August 19

Hola!

Sooo...the other elders want to leave the library now even if we have 10 more minutes so this email may be rushed as well.  I'm basically sending a mass email to everyone who I got an email from in the MTC, so if you feel like you are receiving this email in error, let me know!  Also, I will figure out how to send pictures next week, promise.

The work here is progressing slowly.  We do have two baptismal dates set to two very prepared people.  We were interviewed by the president, and we all passed.  Elder Thompson is boss.  We are planning so well right now, and I am loving the experience so far.

Amen.

Love,

Elder deJesus

August 12

Herro.

With 4 minutes to write this email and counting down, here is a quick run-down of our weekly highlights.

I love exchanges.  We ate the Peruvian papas en papas or something like that, spoke Spanish, et cetera.  Hispanics are amazing.  I was the senior companion with Elder Guijarro (Elder Pebble en ingles) from Mexico City for a day, which was not as effective as it sounds, and it doesn't sound effective at all.  Pretty much it means that we got lost, and we used up 2 miles more than we were supposed to drive that day because we kept making U-turns and driving around one block at a time...if that makes sense.  Anyway, I actually got to drive/avoid crazy drivers that day.

Uhmm...This 5-year-old Hispanic girl likes to give us names.  For example, Elder Loco is my companion and I'm Elder Fish Tank....  Her family is awesome, though.  They are strong in the gospel.

We need more people like that to be involved.  Everyone has friends that they can share the gospel with; they're just too afraid to do it sometimes.  But with faith being the opposite of fear, and the knowledge of the sweetness of the fruit that Jesus Christ invites all of Heavenly Father's children to partake, what are you going to do to share the gospel?  Every member is a missionary and ambassador of Jesus Christ in thoughts, in words, and in deeds.

The work is still slow, but we are hopeful.  The Church is true, after all.  Whenever President Jeppson tells us to trust in the Lord, I always think about the Joseph Smith movie when the Prophet says, "Remember, brethren: we are not just building a temple; the Lord is building us," or something like that.

Further details are forthcoming.  Hopefully, this email will not offend any general authority, Arielle.

I love hearing about your lives!  Keep it coming.  Talk to you soon.

Love,

Elder deJesus

Week 2

 I am having a spectacular time here!  I love my comp, the other two elders, and the members and investigators. Last week, the Lord finally answered our prayers and led us to a new investigator who was humbled by her loss of a job and was prompted to call us.  

We called this guy named Liyu Bin.  He had been contacted by the missionaries in the past but they never really kept visiting him.  So we called him and said, "Hello.  We're the missionaries."  He said, "Machinery?"  "No, we're the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."  Then he hung up.  Ten minutes later, he called back.  He asked, "Are you from Verizon?"  We told him, "No, we're from the Church."  "The Church?"  "Yes, the Church."  Then he hung up again.  Good times.

So, yeah, New Jersey has been great. I also have a TON of emails to reply to so my next emails will have to be short.  I haven't forgotten you guys, promise. 

I miss signing so much!  There's just not a lot of Deaf people here, I guess.  There are a lot of Peruanos, so I have been able to use my Spanish with that regard.

I love you all in all the sincerity that I can muster through this keyboard.  Wish you the best.

Love,

Elder deJesus

Hello from New Joysey!!!

Dear John,

I loved the MTC and will miss my district so much.  In fact, I miss them so much right now that I could puke on the keyboard.  Nostalgia.  I miss having actual food and not fake Cap'n Crunch every day without having to clean up afterward...

But it's been great in the field.  We haven't had many investigators but we've made a ton of friends...and also blisters.  It's been a ton of work with not much results, but I'm sure that it will pick up.  Maybe God is just trying to teach us patience.

My new comp and I are exact opposites.  It's ridiculous.  But I love him.  He's a good elder.

New Joysey isn't at all different from the Philippines.  I mean, there's English signs on every store, so it's pretty similar.  Plus, it's hot, green, humid, and full of Catholics who were born Catholic and will die Catholic.

Anyway, love you all!  I'm excited to tell you my first baptism story, which should be soon.  Hopefully.

Love,

Elder deJesus

Yo, yo, yo

July 17, 2013

It's been a week and it's our P-day.  We just finished putting our laundry in and we have an hour to write emails and use the comptuers.  By the dubs, these comptuers are disgusting.  The keyboards are like covered in some type of soda mucus and the keys keep sticking to my fingers so I can't spell comptuer right.

So far, learning in the MTC has been a blessing.  Everywhere we go, the Spirit awaits for us to receive Him.  I've learned so much about myself and my Savior that I didn't even imagine I would ever learn about.  One of my favorite things to learn about my Savior is from Elder Bednar.  He shared a story about a mom who was informed that three girls had recently been involved in an accident.  One of those girls had died and the other two seriously injured.  She immediately called Elder Bednar, who was showering at the time.  His wife picked up the phone and handed the phone to Elder Bednar.  The mom told Elder Bednar what had just happened, and asked him to go to the hospital and help identify the girls, to make sure that her daughter was still alive, and to administer blessings if needed.  He, of course, agreed.  As the conversation went on, he realized that the mom had been speaking in two phones, one over each ear.  On one phone was Elder Bednar, and on the other was a nurse from the emergency room where the girls were being brought.  At one point, Elder Bednar overheard the nurse say that the hospital had received positive ID.  The dead girl was the mom's daughter.  What was interesting was that the mom, whose daughter had died and took the effort to call an apostle from the shower, fell silent.  Then, against all expectations, she asked Elder Bednar to call the parents of the two other girls and let them know what had happened to their daughters.  Even more bizzare, at the funeral, a woman from the mom's Relief Society stormed into the viewing demanding the soup that the mom had promised her because her own son was suffering from a cold at home.  The mom fulfilled her promise and gave the woman's son the soup.

That story, to me, illustrates perfectly the attitude of the Savior in times of His greatest anguish.  He turned outward instead of inward when the devil tried to test His divinity when He fasted for forty days.  He healed a man's ear instead of healing Himself right after the painful, physically demanding act of love that He performed in Gethsemane with the knowledge that one of His followers had betrayed Him.  That is the type of person that I want to be and am working on becoming.

By the way, my comp, Elder Vanwagoner, and I have our first baptism.  Her name is Shirley and her son, Owen, is her entire world.  When we told her this story, she immediately asked, "What can I do to 'follow Jesus Christ' like it says in 2 Nephi?"  So we invited her to be baptized and the presence of the Spirit was prominent in the room.  My eyes got tired and they started sweating.  In contrast, one of our investigators has never allowed us into his house and the last time we were there, we ended up Bible-bashing.  Don't do that!!!  Learn to love your investigators!  They are on your side!  Satan is the real enemy!!!

Oh!  Last Sunday, my comp and I were called to be the new zone leaders.  It's cuz we just have that experience, ya know?  3 days of experience.

For people who plan on going on missions, "plan" by reading and praying about the truth of the Book of Mormon every day.  "Plan" by receiving a testimony of this Church.  It is a good church.  Also, read Preach My Gospel and the Missionary Handbook.  Memorize the purpose of a missionary (Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end), the First Vision in Joseph Smith-History, and the baptismal invitation.

Pictures will come later.  I have to go check my laundry.

Arielle, have people write and email me!  Send me their emails from Facebook.  And also write me.  You're like related to me.

Anyway, I'll tell you all about the other elders and sisters in my district.  They're hilarious.

Love you all!

Elder deJesus

Here is my district, along with the DL, ZLs, and sisters

Officially in the MTC! (July 10, 2013)