Monday, September 23, 2013

Week 3 Perth Amboy NJ, Week 9 of Mission


Familia!

Its is soooo good to hear from you every week! Every Sunday night I get so excited because I get to email you in the morning. I absolutely love all the pictures. It is so nice to see every one of you and home. I love it. Crazy week I am sure for you guys. I have been praying tons for you all as Chloe heads out this week! TWO DAYS!! Cant believe that it is already here. (Chloe going to Iowa Des Moines Mission) Chloe, you are going to love it. I cant believe its already fall! Have the leaves started turning colors? Dad, make sure you ride Armstrong trail for me (Once your shoulder and hand heal) and look at those amazing yellow aspens at the top by the Mid Mountain trail. Those are my favorite in PC. Kinda secret to find. You have to bike to be able to see them.

So I am going to answer some questions from mom (or from the whole family, but I was thinking they were mom's though because they were some "worry questions" ha love you mom (He knows me well) ) So here you go: Yes I got your package! Thank you so much. I'm not sure how we got it though. The other Elders picked it up. Shared all the cookies.  Ha so I am in zone 8 and for studying:

We study for 4 hours a day because I am being trained.
-One hour of personal study: Usually read 30 min Book of Mormon, 30 in Preach My Gospel
-Two Hours of Companion Study: We share what we read in personal study, prepare for lessons for that day and then go into the 12 week program, which is basically hours and hours or role playing and watching training movies. Way fun.
-Then one hour of language study: Reading spanish Book of Mormon, or doing grammer exercises.

So yes we are in a walking area, but it is pretty small. We walk between 3 and10 miles a day. It was tiring at first but I am getting used to it. I love my shoes though. We bought the perfect ones. (Ecco) All those hours shopping paid off! We are so exhausted at night that I sleep amazingly well. Usually I can get a whole 8 hours of solid sleep. Its one of the best feelings to work hard and then get to sleep. We see the other two Elders all the time. We eat all our meals with them usually back at home. They are awesome, a little crazy, but they bring some laughter and fun.

This week was a little rough. About half of our planned lessons fell through so we only taught around 15 lessons this week. It was tough on me for a few days because we only taught 3 lessons in 3 days! And one day we taught none! I cant imagine those Europe missions. Dad, way to stick it out until the end. It takes a lot of faith and trust to work this hard and not see the fruit of your labors. Thanks for being such a great example and serving an awesome mission Dad. I know you blessed many lives, many you don't even know.

We got super blessed yesterday on Sunday though. So we had been trying all week and last to get into this inactive members home and talk with him. His name is C_____. He is inactive and the rest of his family are not members. Finally, with the help of a branch member who was this man's friend, we set an appointment for last Saturday at 10 AM. We told him we would play basketball with him if he decided to listen to our message. He agreed! So we played a round of two on two basketball and then taught him a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He did not seem super receptive. But we invited him to pray and we dowloaded an LDS app on his phone for him so he could read the scriptures easier. We almost set an alarm too. So we left thinking that we didnt do much. But last night his member-friend called us and told us the best news I have heard so far out here. Such a cool story, he said that C_____ told him that he had locked himself in his room and prayed for 15 minutes one of the deepest prayers he had ever given. The whole time his nonmember wife was knocking on the door of his room asking to open the door. He told her to leave him alone for a while. After he finished his prayer he went out and talked with his wife. He told her that he had been praying. She said: Why havent you been praying with me! I want to pray too! He said: but the missionaries told me to pray alone! Ha so funny. So we are going to tell them this week it is ok to pray as a family at our next visit. Way awesome/ funny.

All is well here, I am really learning to love it out here,
I love you all,
Your son
Elder Sumsion

 

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