This week was a good one. We’ve met a lot of people and they’re all so nice! I love nice people. They’re the best. Morristown is a cute little town and I like it here a lot. We serve with 2 other English speaking sisters but we’re the only missionaries in the branch. They’re nice though! One of them is Sister Flinders and she and I have served around each other for like our whole missions. She is very, very Mormón and she has this story where one of her neighbors in California gave her family weed banana bread on Conference weekend and it gets me every time I hear it. One of my favorite families here is moving to Orem next June which is fun! They have this little 3 year old girl that is like the cutest thing on the entire planet 🌎. There is a member here who lost her daughter to a drunk driver in Honduras this week. She was devastated. But the entire branch just rallied around her family and it was really tender to see. The greatest admonition that God has given to us is the necessity to empathize with others. 

Elder Swain is chugging along. I was just in the kitchen and he came in to tell me a Dungeons and Dragons joke that I didn’t understand in the slightest but I laughed anyway. When I get home I’m forbidding myself from doing things like video games and excessive tv watching because they’re time eaters and time is important.

Also, I can go the rest of my life without rice and beans probably. Mom like. I can't even tell you with enough emphasis. They eat them for every meal. Like every meal. How? Like, how do they all not have scurvy or rickets? These are the questions that haunt me. 

I haven't been able to listen to "The God Who Weeps" podcast yet. I'll do it today. I promise. I love those quotes you sent me from it though. Make me a list of things I need to read when I get home. I just finished the book of Exodus again. I'm on my second round of reading the Bible cover to cover. It's honestly super interesting. It's cool to see how different cultures grasp the concept of Divinity. 

Today we're going to have a zone pday which is nice because I'm not in charge of it and hold no responsibility. I think we're just playing basketball which will be nice. It'll be a pretty calm day so I'll be here whenever. Send a picture of rowdy asap. 

I love you to kolob and back. 

--me 
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
 

HELLO MOM!!! IT’S ME! YOUR BOY WHO LOVES YOU SO MUCH!! I’m writing you from my desk in my little apartment. I ate pandebono for breakfast which is this really good Colombian cheese bread and my laundry is currently in the wash. 

Let me first start off by telling you I’m good and happy and healthy. I’ve had a good week and we’ve met a lot of nice people. I’ve also learned a lot about Dungeons and Dragons which is just riveting. (lol) but actually it’s been fun. My companion is a really nice guy. Sometimes his anxiety gets to him or he gets frustrated because Hispanics talk 100 miles an hour but he’s growing a lot and it’s been fun to help him. He likes to tell me stories and I like to listen. He’s excited about missionary work and lets me drag him around so it’s been just fine.

​We’ve met the nicest people here! This area has the nicest members and the most functioning branch council I’ve seen in NJ so it’s been nice. The branch has a finance class after church every Sunday which we help out with and so I’m teaching a bunch of hispanics about making and keeping budgets. Literally lol at that. The only thing I could think of during the whole thing is that I was not qualified for said teaching and if my mom was there she would tell everyone that I am as unfamiliar as possible with the concept. I’ve gotten better now though! I’ve learned some good (needed) financial discipline here. 

I really like Morristown. It’s going to be a cute place to spend the holidays. I’m always in cute places for the holidays. Because you’re right, I LOVE CHRISTMAAAAS! I love Christ. And He is Christmas. I love my family too. I got my package of cookies and they are intact and delicious as ever. Yum yum yum. Thank you!

So this guy came up to us last night because we were giving away free hot chocolate in the park and also church stuff (duh) but he came up to us and started asking us a lot of questions and then was like “When can you come over to my house and teach me and my family?” And I was like ??? Cool. Then he left but then came back and proceeded to tell me about the fact that his house is possessed and he needs us to bless it. So that’ll be fun. 

Other than that, my life is the same. Missionary life is reliably consistent. This week we have a half mission conference which is going to be fun. I think one of the 70 is going to come. We also have interviews with President which are fun because with me we just talk about fun and random stuff. Nice guy. 

Anyway cute mom. I’ll write you more later today when you email me back. I love you so so so much. To the very brink of love possible in mortality and maybe even a little bit past it. 💕😘❤️ 

xo - your boy

So. Here I am in Morristown. I love this area! The members are literally the nicest human beings I’ve ever met. We had sacrament meeting yesterday and we hold it in the primary room (lol) because only a handful of people come. I got to bless the sacrament though, which was really nice! You know I love doing that. This whole week we’ve been running around trying to get to know the members. I love getting to know members. I’m glad I was doubled in here because it’s a challenge as well as a good training opportunity for the guy I’m training. Let me tell you about him. Literally LOL. He’s this really tall skinny guy from California. His name is Caleb Swain. Like he’s the funniest little guy. He graduated in 2015 and went to 2 years of college at BYU. Like every 2 seconds he’ll just go “I’m so excited to be a missionary!” This morning he was like “You know what?! I’m going to make pancakes!!!” Which is apparently very monumental for him. UPDATE: he just handed me a very burnt pancake. He’s making them in the kitchen right now listening to the same 5 poppy Jesus songs he always does. But I’m having a lot of fun. He’s a funny guy. I like him. My apartment is cute because it was a sister apartment until two transfers ago, when Elder Dove got doubled in here to train as well. So it’s cute. No food though. Cute neighborhood too. We have this neighbor downstairs named Bob who loves flowers and Persian rugs and I want to be just like Bob some day. Morristown is quaint. It reminds me of Red Bank to an extent. It’s nice here and I'm excited to work here.

On Halloween we had a lesson with this crazy guy in the park. After that we went back home and called a lot of people. Elder Swain’s spanish is very slow and most Hispanics don’t have the patience to listen to him because they can tell you their entire life story in 0.84 of a breath. So I’m talking a lot but also giving him challenging things to help him grow. We met the Morales family and they’re literally the coolest. They’re homies and they love missionaries and having us over. We also met the Gomez family and they’re also the sweetest. Same with the Lopez family. There’s also a few YSA guys here that are super funny. So I’m definitely in a good place. 

GUESS WHAT. So did you know that in Morristown NJ was where Lafayette advised Washington and Hamilton that the French were coming to give aid to the revolution? There’s this main park in our area where there’s a statue of it and obviously I freaked out. How cool. Here’s a picture. 

So basically my life is pretty good. I’m happy and healthy. I put this picture on a calendar and gave to to all the relief society to sign so we could get food. But jokes on them the real reason is because I want to teach their friends. It’s the golden method. 1. Visit the members, 2. Eat their food, 3. Teach their friends. Never fails. 

Anyway. We can talk later today whenever you email me back. I love you SO SO MUCH. SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOO MUCH. 

— your boy. X0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x