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
