Christmas and Catalina!

Feliz felicidades!

  

So many things have happened this week! I had a great Christmas and was so happy to Skype home and get some happy Christmas packages from family too. Thank you! We opened things with our roommates in the morning, did a zone activity, and had dinner at a member family's home that night too.

The best feeling for me, though, was just walking those streets of New Jersey with Sis. Willis, singing and caroling to whoever would listen to us, and realizing that we are literally representatives of Jesus Christ. We are the light of the world! And we have been given so much that everyone around us needs to know about Christ. I feels good to be serving him so completely right now!

Feliz Navidad!

FELIZ NAVIDAD A TODOS!

Wow- Christmas is in two days!! I've been learning that the 24th is actually the big day of celebration in hispanic culture instead of the 25th, so maybe it will feel like two Christmases in a row! It looked like it was going to be a white Christmas but it suddenly got warmer and now it is just raining. But it's not so cold outside, so I'm not complaining about that! On Christmas Eve night we are invited over by a family. On Christmas Day, my companion and our roommates (the Elizabeth English sisters) and I will open our Christmas packages and go to a zone activity at the church. Then Sister Willis and I will go to a sister's house to Skype with our families and have dinner with the only complete and active family our area (besides the bishop and his wife)- the Cannabarros from Uruaguay, who we also spent Thanksgiving with!

Our combined Spanish ward/ English branch Christmas party this week was a once-in-a-lifetime event! Let's just say that there were clowns and Winnie the Pooh involved singing "Feliz Navidad" in the church. It felt a little bit like Times Square, but I believe it built some unity between the ward and branch and was a good time. No one else will ever understand the things my companions and I experience here... haha.

Today our zone went to the mission home for the "Jingle with the Jeppsons!" Breakfast, bell-ringing activities, and scripture study with President and Sister Jeppson. All of the missionaries adore our mission president and his wife. It was good to feel like we were at home for a minute. All of the elders got ties and the sisters got cute scarves, too!

I feel strongly that there are a lot of people in this area of Elizabeth who are ready for us to teach and will want to be baptized! This week we walking down the busiest road in our area and I was feeling bad for not talking to a few people I felt like maybe we should have contacted. So then we determinedly stopped a lady who was walking down the street with her husband and son. They were in a hurry, but we explained to them a little bit about the Book of Mormon, gave them a copy, and set an appointment with the mom. She confirmed it! And she was there! She had lots of questioned and even prayed to know at the end if it is true.

We are fasting and praying for our investigator named Hermana Morales. She is from Mexico and has two daughters and two sons. She has met with the missionaries for a long time and is finally feeling the desire and determination to be baptized! She's stopped drinking coffee and tea and has come to church every Sunday since I've been here, except the day when the schedule was changed because of snow. She's gone through a lot of hard things in her life and the Atonement has been blessing her with more hope. She's had a baptismal date for the 29th- this coming Sunday- so we are praying that she can make it!!! We have been finding some new investigators who we are excited about and even got some member referrals this week for two couples from Cuba! We'll keep working diligently and obediently. The miracles have come and they will keep coming!

It's crazy to think that in about a month and a half, I'll have spend a full year in the mission field! I miss my fam, but I'm grateful to be out here in this crazy state having adventures every day. I have grown spiritually, mentally, (maybe not physically...), and felt myself be molded by God into the woman he wants me to become. I'm learning that as children of God, we have so much more potential than we could ever imagine for ourselves. But He knows. Christ made it all possible. We just have to show our faith and love for Him. I am SO blessed. We all are. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

John 3:16.

2 Nephi 26:24

I love the last two lines of "Oh pueblecito de Belen" or, "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" that says, "Aunque su nacimiento paso sin atencion, aun lo puede recibir el manso corazon." Rough translation: "Although his birth passed unnoticed, the meek heart can still receive him."

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Love,

Hermana Marissa Martin

Skyping on Christmas Day with the fam!

Christmas is coming to Joyzie!

Feliz Navidad!

From what I hear, there has been more snow in St. George than here... until a couple of days ago! When the roads get to snow/ icy, we're not allowed to drive the mission cars. So what do we do? We bundle up and walk out into the snow! (Some people think it's polite to cancel appointments because of bad weather, but ironically that just means that we spend more time outside knocking doors than inside their home, so let's hope that doesn't happen a lot.) It was snowy and breezy all day on Saturday, so that was an adventure walking around! But it was fun and people are impressed that we're dedicated enough to go out in the weather! :)

This week we went on our twice-yearly temple trip to Manhattan! I took some pictures on the drive there to give you a taste of the Jersey life! The contrast from being in the middle of New York City and being inside the holy temple is about as dramatic as it can get.

I Love Newsies!

This week we met a lady at her door who said we could come back later in the week. She miraculously confirmed the appointment when we called her the day before. We took a member to her house- Sis. Rivera, who is from Nicaragua and got back from a mission in St. George, UT a year ago! When we went in, her husband and kids (ages 22-ish and 16), plus her brother, were all home and sat in and listened to the lesson! It was such a rewarding experience! We have such a good feeling about this family and are excited to go teach them again tonight! We'll be teaching more about who God really is as our Heavenly Father and hopefully help them understand why he calls prophets to
teach us the truth... and that the truth has been restored today an that they can know it's true by reading and praying about the Book of Mormon!

We had a Christmas devotional with all of the Spanish missionaries last night. Many more festivities to come! I am learning more about the Savior this Christmas than I ever have.

I love you all!!

Love,

Hermana Martin

Gracias y Feliz Navidad!

Querida familia,

Thank you so much again for the birthday package and now for the

Christmas package! It's really getting me in the Christmas spirit! I

love you. I have been thinking about you a lot this week and I am so

grateful for all of the fun Christmas memories we have shared as a

family! I've been telling other sister missionaries that they should

start a family ornament tree like ours after their missions. :) I was

also telling my companion, Sister Willis, about the 12 Days of

Christmas radio recording. (Turtle doves... swans..."Oh... good

idea!") I was hoping she could understand how funny it is to us, but

I'm not sure if it was the same for her.

Yesterday we watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional at an

investigator's house with two families and it was great! I miss the

Martin fam. But I'm also grateful that my testimony of the Savior has

been strengthened out here and that I can share it with these people!

We had a really good week and hopefully we will have some baptisms

soon! I've been on 3 exchanges already with other sisters as a Sister

Training Leader and we're doing another one tomorrow! It snowed

yesterday too- and that reminds me of being up in Salt Lake for

Christmas. Our mission's theme for this year is, "Always Remember

Him," I hope you do things at home, like "noche de hogar, la oracion,

y leer las escrituras" to remember Him more this month too. I STINKING

LOVE YOU ALL! I get to see your faces in like 16 days! Woo!

Love,

Hermana Martin

Conquered West New York (the building in front of our house was completely destroyed right before I went to transfer conference)

The building's gone! And I'm gone!

 My two cute former companions at transfer conference- Hermana Clark (from Arizona) and Hermana Stansel (from Idaho). It's been a while since I've had a companion who's taller than me... but now I have Sis. Willis.

Holy cow. Biggest week ever.

HOLA!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! A lot has been going on for me in the past week here in Nueva Jersey!

Cosas que pasaron:

Monday: Packed up everything in West New York to get ready for Transfer Conference! I miss Sis. Clark and the people of West New York, but it will be okay...

Tuesday: Got transferred to Elizabeth, New Jersey with an awesome Sister Training Leader companion- Sister Willis from Colorado!

Wednesday: First full day in Elizabeth. Meeting with my new District.

Thursday: Thanksgiving! "Turkey Bowl" sports with the missionaries in Newark in the morning. Weekly planning. A nice dinner at a member family's home, also with the Relief Society President, her husband, and cute little daughters. After, we stopped by another home for a more casual, buffet-style dinner in the living room with a less-active family.

The freezing cold Turkey Bowl with my new companion, Sis. Willis, and Sister Hendrickson.

Friday: My birthday: Opened a package from home and my ward in the morning with companion and roommates!  1st Mission Leader Council meeting with Pres. and Sis. Jeppson and all of the zone leaders in the mission. We talked about how we're doing as far as statistics in our mission, were trained on how to teach investigators about how to receive answers through prayer, and were introduced to the mission theme for December, to "always remember Him." They all sang Happy Birthday to me at the end.

Same day- my first exchange as a Sister Training Leader! Sis. Willis left and I brought another sister back to my brand new area for an exchange! Pretty crazy! The sister I was with is basically perfect and reminds me of Snow White. We taught a less-active family and the smoke alarm only went off once during our day together... (We didn't celebrate a whole lot on my birthday, so my companion made peach cobbler with ice cream for me this morning). :)

Saturday: Taught some great lessons with Sis. Willis! An investigator who has met with missionaries for years accepted a baptismal date for Dec. 29! We are excited! We talked about faith and the Atonement, and she prayed right there with us at the end of the lesson to Heavenly Father to know if this baptismal date is right for her.

Sunday: First church experience in Elizabeth! It's a place with character, that's for sure! The members are great, and many shared really inspiring testimonies in Sacrament Meeting. There is a Spanish ward here and an English branch! The Sunday School, Relief Society, and Priesthood meetings are combined with translations (by the missionaries/ others), and Sacrament Meetings are separate. It's very unique.

I love you all so much! Thank you for your support and encouragement!

Love,

Hermana Martin

Sunday dinner at the Canabarro Family's home

Dinner with the Fallas Family

Answers to some of Mom's questions:

 1. Thanksgiving and birthday was pretty good! It was kind of sad to be in a brand new area on my birthday... but some fun stuff did go on. :)  I wrote about it in the email.

2. New address: 167 Elm St., 2nd floor. Elizabeth, New Jersey. 07202

3. Ok, I got your package (thank you, thank you!), Noni's and Grandpa's package (love the gifts!) and the package from the SC 11th ward youth (so awesome)! I received G&G's birthday letter and $50 too. I think that's it... Sis. Clark said there are 2 packages and 4 letters for me back in West New York! So I will ask her to send them with her zone leaders to a meeting I'll see them at on Friday. That should work.

4. My companion is Sister Brooke Willis, from Colorado. She is awesome! I feel like we are on fire when we teach together! She is 22 and only has 2 transfers left in the mission. She is SUPER obedient and hardworking. I love her. She reminds me of Mandy a lot of the time.

5. Our new place is pretty nice. We room with the English sisters in our area. We live above an older, Cuban lady in a two-story house. This area is so much more neighborhood-like than West New York and it's actually pretty cute.

6. I had a meeting and my first exchange already. This Friday we are teaching the new district leaders about how to be organized and work with the sister training leaders in order to support the sisters they are over.

7. I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY GIFTS!!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I really like the dress, the suitcoat, the shirts, the iPod, and everything! You are the best! Sister Jeppson complimented the white ruffly blouse. Love you, Mom!! Thanks for always thinking of me and taking care of me.