Miracles in Jersey!

Mis queridos,

Last Tuesday was the coldest day of my LIFE. We were warned to take precaution and ended up making a lot of phone calls inside during the day and only going out for a little bit at night. Since then, it's warmed up a lot.

I had a great exchange experience this week. I went to Kearny, which is in the Newark zone. Sis. Huele, a new missionary, ran the area, which I think was a really good experience for her to gain some confidence! She was nervous, but has all it takes to be an exceptional missionary and I feel like her friend!

We had some CRAZY MIRACLES this week! A few weeks ago, we were walking through the snow and saw a woman up the hill from us on a bicycle. We talked to her and she was surprisingly interested in coming to church. We wanted to keep talking to her, and she finally told us she needed to go because it was so cold. My companion turned to me after and said, "She wanted to talk to us! The light was green, but she wasn't crossing the street. Did you see that?" We called her before Sunday and offered to go by her home and walk her to church, and she said yes! Sis. Willis had the brilliant idea of having another member walk with us too. Rosario, her grandma, and her son walked to church with us and immediately became best friends with the member we brought (such an amazing cultural thing)!
Rosario has come to church three times since then! She wasn't very open to us having a lesson with her outside of church until this weekend we finally got into her home, this weekend. We found out that her new member friend and our ward mission leader helped her find a job this past week and she has already started working there! This beautiful, single mom started crying to us when she expressed her love for God and how he puts people in our path at just the right time. We invited her to be baptized and she's thinking about it. She said to us, "The cars weren't coming, but I didn't cross the street. I KNEW you were coming to talk to me." Miracles are so real!!

We have a zone goal of contacting at least 10 people per day (as in talking to people in public/ at doors when in between lessons) which is really pushing us! We have some incredibly strong members in our ward, and a lot of less-active members who need our support. Our stake here is encouraging every ward to have a mission plan and every family to have a mission plan. Do you have one?

We have an investigator on date for next Sunday. Hermana de los Santos, a beautiful lady from the Dominican Republic with three sons. (Her youngest one, Frederick, is SOO cute!) She, like Catalina, has seem missionaries for a LONG time. She was actually baptized 20 years ago in the DR, but has since gone inactive and her records were lost. Tonight our lesson is going to focus a lot on desire and commitment to Jesus Christ in order to qualify for eternal life.

Missionary work can be draining- it's a lot of emotional, spiritual, and physical demand. But it is so rewarding and I am grateful for my call! Sigan adelante!

Carinos de,

Hermana Martin

President and Sister Jeppson are the cutest Mission President couple!