Wooooo!

I have been in NJ for almost 12 weeks which means I am almost done with training! There are transfers next week and Hermana Galvan is almost for sure getting transferred out because she has been in Union City for almost 6 months now. That means that I'll be leading the area! Pretty intimidating but I am excited!

I am really learning to love the members of the ward here. They are so fun and awesome! The ward is Spanish speaking, but a lot of the people in it have lived in America for like 20 years so they speak English pretty well too. I'd say probably a third of the ward speaks good English, a third knows a little English, and a third doesn't know any at all. People have told me this is one of the biggest Spanish-speaking wards in Jersey. In most other cities there aren't enough Hispanics for there to be a whole ward, so there are just Spanish branches instead.

 

During a meeting in Morristown last week, all us missionaries got to watch the new movie Meet the Mormons! I loved it. Something I noticed is that 4 of the 6 people featured in the movie are converts. It made me really think about how big of an impact the worldwide missionary force is having. And at the end where it shows a missionary saying goodbye to his family at the airport... pretty much everyone was crying because we've all experienced that and we know how hard it is.

 

On Wednesday Cristian had his baptismal interview with our District Leader Elder Shiraishi (he's from Peru!). The interview lasted FOREVER and Hermana Galvan and I were worrying that something went wrong and he wouldn't pass. When the interview was finally over they both came out of the room with really serious looks on their faces and didn't say anything for like 10 seconds. We were so scared they were gonna say he failed the interview. Then Elder Shiraishi just smiles and says "Good job teaching him, he passed!" They were totally messing with us trying to make us think he failed haha! But yeah! Cristian passed his interview and he is getting baptized this Sunday!!

 

Friday was such a long day. We didn't have any set appointments so we spent the whole day walking around the city, trying potential investigators, contacting, and doing street lessons. We walked SO MUCH. My legs were so sore the next day. I must admit my legs are getting pretty toned from all this walking! And my shoes are getting worn out too haha.

 

On Saturday we had to make an appearance at a birthday party for a little girl in a family that got baptized a few months before I got here. The girl wanted all the missionaries in the ward to be there. It was interesting because they were blaring pop and dance music and all us missionaries were just standing there wishing we could dance but we're not allowed to... it was funny! Haha we still had fun though!

 

It's starting to get really cold. Last night we were walking around trying to contact people but nobody was outside because it was sooo cold! And it's only October! This is gonna be a fun winter...