Week 12

Wowowow! This week was super! First transfer in the field was a success! I had my first dream in Spanish, our apartment is sparkling clean, and we contacted 252 people in 5 days! We are told that's a record in NJMM! So that's pretty neat! Even neater is that 3 of those contacts came to church!!!!!!!! People here love their day of rest so when they sacrifice those 3 hours to worship and feel the Spirit and keep the commandment we are super pumped for them! When we contacted Carlos and his 2 sons (the ones who came to church) they were in a rush but they told us they knew we were angels sent from God to make their lives better! It was definitely nice to hear after a long day in heavy rain! Carlos is super golden! He has already started reading the Book of Mormon and he asks relevant questions about our lessons. It's so exciting to see people who love God and are doing their best to follow Him, but just need something more because we can offer them that! We can wait to see the progress He makes!

Other cool things that happened this week include receiving a Happy Thanksgiving cake from 2 lovely Puerto Rican ladies we talked to walking to an appointment, the statewide Spanish Christmas program in Newark with every Spanish speaking missionary in New Jersey, and a muchacho who rapped his understanding of the purpose of life to us on a street corner. We gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet to describe more in depth what he understands and that there's even more than he thought! Also, he's really into meditating so that's great! In Spanish the word "to ponder" is "meditar" and I love that because the invitation of the Book of Mormon is to Read it, Ponder it, and then in prayer Ask to know whether it is true or not. Reading and Asking are pretty self-explanatory, but pondering can be done in different ways like staring at a white wall in a yoga position, deep thoughts in the shower, sitting wrapped up in a blanket, anywhere really, but it does require devoted time and attention to the subject. It takes effort and is a sacrifice, as any good thing is, but it's so worth it. And you feel enlightened after. Aren't we all trying to reach some kind of Enlightenment? I guess my invitation to you is to ponder this week. Maybe a decision that you've been needing to make or a concept that you just can't wrap your mind around. I promise it will be a meaningful experience :)

I hope finals and everything else in life goes well for all of you this week!

Go Cougars!

Con amor,

Hermana Stone

 new transfer = new planner! We are going to the Manhattan temple this month so I had to put a picture of the temple on my planner!

We love Sister Taggart! (Mission President's Wife)

The cake and a view of the nice townhouses in our area :)