Here are some more excerpts from Justin's e-mail to home:
1/4/06
Since Christmas it has been unseasonably warm, even for Texas. I am loving this weather! it has been in the seventies! I am going to die in the summer but for now i'm going to enjoy it. A few days it has even been too hot to wear our suit coats.
We worked on new years here. We went in around six o'clock and had dinner. Ram had a bunch of his family over again, (those hispanic parties seem to go on forever), and so we got to mooch off of them a bit. We were really tired because earlier that day we biked all of the way down to the south of our area. It took about forty five minutes each way. We met with a less active member named GG. The bishop has told us to get back in touch with him. Brother GG told us that he used grew up with the bishop in this ward. He told us that he wants to come back to church and he wants to set up an appointment with the bishop. He also said that his wife would be interested in learning the lessons. We're pretty excited about him and his family.
On Thursday we had a really awesome zone meeting. At President Lake's request it was all about committments. I realized something really important. The whole reason that we teach is to give people committments. Our lessons should be centered around committments. It was a really neat meeting. I gave a talk on promising blessings.
On friday we met with G again, at Brother Griffin's house. I can't say enough about brother Griffin. He is the bomb. He is perfect for G. Anyway, we started off talking about Joseph smith and priesthood and the restoration but he kept going off on other subjects. Eventually he got to the subject of "types of worship," and how our church doesn't really have that type of worship. Then brother Griffin asked him why he wasn't at that church. He said that it was that there's something different with us. There's something about us. We eventually found out that he also had a lot of concerns about our church. like about a bunch of anti mormon literature that he has heard and seen, polygamy, and a bunch of other garbage. But the awesome part was that brother griffin had heard everything that he threw at him. Brother Griffin had spent a few years looking into the church and during that time he looked up anti mormon stuff and all sorts of stuff so he is PERFECT for G. That night they set up a time that they could meet that next sunday evening when they could talk about all of the Anti stuff. Both Gand Brother Griffin want us to focus on teaching the doctrine.
So that sunday he met with brother griffin again, at brother griffin's house and they talked for SIX HOURS!!!! It doesn't surprise me too much because that man can TALK! It's crazy. They also got side tracked because they found out that G knows Brother Griffin's Dad. G works at a church called Sagemont, and Brother Griffin's Dad is a minister there. It just turns out that G is really good friends with brother Griffin's dad too. The bad thing is that brother griffin's dad is really anti mormon. But he doesn't even want to learn about the mormon church so i think that that's a turn off for G. They also talked about lots of anti stuff and Gsaid that he's more ready to learn the doctrine now and focus on the lessons. He wanted to get all of his fears out of the way so that he could focus more. So hopefully we'll have fewer distractions when we meet with him tonight. Elder Vaz talked to him last night on the phone. G said that he mentioned to brother Griffin's dad that he's learning about the mormon church. He said that minister Griffin got mad and told him that he'd get him some anti literature right away. It's going to be really interesting how this all plays out.
We have been blessed with a lot of possible investigators, sometimes i wonder when we'll have time to see them all.
We also have another baptism date. Her name is J, her brother O got baptised a few months ago and her parents were sort of against his baptism. But now they are excited for her baptism. She has been to church ever since O has joined and investigated and she is excited to be baptised. Her baptism date is the 22nd of January. The north elders have a baptism date for another lady around the same time. The lord is really blessing us.
1/11/06
WOW!!!! Each day i am amazed when i look down at my watch and see how big the little number is that tells me what day it is. Time is going by SO fast. Transfers are in a week and a half again! I can't believe it! But i have grown so much and i am learning so much, and we are being so blessed.
I can't believe that Austin is finally leaving! It seemed so far away! Well, austin, i wish you the best and i love you. Be sure not to let the italian babes distract you from preparing for your mission. God's speed, brother!
Tell joe to hang in there with his grades. Is he still working in the cadaver labs? What's going on there? I love joe
Tell josh to memorize the scripture that i sent him. I think it's in Isaiah 57. You'd recognize that it's for him if you read the chapter. I wish i was there to see him play his game. I love josh
How's Ryan doing? i haven't gotten a letter from him yet. Could you send me his address, please? He's going to be there for a while. I love Ryan.
What's the news on Sean? Who am i? I dont' know. I guess i've got a lot of pondering to do. I love sean too!
Okay, time for the weekly update. We had district meeting on thursday, and i realized that i should be using my scriptures more when teaching.
I think i've told you about B.G. and his family. If not, he's an eternal investigator that they've had for at least half a year. He works like a dog and we're trying to work with all of his family. His wife is a less active member with whom we are also working. Last friday, out of the blue, he told us that he needs to come to church this week. He told us about a certain feeling that he was looking for. He said that when he was in jail a long time ago he was making all these promises to God that if he got out he'd change his life and he said that he felt this peaceful feeling that he's been searching for. Of course, after he got out he went back to his old habits, but today he really is a changed man. He used to deal drugs and drink, and now he's totally changed his life around and he doesn't even drink. Now we can hopefully help him and his family get back to church.
J's baptism date IS on your birthday, which is also transfers. We have taught her one of the lessons so far. I think we need to pick it up if we're going to get her baptised on the 22nd.
On Saturday we had a baptism for a Vietnamese lady who barely spoke any english. Her husband, who has the same language barrier, and who is a member of the church gave a forty minute baptism talk that covered everything from baptism to the law of consecration and the second coming. it was interesting. But they were verry very nice people.
Last saturday we committed JN to baptism! We set a date for her to be baptised by the end of February. There are going to be some problems that we have to work through, though. the first one is even meeting with her every now and then. She works like none other, and even on sundays so we're trying to get back with her but she's gung ho about it! I'll keep you posted.
Okay, G time, on sunday we went to the temple with G. He felt the spirit there and we were able to talk about endowments and sealings and baptisms for the dead, which he gets now. We also told him that we don't just have church in there. He liked all that but he really just wanted to go there to inspect the architecture. He heard that we have, "pentagrams" or satan stars on the temple. Supposedly they are on the salt lake temple. But he didn't see any. I think that it ended up being a good thing. It's easy to get frustrated with him but we have to take it little by little with him.
We met with him yesterday and talked about prophets and about the gospel. The spirit was there and we really clicked with him. He said that a light bulb went on and that he understood more. He reiterated that he wants us to be patient with him and that he want to learn and he doesn't want to waste our time. He also realizes that the only way that he'll know if this is true or not is if he reads it and prays but he tells us that he's really busy. He says that some day he wants to go to the library and just sit down and read. He also said that it's his personal mission to make Brother Griffin's Dad sit down with Brother Griffin and at least talk about their differences. I think a lot of good will come of him. He's taking forever and investigating everything because he's been used a lot and he wants to make sure that this is "100% the truth."
1/18/06
I'm glad you enjoyed all of the photos. All of those bikes were pretty amazing, huh? There were 12,000+ bikes in there. They had 20,000+ in there last year but didn't get enough donations for that many this year.
By the way, my landlord is named Ramiro Aguilera, or Ram for short. He really is an awesome guy. And a really good cook too. We all thanked him last night when we had dinner with him.
That's nice of you to hire Calvin! Tell Steve that i think he'd make a great priests quorum president. Tell him to keep up the good work and make sure you serve people more than i did.
Alright, time for the weekly update:
J - We met with J last saturday to teach her about the plan of Salvation. When we brought up her baptism she said that she has a whole bunch of school projects that she has to do and that she's not going to have enough time. We're going to have to reschedule with her.
JN - We have been trying to get back in contact with her again but she is never home so we can never speak with her. We'll have to call every night if we have to.
We also met this AWESOME guy named K. He is from Louisiana and he really wants to change his life. He says that he never "feels it" in other churches and that a lot of the times the preachers are hypocrites. We taught him a first lesson and it was awesome because he kept saying how he felt the chills and agreeing with us. We left him with a copy of the book of Mormon. He is going out of town until the thirtieth.
The BG's are doing well. We met with them a couple days ago and we taught B's daughter, about baptism. She is about 12 years old and she accepted to be baptised. We might baptise her on the same day that we baptise Jasmine because everyone in the ward knows J but not a lot of people know the BG's. Ben sat in for the lesson so the wheels in his head have to be turning now that his daughter is going to be baptised.
Tuesday, yesterday, was by far the most awesome day of the week. The first thing in the morning on Tuesday we went to a return appointment that we'd received while tracting. The lady's name is R. When we were traveling over there we thought we'd just be meeting with her but it turns out that she had her whole family waiting there for us. She's divorced but she had her two daughter and her son, the youngest is 17, waiting there for us. Each of them was a member of a different religion. One of the girls, A, told us that she wasn't feeling it in her religion and she wanted to check ours out. We taught an awesome lesson, gave them all of the copies of the book of mormon that we had left, committed them to read and pray about it, and scheduled a return appointment for thursday. It was AWESOME!!!! I love that Heavenly Father is guiding us to all of these prepared people. They looked excited to read and pray about it too. We're both really excited. We need to find someone to befriend them, though, like we have Brother Griffin with G.
Later that night we had a meeting with G. Last sunday he went to the spanish sunday service and liked their sunday school class more because the teacher wasn't as confusing. But he said that he still wants to meet with Elder Vaz and I. Sometimes it seems like he isn't learning anything at all because he asks questions liek, "okay, now who is this Joseph smith guy." It's trying to our patience but we are learning to deal with it. We don't have to TOTALLY explain everything again but i think that when we tell him something new it sort of shakes his prior knowledge of things so he has to fit everything back into place again. Overall he is making wonderful progress. He's gone from believing all of this anti mormon stuff to actually, probably defending the church if someone were to put it down. We're meeting back with him on sunday again.
1/23/06
Today is transfers day. Yesterday i found out where i was going. It's pretty much the only place i didn't think i would go. I still can't believe it. It's an old tradition that i'm carrying on. Many before me have followed the same pattern. Elder earl followed this pattern. i got transferred to..................SUNNYSIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe it...sunnyside. I can't be mad because this is where the Lord wants me to be. It's just going to be quite the test.
So, Elder Pearson is my new companion. We are already friends so that is a plus. He's a good guy. He trained Elder Jacobsen from my district in the MTC. oh, Elder Verstoppen took Elder Beach's place with Elder Klc. Those two will be interesting together. They are two different personalities. Elder Klc is more laid back and Elder Verstoppen is more "go get em." That will be interesting. Another good thing is that i will be close to elder vaz and i will see him at least once a week at district meeting. That way i can keep tabs on our investigators and maybe even go on exchanges once in a while to make sure that his new missionary isn't messing everything up. J/k.
Anyway, we live in the back of a guy's house named "warren." He's not a member and he has a rule that the missionaries can't try to convert him. He's a nice guy, though. It's a pretty neat little place. It's a whole different neighborhood. Elder Pearson told me that we have about 20 to 25 members that come to church every sunday, so it's the sunny side branch. And i thought Broadway was small! Anyway, I'm grateful for this learning experience and for this time to serve my Heavenly Father. I have learned and grown so much.
1/25/06
I'm certainly not in Broadway anymore! and away from all of the comforts of that place. We didn't have room for my bike the other day for transfers and so we will just be walking until i get my bike back tomorrow for district meeting. Yesterday we walked about 10 to 15 miles. That's more than we walk in...a long time in broadway. I'm actually excited about that, besides the fact that my feet already hurt, and we have about an equal or greater distance to go today. But i will get a lot of exercise and be able to slim down a little bit. Maybe my blue suit will fit properly again.
Thanks for the advice about the ghetto, dad. That's good to remember. Some of the people are pretty slow. The two people that we talked to this morning just started rambling off on their life stories. Those we just end up giving a card and telling them to call it. I will put your advice into action. I need to also learn when I'm going nowhere with someone. Elder Pearson is good at reading people so maybe i can learn something from him.
Yeah, the branch does really need some sunshine. Elder Pearson said that a lot of them really need strengthening in their testimonies and knowledge of the gospel. I also feel like we need to remind them that they are very important to the ward, and more importantly to the Lord and furthering His work. My first sunday will probably be interesting.
Hey, I've already got a little taste of eubonics (sp?). Today we were talking to a guy about prophets and I asked him "what to you think Moses would do if he were here?" Then he said, "I can't call it." I didn't know what he was talking about and i was kind of lost and the point was never really effectively made about a prophet. Elder Pearson later explained to me that "I can't call it" means, "I don't know." I've gone from learning texan to learning eubonics. I'll be trilengual when i get back.
It's true about what Jim said. Elder Earl, the last elder in this area said that it was his favorite area. They have also seen a lot of improvement. They have been fasting a lot and really working it. They just had a baptism last saturday, and she's one of the strongest members of the branch now. This should be exciting.
2/1/06
It's so good to hear from y'all. This week has been really long. It's going to take me a while to get used to the ghetto. It's a totally different world out here, much different than broadway.
Let me give you a run down of a typical day. First, in the morning, we have our studies and then we leave at ten o clock. Usually at that time there aren't too many people on the streets because these ghetto folks don't get up and moving until halfway through the day. So, we'll usually try to visit some less actives or someone in the morning since tracting is less effective (no one would answer the door). On the way there may be some people on the street, and we'll talk to them. Then we come in for lunch and i eat ramen noodles and celery with peanut butter. When we leave in the afternoon we either go tracting, follow up on street contacts, or visit investigators. Then we come in at about seven o clock, when it gets dark, because we don't have a car and we're kind of addicted to breathing.
For dinner we usually get fed by the singles ward. The sunnyside south elders, Wilson and Rees, cover some of the singles ward too so we get fed by them as well. The first night i was here they took us to papa's bar b que. That was goooooood. It's nice to get some home cookin and to talk to some normal people.
That's one thing that's going to be hard to adjust to. the people. You were so right when you said in your last letter that these people are in the ghetto for a reason. A lot of them that we talk to on the streets just aren't capable of understanding. It's sad and frustrating, but sometimes we just have to give them a pass along card and leave them, even though we could probably sit there and talk to them for hours. That's something that i'm going to have to get used to. We have to be really plain and blunt sometimes too. We'll explain prophets and apostles and how Christ's church had them and then we'll say, "So, it's pretty important to have apostles and prophets in the true church, right? Do you know of any church that has apostles and prophets? The only Church on the face of the earth that has apostles and prophets is the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints." Stuff like that. It can be discouraging sometimes.
We have met some crazy people, though. I think it was last friday that we went down to a corner where we were supposed to meet a street contact that we had given a book of mormon to. She wasn't there so we waited for a while and during the time that we waited there all sanity flew out the window and we found ourselves in the twilight zone. First of all, this old guy walks up to us and recognizes us as mormons and starts to talk to us. He tells us that he's "The Comforter," from Colorado. You know, Jesus said, "I will send you the comforter and he will bring all things to your rememberance." That was the comfortor, in the flesh. He told us that he's seen God and Jesus a couple of times, that he's received his own version of the ten commandments, and that the reason that 9/11 happened was because america was allowing abortions. We talked to him for a long time, but that was only part of the experience. While we were talking to him a lady passed us, cussing up a storm, another guy, that was probably drunk, pulled over and had a short conversation with us, during which he offered to baptize the comforter with his "holy water" in his water bottle, and two bums passed us by, one was sitting knee to chest in a shopping cart and the other was pushing him. It was CRAZY. I think that was my official initiation into sunnyside.
So, the first two days that i was here we didn't have my bike so we walked in between 30 - 35 miles that day. Needless to say, our feet hurt by the end of the day. But now i have my bike, but it got two flat tires so i'm using a different bike.
My companion, Elder Pearson, is from West Valley, Utah. He's a good missionary and a hard worker.
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