Home!

The flight was delayed 45 minutes and we waited very anxiously until Marissa finally appeared
at the top of the escalator in the Salt Lake Airport.

"I'm huggin' my whole family today!"

Kylee

Mickelle

Marissa's trainer, Jamie Nava

Grandpa, Scott F. McNeil

Such a happy day!

Grandma, Kathy McNeil (Nonni)

Mom!

Dad!

Kasenya!

Marissa was able to be Kylee's escort in the Salt Lake Temple that evening
as she received her own endowment.  It was a wonderful time with many of our
family and friends there.

Our neighbors were waiting in the street with a banner as we returned home.  They had also put a banner on the garage door and many had written personal notes to Marissa.  It was a fun welcome home!

Pics of the Last Week

Today we're planning to walk around Rutgers campus for a little bit with the other sisters in our zone to enjoy one last P-day together! Omar and Azucena are still amazing. It's sad that I won't be here for Azucena's baptism when she feels ready- it should be soon!I'm excited to teach 2 or 3 final lessons tonight! I hope to leave this area strong, with Sis. Cole feeling confident that she can do all she needs to do! Transfer Conference and night at the Mission Home with all of the departing missionaries tomorrow night!! Crazy!I'll see my family and some friends on Wednesday!!!

 

I will be changed forever thanks to my decision to serve a mission and the learning process Heavenly Father has put me through here. I'm so grateful for the relationships I've gained and the Spirit that I've felt every day!!! I've experienced my own conversion and seen the difference that the gospel of Jesus Christ makes in the lives of others!

 

I'll be clinging to the message of this scripture when I go home: Alma 37:36-37. Look it up! I love you! :)

 

Love always...

hermana Martin!

 

After the baptism, we were invited to spend some time with the members in one of their homes. We also visited a cute family who surprised me with a cute good-bye cake and gift. Then we visited a home full of all of our favorite Peruvians!

Some of the cute Young Women/ recently-graduated girls in our ward (plus Sis. Cole and her slyness) threw me a fun little "despedida" after coordination meeting on Friday!

2 companionships of elders each baptized someone yesterday! It was really exciting. Two amazing ladies!

Martinos!

OMAR WAS BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!! It was a beautiful ceremony!! He was so happy and felt the Spirit so strong! We met him exactly a month ago today, and he has already changed so much for the better from receiving the restored gospel in his life! I have some pictures that I can share later!! :) Sis. Cole and I have just been overfilled with joy throughout this whole experience of teaching Omar, as well as his sister, Azucena, who wants to be baptized shortly!

Today we went on the departing missionary trip and visited Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, 9/11memorials, and a giant, beautiful Catholic cathedral in Newark! It is a crazy time!

I am about to go into my departing interview with Pres. Taggart in about 10 minutes!

I hope Mickelle had a wonderful birthday! Can we celebrate again when I get home? Sounds like you're having lots of fun!

The gospel is true!

Love,

Hermana Martin

Omar and Hermano Sarabia, our member who baptized him!

Omar, his sister, Azucena, and her baby, Liam!

The group! :) I love how happy they look!

Departing Missionary Trip Pictures & People I Love!

My Mexican amigos/ former zone leaders on the Statue of Liberty!

Ridiculously beautiful cathedral in central Newark, which we also stopped by on the departing trip

Teardrop Memorial, facing New York.

Lady Liberty

Sisters on the ferry with the Taggarts' cute daughter, Sophie, who also joined us on the trip!

There she is!! We climbed up a lot of stairs and made it to her feet!

3 sisters from our original MTC group! (Plus Elder Jeffries who was there to drop somebody off for the trip, also in the original district).

Saying goodbye to Hermano Agustin!

Hermana Ramirez (member) and her cute family, who we visit!

 2 other boys, and 8-year-old whose family are members and a 9-year-old who the elders taught, got baptized the same day! The bishop and one of the missionaries in our ward baptized them.

 

So we were out knocking this door of some potential investigators in a trailor park, when we found this chair that says, "New Brunswick Ward."
 What?! Pretty sure these people have never been to our church before...

Awesome Hondurian family in our ward all there to support 8-year-old Leandro being baptized!

 

Las ultimas semanas...

Saludos!

This week has been kind of emotional for me!! There were about 3 straight days when we didn't hear from our progressing investigators, Omar and Azucena! Neither one has a cell phone that's functioning right now, and one night when we knocked the door of the basement they live in in a home, the homeowner came to the door and said rather unkindly that he never wanted us to come back again, and that he would tell Omar that we couldn't come over! It was terrible!! So we tried think of creative ways to find Omar again, but the best we could do is wait for a call and let the days go by without teaching him to help him get prepared for his baptism next Sunday! Finally he did call us from another person's phone on Saturday and told us that he was going to church! Best words I've ever heard in my life over the phone: "Soy Omar!"

We have also met a few "Christians" on the street / knocking doors who do not hesitate to share their opinions against the Book of Mormon and our religion! I try to listen to the Spirit and pray to be filled with love so that I don't fight back, but also share sincere testimony of what I know to be true!

We took one last temple trip with the departing missionaries and the Taggart family to the Manhattan temple last Friday! It was a long drive with MUCHO TRAFICO... but the journey is so worth it! It really filled me with peace and humility to go into the House of the Lord, right in the middle of NYC, and have my testimony strengthened! It is also fun to be around the missionary friends who came out with me and whom I have served with for the past 18 months! Elder Aspinall also gave my companion and I priesthood blessings that helped us out a lot! The power of God is so real! And it's such a blessing that He gives it to young people like us to share with all the world!

I'm so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel that I have and I am excited to take it with me for the rest of my life after these next two weeks!

I love you! Stay strong! Romans 8:16.

Con amor,

hermana Martin

Baptism of a cute 11-year-old girl who the elders taught in our ward. Her
mom is a member who hadn't come to church in a really long team. Her home
teacher, hermano Sarabia, told us that she wanted to come back to church
and that her daughter wanted to be baptized! We visited her a couple of
times and then were the elders finished teaching and baptizing Julia
because she lives in the borders of their area. Our ward is having all
kinds of success lately- it is exciting! Plus, Julia's mom works at Dunkin'
Donuts, so now there is an enormous box of leftover donuts lying around
somewhere in the church every Sunday!

OMAR MIRACLES!

Mis queridos,

Two cute 11-year-old girls from different families,
Jasmine and Maritza, who the elders in our ward taught
and we had the opportunity to help them with
preparing before their baptism 2 weeks ago!
Each of their mothers are recent converts, also from the elders' areas,
who were baptized into our ward not too long ago!

There is no joy like sharing the gospel and feeling the way it touches the lives of others!! :) The same investigator who came to church last week, our 24-year-old Mexican friend, Omar, accepted the invitation to be baptized on July 27!! Woohoo!!! He was already so prepared to receive the message of the gospel and  came to church yesterday after changing his work schedule for it. He's working on getting a new job so he can keep the Sabbath Day holy! We just need to teach him a little bit and he's ready to go!!

We were wishing that we could just multiply/ recreate Omar and teach all kinds of investigators who are as receptive and dedicated as he is! Then last night we knocked on Omar's door to set another appointment with him, and we found out that he has a SISTER named Azucena who lives there too!! With her husband and their cute baby, Liam!! We talked to her for a few minutes outside their house and then Omar came home and we went inside and taught them a quick lesson, all right before it was time to go home on Sunday night! Omar said that what he has learned about the gospel and the plan of salvation in the past 2 weeks has completely turned around his perspective on life! He taught his little sister, Azucena, who is 22, how to pray just like we taught him in our first lesson! It was so sweet!! :)

We visited a cute member family in our ward this week. Their testimonies are so strong and the Spirit is there in their home so profoundly when they testify of the gospel! We are excited to have Omar and Azucena at a Family Home Evening at their home this week, as well as have them spend time with some of our other amazing members! :)

This Friday I get to attend a session in the Manhattan temple with all of the departing missionaries who go home this transfer (in 3 weeks)! There is a group of about 20 of us-- it's huge!! This will be the first departing missionary experience for anyone with President and Sister Taggart.  Next Monday we also get to go on a trip to the Statue of Liberty for one last time!

I have been making a list of goals and things to help me with transitioning out of being a full-time missionary when I get home... I am scared that it is going to be hard, but I thing if I stay strong with doing my daily prayer, scripture study, service, practicing Spanish, and attending the temple, it will eventually all be okay. I am definitely excited to see my family again! But it will be challenging to leave behind the family that the Lord has allowed me to find here! Good thing we can all be together after this life, huh?

These verses from D&C 76 pretty much sum up the gist of the gospel for me...

"And this is the gospel, the glad tidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us-- That he came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse  it from all unrighteousness; That through him all might be saved whome the Father had put into his power and made by him;"

The gospel is true. It makes our lives happy. I'm grateful for the time I've spent out here finding myself, developing a better relationship with God, and learning to love others and help them find the truth! You can do it too!

Love,

Hermana Martin

Having fun at the Perth Amboy bay across from Statton Island...
it's not really a beach that much, but it's as close as we get. :)

Some of my Elizabeth ward friends, hermano Aparicio (Ward Mission Leader) and hermana Graciela (amazing member missionary and friendshipper) who came to the birthday party for one of our New Brunswick ward members on the 4th of July!

Cute Sister Jensen and I at Zone Meeting!

The amazing Young Women (Mujeres Jovenes) from our ward after a Youth Conference presentation!
I will miss being in a Spanish ward.

Me and Sister Cole on the beach in Perth Amboy on P-day!

Sister Cole and I excited to get our car back after a while!

Photos from Jeppson's Homecoming