why we were supposed to be in that area at that time! George! We met a nice guy who was a little hesitant at first to open the door but he turned out to be very cool! He is from Cuba and I had the thought pop into my mind to ask him about the old cars that they drive around in Cuba! I remember a show I watched saying that Cuba hasn't received or made any new cars since the 1950s and so everyone has an original, American made car that they fix up if anything is wrong with them and he was shocked to know that I knew about that! We got to talk to him about the Book of Mormon and he excitedly accepted a free copy and wants us to come back! He says that he loves the Bible and also the Quran and said that he would read it! It was a very exciting way to finish the day strong! I am so grateful for you and your many thoughts and prayers! I seriously feel like you are walking beside me every step of the way! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!
Wow! Thursday was just so great! HAPPY 1 YEAR ELDER JENSEN!! Missionary life is a lot of fun and lots of hard work and I learn something new every day! I see so many blessings come into my life and your lives as well! I am so grateful for the growth that I've been able to see in myself and how true the Gospel is! Thanks so much for the constant support that you always show me! I love teaching people and see them get excited about learning! We had a very great day planned and lots to get done and we were excited to get going! Elder Caccioppoli is getting pretty excited because he returns home in just under 7 weeks and he can really feel the time counting down. He and I are both really excited because we are teaching so many people and we are working so hard to get a baptism! We both feel strongly that the Marvin girls are so close to getting baptised and we are excited to set a baptismal date with them the next time we meet! When Daniel came to pick us up, we decided to go and visit 4 less active members and we also got a call from the Senior couple in charge of inspecting the apartments for the zone and so we got to clean the whole apartment and then they came over after our split with Daniel. We visited 4 members and we talked to Brother Duffy who knew Daniel and so it was great to have him with us! Then we met with a less active member named Sister Skelenger and she has had some health problems and so she really appreciated the visit! We talked to her about her testimony of the Book of Mormon and read a scripture with her! Then we met the Uncle of a less active member! He works for the town of Wantage and clears the roads when it snows and also doesn't some road work during the summer. He says that he doesn't need religion and thinks that if he prays, then he can receive all of the answers that he needs. It is so cool to be a missionary and testify to him that prayer really can give us answers and comfort us in our time of need. We also bore testimony that by going to Church and taking the Sacrament, we can receive even more answers and find greater peace! It was a great time and we both really enjoyed being with Daniel! Then we went back to the apartment and met Elder and Sister Jensen who are the apartment inspectors and they also are in charge of the vehicles in the mission and Sister Jensen is the mission nurse and so they do a lot! They are from Baton Rouge Louisianna and so they are really nice down to Earth people! They are very funny as well! Hehe! They came over and were really impressed with how clean the apartment is! I'm so thankful that you taught us to be neat and tidy because Elder Caccioppoli can get a little messy but I'm so thankful that you taught us how to keep things clean! After our apartment inspection, they told us that ours was one of the cleanest and they were really impressed! Then they told us that we needed to drive to Morristown that morning to get our Tiwi driver helper fixed. Tiwi is the device in our car that can tell us to slow down if we are going to fast and ours hasn't been working right and so they asked us to drive to Morristown to get it replaced with a few other missionaries who had the same problem. Then we were able to go to a new couples' house that just moved in! They are so funny and made us laugh the whole time! They are from the Philippines and they both found the Church when they were young. They chose to have 2 different last names and so Brother Lisondra and Sister Ancog had us over and they had some really yummy food! We had baby back ribs, fried calamari, bacon wrapped butterfly shrimp and my personal favorite, Manahttan cheesecake right from the Grand Central terminal cheesecake bakery! Sister Ancog works in Manhattan and so we had fun talking about the different sights of Manhattan! It is weird for me to know Manhattan like the back of my hand and tell people "I used to live there!" Hehe! Living there as a missionary is different than actually living there but it's still really fun to tell people! Sister Ancog had her aunt visiting from Saudi Arabia so we had fun talking to her too! They bought the house a few months ago and Brother Lisondra is a contractor and so they fixed up the foreclosed house and made everything modern and turned it into a very nice home! It was a very great time and we shared some scriptures out of the Book of Mormon and headed back to the apartment after a very awesome day! I hope that each of you were having so much fun! Where did the summer go? It's hard to imagine that school starts next week! I'm so excited for you to have another great school year! I am still praying to know which date to come home and so I will continue to think about it and let you know as soon as I receive an answer! I'm doing great here in New Jersey and I'm really loving my time here! Give each other a big hug from me to you! Love you so much!!!
Here is a fun quote that I read today! I am so deeply grateful for the wonderful and happy home that you raised us in Mom and Dad! You have taught Abby, Brandon, Parker and I to love one another and be good people and always express our thanks and help others! I have so much love and respect for you and your hard work in raising us in the Gospel! I will be forever grateful for your love and I'm so grateful for all that you do! You have taught me so much and it has motivated me to come on a mission and grow and build my testimony! Thank you for your kind and righteous examples because I love you, this Church, the Gospel, and I love the memories we have created together! You are the greatest Family EVER!!!!
"Happiness in Family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of Jesus Christ and when parents make their Family their highest priority. “By divine design, Fathers are to preside over their Families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their Families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, Fathers and Mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners”
I wish I could share this to the whole world and have everyone that doesn't have the knowledge we do read this quote! I'm so thankful for my dear Family back at home cheering me on!
Friday was another amazing day! I was thinking about you and how your day was going! I hope that each of you was having a really fun day! You are in all of my thoughts and prayers and I am so thankful for you! It has been so cool to teach the Gospel to others and I love improving my teaching skills each day! We had a very busy day with lots to do and so we hopped in the car and drove to Morristown first thing in the morning and got to the Chapel at 9:45 to get our Tiwi device fixed. Elder Jensen said that close to 10 of them stopped working and so there were a few other cars there getting theirs fixed. It took about an hour for him to get to our car and fix ours but we were back on the road in no time! The drive is really pretty and Morristown is a fun, small little town! After we got back into town, we helped out at the food pantry for an hour before they closed up shop and we got to talk to a new worker that moved here not too long ago. She is originally from England but has lived in Arizona, and a few other states on the East coast. I have been been feeling so much love from you back at home and I have sent lots of prayers your way! I always tell other people where you are from and it's fun to talk about you guys! I love telling people that my Mom is from American Fork and my Dad is from Kemmerer! Lots of people over here on the East coast really love learning about the West coast because they usually haven't been over to the West very often! We got to do some tracting as well and I just love being able to get to know people and introduce things like the Book of Mormon to them and I get so excited to talk to them about things they've never heard of! I have always love talking to people and getting to know everyone because everyone has a story and I love to hear them! We did some tracting in a really pretty area and we had a ton of success! Heavenly Father truly is blessing us in this area! I feel like we are getting so close to having a baptism and we really want the Marvin girls to decide to be baptized before Elder Caccioppoli goes home! Thank you so much for your prayers for us! It means so much to have you saying prayers to help us find people to teach and help them progress towards baptism! We are working so hard and Elder Caccioppoli wants to have the best last 6 weeks of his mission! I want to make them memorable for him and have a baptism like Dad did right before he came home! After we grabbed some grub for dinner, we did some tracting and visited a few less active members! I looked down at the ground because I heard "Crunch, Crunch" and what did I see??? Brown and orange leaves on the ground! Does that mean it's fall!?!? Hehe! the temperature has been really hot and so it doesn't feel like Fall but it surprised me to see so many leaves on the ground! The first door we knocked on, we met a guy who was really quiet and he was about to walk his dogs and when we asked him if anybody lost a loved one, he pointed to the house across the street and said that her husband passed away but she was very angry and didn't want to talk to anyone about religion because she felt like God didn't love her. So we knocked on the door and if only she would have heard the Plan of Salvation, it would have made her so happy but she shut the door when she saw us with the nametags and didn't let us talk. We really hoped that she would have listened to our message that would bless her life so much! Then after 2 hours of knocking doors, some dark, ominous clouds came settling in and poured BUCKETS of water but luckily we had our umbrellas but saying that it was pouring would be an understatement! The lighting lit up the skies and it was one of the craziest storms I've ever seen! Our windshield wipers couldn't even keep up! Hehe! It was a really great and busy day and we were so happy for the people we talked to and introduced to the Church! I think of your "Farmer Lindberg" analogy every time we go out and I really love it! I hope you had such a great day! Love you to the moon and back!!!!
19 Months Already!?!?!?! Wow! Time flies when you're having fun! How did that even happen?!?! I can't believe that I have been out on my mission for 19 months now! Thank you SO much for the fun email and the picture to go along with it! It always makes my day to get an email from you! I was thinking about you a lot and how your day was going! I hope that you got to do something really fun and had a fun day! I had some really great studies and I finished reading 2 Nephi and started reading Jacob! I love the calm, peaceful feeling that I get when I read and learn more about the scriptures and what I need to learn from them! I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true and that so much doctrine is contained in the Book of Mormon and can bring the spirit! I really love this quote from Preach My Gospel that I read this morning!
"The Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, is your most powerful resource in conversion. It provides powerful evidence for the divinity of Christ. It is also proof of the Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith."
I love how unique our message to the World is and it makes me so excited to share this with others! After we did our studies, we were ready to roll and excited for another day! We were excited for transfer calls but we were almost positive that we are both staying together! It is still really fun to hear all of the transfer news! We got to go to Montague and visit the man that we met a few days ago named Roy! We don't have a phone number for him and so we made the trip out to see him and planned some tracting time after we met with him! We had something so cool happen and it was so awesome to be where we needed to be to knock on doors! We were in Montague and we were talking to lots of people and trying different approaches to help them feel the spirit! We knocked on this particular door and a very nice lady in her 60s came out and shook our hands before we said anything! We introduced ourselves and then we talked to her about Family History. She said that she would come to the class that they have at our Church and she said that she would come! Right as she was walking in, she told us that she has a copy of the Book of Mormon! She told us that she wasn't sure where it got put but we gave her another copy and we had one of the best conversations with her for about 20 minutes! She said that she even went to Salt Lake City and loved it! She had lots of great questions about the Book of Mormon and if it replaces the Bible. She was really open and we will defintly go back and teach her because she was a really golden investigator! It was her husband's Birthday and so they were just about to leave and go celebrate but we were so happy that we found her! Her name is Patti and used to work as a nurse but retired a few years ago. Then we knocked on so many doors and talked to lots of great and friendly people! We testified to lots of people about the Book of Mormon and about how Families can be together forever! Our last door that we knocked on before dinner was a really nice lady and we told her that we serve any way that we can and she asked for our phone number so she can call us to come over and help! Then we met a very nice lady and she talked to us for a good 30 minutes! She opened the door and I thought she was in her 60s but she told us that she was 85 years young! I couldn't believe how young she looked! She says that eating right and exercising has really helped her. She told us that her son has cancer and might not make it much longer and so we said a prayer with her on her front porch and she kept saying "Thank you, thank you!" We felt the spirit really strong and I felt like the spirit prompted me what to say! It was a neat experience to see her so happy because she told us that she doesn't get very much company and she was impressed that we were out teaching people the Gospel! Then we went to a very pretty area in a town called Oak Ridge and there are 4 or 5 streets of houses really close together that we have been working on and we are trying to knock on all of them! People are very polite up there but it's hard to start conversations with them about religion because they don't give us enough time to tell them all about our message but we love asking people if they know any of their neighbors who need help with yard work and they will usually give us a neighbor that lives close by and so they open up to us! It was a very great day and I hope you all had a very fun day! I can't wait to hear from you tomorrow! We got back to the apartment and we were so excited for transfer calls! President Hess does them a little bit differently than President Smith. President Hess will get on the conference call and have everyone in the mission tune in and he reads every single area. Each area has a number with a decimal point. Our area is 2.2 and so that means that we are in zone #2 and area 2 within that zone and so he has a lot of names to get through! It's fun to hear all of the transfer news for the entire mission instead of just our district. We got to call in at 9:30 and Elder Caccioppoli and I are staying together for 1 more transfer in this area! I'm very excited and glad that we get to stay together! Have a great evening my dear Family! LOVE YOU TONS & TONS!!!!
Sunday was a very awesome and busy day! I couldn't wait to get your email and I was so excited to read all about your week and see your fun pictures! I sure was thinking about you a lot and wishing you a great Sabbath! One of the investigators that the Sisters were teaching when they covered our area named Stan Stankovich came to Church with a member and it was really great to have him there! We always get so excited when an investigator shows up to Church! We had a high councilor speak and he is a risk manager and so he deals with money and statistics and gave a cool analogy of a tiger that lived in a zoo that was kept in a really small space. They ended up building him a much bigger cage to make him feel at home and in his natural habitat but ended up staying in the corner and staying within the boundaries of his regular cage. He said that we can feel comfortable but we grow the most when we are out of our comfort zone. It was a really great talk! The members have been so good to us and have signed up to feed us a lot! We got to teach Gospel Principles class and it went so well! We talked about the Holy Ghost and ways to recognize if it is the Holy Ghost or our own thoughts. We had about 6 people in the class and everyone participated! We also had a great talk on the Doctrine and Covenants and she said that she taught seminary for many years and the Doctrine and Covenants can sometimes be the hardest to understand but the spirit is always the teacher. After Church, we got a text from Sister Kochevar and she said that she wanted to bring us lunch to enjoy! The Kochevar Family just moved here from Riverton Utah! It was so nice of them to bring us a yummy lunch to have on the Sabbath! She made us some pot roast, mashed taters and gravy, Angel food cake, French bread, and asparagus! It was a fun lunch and then we headed out for more fun work! I just love how Heavenly Father answers our prayers and knows our hearts and puts into our minds what we need to say as we teach! That is one really amazing thing that I have so appreciated about my mission is being able to recognize and understand the Holy Ghost better and how it works in other people! I always have scriptures or parts of conference talks just jump into my mind! I will and forever will be grateful for the tender mercies that I've seen on my mission and how much stronger I have become from watching other people change their lives! I have been thinking about my water experience that I had a few weeks ago! I was so thirsty and Heavenly Father allowed us and guided us to that house and the lady gave us a drink! It was so amazing to see such a quick answer to my prayer and really strengthened my faith! I said "Wow! Heavenly Father truly knows each one of us and knows what we need!" I have been blessed with so many experiences like these and I have been writing them down my whole mission because I don't want to forget any of them! Sometimes we see miracles instantly but other days, we are tested and He wants to see us stretch and reach our goals! This work is so true and is the greatest work taking place on the Earth today! Just like President Nelson said "We are gathering scattered Israel!" I'm so happy to be a part of it at this time and I'm so thankful for each one of you! I love writing my thoughts down because I feel like I just type and thoughts come to my head and I have to write them down for you! We were asked by the YSA leader from the Sparta ward to present a Family Home Evening on a scripture to the 3 or 4 YSA aged members that come each week and so we were happy to help out! It went so well and we got to teach about 3 Nephi 27 and after we headed out to the car, I saw your email pop up and boy was I excited!!! I was so excited to read your email and hear from you! We also did some tracting in a huge neighborhood and we had to walk a half mile to get in between the houses! It was so crazy! Hehe! People are so spread out up here! It was a really great day and we talked to tons of nice people and planted more seeds! It has been so cool to serve here! We got back to the apartment and I read your email and wow was it so good! I loved every word as usual and I teared up hearing that you put my name in the Temple as I make this very important and tough decision about when to come home! That means SO very much to me and that was so special of you to do that! I am so thankful for your fun, thoughtful email with all of your fun pictures! I'm so happy that each of you had a great week and that you all had so much fun! It really is so crazy to think that school will be in full swing this Wednesday! I will be thinking about you all a lot as you start a new year! You sure got to do a lot of fun things this week! Thanks again for the awesome, amazing, and fun pictures and email! I am so excited to talk to you tomorrow!!! LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!
Well my dear Family! You are the BEST!!! I had so much fun typing up my email as usual and I love being able to zip off an email and have you read it instantly! Technology is amazing and j have been so blessed on my mission! I am doing so well and I'm so happy and grateful to be a missionary! Thank you SO much for always being there for me and always sending your love, support, and prayers! I can always feel your many prayers all day, every day! I just always want you to know that I think about and pray for each of you, invidually by name, and that I love and miss you so much! You are the best and just make me so happy! I also wanted to say that I'm very excited for all of the fun Football games coming up and that Football season is right around the corner! I'm so excited for everyone to have a great time at school and j hope that everyone gets settled in and love their teachers! I will be thinking about you a lot as you start this new school year and I will be praying that all goes well! I do have a favor to ask! Hehe! Do you think that you could give each other a huge hug from me? "Group hug!" I was also wondering if you could cheer twice as loud for the boys at their Football games and pretend I'm on the sidelines! Hehe! Well my dear loved ones, I'm so excited to hear how the Football games go and I'm excited to hear abiut your 1st day of school on Wednesday! You will be in my every thought and prayer! Have such a great and fun week! LOVE & MISS YOU SO, SO, SO VERY MUCH!!!
I'm So Happy That You Got To Meet Elder Mitonzi & Go To His Homecoming!!!
