Big changes!!

President Jeppson called last night and extended the call for me to serve as a new Sister Training Leader in the mission! I was not expecting this at ALL! That means I'll be in a leadership position with a new companion. We'll go to the monthly "Mission Leader Council" meetings with Pres. and Sis. Jeppson, the Assistants and all the Zone Leaders. Pres. Jeppson said I'll be doing about two exchanges with sisters every single week to support, help train, give advice and encouragement to the companionships we're assigned to! Crazy! The rumor is that I'll either be transferred to Short Hills with Hmna. Solomon (who was in my MTC district!) or Elizabeth with Hmna. Willis (I'm not sure who she is right now, but I hear she's great)! Transfer conference is TOMORROW! I'll be spending this Thanksgiving and my 20th birthday in a brand new area. I guess that's a good chance to get to know people and make some immediate connections. (I mean the members have to be nice to me, right-- It's my birthday! ;)

Sis. Clark is out of her training now and will be leading out here in West New York with a new companion. My heart is a little torn to leave the people I care about, but I know that Sister Clark and her new companion will do well taking care of them.

Awesome story!:

Last Sunday, Sister Clark and I spent about four hours straight on foot, trying to find the apartments of former investigators, walking up and down stairs, and talking to a few people here and there on the street. We'd been praying to find new investigators but seen very little success. We were dead tired and thought about going home to make phone calls when I looked at the time and said, "Let's give it 10 more minutes." We ran into a less-active member on the street who is a returned missionary going through a lonely, hard time. We read one of my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon with him and he was excited to commit to reading again! He was at church yesterday.

On the way home that same night, walking down the busy Bergenline Ave, we passed a man sitting on a corner who said something as we walked by. We turned around and approached him and a lady sitting with him. We got into talking a little bit about God and the Book of Mormon. This man didn't want to give us his information, but his friend with him, Daffy from Chile, accepted a Book of Mormon, committed to start reading it, and set an appointment with us for later in the week!

As we went to teach her last week, we had an inspiring first lesson with her and her 15-year-old son, and left her tiny home, I felt that a promise was being fulfilled which I had felt from the Lord before my mission that I would meet people here in New Jersey who specifically need me to teach them! I feel so much love for this lady and her son! Even though I'm leaving this area now, I feel it was God's plan that my companion and I could be spiritually prepared enough to turn around and talk to those people and to be a connection for Daffy and her family to learn about the restored gospel!

There is still a lot of progress to be made in the area of West New York. I still have plenty of ways in which I need to personally improve also. But I am so grateful for these experiences that the Lord has provided for me in my life!

Keep yourself spiritually fueled and don't be afraid to open your mouth! If you don't know what to say- just listen. That's something I'm learning. We are planning to invite members to read 3 Nephi chapters 9-30 before Christmas to come to know the Savior more. Try it!  Pray for me and the work of salvation! I love you all!

Love,
Hermana Martin

 p.s. The building in front of our apartment is completely torn down now! Elementary school boys walking home got a big thrill out  watching machines grab huge chunks of brick wall and pull them down. Like we predicted- it was all done in the past 12 weeks we've been here! Now on our way home at night, we have a view of the Empire State Building all lit up and peeking at us from across the Hudson! I guess this is a sign that my mission in West New York is complete...

Hola, hola 12 semanas en West New York!

 The adorable primary girls singing in the "Noche de gracias" activity we put together this week

 El Libro de Mormon makes its way down 60th Street in West New York!

Wow, it is the 12th week of training with Sis. Clark! There are many things I wish I would have done done better the past two transfers, but I have learned a lot! The advice on planning from our sister training leaders has helped us a lot. By having better back-up plans and more specified activities for every hour of the day, we've been put in the right place at the right time, and we feel more like we're doing our part in finding. I do think we need to balance between motivating the members in missionary work and using our own finding efforts. 


We have been struggling to find investigators to teach and keep them progressing. But we were happy to see all 7 of the recent converts in our area and several of the less-active members we have been with in sacrament meeting yesterday!

I am grateful to be a missionary! It is silly to me now thinking back on how I thought my purpose coming out here was giving something back to the Lord, because now I can see that all I am doing as a missionary is qualifying myself for more blessings from Him as I strive to be worthy of my call! I have become a deeper and firmer person in the faith of Jesus Christ.



 My companion, Sis. Clark, got a cookie bouquet from her mom on her bday!

Buenas!

Feliz dia,

There have been 3 cakes (postres) sitting in our fridge this week from Sis. Clark's birthday! If any Latinos start changing "mordida!" at your birthday, you should probably expect your face to be pushed into a cake, because that was what happened to Sis. Clark! She wasn't expecting it at all from our ward missionary! It was hilarious and we caught it on film and showed it to some of the other missionaries and Sis. Jeppson this week.

There was a frantic moment this week that led to some miracles... We were meeting a member sister to visit a less-active member clear at the edge of our area when we realized we hadn't written down the exact address of her house. We called the lady we were to visit but neither of us could understand the other on the phone (language/ she is also about 90 years old) and it was cold and windy outside! The sister we were going with doesn't have a cell phone, and we were feeling bad for being late! Then, I realized I had a ward list in my bag and when I took it out the wind whipped the pages right out of my had and Sis. Clark screamed and we ran after them!

After we finally figured it all out, we stopped to eat at a Latino restaurant called Pollo Campero to warm up before we were going to go home and make some phone calls. That's when I realized I'd lost our mission cell phone. When we left the restaurant, we spotted a sister member at a bus stop and talked to her for a minute. Then Sis. Clark said, "elders!" and I saw the four elders in our ward driving right by us in their van. We ran up to them and told them about the phone and they stopped to help. A few seconds later, another member turned the corner holding two coats that were her daughters and she had previously told Sis. Clark and I that we could have. They had already been washed, but she felt like she should  take them to get washed for us or something at that moment. We bundled up in those coats, the elders miraculously got a hold of a man who had picked up our phone (it was on the grass where we had been chasing the ward list in the wind, apparently) and they went and rescued it for us. We have decided that, like babies and puppies, God and people have mercy on poor, helpless things like missionaries and we get taken care of.

 

I love you all! We are switching into FINDING mode now. Our investigators, Monica and Israel, still haven't kept their commitment to come to church. But Monica said she feels the Holy Ghost in her home more since we've been visiting and notices a difference in her family when we don't visit for a few days. She has been teaching her little girls to pray. We are focusing on prayer this month in the mission and it has definitely helped me to keep going. Life is good, but hard sometimes. I love you all!

Love, 

Hermana Martin

Pictures of my district and zone last transfer. My district was all sisters and our District Leader, Elder Cuevas, and his companion! Sister Blair (on the left of my companion), was waiting for her visa to go to Brazil and now she is there. We have some pretty goofy, fun, spiritually-strong missionaries here in our districts and zones! Sis. Clark and I are the only Spanish-speaking sisters in Zone 1!

 

November is here!

Hola y FELIZ NOVIEMBRE! (Me encanta esta mes!)

 

Today is Sis. Clark's birthday! We are both turning 20 in November! The four elders in our ward showed up on our porch this morning and sang her a Spanish birthday song with the guitar! It was adorable! 

Don't tell Sis. Clark, but I'm trying to set up a little surprise birthday party/ family home evening at the church for her. It is basically impossible since we are together 24/7 and a companionship is designed so you can't do anything secretive... but we'll see how it goes! Some of her favorite things are Taco Bell, neopolotin ice cream, Oreos, pan de bono, and chocolate... so hopefully we can get those things involved! ;)

This may be one of my favorite pictures of all time. Happy Halloween!

For Halloween, I wore Sis. Clark's clothes and she wore some of mine, haha! Plus we and the elders wore some mustaches for a little bit at the Primary activity... It was fun to see some kids walking around in costumes that day. We were commanded to be at home at 6pm on Halloween night and the "night of mischief" the night before. So don't worry- we were safe! We did weekly planning, tried to make a Colombian drink, and watched some good church movies those nights!



Primary Halloween activity.
We love teaching this member sister, her husband
who is a recent convert, and their cute daughter!

MIRACLES! We definitely have experienced more of a spirit of unity with our ward leaders and members this week! Our ward mission leader (who is actually recently coming back into activity), conducted a combined meeting for the adults the third hour and each companionship in our ward gave a little presentation on The Work of Salvation! We had the bishop's support as well! The elders set up videos to share from the broadcast on lds.org and the Spirit was strong- members even stood up to bear testimony! Sister Clark stunned the whole ward yesterday by standing up with the microphone and boldly telling everyone their missionary responsibilities- in Spanish! I mentioned how well she is speaking and they all energetically agreed! I suggested we name this meeting "The Launch!" The elders even passed out m&m's ("miembros y misioneros") and the ward thought it was hilarious! We are really hoping to have the member-missionary work keep "blasting off" in West New York! There is so much potential here and fulfillment of prophecy! EVERY member is involved in the Hastening of the Work! Don't hold back! 

Sadly, Sis. Clark are still struggling to find new investigators though. We are teaching one cute little family, but they keep failing in their commitment to come to church. We will keep praying, brainstorming, and working to find new investigators however we can, as well as working with members. We try to talk to a lot of people all the time and have even gotten some good references, but most of the people we talk to just really don't seem interested or ready to keep commitments right now. But we know they are out there and we'll keep looking!

I'm pretty sure all missionaries in the U.S. are supposed to be getting iPads next year to use for record-keeping and teaching! We are hoping to get ours around April! I am SO excited! It's going to be such a good tool to use for showing conference and things on lds.org and mormon.org! Plus I'm so ready to be done with using white-out!

 "El Arbol de Navidad" that we made in the church. If members give us a reference and teach the investigator with us, they get an ornament
with their name on the tree! Elder Ballard invited all of us to contact someone before Christmas as a gift to the Savior!

I am learning more and more every day and feel the Gospel of Christ becoming more and more a part of my heart. We are SAINTS of the Latter-Days- not just on Sundays, but at every moment as long as we are striving to know and become more like our Savior. The gospel is true. God loves us more than we can know. Thank you for all you do!

Love,

Hermana Martin