Bernice's play, The Quest for Sleeping Beauty, was a hit!! And it ended with an auction of Sleeping Beauty to the best bachelor, who ended up being Elvis! And then the whole play ended with the cast dancing (with their hands--they're all in wheel chairs, so just their hands) to Backstreet Boys, "I Want It That Way". It was awesome!!

Sister Marley and me with Bernice, the "fairy queen of the vast great woods".

The hydrangeas out here are flourishing!

More flourishing hydrangeas.

Remember when we used to go to Fuddruckers? Well, we saw one! And we went in and got a Joysey dog!!

A rather fashionable tree sweater.

"I'm a real boy!" We've passed Gepetto's Pizza a number of times now--one of these days we'll stop in.

Family Dearest!

I am so excited to be here! To be here in the Library typing to you, and also here in New Jersey teaching people, and just, yes. It's so fun hearing from you all and what's going on out West! Out on the east coast we're having wishy washy weather. Rain, then hot scorching humid sun, rain, sun, gah! Also, pollution day happened this week, so they told us to switch our walking day so we wouldn't have to walk in the pollution. That was a very hot day. 

I went to the doctor's last Monday, and they said I didn't have strep throat, just east coast allergies. Apparently they're much more severe here. So I got a whole grundle of medicines and sprays and things, and now I'm feeling much better!

 On Tuesday, we went through the baptismal interview questions with Babby and her family to see where they are. Missionaries have been teaching them for over a year now, and there hasn't been much progress made. I love them to pieces, and they love us so much, but unfortunately they're more converted to us than to the Gospel. So we are letting them go this week. It's gonna be tough. Especially since we don't have any progressing investigators. Most of our days are filled with 'finding' activities. We've knocked lots of doors (not super effective--but we did happen upon someone who visits her mother in the nursing home Bernice lives in, so that was cool), gone to libraries to offer family history services, and we're trying to see if we can set up a booth at a farmer's market or something. We're really trying to be creative here, and hopefully our efforts will be fruitful. We've also been asking everyone and their dog who they know who'd be interested. Hopefully someone will know someone. Even if you don't think someone's ready for the Gospel, they could be. They might not know it even, but just think how happy they'd be if they had it.That's of more worth than fears and doubts that they'd reject it. At least you've done your part to give them the opportunity. There's a quote somewhere from Henry B. Eyring saying that after this life, we'll see the people we knew on earth and they'll know we knew about the Gospel, and they'll know whether or not we shared it with them. Intense! Also, from my weekly church websites searching, I like the Bible Video about Christ in Gethsemane, and His Resurrection. So if you have a spare moment, you should watch those.

Oh, also, if any of you have the missionaries over for dinner, just know this--we love it when people invite us over for food.  We love food. Our primary purpose, though, is to build people's faith and help them with missionary work. So if you really want to make the missionary's day, ask them what you can do to help with missionary work and even offer to have them over to practice teaching your family. And make sure they teach a lesson at dinner, in fact, ask them if they'd like to teach before you start the meal. Just some suggestions.

I love you kids, and I love how much I'm learning out here. I can't wait to come home and share all of this with you. I love you and hope you have a lovely summery sunny week full of sprinklers and otter pops.

Best,

sister mister

Little Rascals! We happened upon this on our dog walk.

The City! People in hats, snapping and singing!

The words "Mormon" and "Jesus" in one small corner of Times Square--I'll take it!

Other goings on there.

They made this a play?! Yay!

The Temple! Notice the pretty tree windows.  I've only just noticed that.

Sister Torgerson (long time no see!), me, and Sister Dorneles (from the Amazon state of Brazil! She lives in the Amazon!!).

Sister Marley and me at the Temple!

The Angel Moroni!

Tim, you're not the only one who looks like Will Smith!

Apparently this is one of the coolest plays, and super family friendly!

A fun day at the Oakland Something Day, comparable to Ogden Days--no, we didn't just go there--we were invited to join some members and attempted to teach them there, but the atmosphere was quite loud.

I'm embarrassed by how disheveled this is, but keep in mind--I'm sick.  Also I really appreciated that package, so I just wanted to let you know.

Dearest Family!

Today I turned 22--agh! I'm feeling so strange in my old age! But what have you, that happens. As of Saturday I've had strep throat, so no breakfast in bed or anything, but I did enjoy opening the package Moimers sent me, and was so pleasantly surprised with everything! It was a great morning! In my excitement and wanting to eat the Blueberry Morning she put in there, I thought I'd eat a banana first to see if my throat would swallow that okay, and then I could have the cereal. Not so! Even mushed up, the banana was too spicy and hurt too much. So, I'll save the cereal for another exciting day! And then my companion sent me on a little scavenger hunt about the house, with some special prizes hidden round, including mini animals that you can squeeze and put on pencils and things! So the birthday has been tops and so has the rest of the week!

Ok, here we go!!

Monday: Bought Listerine.

Tuesday: Walked Sister Fantau's dog around the block because we asked if we could do anything for her, and that is what she needed help with. It was quite lovely! Also, we visited Sister Fessler, who's in a nursing home. We sang hymns and read a scripture and just visited with her. She's so cute, she doesn't say much, but she's sweet. As we were getting up to leave, she caught my hand, looked at me and Sister Marley and said, "You walk with God." I didn't know what to say, so I just gave her a big hug. She's such a neat lady.

Wednesday: The Activity Day's girls had to do a service project, so they decided they would make dinner for the missionaries. They made baked ziti (the Jersey equivalent of spaghetti--no one makes the latter, but everyone makes ziti), salad, breadsticks, and, wait for it...fudge! And then they set a long table on the stage all fancy and we sat down with them and ate the dinner and got to know each of them better. It was so awesome!

Thursday: We went to the Temple! Agh! We woke up early, got dressed up, drove to Union City and parked at that chapel. The rest of our zone met us there and we all walked together through town until we spotted a wahwah (a bus that only costs $2 and goes right to New York City. That is a crazy deal, considering it costs $12-$30 to get into the city by train or car). We got off the bus and walked to the Temple. The first time I came, we parked under the Temple. But this time, since the bus terminal is farther away, we walked for about 20 or 30 minutes and right through Times Square! It was pretty flashy and also neat to see what plays are happening and so forth. And so many people! Goodness, they were everywhere! But it was cool to be walking with 15 other missionaries, plowing through the crowd and the craziness on our way to the Temple. I just felt like a big force for good. And people recognized us--three different groups of members came up and high fived us and shook our hands and then went on their way. Then we got to the Temple where we saw another zone who'd come from West New Jersey via train. We all walked in together and immediately there was calm and peace. It's so nice to shut out the world and just feel the peace of Heavenly Father's House! All the missionaries went to the same session, which was made of almost all missionaries, except for maybe six other people. They had to bring in about ten extra chairs to fit us all in there, probably thirty missionaries in all. It was so cool! The session was great, and especially the peace in the Celestial room. When we were finished, we went back out into the hustle and bustle and walked back through Times Square to our wahwah station. We went to the Temple fasting, so we were all pretty hungry.  Sister Marley and I went to a diner with Sisters Dicou and Dorneles. I got a grilled cheese (and no, it didn't compare to the one from the old hospital--those things were amazing!).

Friday: We had dinner with the Manchester family and at the end asked them if there was anyone they knew who would benefit from knowing the Gospel.  It was quiet, as it usually is, no one wanted to say anything, and then Brother Manchester quietly said,"Well, maybe Kevin. I should just go over there and talk to him. I've known him for fifteen years and invited him to serve in the storehouse with me, but it never happened. He's by himself, his mom recently passed away. I should just go over there." And his son-in-law said, "Right now?" To which brother Manchester said, "Yeah, I guess so. Maybe the sisters could come with me." So the three of us walked across the street and knocked on his door. I was all sorts of excited thinking, "Oh my goodness, he's going to let us in, and we're going to teach him about the Gospel and he's gonna feel the Spirit, and he's gonna get baptized, and have all of these amazing blessings and he'll know Heavenly Father loves Him! Agh!" And then he wasn't home, but the fact that that member had the courage after fifteen years of wanting to, to actually go up and knock on his neighbor's door was amazing. We talked in the driveway after that for a bit and Brother Manchester said he had made the decision and knew he had to do it now and he was excited to. And he had more courage with the missionaries there, so hopefully he will talk to Kevin and Kevin will be receptive.

Saturday: Ellis Island! Lots of Polish people there. Or American people with Polish ancestors. It's funny how it goes in droves of one week, lots of Irish, the next Italian, the next Polish, the next something else.

Sunday: We went to a part-member family's Eagle Scout ceremony and dinner. We have been trying to see them for eight weeks now, and finally saw them! And then they invited us to their scout thing. It was neat. Tonight we're planning on teaching them about Family Home Evening.

So that's a not so typical week, but a really good one! I love you kids and I hope you had a good Father's Day! Love you too Pops, here's a wink and hug from this one! (and then a big bear hug and machine gun kiss from that one). Love ya!

Sister Mister

Soaked from a 5 minute downpour that we just happened to be walking in.

Now that's my kinda place!

This one with the little cutie puppy!

Strawberry cream cheese cupcakes we made for Babby's and Peanut's birthday.

Super kewl front door complete with lions (which everyone has here--rich, poor--doesn't matter.  Everyone has them.

A sitting spot to write a note to someone who wasn't home, as most people aren't, but people also don't have such lovely sitting spots.

Dear Family,

This week also happened.  I have some good news and some bad news.  I'll start with the bad news so we can end on a good note. The bad news is....a dear friend of mine died this week. We parked our car, got out and I said, "Sister! It's our gopher! Look how close he is!" We approached him and saw lots of flies gathering in. The poor thing was dead. And then we saw it's insides moving, so I thought it was breathing. Then it looked dead again. Then it squirmed again. I think it was poisoned. The poor thing. I loved that gopher. On especially difficult days, I'd be lying in bed at about 5:50 am thinking, I don't want to get up in 10 minutes. I'm too tired to work. But then I'd think, "Hey, I might see my furry friend! And it'll all be worth it because he's so cute and squishy!" And now he's gone. I'm not going to lie, I cried for about an hour over this.

On a less sad note, we found the Rossi's finally. They've been MIA for a while, but we finally got them on their doorstep and talked with the whole family for a bit, then set up a visit, and the visit happened, and it was really good!

Also, we happened into a less-active family who's always really busy, so we got to visit them too! It's not that they don't like the Church, they just work from 7 am to 11 pm every day. But we caught em on a very rare day off. And they let me hold their baby chihuahua!

Also, we had a zone activity of foods and games. And the Brazilians brought tasty passionfruit mousse-so that was good. And the English people brought lasagna, because that's what we get. The Spanish missionaries eat South American, Caribbean, Central American foods. And the English missionaries eat Italian foods, because that's who lives here. Lots of other nationalities too, but an excess of Italians.

We met a 90 year old man this week, who has a ton of energy...more than Natey, and Mary, and Cate put together! That guy was just cruising' around! And he looked like he was 70, so good job guy! He said he could dwell on the bad and the hard times and what he can't do, or he could just keep positive and get things done. So that's what he does. Not interested, but happy to talk and happy the sun was shining.

I think that's all that happened. Oh, and besides all that, other good news is that we are going to the Manhattan Temple this week! My favorite place ever! It's so amazing and pretty! And so much goin' on outside it, too. "Hey, Tony! We needs more mustard out heres for these dwogs!" and "Taxi, Taxi! I'm on my way to that tall important building 20 blocks that way!" and "Those people must be Mwormons. They look like the people from them mormon.org adds everywhere!" I'm excited to go!

I love you goons! I think about you every day and I hope you's doin' well! Love you!

Sister Fishy

Sister Torgerson and I picking up trash in the hedges during Passaic Service Day. (I'll have you know I found three vodka bottles in that shrubbery--eek!)

Sister Coley and I snuggling with this here lion--and New Jersey is full of lion statues. They're everywhere.

Me and the Pearlmutter Balloon Family.

Wacky Potatoes/hot dog van.

Sister Marley and me with Banana, who's going through a hard time, so please pray for her.

Bob, Marianne, and me! They're an awesome couple we happened upon. They came to the Ward talent show and just loved it!

Bernice singing to us some show-tunes. Which is so cute because she has an old-timey singing voice, and she kind of shakes her shoulders from side to side as she sings.

Dearest Family!

This has been a good week.  I'm not being transferred, so I'm going on six transfers, or nine months, in Fardale! I like this town! Actually, Fardale isn't a town--there's one road with that name in this entire, huge area. I think they just didn't want to name the Ward after the city it's in, which they usually do (Mahwah Ward does sound kinda strange, I guess).

I've made a new friend! It's about the size of a super fat cat, furry, and I wanna squeeze it! It's a gopher! It lives in our backyard. Every morning we groggily stumble downstairs to the outside world for our morning jog. I'm usually kinda cranky, as I've just woken up. But then in my peripheral vision I'll see something scurrying.  I look over and it's the gopher--waggling it's little nub of a tail as it scurries toward the shrubberies.  That li'l goon gives me the joy and energy I need to exercise. I just can't stop smiling for about a half hour after seeing that thing. I also spy it out the kitchen window as we wash the dishes. Ooh, I just love it!

And speaking of mornings and our stairwell...Here's the set up: We have a downstairs door we lock with a key. We walk upstairs, unlock the door, go into our apartment, and lock our door from the inside of our apartment. We hang up the keys. So a few days ago, we prayed, went into the stairwell, closed the door, and just as I heard it click shut, I realized I forgot the keys. So we were locked in our stairwell. We have nothing but our exercise clothes. So, for the next half hour we whacked at the door hinges with our shoes to loosen the paint that glued them together. Then we unhinged the downstairs door, since the upstairs wasn't budging. We sidled the door out of it's frame and ran for the spare key, which thankfully our landlord told us where to find it about a month ago. Then we were able to get inside, get our keys, and rehinge the door.  Woof!

Also this week we went to Ellis Island while National Geographic was there to film something! They were in the history center for a couple hours.  I didn't get interviewed or anything, but I'm pretty sure I'm in some of the background shots, probably looking awkward while trying to look natural. It was swell! They filmed a family who came in just because they wanted to try a ferry ride.  Then they got here, looked up relatives, and found out a whole bunch of cool stuff. Catherine, the lady in charge of the history wing, told us to be on the lookout for cool stories as we helped people, and one of the employees helped this family out. So NatGeo (as we cool people call it) asked the family if they could refilm the process, and they said yes.  Ya come in to ride a boat and end up on National Geographic. Awesome. I don't know when the show comes out, but they're doing episodes for UNESCO sites, including Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, Mount Kilamanjaro, Taj Mahal, and some other places I forget now. If you find out when it comes out, make sure you watch it!

In other news, we're teaching a member's children, Alex and Athena (they're Greek!) who have been taught since forever. They want to be baptized, but their dad (parent's are divorced) won't let them , to get back at their mom. So they've given talks and been taught classes. They know everything. They're just not baptized. But this week we weren't sure what to teach them, since they've been taught everything fifty times. We decided to just do Pictionary, with various topics like Joseph Smith, Ammon, Tower of Babel, Temple, wise men and foolish men, etc. Then when someone would guess the correct answer, they'd tell us about the thing or person. It was pretty fun, and they really got outta their shells and were laughing and having fun, which they don't do a lot. And they are genius kids. I'm so proud of them. 

We also saw some really great members this week. One lady is moving in a few weeks, but she told us how much she loves sharing the gospel. She shares it with everyone. She says it just gives her the biggest rush! Another family, the Jensens, are also awesome. One daughter plays soccer, and she invited her whole team to her talk this coming week. One daughter invites her friends to early morning seminary and they all come. Another daughter invited her school teachers to her baptism. The oldest, who plays soccer (they all play, but anyway) doesn't play on Sundays. She doesn't go to watch either--she comes to Church and spends the day as she usually would while her team plays. They lost a game while she was at Church, and the very next game, on a Thursday, she scored two of the goals (which is a lot in soccer) and their team won a championship. She got an article written about her in the newspaper, and they asked questions about the Church. She bore her testimony of keeping the Sabbath Day Holy and she didn't regret her decision, and her team respects her for that. She also had the opportunity in class to write on the board what she believes about the purpose of life and where we're going after this life. The other two who volunteered were an atheist and an agnostic. One wrote that there's no purpose and life just ends. The other wrote what they wanted the purpose of life to be based on picking and choosing what they thought sounded good. The member wrote what we believe, which ended up being the happiest and most optimistic, and true! Gah, I'm just so glad we know what we're doing and where we're going. We don't have to be worried about what happens next. We have a calm assurance every day because we know Who to put our trust in and we know He loves us and will be with us always if we're doing what He's asked. I love this Gospel--it's perfect.

And I love all of you!  Sorry this letter is so long. Maybe you can stop for a cocoa break. And no, not a cwofee break! Oh gee, there are some great accents here. Love you folks. I miss you and think of your smiling, cheery faces often!

Sister Mister

P.S. My apartment address hasn't changed, but the mission office has. The new address is:

5 Cold Hill Road So. Ste. #10

Mendham, NJ 07945