Saludos!
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| A not-so-quality snapshot of the awesome city in my new area of New Brunswick! We live right by Rutgers University. |
New Brunswick is dramatically different from my last area, Elizabeth! Here there are trees, freeways, car dealerships, malls, and houses instead of crowded one-way roads, hole-in-the-wall stores and restaurants, and apartment buildings! New Brunswick borders my first area, Hightstown, and I even know that one older sister from our Princeton branch who I visited with Sister Nava and Sister Daniels, Hermana Carmen Arrenguren, lives just two minutes out of this area! I am excited to spend another spring and summer in the beautiful south, but we have a lot of finding to do as far as investigators go!
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The East Brunswick chapel/ stake center.
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Contacting doesn't come quite as easily in this area because people are more spread out, but we are determined to do what we can to work with the members and find through our own efforts. One challenge is that when we ask for referrals, people tell us, "I don't know anyone. I go straight from work to home and don't do anything else." I think we should all understand that part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is going out of our way to get to know people, and then have enough faith to share the gospel with them!
Hermana Luisa De Los Santos got baptized last week in Elizabeth! The night of her baptismal interview, she had had a bad day and we had to really encourage her to go through with the interview that night because she had kept putting it off. After the interview with Elder Boyer, she had the Spirit more and she thanked us for her patience with her. She has been investigating for years and years since she moved her from the Dominican Republic and her records were lost and she became less active in the Church. I'm proud of her for finally taking the step and I'm excited for her to go to the temple! I love her and our other recent converts back there so much!
Hermana Luisa De Los Santos got baptized last week in Elizabeth! The night of her baptismal interview, she had had a bad day and we had to really encourage her to go through with the interview that night because she had kept putting it off. After the interview with Elder Boyer, she had the Spirit more and she thanked us for her patience with her. She has been investigating for years and years since she moved her from the Dominican Republic and her records were lost and she became less active in the Church. I'm proud of her for finally taking the step and I'm excited for her to go to the temple! I love her and our other recent converts back there so much!
Sis. Haddock is a sweetheart. I am so impressed with the patience she has while breaking me into the new area after she just barely did the same with her last companion, Sis. Schwendimann, last transfer! We get along really well and she is very calm and kind all of the time! Our area is like a doughnut around the elders' more densely-populated walking areas, so our job is to find the sprinkles of Spanish-speakers in the vast cities around theirs!
We fasted with the mission yesterday to find families. This morning at the laundromat, a cute, bubbly Mexican lady walked in and said "good morning" to us as we were studying. She had a big cart of laundry to do, and she told us that she has a husband and six kids, including 12-year-old triplets! She goes the Laundromat around the corner from us every Monday and Friday. We are excited to start sharing our message with her "poco a poco." :)
General Conference was incredibly inspirational! I loved Elder Holland's talk on defending our faith. Thankfully, I haven't had anyone spit food on me during a contact, but I have learned more on my mission that the gospel of Jesus Christ is all-or-nothing. It's not always easy, but it's the only way for us to be completely happy. I am excited to share The Book of Mormon, as well as Preach My Gospel with the world more! I don't know why I didn't think of discussing Preach My Gospel with my family more before!
Love,
Hermana Martin
General Conference was incredibly inspirational! I loved Elder Holland's talk on defending our faith. Thankfully, I haven't had anyone spit food on me during a contact, but I have learned more on my mission that the gospel of Jesus Christ is all-or-nothing. It's not always easy, but it's the only way for us to be completely happy. I am excited to share The Book of Mormon, as well as Preach My Gospel with the world more! I don't know why I didn't think of discussing Preach My Gospel with my family more before!
Love,
Hermana Martin
Sister Sierer and I served in the New Brunswick area as well. New Brunswick is the home of Rutgers, the public "State University of New Jersey." The campus is huge and there are a lot of students, but probably not as many Spanish-speaking ones. You are back in the East Brunswick Stake, our home stake when we served. There is a Spanish-speaking ward in the stake in addition to the Princeton Spanish branch in which you served initially. Lots of opportunities for a Spanish speaking sister missionary!
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