Short Hills Week 4, Week 46 Mission

Hello family!!!

This week was so great. I swear the time is just flying by. This has been the fastest few weeks of my entire mission. Probably because we are so busy. And I have been pretty busy with district leader stuff. I have been at it for a while now so I am trying to be the best district leader I can. Its taking a lot of time and calls, but I love it. So busy all day, everyday!

We had interviews this last week with President. They were super good. I always just walk away from the interviews feeling pumped and ready to tackle any problem. So crazy that he is leaving soon. He is such a good leader for this mission. We all look up to him and his wife so much. But, we are all preparing and so pumped for the Taggarts  (New Mission Presidents) to come though! The whole mission has been praying for them. They are going to be great!! Its only a few weeks away.

We saw Ru--- again this past week. He is doing great. He gave a talk this last week in church about his baptismal experience and his temple trip. (He was baptized in April) We helped him write it and he did such a good job. We are trying to help him see how he can bless his family with the Gospel and help them progress to baptism. he wants them to be baptized and go to the temple with them someday, but he is still a little timid about talking to his family but that's alright we are taking things into our own hands a little. We are trying to see the wife more often and the daughters as well. Things are looking good!

I went on an exchange with one of the missionaries in my district named Elder Call. He only has about 2 weeks left on his mission so it was fun to help him learn and grow his final few months but also super fun to hear about all the things he learned on his mission. I learned a ton from him. Their area is pretty tough. Not the most humble people. The houses we were knocking were pretty much mansions. A lot of people think they already have it all. Its pretty sad but we do our best to invite them to experience even more blessings in their lives. They only teach a few lessons every week and only have one investigators right now. So I have been trying to figure out the best way to help them. The area is kind of like the boss level of the mission. A lot of the best missionaries, like Elder Call, have served their final 1-2 transfers there to try to figure out how to tackle it. It was tough but we are working on a way.

We found this super prepared person named Sa--- this past week. She was just sitting on the steps of her house and we just started talking to her. We asked if we could teach her a little and she accepted. Super awesome and from Costa Rica. We were super direct and real with her and she ended up feeling the Spirit very strong and was crying and after we talked about the Book of Mormon, she told us she would read it and we could come back next week. We are pumped to see her again. So grateful for experiences like that in the mission. They are rare, and I will always remember them.

We had a Noche de Hogar yesterday with our branch at one of our member's houses. It was so much fun. They were grillin' up tons of Hispanic meat and platanos. It was delicious. Then Sister Alv--- shared a message about love. She is solid.  We met with her on Saturday and she told us all about the things she is going through. She is the only member of her family and her husband works all the time and doesn't help around the home with chores or teaching the kids. So she has 6 kids all under 17 and its been hard for her. Two of her teenage kids are in that dumb "teenage mode" where they say they don't care about the family and all the things their mom does and doesn't help out and only thinks about themselves and everything is just dumb to them. Man, I was about to throw down on them. "In two years from now your going to appreciate and realize everything your mom and dad did for you wish you never said that...So start caring about them now!!!" Ha I didn't say that but I thought it.

Loving everything out here. This is heaven out here.

A few answers to some questions: Yes we have a car, but we try to walk around a lot. Our area goes from Summit to Union to West Orange to Livingston if you want to check out a map. Yes we play soccer every Friday, but lately its been canceled. Not playing tennis. We found some paddle/pickle? ball courts like 3 minutes from our house. Never seen one before. We may try it out. Don't need any supplies for it though. We are going to ask around.

Woohoo School is out!!!!! Hope you are loving it Sam!!

Love you,

Elder Sumsion

Shoutouts!!!!

Bishop and Rose Gay- Thank you for the sweet package you sent me this past week. I loved the letter you wrote as well. I am so grateful for all the love I feel from you and all the help from you in the Park City Ward.

The Peers- Loved all the treats you send me. Thanks also for the gift cards as well. Those will be used for the good out here. Thank you! Hope you family is doing great! Jenna, one more year of high school!

#LovefromNJ

The zone leader and us three district leaders. We all graduate

d in 2013 and all under a year in the mission. We are all pretty much going home together.

Short Hills Week 3, week 45 Mission

June 2, 2014  Work, work, work fastest week ever

Ok that has to be the fastest week of my entire mission. Probably on one hand because we had to email on Wednesday but on the other hand, we were doing some work out here! So much fun to see some real help from the ward on coming out with us to lessons. We are being so blessed in this area with finding new investigators too and potentials. My companion loves to talk to everyone, I mean everyone. He just goes for it. Ha sometimes it takes us like a half hour to go down the block and get to a lesson. It is the best. We have contacted so many people and talked to so many people. We were walking by this lady from Taiwan and as we passed her she said looked at us and said, "Mormons?" She had learned about Mormon missionaries the night before at some religious study. She was told that if you see two young men dressed the same in white shirts walking around, they are probably Mormons. She was super interested and was fascinated with a modern day prophet. It was a miracle. I love "getting" contacted.

So last week I mentioned a little about Ru--- and his family. We slowly made some progress this week. Our family home evening went quite well. He and his daughter and his wife were there. The wife was pretty shy and wouldn't answer many questions. We thought we didn't make much of an impact but on Friday, we were walking by a laundry mat and we saw her and her daughter and we talked for them. It was the first real time she has actually wanted to talk to us. She said we could come by the next day. She forgot and she wasn't there but we are just so stoked because she is opening up  to us. She has never opened up to missionaries before. So we are excited. This family has some real potential and really nothing holding them back. The head of the household, Ru---, is already baptized and super strong.

Again(I think I mentioned it last week) I wanted to talk about one of the most spiritual lessons of my life this past week. We were teaching this family, The Ro----s, about the Restoration. We watched the short video with them and then we all testified of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the power of the Book of Mormon. We really helped them see that we are not trying to convince them but help them see for themselves by reading the Book of Mormon and asking God in prayer if it is true. They will know it is true by the Spirit. Oh man I just love the Book of Mormon. It makes things so simple and helps people resolve their own concerns. Because if that Book is true, and I testify that is 100% true, then that means that everything we have to offer and everything Christ has to offer is true as well. It was such a powerful lesson.

I just love this branch!!! It is like the closets branch/ward I have ever been in. Everyone is amazing and super helpful and loving! Our PEC meetings are amazing. The branch presidency and elder's quorum president and a few others in the meeting are so smart. Its like a special ops team in there. They know everything about everyone in the ward. Every less active. Everything. We only have about 80 members active/less active but the PEC meeting special ops team does some work. I love them. They all have such cool life stories. Brother Bernal is from Mexico and used to play professional soccer for a Mexican team. Brother Boggio is straight from Peru, and looks like he has lived in Peru forever, but he is from Provo! He went to Provo High. SO funny.  And our branch President, President Mercado, is from Chile. He is awesome and he is like maybe mid thirties.We visited his family last night and they are just amazing. They have three little kids all younger than like 5. We also found out that President Mercado works on wall street in NYC. They are the sweetest little family.

Finally met someone from Venezuela. Never on my whole mission have met some one from there. Then I met 2 in the same day. I still haven't met anyone from Panama and Spain. Those are the last two Spanish Speaking countries from which I haven't met someone. Also, another Jamaica who believes in Rasta. I didn't know that was a religion but it actually is. 

Love this place. Guess what? We were working in a place called West Orange (about 10 min from the hood, East Orange) last week and we were driving down main street to an appointment and we past this history museum/park. I got a glimpse of it and it was the Thomas Edison National Museum! This is the place that he had his factory and lab. It was a pretty cool feeling. I was greatly impressed that that was a tender mercy!  (We have this animated video about Thomas Edison and his experiments in his lab in  Orange, NJ that Ben and his brother used to watch a lot.)

Loving life, I love you all so much. I miss you but LOVE being out here. Glad to see that the Dad Sam and Mom are biking! Love the garden too. Hope all is well with you. I pray for you all the time! I love you so much. Thank you for being the best family and best parents I could ever ask for. I am just excited for life! This is the best! I love it so - thank you! Thank you for teaching me so well parents. I love you,

Elder Sumsion

Short Hills Week 2, week 44 Mission

Wow pretty solid week this past week. We had some fun and did some work out here. So for the first 10 months of my mission I truly believed that there was no limit to hard work. The harder I work, the happier I will be? right? Ha I think I worked myself out. I got super sick this past weekend from Saturday until yesterday. At the start of my mission I made a goal to not waste any time on my mission sleeping EVER. Just get to bed on time and wake up on time and things will work out. NO NAPS.  But all this work finally added up on me and I was knocked out cold on P-day for a about a two hour nap. I was pretty sick and had a super bad headache. I needed a rest. It worked out though and I am feeling a lot better today. We even went to buy medicine. As we were there we were trying to figure out which one to get we both realized we had never bought medicine before. It was always just provided at home. (Ha thanks mom and dad). Pretty funny. It was the sickest I have been on my mission, but things are a lot better. Lots of prayer and faith. Thank you for praying for me!

Memorial day was on our P-day so things worked out pretty well. We had a huge ward party with our Branch and the Short Hills ward at this big park. We played frisbee, soccer, softball, and volleyball. There was tons and tons of food. I didn't eat much cause I was feeling pretty sick. The whole time there was pretty much a constant water-fight. All the little kids had squirt guns and water balloons. They got all the missionaries pretty good. I was super wet but it felt good because it was like 90 degrees. It was just a super fun party. Everyone was so nice and social. We had a pretty good turnout from the Spanish Branch. I think a lot of them had to work still, even on a holiday. Kind of sad, but that's life in Jersey. 

So this week I got to do a baptismal interview for on the the investigators the sisters were teaching named Ja---. He was so prepared to be baptized!!! The sisters found him about a month ago and he got baptized this last Sunday. Man, he is so prepared and loves going to church. He is super funny too. Rretty quiet but he always is laughing or joking around. Especially with us missionaries. He got baptized this last Sunday and it was so special. Practically the whole branch was there. All 35 of us. So special though.

We have been working hard with this one family in our area. The father Ru--- just got baptized and the rest of his family are non members but they have so much potential. They are a little shy around us but we are working with them. We are trying to help Ru--- share the gospel with his family, rather than having it come purely from us. So we decided to do a Family home evening with them tonight. So we are excited to teach the rest of his family. They are prepared, we just need the Spirit there and things will click. Such a blessing.

We are teaching this one family named the Ro---s.  They are from Ecuador (shoutout to Brett) and just the coolest family. They have been investigating the church for a while and one son really wants the get baptized but the parents are a little hesitant. They said last week that they have been doubting whether this church was true or not. It was crazy how fast the Spirit told me to talk about the Book of Mormon with them. That is where the testimony can begin. So last night we had a super powerful Restoration lesson with them and focused it all on the Book of Mormon at the end. We read with them in the Introduction and invited them to read and pray about it. They all committed to. We are so excited to see how it goes. Christ is the center of our work. It is the center of all we do. The Book of Mormon testifies of Christ and those that read it and pray sincerely about if it is true WILL always receive an answer from God manifesting the truthfulness unto them. I have such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. I love that book with all my heart. Anyone who hasn't read it and prayed about if it is true or not must do it! It is the start of a testimony in Jesus Christ. 

Thank you for the two packages you sent the last few weeks!! Miracle. Love the goldfish!! and the iPod is PERECT!! Thank you for taking the time to do that. Hope it wasn't too stressful. I have realized how much I love music. SO this is a big blessing. Thank you

We also just got news that Eli Manning (NFL) moved in down the street from us. 

Love you all.  Things are good,

Elder Sumsion

Elder Lundquist and I at our beautiful apartment.  HE IS A GIANT.

 

Short Hills Week 1, Week 43 Mission

Hola Familia!!!!!

Let me first start out by saying that I am in heaven!!!! I love this place so much. I got transferred to Short Hills, New Jersey. I don't even know why I am so blessed to be here. Wow, where do I start! This place is so amazing. The first big change I am noticing is that there are people here!!!! I haven't seen this many people in a few months. There are houses and people everywhere. There is still a lot of trees and parks, but nothing like Clinton. Clinton was farm-town tiny. I'm not used to being around so many people all the time. Its so fun. So yes Short Hills is pretty much the good near the hood. We are in a super nice part of Jersey. There are some nice houses and its a super clean city. And about 20 minutes away is Maplewood and Irvington and Newark, which is just straight hood. So we get a nice part of Jersey but still lots of people. I love it. We are in the Spanish Branch which is even smaller than my old Branch. There is probably like 30 active members. I love these branches. They are small but big enough to be super functional. This branch is sooooo focused on missionary work too. They come out with us to lessons and love having us over. We are trying to work more with them to teach some of there friends.

Tons of Hispanics as well!!! We have this little area which we call Zona Hispana, which has a bunch of good investigators and potential. Okay get this though. This is crazy... I am in another 4-man apartment!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You should have seen my face when I heard I was going to a four man apartment!!!! SO pumped. Its crazy the chances of that. There are over 120 companionships which means about 120 apartments minus the four-man apartments. And there are only 4 or 5 four man apartments left in the mission. So of those 4-5 I have been in 2 of them!!! Ha its the best. Just watch the "Best 2 Years" to get an idea. The cool part is that we are all super focused and super hard working and very obedient. So the work is super good here. But we do have fun talking and laughing at night after planning and during lunch. It is sooo fun. Being a missionary is the best decision ever. Everyday is a blast.

My companion's name is Elder Lundquist. He is the man!! He just finished being trained so this is his 3rd transfer in the field. Ha So this is my third young companion. I love it. Its fun to see the growth and how they rely on the Spirit to offset weaknesses. I think that's a problem with a lot of older missionaries. They start to get good. Good teachers. Good at Spanish. Good at leading. Good at talking to people. I think a lot of missionaries start to rely on their own skills instead of the Spirit. So I love being with the new missionaries to see how they try so hard and the Spirit really does cover the rest. I can learn a lot from them. So Elder Lundquist is from Payson, Utah and is the same age as me. Both graduated in 2013. He is so fun to be around. He is happy and positive, and he has no fear in missionary work. He just loves to do it despite the challenges or the lack of skills. We have so much fun together. We are laughing all the time throughout the day. We have the same kind of humor. We are getting along super well. And he is obedient!!! which makes all the difference.

So our are is doing good. We have 4 people on date right now. I have met most of the investigators and this area has a lot of potential. There are a few part-member families, and a bunch of families that we could teach. We are working hard to get people to church and make sure they stick to baptism. There is this one recent convert named Ruben and he is so awesome. He is super active and learns from the scriptures so well. His family is now starting to listen and learn as well. I am so excited to teach them and help them progress towards baptism and the temple. This other investigator, Oliver, is 17 and we are really working with him to get baptized. He has a girlfriend in Austria and she doesn't want him to get baptized. So we are teaching him tonight and helping him see how God's way is the right way. We also taught this member, Hermana Alverado, and she is starting to come to church again. She talked to her boss to change her hours and not work during church. Ha I swear, work is the biggest obstacle for Hispanics to be baptized. They work like crazy. 

I am loving this area. Thank you for the package. Loved it. And the beef Jerky. Its nice to be back in an area where we see success ha and people!!!! 

Still District leader as well. Loving the chance to serve. Its becoming so fun to be district leader.

Love you,

Elder Sumsion

Our friend who ran into him while visiting her daughter in the Short Hills ward.  She texted me this picture.

Bedroom of Short Hills - 4 man apartment!