Jersey City - Week 16

Que paso familia?

Wow what a week we have had. Such a good time here in Jersey City. Things are getting cold though. Lots of talk about snow but nothing has come down yet. Lots of rain though. We have been staying warm. But seriously it was an awesome week. The zone is doing work as well. We gave our 2 1/2 hour zone training meeting this past Tuesday to the Zone and this month training focus is on finding and the spiritual focus is consecration. So we taught a lot about consecration and how it doesn't mean that we need to be perfect missionaries but it means that we need to be progressing missionaries.  We asked one of our members of the zone to give a training on finding and contacting people. We then split into groups and did a bunch of contacting scenarios. Street, Door knocking, less active finding, and phone call contacts. It was super fun. This month's zone goals are about consecration through prayer and we made this contacting calendar that everyday has something different to do. Like one is contact someone with a yankees hat, another is start every contact with a compliment, one was go into a store but something nice and then contact the cashier. Ha so we made a bunch of fun ones for the zone to do. They loved it and it was cool to see the zone's contacting numbers improve.

So we got some crazy new rules changes in the mission last week. One of them is an added extra 1 1/2 to P-days. The extra time isn't on Monday but on Friday. P day is still Monday but we have a little time on Friday as well to shop for food, write letters, do laundry, and clean. They added it because p-day was super stressful before for a lot of areas. It sounds dumb but it really has helped out everyone's' stress. P-day before was a lot of driving and picking up other companionships then rushing to emails then rushing to shop then getting home at 3 and some had to do laundry. But they gave us a little more time to prepare for the week ahead. P-day became a relaxing day instead of one of the most stressful days of the week. So we had a big zone activity last week with the Union City Zone. So there were like 35 missionaries there and the assistants came down. We got to play soccer and basketball and socialize. Super fun. The zone loved it. And then we had time to do everything else. It has been a big bonus with relieving everyone's stress.

We taught the H----- family last week. We focused the lesson all on the sacrament and the important of coming to church. They committed to come and we spent awhile finding a ride for them and Saturday night we had it all set up for them to come, but Sunday morning they called and said they couldn't come to church. Awe come on! Ha No its all good. This week we are seeing them again. Awesome family.

We taught one of our less active members named O----- about the temple this past week. He has a big testimony but just not enough faith right now to change his work schedule so that he can come to church on Sundays and take the sacrament.  So we focused the lesson on temples and really showed him how people need his help when doing ordinances for the dead. Trying to give him some responsibility and commit himself a little more.

So this new family moved into the ward a few weeks ago. They straight up live in such a nice apartment down in downtown Jersey City. Its a super rich and nice area. We have like 0 members or investigators down there. Well they are on fire with missionary work and we had a short lesson with them about how to help one of his friends who was going through a rough time. Such a fun family. He is from Bolivia and she is from Ecuador.

Things are going great hear. My companion is a boss. Hard worker and always laughing. We get along good. No worries there. The cold is definitely here though. I will send another email real quick with anything I need. Thank you again for the weekly letters and emails. Helps out more than you think. Glad Sam and Dad were safe and had fun on the trip. And DC was a blast for mom and Lex. And Chloe tearing it up in Iowa as a trainer! Such an awesome family.

Love you,

Elder Sumsion

Jersey City - Week 14, 15

Sorry I didn't post these - I was out of town.

11/10/14  True Missionary Work

Wow what a week. We have done so much. Its crazy I feel like there isn't enough time in the day. Elder Bellavance and I are doing work and finding new people to teach. It is so much fun being a missionary. Some days feel slow and nobody listens but other days its just pure smiling and laughing. Crazy different every day. Maybe that's why I like it so much. Everyday we plan for the next day but then its super rare that a day goes exactly according to plans. You never know what you are going to get but one thing is for sure that we go out everyday and try to make peoples' lives a little bit better. We get to help somebody everyday, whether its missionaries or members or investigators. I have found that the real best way to improve anything truly is through Christ and the Atonement. So that's what we teach and preach.  Its cool to wake up everyday and have such a great cause. 

We contacted a lot this week. Just trying to find new people to add to our investigator pool. It is not the most efficient way to find people in general, but its what we have right now. The assistants and president push contacting a lot and just talking to everybody everyday about the Gospel. I have learned a lot about success this past week too. You know, true success is not in the outcome of what we do. We cant really base success as missionaries on baptisms or if people let us teach them, but really base success on what we can do. Its really important as a missionary to l focus on things we can control. Did I contact that person? Did I testify? Did I call people to teach this week? Am I living worthy of the Spirit? etc... Those are things that people we all as missionaries can do. There is a quote by Elder Holland that says:

 “Seek to be personally converted, obey the rules of the mission, strive to have the Spirit of the Lord in your life, and work hard. These are things every missionary can do.

“If you do those things, I promise you in the name of the Lord and with the authority of my office, you are a success in His eyes regardless of how many other convert baptisms you are able to have in your particular corner of the vineyard.”

I have really found that to be true. As a missionary I have found that focusing on what we can control brings us a lot more peace into our lives. We can't control other peoples' agency. We can only invite. Unless you are a parent, then I think you can make your kids to do things until they realize its good for them. Ha nah im messing. but seriously. Thank you parents.

We found this one family of a mother and three kids named the Her---. They are so cool. The old missionaries taught them for a while but we just picked them back up. We taught them the Restoration and they said they already know the Book of Mormon to be true and Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. Ha I haven't heard those words from an investigator for a while. We are pumped to be working with them.

Tons of work this week to prepare for our zone training meetings. Our zone is awesome. We never have to worry about them.

I love you all,

Elder Sumsion

11/17/14 - The cold has finally come

Que paso familia?

Wow what a week we have had. Such a good time here in Jersey City. Things are getting cold though. Lots of talk about snow but nothing has come down yet. Lots of rain though. We have been staying warm. But seriously it was an awesome week. The zone is doing work as well. We gave our 2 1/2 hour zone training meeting this past Tuesday to the Zone and this month training focus is on finding and the spiritual focus is consecration. So we taught a lot about consecration and how it doesn't mean that we need to be perfect missionaries but it means that we need to be progressing missionaries.  We asked one of our members of the zone to give a training on finding and contacting people. We then split into groups and did a bunch of contacting scenarios. Street, Door knocking, less active finding, and phone call contacts. It was super fun. This month's zone goals are about consecration through prayer and we made this contacting calendar that everyday has something different to do. Like one is contact someone with a yankees hat, another is start every contact with a compliment, one was go into a store but something nice and then contact the cashier. Ha so we made a bunch of fun ones for the zone to do. They loved it and it was cool to see the zone's contacting numbers improve.

So we got some crazy new rules changes in the mission last week. One of them is an added extra 1 1/2 to P-days. The extra time isn't on Monday but on Friday. P day is still Monday but we have a little time on Friday as well to shop for food, write letters, do laundry, and clean. They added it because p-day was super stressful before for a lot of areas. It sounds dumb but it really has helped out everyone's' stress. P-day before was a lot of driving and picking up other companionships then rushing to emails then rushing to shop then getting home at 3 and some had to do laundry. But they gave us a little more time to prepare for the week ahead. P-day became a relaxing day instead of one of the most stressful days of the week. So we had a big zone activity last week with the Union City Zone. So there were like 35 missionaries there and the assistants came down. We got to play soccer and basketball and socialize. Super fun. The zone loved it. And then we had time to do everything else. It has been a big bonus with relieving everyone's stress.

We taught the Her--- family last week. We focused the lesson all on the sacrament and the important of coming to church. They committed to come and we spent awhile finding a ride for them and Saturday night we had it all set up for them to come, but Sunday morning they called and said they couldn't come to church. Awe come on! Ha No its all good. This week we are seeing them again. Awesome family.

We taught one of our less active members named Os--- about the temple this past week. He has a big testimony but just not enough faith right now to change his work schedule so that he can come to church on Sundays and take the sacrament.  So we focused the lesson on temples and really showed him how people need his help when doing ordinances for the dead. Trying to give him some responsibility and commit himself a little more.

So this new family moved into the ward a few weeks ago. They straight up live in such a nice apartment down in downtown Jersey City. Its a super rich and nice area. We have like 0 members or investigators down there. Well they are on fire with missionary work and we had a short lesson with them about how to help one of his friends who was going through a rough time. Such a fun family. He is from Bolivia and she is from Ecuador.

Things are going great hear. My companion is a boss. Hard worker and always laughing. We get along good. No worries there. The cold is definitely here though. Thank you again for the weekly letters and emails. Helps out more than you think.

Love you,

Elder Sumsion

Jersey City - Week 13 - New Companion

Que tal Familia,

IWhat a life. Transfers were crazy this past week. So many changes in the mission and especially in the zone. My new companion is Elder Bellavance. He is from a little town outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a super good missionary. Very diligent. He hates meetings and loves to just get out on the streets and work. He is a jokester as well. We have been laughing and having fun as well. He came out last November so he is about 4 or so months younger than me. It is an answer to all the prayers that I am with him. We are going to have a good few transfers together.

Its been a big change up for me. I felt a lot of pressure having to help out a new zone leader, running the area, and helping the zone. It was a little overwhelming right off the bat but it has been settling in just fine. I felt a lot more weight right in the beginning because I had to be the one making some big decisions. It was just a little exhausting mentally and a very tiring week, but this week the dust should begin to settle.

So on Tuesday, transfer conference day, Elder Drewes spent all morning packing and I spent all morning prepping the area and cleaning the apartment. We are getting a whole new area combined with ours so the size of our area is getting doubled. We cover everything from the 139 (Holland tunnel)  down to Danforth Ave in Jersey City, If you want to check it out.  So pretty small area still so we are excited. We were planning last night and we have so many members in our area. We think we have the most active members in our area than any other companionship in the mission. We have about 26. Most companionships cover like 5-8. So we are super blessed with some awesome members. We are going to work a lot with them because we don't have a ton of Hispanics walking on the streets so contacting is a little tough. We are going to work though the members to teach anyone they know or their friends or just area where we can go work. But after we packed on Tuesday we went out to subway and then straight to transfer conference in Morristown with all the missionaries either getting transferred to getting a new companion. Then the rest of the night we were running stuff around Jersey City and Bayonne to the companionships. We barely got everyone's stuff home to there apartments.

Thursday was a nice long working day. We got out working at 12:00 after studies and lunch. Every Thursday in this mission is a walking day. So we don't use our cars unless its needed. This past Thursday we were walking from 12:00 to 5:00 and we didn't get into any of the houses we tried. Everyone that we had planned either wasn't there or was busy. So it was a lot of walking and not too much teaching. I think God was maybe just trying to teach us. Ha there is always teaching going on somewhere. But finally we got into a lesson with a young 15 year old member who is one of the only members in his family and always makes it to church every week. He is a stud. He loves playing soccer and always loves going to church and having us over. We had to be in our apartments by 6:00 on the 30th and Halloween because it gets pretty dangerous after those hours. I guess its initiation time for all the gangs and yeah just not a super good place to be for missionaries. So we were inside after 6:00 safe and a sound. We did our weekly planning and talked the rest of the night. My companion is a funny guy and came from a crazy place.

The first person we tried this week, Elder Bellavance and I, was Sa---. It was sweet because the front two doors of the building were open (never happens anywhere in JC)  so we got in and then knocked on his door and he let us in. His cousins and aunt were there and his mom so we just started teaching them all. It was a good restoration lesson and they a had a lot of good questions. At one point the two cousins were having some trouble accepting the Book of Mormon and were making all these excuses but then the aunt just ran in from the kitchen, who isn't even a member,  and started supporting the Book of Mormon and us and telling the cousins (her daughters) that they weren't listening to us. Ha it was so good. It was like a member in the lesson backing us up but she wasn't a member.

Things are going good. We have a busy week ahead of us with 2 big meetings and interviews with President and Sister Taggart. So it will be lots of planning and driving and studying.  I am doing great though. I love my study times every day. It is amazing how much deeper and deeper I can get into the scriptures and pull things out I have never even noticed before. It takes a lot of visualizing things in my head and asking questions and seeking answers. Its pretty neat actually

I love you all so much. Thank you for the letters and packages and everything you are doing for me! I can feel your love all the way over here in Jersey. I love you family. Keep it up.

love,

Elder Sumsion

Shoutout

Packer Family (Elder Packer's family)- Thank you for the package with the cookies and candy. It was the perfect amount of candy to enjoy and not eat too much. Thank you for the letter as well.

Jersey City - Week 12

Drewes Christiansen Sumsion Maddox

Familia!

Wow what a week it was for both of us. First off: Woohooo! I am so pumped that Niki got baptized!!! What a special day for her. Looks like the whole crew was there to support her too. Such a blessing. Wow.  (A good friend of Ben's from high school was baptized.)

This week was super nuts here. Just lots of zone leader errands and driving to Morristown and Bayonne and Union City. But we had some fun in the Process:

Had a super good exchange with Elder Maddox this past week. He was serving in an Argentine mission. He left the same day as Connor to Argentina but he doesn't know him. But he had some back problems so he had to go home for a few months and then they sent him here. So he spits some super funny Argentine Spanish and the people here just love it. There aren't too many Argentine's here. It was a fun exchange though. He is such a happy Elder and always positive despite some of the medical challenges he is facing. They might send him home any day for his back problems but he just works like a champ until that day comes whenever it may be. Always happy and always cracking jokes. He got a cortizone shot this last week so I got to head to Morristown with him to the doctors. He is always has such a positive attitude.

Well yesterday Sunday was one of the toughest days of my mission in a while. Things got stressful really fast. I just finished drawing this big thing that said "don't get stressed out" and then at church things got stressful real fast. We are sitting in Gospel Principles and one of our ward members called for us to come out of the class. Her two daughters were supposed to get baptized that day (Turning 8!) but she told us the baptism is off. We found out that there has been some problems in her marriage and ended up that the husband (who was going to baptize the daughters) just left. Oh it was so sad. She was in tears. So the baptism almost canceled. But after about an hour she ran over and asked Elder Drewes to baptize the daughters. So we just through together this baptism ON THE SPOT. Everyone was already sitting and waiting. It was nuts. People were getting frustrated. AHHHH just trying my best people. Tranquilo. Nah turned out good though. We had a fun dinner lesson at a district president's house. So that relieved some stress. Oh it was a crazy day.

So its that time of the mission again: transfers!!!! HA oh snap... Good thing I LOVE changes. Nah this will be a breeze. Elder Drewes has been the best companion to me though. It has been a blessing to be with him. I feel like we are super close friends.It will be sad to see him go. He got released from being a zone leader last night so he is for sure going to a new area. Which means I will be getting a new companion tomorrow. We have  it almost narrowed down to a few people who it may be but then hey the Lord works in mysterious ways and who knows who I will get as my new companion. A majority of the zone is getting switched up. These two Elders, Elder Christensen and Elder Maddox have become two good friends to me and they are getting double out meaning that their area is getting closed and combined with another area (ours). Also two other elders, Elder Welburn and Elder Comish are leaving the zone two. So there is going to be some major changes. It will be excited to see who is coming in. So happy I am staying in JC though. I love this place. Couldn't have asked for a better place to be right now. 

We taught Ju--- again. This time his wife was there!!! Her name is I---. So pumped though. Everytime we go over there there is one more person in the family. Ha they even read the Book of Mormon chapter 1 as a family!!! So cool to see them already progressing. We will be setting a baptismal date for them this week.  

Things are good. A little nervous for the upcoming transfer but nah it will be chill. thanks for all the prayers family. I love you so much!

Elder Sumsion

The JC Boyzzz

sopping wet - rainy days

Waiting for baptism - stressful
Elder Drewes had to go home and get his baptismal clothes.