"Baby Steps and Miracles"

Mis amados,

 

This will be my 12th week here in the Hightstown area with Hermana Stansel (2 transfers in my trio + 2 transfers as a t! Next Monday I will know whether I'll be staying in the area I've served in for my full 5 1/2 months here or moving on! Scary! This week has been awesome and we feel like we are finally making some more progress!

 

Sister Stansel and I are alike in so many ways and we have had some indescribable adventures together! We decided that there needs to be a musical called "Baby Steps and Miracles" featuring two naive, spiritual, sister missionaries from the west who head out to take on the Spanish-speaking community of New Jersey where hardly anyone knows where Utah or Idaho is and teaching them the Gospel of Jesus Christ! There would be some characters from countries all over the world and a lot of awkward and funny situations, plus a few heart-wrenching and some tear-jerking ones! Except I think we can't use too many of the experiences we've had here because they wouldn't be realistic/ believable enough! ;)

 

Rigoberto L. is getting baptized next week and we are so excited!

 

Love,

Hermana Martin

"New Jersey is Magical"

Buenas!

We are emailing a day late today because on P-day we had an mission activity/meeting on Monday with all of the sisters in the whole mission! We all did yoga in the gym together and had lunch! We listened to inspiring messages from the most bubbly and adorable senior sister missionaries, Sis. Dunning and Sis. Woodruff, and from President and Sister Jeppson, who are some of the most amazing people I have ever met. They told us a lot of the things I've been told in young womens, like that we need to love ourselves as daughters of God. I am realizing more that these things are not just words, but they are true.

 

One thing that stood out to me is that Sister Jeppson said that we need to "fill ourselves up." We can't really on anyone or anything else to fill the holes of low self-esteem or insecurities in order to feel good about ourselves- that is not their job, it's ours! I struggle with this sometimes, but I want to do that more and rely on the Lord and take it upon myself to be happy and grateful so that I can serve better rather than waiting for someone to tell me I'm good enough.

 

On Sunday night we were about to wander around finding people in an apartment complex when my trainee thought we should pause to think of a more productive idea. So we decided to call and visit some less-active members who we can rarely get in touch with. Miraculously, we were about to have 2 great visits with them that night and meet some of their non-member family members/ friends. That's the way to do it! It is easy for these people to slip away when work and other things become more important than "that fruit which is most desirable" or "the love of God" that we read about in 1 Nephi 11. People have so many hard life challenges here that I honestly can't relate to being so young, but I know that God knows them and will take care of them if they do what is right.

 

Rigoberto is still excited and a little nervous to be baptized on Sept. 1! We are excited to see what he shares in his testimony at the service after he is baptized because he has been thinking about it for a long time, and like he says, he has no "verguenza" to say what he thinks or how he feels! We love him. I never knew I'd find my own little Peruvian grandpa! 

 

We have been meeting with an investigator, Cesar, who has had a lot of hardships and little miracles in his life. He was baptized Catholic and was a missionary for his church in Guatemala. He moved away from his family to come here to Princeton to work, where he passed by some elders and felt the spirit strongly. He met with sister missionaries for a while but they eventually dropped him because he wasn't keeping commitments and then my last companions and I finally found him again. He wants to go to the temple someday- we just need to keep praying that he will make the sacrifices he needs to to stop working on Sundays and commit to be baptized. Our poor Jorge, the 19-year-old, is slipping into the abyss because we haven't been able to get in contact with him... :(

 

A long time ago we met a man named Johnny near where we live and we recently got in touch with him and are hoping to meet with him, his wife, and teenage daughter who is a dancer (yay!)  After we leave this library, we will head to an apartment to talk about what happens after we die with a group of Seventh Day Adventists and Evangelicals! Pray for us! I never realized that whether we keep Saturday or Sunday holy could be such a big issue...

 

New Jersey is magical!

 

Mucho amor!!

Hermana Martin

Wonder Woman and Firefly!

Feliz dia!

 

This week in zone meeting, our zone leaders went all out to motivate us to remember the zone goals and give us a little confidence boost! They wrote in Sharpie our goals for the zone for the month of August on tie-die T-shirts for all of us (home at 9pm, baptismal invites in every 1st lesson, celebrate our successes, and take pictures for a miracle collage), plus a superhero name assigned to each missionary! Thus, I am now Wonder Woman and my companion, Sis. Stansel, is Firefly in "Zone Marvel!"

 

This week, Sister Stansel struggled a bit on the number of lessons we taught, but we still saw a lot of miracles. Not a single person has come to our English class we're offering in the past 2 weeks, but that's okay... We've been working around a lot of the same areas lately around apartment complexes and those same streets by Princeton University, where it is more likely to meet people walking around outside who may want to listen to us.

 

We thought we would have more people coming to church, but they backed out at the last minute which is always sad. But it's always a fun surprise to see people who do come who you didn't expect! The members never cease to amaze us by giving us food when we need it. And their testimonies and talks and lessons in church on Sundays are so refreshing. It's good to hear from people who believe the same things as you do and see evidence how being faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ really blesses people's lives!

 

We have been thinking a lot about member missionary work. As missionaries, we should be "reaping/ harvesting" by helping people get baptized! But when missionaries ask members if they know anyone for us to teach, (including me before my mission) we can't think of anyone who can imagine would want to learn about Joseph Smith and be invited to be baptized. So it is important for members everywhere to constantly make friends with people, give service, bring up the truths of the gospel, and just get to know people who aren't members of the church, so we can all enjoy more friendships and God can be preparing them through us for the time when they can receive more of God's blessing through the restored gospel! :)

 

I love you all! Gracias por todo! I lost my memory card so hopefully I'll find that soon and I can send some more pictures.

 

Love,

Hermana Martin

"What to do with the time given you..."

Hightstown is still great.

Happy Day!  Packages in the mail are the best!

I'm still in the same area I've been in for my whole mission- Hightstown! I went to the MTC, got trained for 12 weeks in my trio with Sister Nava and Sister Daniels, and now I'm 8 out of 12 into training my companion, Sister Stansel. Chances are that I'll be transferred out in 4 weeks... but we don't know!

Personas:

Abraham Alejandro (recent convert from Guatemala): We had an amazing lesson with him and members John and Destiny Fisihetau yesterday about temples and eternal families! The Spirit was so strong! John and Destiny have had a couple dinners with the Hermanos Alejandros after they get off of work late at night! We are hoping to go to do baptisms at the temple with Abraham on Aug. 17 if we can get some of his family names ready and all works out!

Rigoberto Leonardo: He was stressing us out a little bit not wanting to really commit to a baptismal date. Then we ran into him walking in The Orchard Apartments close by where we met him and gave him a Book of Mormon about 3 months ago. He said that he talked to Hermano Pinto in our branch and that he wants to be baptized on Sept. 1st!! :) We are so excited. In Gospel Principles class in church yesterday, Luis felt impressed to give us time at the end of his lesson to bear testimonies, and  Rigoberto gave this beautiful synopsis of his conversion story for everyone! He is so happy to have found the truth and he is excited to be an example for the rest of his family and his friends in joining the church! He said that overall, finding the Church for him has all pointed to the reality of Christ.

We found a new investigator on Witherspoon Street in Princeton (the one we always seem to be walking that goes by Lytle St. and the House of Cupcakes). His name is Jorge and he is 19 years old. At first, he seemed like every other person in that area that tells us that they work too much to learn about God. But Jorge told us that a long time ago, he decided to be different. He started working in a factory in Guatemala at age 13. Some of his family and friends have gotten into drugs and drinking and terrible things, but he has done what he needs to to avoid that kind of path in life. He came here to the US to work, but then hurt his leg in an accident at work and is now on crutches. "Dios sabe porque," he says. Or, God knows why Jorge isn't able to work right now. We're thinking this could be a perfect chance to teach him about the gospel! Luis should be coming on a team-up to help us teach him this Thursday. He is such a gem of faith! He was even telling Sis. Stansel that she shouldn't drink so much soda because it is bad for you... haha.

I like this quote that Sis. Stansel told me from Lord of the Rings:

"The only thing you need to decide, is what to do with the time that's given you."

Love,
Hermana Martin