1/21/15
Hola Familia,
Wow what a long last week is
has been. Seriously yesterday morning feels like it was months ago. Im in a
whole different world right now. Newark, NJ. Got transferred. I will attempt at
explaining the last week or so. So much happened.
On thursday afternoon we got a
call from the Assistants that we were getting doubled out of our area in Jersey
City. Which means that both Elder Bellavance and I were going to have toleave
the area. The mission is getting less and less missionaries so what happened is
that they closed the zone and combined it with the Union City zone where Elder
Packer is. Super hard news to hear. Our zone was so tight. I love that zone so
much. Happiest time of my mission so far and it was so hard to leave them all
thats for sure. On Sunday night I got released as a zone leader, which was
expected because most zone leaders are zone leaders for about 4 transfers. So
yesterday, Tuesday, came around and we had transfer conference. We had 8
missionaries leaving and only 5 cars in the zone. So we had to use every inch
of every car to get everyone and their stuff to transfer conference. Elder
Bellavance got called to Paterson. I got called to the IRONBOUND. Such an
amazing area. Its on the side of Newark and just the coolest place. Not too
dangerous so no worries. But then we had district meetings this morning and I
just got to sit and listen instead of trying to organize the whole thing! ha
something I haven't got to do in a while. And that pretty much brings me to
where I am now, emailing in the Kearny library. Crazy last few days.
Let me just write my farewell talk to Jersey City here. Ha I
love that place so much. I kept telling Elder Bellavance I could've stayed
there the rest of my mission. The ward, the people, the graffiti. All of it
amazing. And oh my goodness the zone was just the best zone ever. We were small
so we were all nice and tight and close. I love them all so much. Hard to leave
them all and to see the zone get dissolved, but then again most of the zone got
transferred anyway. Actually two of the championships got their zone boundary
changed so The Bayonne missionaries are still in my zone here in Newark. It was
super nice to see them today. They are all good friends to me. Elder Bellavance
was a boss companion too. Ha he kept me laughing for dayz. Such a fun time. Sad
to leave but super pumped for my new area.
Ok you know me mom. I still
hate changes! Ha it has been crazy getting used to the new area. Haven't even
been here for 24 hours yet. Feel pretty weird inside. Lonely from the last
zone.But wow when I heard I was going to Ironbound I was so surprised! It is an
area with a lot of potential. Its called ironbound because its bound by iron.
Ha meaning that it is surrounded my a train tracks built on a wall. Tons of
Hispanics and it is like the Portuguese capital of Jersey too. I heard some
Portuguese today and I swear its like Chinese. Ha Lots of Brazilians and lots
of people from Portugal. It is sweet. My companion is pretty fresh out. He is on his 5th transfer now. Still learning Spanish and the area so
its kind of like starting fresh. We are going to get this place rollin though.
We are walking for dayz as well. No car anymore.
I am loving it so far.
Seriously got has answered all of my prayers. I asked for a solid area, a young
companion, and some cool members, and a sweet zone. Seriously I was pretty
specific in my prayers, knowing that realyl wherever I go will be good. But wow
God answered my prayers perfectly. This place is heaven.
Love Elder Sumsion
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| My buddy - Elder Vargas went home |
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| Last Jersey City Zone 4 picture |
1/26/2015
Whats up family! What a week it has been. Tough week getting
used to the area and walking again! Ha man have I been tired. I haven't been
walking since Perth Amboy and that was more than a year ago. Sleep is just
about my best friend right now, besides the Spirit, which are the two things
helping me get through this week. It has been a crazy change going from zone
leader meetings, and being with other missionaries to hitting the streets
walking and focusing just on the area. But no doubt it will settle in soon. I
got the flu on Saturday night as well. Woke up at like 3:30 in the morning
thinking it was just food poisoning from some weird mexican dish a member fed
us that previous day, but I threw up like 4 times and was pretty out of it all
day. Had to miss church and pretty much just in and out of sleep for 8 hours
with a gnarly stomach ache. It was rough but then at the same time it was nice
to get some rest. It was a pretty hard day yesterday.
We have been trying to learn the area really quickly
because my companion has only been in the area for 1 transfer before I came in
and he is pretty young and didn't know the streets nor most of the members. So
its kind of been like starting a fresh area. We are a good team though and
trying to nail everything down quickly so we can start seeing some people
progressing in the gospel. There wasn't a whole lot of investigators when I
came in and we still haven't seen any of them so we are planning to do a whole
lot of contacting this week and just trying to build our teaching pool. It is
fun but it is some hard work. Its weird not having a zone leader companion
either that speaks good Spanish and is pretty solid in missionary work. My
companion is still pretty fresh and learning Spanish so I have to do a lot of
initiating things and helping him out and leading lessons. It is a good work
load for me so I thank you for the prayers. They are much needed.
Ok, I feel like have left New Jersey and landed myself in
some foreign world or something. I feel so far away from reality, its weird. It
feels way different than any other area I have had or any other place I have
lived in. No white people, no black people, just Hispanics and Portuguese. Who
said Portuguese sounds like Spanish? That stuff sound straight up like
Chinese.. Ha I love it.
Learned how to do my wash at a laundromat today! Walked
through the snow to get there and had to wait to get it all washed. Who knew a
washer and dryer at home was such a big blessing!
Things are going good. Still recovering from the flu. This
week is going to be a good one, full of work.
Love the pictures of Cali! The sun looks so nice right now.
This storm is starting to roll in. Snowy and windy.
Love you all so much
Elder Sumsion
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| View of Lower NW with Hoboken Projects |
2/2/15
Hola Familia,
I just want to start off with a big thank you for all your
prayers. They were very much needed this past week. It was a long week and we
were working super hard. I am feeling a lot better and things are adjusting
well to the new area. Almost got this place down. Ha just kidding but it is
improving. Still have a lot of it to discover. But hey so far so hood.
Ok so it snowed a ton this last week and it got pretty cold.
But I think we get used to it pretty fast. When your out in the cold all day
and everyday your body just sort of adjusts except for like the first ten
minutes of every day. Then its super cold. Ha we made a companionship goal to
contact at least 100 people this week. We dont have a lot of investigators so
we are going out and looking for them. We completed our goal last night but it
was cool because the 99th person we contacted was from Spain. I was like no
way! Thats the first time in 18 months I have ever talked to a Spaniard. I was
pretty pumped. He was Catholic and pretty set on his ways. We tried testifying
to him and answering some questions about his brother who passed away but he
wouldn't listen at all. But we are going to try and pick up some new
investigators this week from all the contacts.
So big news here. The mission is changing A LOT. Its been
changing almost every month. Things just getting different but we had some guy
from the missionary department from SLC come this past week to see our mission
and give some advice and help. I wasn't at the meeting but I heard it was
pretty crazy. Just talked a lot about how to change our mission to align a few
things up with Preach my Gospel. So today President Taggart announced a bunch
of new rules and changes that will put our mission in more harmony with Preach
my Gospel. Basically a lot about exchanges, districts meetings, zone meetings,
zone activities, and a lot about accountability. Before we were accountable a
lot to our leaders but they want to change it so we are ONLY accountable to the
Lord. So its kind of a big change. A lot of paperwork is gone. One thing that
is tough for me right now is that they are kind of taking out a lot of zone
unity in the mission. Which before was a big focus in the mission culture. So a
lot less social things with other missionaries. Our mission is super small with
a lot of missionaries in a small area so before we would meet as a zone every
week and break into districts, but now we might be with our districts only. And
usually had zone activities every week on p-day, like sports of something that
they want to make less frequent. I dont know. Its a lot of changes, and the
mission is in a shock freaking out stage but this should all make sense in a
few weeks hopefully. Pretty much the culture of the mission that has been here
for the last 18 months is changing. So its a little tough for some of the older
missionaries. But hey its inspired revelation so I know it will help us all
out.
So ironbound is just the place to be. I love it so far. We
have tons of potential and it is a blessed area with lots of members to work
with. Its crazy because we have 5 missionary companionships in one ward. That
is 11 missionaries because one is a trio companionship. So they had to split
the areas a lot. So now there is a lot of potential in every area but some
areas suffer from members. Some companionships only have 2 to 3 members to
visit. The Ironbound has a ton though and Harrison as well, which we cover. So
its a big boost. Meeting with members and helping them do missionary work also
pumps up us missionaries because of how much excitement they have in us.
We have an awesome recent convert family that we are working
with to stay active and stay together. They just recently got married and
baptized. Manuel and Soledad. They are from Ecuador. They are so fun and Manuel
is a jokester as well. He helps us laugh when we are over there. They are doing
great though. Always love having us over and we are making sure they are doing
well.
Sounds like we got a lot of the snow that Utah needs right
now. This week sounds like we are getting more too. Today was some nasty
freezing rain. Everything is frozen outside and wet. Thats one weather im not
too equiped for so I may go buy a new jacket this week or some boots because as
good as there echo shoes are, Water still gets in. Ha
Love you all so much. Keep up the smiles and laughs. This is
the good life - The Gospel and families.
I love you,
Elder Sumsion
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