Hola Familia,
Wow what is up. I cant believe
Utah isn't living up to its snow potential this year. But I've been
praying a lot so get ready for a massive powder year this next year. Haha
nah but hey the snow is following me. We got some more snow out here this
past week. We have mounds of it in the roads and a few fresh inches on the
sidewalks right now. The whole town is covered with salt and snow.
Ill send a picture of my shoes all salted up. Its pretty cold out here
seriously but its really not that bad. On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday it
dropped pretty low. It said 6 degrees but snap there was some heavy wind out
there too. Ha on Sunday night we had to walk from Harrison to the Ironbound
over the Passaic River on the Bridge. It was unreal ha so windy and cold it was
funny. We were allowed to stay in at times if we felt prompted but we had a lot
of lessons we were running around to. So we were inside for most of it and it
really wasn't too bad. We bundle up quite a bit.
 |
| Snow Boom Landed in Jersey |
It has been a quick week. One
of the quickest of my mission. We were just constantly teaching and walking and
making calls. I dont know but it flew by. We got to see our investigator, M, this past week again. We taught about the Book of Mormon and reviewed the
Introduction with him then we both power our testimonies and invited him to
pray. He said he would and he was pretty willing to go to church. Nobody really
has cars here but we have a few members that do so we set up a ride for him and
he came to church this last week. One obstacle we are trying to jump right now
is that the owners of the house he lives in doesn't like having visitors come
over so he is looking for a different place to live. Hopefully it is close and
we can keep teaching this guy. He really is a miracle. If not, there are a lot
of other boss missionaries everywhere in Jersey so he will be in good hands.
but for now we are praying that he stays in ours! Ha I just really like
teaching him.
Getting chunked again this last
week. Holy smokes these people like to cook for us but its so inconsistent
when. Ha one day we get fed 3 times and then the next we go hungry all day. its
pretty funny. Never know what we will get. Funny food story of the week. We were
coming back to home on p-day and we decided to go get something to eat. We
decided to go try this little Mexican Taqueria aka heaven. The place was good
and authentic but I decided to take a shot in the dark and go for tacos de
cuero. Turns out I should've studied that word earlier because cueros means
pigskin. Paid like 8 bucks to get some pig skin tacos. Ha jokes... But with
enough Mexican hot sauce and a few onions... couldn't taste a thing.
We are working hard to go see
all of the less active members in our area. We spent some time mapping them all
out and we have been going through them all. Only 25% of our ward here is
active. Im pretty sure only 25% of Jersey is active. Its a lot of less active
work. Sometimes they are a little stubborn or lazy, but man do I love them all.
It just grows on you real quick. I love teaching them and just doing all we can
to help them build enough faith to make it to the Sacrament again. And its so
cool to see them go. Teaching less actives really builds my faith in the Gospel
too. Sometimes its some pretty sad lives we are working with. Marriages
broken, drugs, kids out of wedlock. But Ive realized that seriously many of
these tragedies we are working with in life can be avoided if you just live the
Gospel. I mean yeah, I realized that before my mission but things are different
once your face to face with someone whose actual life is like that hard
everyday. I really don't know how to help these people, but I do know that
Christ does. So all we try to do is just help them build that faith until they
trust Christ a little more. I know the Gospel and the principles behind it our
true. And what great parents I have who have taught me that. Thank you!!!
You've saved my life. And I will forever be grateful.
I love you all so much. Have a
great week. Nice to see some CHILLTOWN rocking in the other Chilltown of the
world. Haha Thank you so much for the package as well. Thanks for being
so creative too. Seriously its fun trying all this new stuff and candy. i love
it. And the cute card with WE LOVE YOU. Ha I love you all so much
Elder Sumsion
SHoutouts
The Z family- Thanks for the
fun puzzle letter card you sent. I know that was a while ago but it still sits
on my desk and stares me in the face and every week I forget to give you thanks
for it! SO thank you so much
Innis family- Thank you for the cookies and the card. My
companion and I are enjoying them so much. Thank you!!!
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Feb 23, 2015
Family!
Things here have been a crunch week. Its like a
big endure to the end competition. Who can survive the longest out in the snow
walking around until you have to resort to any sort of cover? member,
investigator, random door, pizza shop, church cathedral. Ha seriously its
like 20 minutes and then your cut to the bone. Its been nuts. We got snow for
days and the cold with it. We definitely got into the negatives with some heavy
wind chill. One member said Friday had the coldest morning in Jersey in the
last 70 years. But all is well. The work keeps moving no matter how cold it
ever gets. We wont back down. Not now, not ever.
So pretty exciting news this last week! Elder Bellevance and
I got to go to the temple with J---, our recent convert in Jersey City. We
have been planning and re-planning it for a while now because the temple was
closed, but we finally pulled it all together and cleared up some time to go
this last Saturday. It was pretty funny because we didn't have too much time to
plan it all, but we were meeting J--- and Hermano T--- (old ward mission
leader) at the temple at 9:30. So it was just Elder Bellavance and I with our
one genius plan: get on the path train in Harrison and arrive in NY. After that
we were just planning on finding our way to the temple ourselves. We did
it once with our zone but last time we had those two Senior missionaries
guiding us. This time we were alone. Ha we get to the station in Harrison,
turns out that there are three women from our ward here in Newark going to the
temple too. (THANK YOU FROM BEN'S FAMILY )So we just tagged on with them and they guided us all the way
there. Big miracle and we were able to get there on time. Man it was good to
see Elder Bellavance again. He is such a good friend. We just got right back
talking and joking around just like we had a transfer ago. Ha he is a boss
missionary. In the temple we got to do like 20 confirmations and then 20
baptisms. So it was pretty rad. J--- loved it. We explained things to him
carefully but he just loved being there I think. He was very grateful. Then we
were banking on them taking us back to Jersey and they did but it was a very
long route consisting of walking tons of blocks of New York. But eventually we
did make it back home. It was snowing the whole day too. But seriously it was a
cool feeling to be in the temple with J---. Someone we had helped baptize and
now he is there doing baptisms for other people. I dont know, but I felt the
Spirit super strong. It takes A LOT of work to get people to the point of doing
baptisms. But it is God's work. He will provide.
 |
| NYC temple w new convert J |
Things are good. I know things are tough at times. I love
that quote though mom, "Rather than allow them to destroy the peace and
happiness that had come into my life. I chose to set them aside for a
season, TRUSTING THAT IN THE LORD’S TIME, HE WOULD REVEAL ALL THINGS.” I know
there is a reason we have to struggle at times, but somehow there are always
moments when we know for sure that it was worth it. Not just in the life to
come but in this life as well. Seriously, the gospel isn't just for happiness
in the next life, but happiness in this life. There are always moments that
confirm our faith. So we all got to just keep rollin'.
I love you!
Your son,
Elder Sumsion
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