EMAIL: Week 60 - W.Y.E. = Watch Your Energy

WRITTEN: 9/18/17

Week 2 in Trenton!

Monday we did our shopping (SEE WEEK 59 ) . Stopped by Orvis  (one of my favorite fishing stores!) that's in our area, lemme tell ya it won't be the last time haha. Later we were on splits with the Spanish elders that cover our area. One of them has only been out for about 6 weeks now and he's just loving it so far so that's good. After the splits we came back to our apartment and there were 4 mice that we caught in glue traps! That makes 9 in one week haha.

Tuesday we went to a district meeting and one of the district leaders in our zone gave a training on how we can use the Book of Mormon in different ways. When we got back to Trenton we had an appointment fall through so we just did some finding.

Wednesday we went to service and helped prepare food for the homeless and hungry. We had a few appointments with investigators and then we had a meeting with President Hess and our stake president and his counselors to discuss the progression of the members/non-members in our wards and branches. After that we started an exchange with the APs (assistants to president Hess). I was going to Elizabeth to stay in the APs apartment with is a four man apartment (four missionaries live in it).

Thursday did our studies and then we made some bomb breakfast for lunch and then we did some deep cleaning because the end of the transfer. From that point on we had appointments all day. Later that night we exchanged back.

Friday we went to our service at TASK again. And then we had appointments all day. We had an appointment with one of our investigators Eddie who's really cool (he's the older guy), and he wants to change his life and have an eternal family. And then we saw one of our investigating families. A single mother with 4 kids. We visit the family but the mother and the daughter (Miriam and Alexis) are the only ones Investigating. They are from Liberia and they are also on date to be baptized on the 30th of this month so that's super exciting! The youngest (Alex) who is 1 is my best friend. Seriously though he is so funny!

Saturday we had appointments with some members. An appointment with Tito and his family. He's a single father with three kids and they're homeschooled. Soo it's hard for him to provide and get a job. We talked about how his family does it. Like how they get through the hard times? How do they keep there spirits up when the don't have any food? And they shared with us something very neat and it was the acronym W.Y.E. it stands for Watch Your Energy. There is never a need for us to feel down. Yes there are times where, because of circumstances we put our selfs down but that doesn't mean we need stay down. In a talk that I listened to by Hyrum Smith he talks about how self worth is directly related to your productivity. So if you're down and you don't feel super great about yourself then in turn you will not get a lot done. When we watch our energy and make sure that we are giving out good vibes and being hopeful and really sharing the light of Christ which we all have then we will be productive, we will make due with what we got and we will keep on working even harder to progress spiritually and temporary. Later that night we visited the Jorgensen family. Such a great family and loves to have the missionaries over which is even better haha!

Sunday was great. Church was good, still getting used to an English ward. We had some meetings after church and all. The rest of the day we went finding and tried by less actives. We had the transfer call too. I am staying in Trenton haha. I wasn't expecting to be moved after 2 weeks haha.

And today we were fishing. One of the youth in our ward does a lot of fishing and so I had him hook me up with some spots. We only went out for a little and I caught a little bluegill. I need to get in some fishing before the snow comes and packs me in haha nah we'll still be out but we won't be able to fish.

Have a great week!

Oh and we haven't caught any mice in 5 days but we are still seeing evidence that they are alive so we've been trying everything haha.

Love,

Elder Marz

EMAIL: Week 59 - Zone Leader & Transfer to ENGLISH Speaking Trenton Area

WRITTEN: 9/11/17

(Watch funny video at the bottom..)

Hey fam and friends! As you may have seen on Facebook I moved to Trenton on Tuesday. Kinda crazy but I'll tell you more about it.

Monday was pday not much other than that.

Tuesday was nutz. We had interviews with President Hess, and then we had district meeting and I gave a training on obedience and how important it is for missionaries to obey the commandments and the rules in the mission to the fullest. If we do we will have the spirit with us constantly and we can really become Instruments in Gods hands. I related the commandments and the white handbook/Safeguards (missionary guidelines, rules, and expectations) to traffic signs. We all know that traffic signs help warn us for what's to come. They help us know in ahead of time when there will be a turn on the road or when the asphalt will end. You know we could say that those traffic signs are essential for us to be safe but if we don't look and follow then we can end up in a ditch. That's why we have commandments (white handbook and safeguards for missionaries ). They tell us and help us understand what's to come. They are there to help us! We had a senior couple move in and they were put in my district and they served a mission just prior to this one and they actually know the Allens! After that I was going on exchange with Elder Spendlove in scotch plains and we were about 40min into the exchange and I received a call from president. He called me to tell me that I was going to be a English zone leader in Trenton and I was to end the exchange that I was on and go back to Perth Amboy and pack to get to Trenton that night. The zone leader that I was replacing had to go home for medical reasons and so there needed to be a emergency transfer. So yeah the rest of the day was packing and writing some notes for some members. We made it to the mission home to drop off the elder that was going home and sister Hess had cookies right out of the oven for us! I love President and sister Hess, they really are the greatest! Then we drove down to Trenton. It was kinda sad leaving Perth Amboy and the Spanish program for now. I thought I was staying in Perth for a while and hopefully I'll be able to go back a serve there for some more time but if not I'll always come back to visit. I heard some pretty crazy things about the Trenton apartment. I heard that it has tons of mice! And that we live in a basement with a super short ceiling. Well when we got to the apartment all those things were true haha. I walked in with my bags and killed a mouse with a hammer, let's note that elder Berrett (my new comp that had been out for about 8 months. He's from Provo) had to stun it first with his shoe first before I got to it haha. And yes the basement is unfinished and the ceiling is about 6.4 and the air ducts aren't behind the walls so there are lots of obstacles in the way of my head haha. It will be an adventure to say the least haha. 

Wednesday we got up and went to service at a donation center and saw some other missionaries from our zone. After we had to go get some mouse poison cause the mouse problem was out of control. But it turns out we have some hybrid mutant mice because we can't find any dead mice but all we find are tons of kryptonite green mice poops everywhere haha, yeah it's nasty.

Thursday we did some weekly planning and some zone planning. Went out and did some finding later and got to know the area a little more. Later we met with our ward mission leader and had coordination.

Friday we went to TASK (Trenton Area Soup Kitchen) for a few hours and fed like 300 people. And after we went a got some glue traps because we were sick and tired of finding more and more green poops. Next thing you know in two hours we got one. In 8 hours while we were out we killed 4. 

Saturday we went by some member and investigators. Not a whole lot happened. We had one of the young men who's in our ward come out with us and he leaves for his mission for Mexico on October 9. Later we saw one of our investigators Alexis. She's 10 and she's super cool! Way independent and can't wait to be baptized. Her older sister is a member too

Sunday was great! Church starts at 1:45. We had some meetings and other things before. It was really weird being in an English ward! I gave the opening prayer and it was so different! Anyways in elders quorum we talked about virtues and I mad so many new discoveries in that lesson. Maybe they were things I already knew but they just resonated within me. To have virtue is really just to have high moral standards. "Let virtue (high moral standards) garnish thy thoughts". 

And today we stoped by an Orvis store that's in our area. Man has it been a long time! I need to go fishing soon, I haven't been in a few transfers.

Well other than all that I'm doing great. Just trying to get settled in. Looking forward to next week.

Here is my new address:

...

Have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Marz

FUNNY SPECIAL EMAiL ON PDAY.. MADE US ALL LAUGH BECAUSE WE KNOW HOW MUCH EVAN... AHEM, ELDER MARZ... LOVES LOVES LOVES FLY FISHING. I KNOW FOR HIM THIS MISSIONARY STUFF IS A PAINFUL
BUT TOTALLY WORTHY SACRIFICE :) WATCH THE VIDEO

EMAIL: Week 58 - "DANCE Elder Marzo! DANCE!"

WRITTEN: 9/4/17

Holy smokes this week was crazy!

Monday was pday and we were at the beach as zone. It was soooo nice out! It was sunny and we are starting to get those cold fall winds, it was perfect weather! Later we stoped by a members home and we walked into a birthday party! Haha all the kids that were at the party were from church and when we showed up they were all yelling "Elder Marzo! Elder Marzo!" Haha. I did some of my weird dance moves and the kids just lost it, they thought it was sooo funny!

Tuesday we had district meeting and I gave a training on the importance of prayer. I love prayer. It is such a blessing that we are given the opportunity we have to talk to our father in heaven when ever we want. I wish before my mission I understood the importance of prayer. The experiences I have had and the things that I've learned through prayer while on my mission have been such testimony building experiences that prayer has changed me. It is sooo important to pray. I know I've discussed it before but prayer is one of our "lifelines" with God. If we don't pray then we will not have a relationship with our father in heaven. Later that day I was on an exchange with Elder Decker in scotch plains. Went to a few members homes, knocked, went to the chapel. It was a fun exchange. One of the main goals was to discuss the different things that test our patience on the mission and how we can develop coping skills in orders to have an "almost stress free" environment in the mission. Stress in important. Stress helps you grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and spirituality but, too much stress can be dangerous. I've seen too many missionaries this past year get to a "Dangerous" level of stress all because they do not know how to cope with the stresses that the mission brings. As a leader I have the opportunity to go one-on-one with elders in my district and help them develop coping skills. I'm doing this with all of them even if they've had a pretty easy time so far only because I know that everyone experiences things at different times. It was kinda of ironic why I was wanting to talk to these elder about this because while I was on exchange I got a call and I was notified that one of the elders in my district was going home, which meant that I was going to be in a trio for the next three weeks.

Wednesday I was with Elder Decker until around noon. We went to service and made some plans together. We exchanged back and it was crazy from there on haha. Elder Meek is now with Elder Ferolino and I.  So now we have a car and we are working two areas for the next two weeks. We had appointments every hour for the rest of the night and we also had or FHE which no one really came to.

Thursday we did some weekly planning. Figured out how we're to do this whole working two areas thing. Them we had appointments pretty much the rest of the day. It was also Elder Meeks birthday and when we told that to some members we were visiting the father left and just walked out the door. He came back about ten min later with a cake for Elder Meek! Haha it was hilarious!

Friday we went to service at the Salvation Army, did some planning and then we had appointments for the rest of the day.

Saturday we had a meeting at the chapel with our ward mission leader and then he took us out to lunch afterwards. It was kinda hard to see anyone because everyone is out visiting family for the long weekend. So we stoped by a few members and did some finding.

Sunday was great! We had a meeting before church and another one after. Testimony meeting was so spiritual! I'm just filled with love for the people here in Perth Amboy when I can see that they are growing and learning. One of our less actives who's coming back bore her testimony and it was so powerful! After church we had a lunch appointment with a member family and a few other appointments later. At one of the appointments we were all put in handcuffs! Haha! The last part of the night was that I got to see my recent convert and his family from jersey city! They came to Perth Amboy because santos just got his license. Oh man it was so nice to see them and talk to them, see how they're and all. I'll get to see them again in December at the Spanish Christmas fireside that we have every year.

Well that's what my week looked like. It's going to be two more crazy weeks until the end of the transfer!

Have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Marz

EMAIL: WEEK 57 - "I Love This Gosple"

WRITTEN:8/28/17

Hey fam and friends! Here's how my week was!

Monday: pday. Did our stuff, shopping, emails, ya tu sabe (you already know).

Tuesday we had district meeting and taught the district how important it is to listen. Listen to people and really care about what they say. Too many times as human beings in this crazy world we listen to respond. It's not bad or wrong to listen to respond, but we learn so much more when we just listen to understand. As missionaries we are constantly wanting to share the gospel, it becomes who we are, but we don't listen enough. You would be so surprised what happens when you just have the desire to listen. As well as listing to people I taught how important it is to listen to the spirit with the same sense to just have the desire to listen to understand. It was a very spiritual training and I hope that all the missionaries and ok something important from it.

Wednesday we had service at the Salvation Army and then after that we did some finding. Later we had a meal appointment with a super awesome member family! They made some Honduran BBQ. It was bomb! After we had a FHE at the chapel with any members or investigators that wanted to come. We had a great turn out! We did a little activity where we split up the members in 5 or so groups and those groups had to use the index in the Book of Mormon to find a scripture that focused on a certain topic or question and then they had to share the scripture and what it means to everyone. 

Thursday we did weekly planning and we had few appointments with members. Later in the night we had a ping-pong tournament with the young men and some non-members. What the youth didn't know is that Elder Ferolino and I have a ping-pong table in our apartment and we've been practicing so we caught the youth of guard a little haha. It was fun to get some non members involved with the youth in a fun and comfortable way. We had a bracket and two tables so it was pretty fast paced and exciting. And I won! Haha I'm actually not that good but I did do some practicing so that probably helped. Later that night we started an exchange with the zone leaders in Elizabeth. They picked us up and drove us to Elizabeth where we stayed the night

Friday we were in Elizabeth all day. I was with Elder Nielsen and Elder Ferolino was with Elder Hunt. It was a really great exchange. We did a table stand in a park with free lemonade and cookies for a few hours and got to talk to a whole bunch a people. We also met with a few of the members around. We went to one members home who has a dog that is in love with Elder Nielsen and it would not leave his side hahaha. It was getting to late for them to drive us back to Perth Amboy so we just stayed one more night in Elizabeth.

Saturday we got up and the zone leaders took us back to Perth Amboy. We had a meeting at nine and then the ward was doing a big activity that took up a good part of our afternoon. They were doing a fundraiser selling papusas and doing like a flea market on the side, they were trying to make money so that the young men and women could go to call next year. It turned out really well and a ton of non-member friends came and we sat down with them and talked. Later we had an appointment with our ward mission leader because he wanted to introduce us to his neighbor. Her name is Mariely and she's super cool. We told her what we kinda do as missionaries and we showed her the prince of peace video and she's cool with us coming over again so we have another appointment scheduled later in the week.

Sunday was great! We had president caycho visiting, he's one of the counselors to President Hess. He had a great talk and an awesome gospel doctrine lesson. He talked about how members can do missionary work. We discussed all the obstacles that members face when wanting to share the gospel and we talked about ways to overcome those. Later we were out just finding people to teach and stoping by the members.

Well that's how my week was:) I love this gospel! I love being a missionary! It's so true! Go share it and fill the world with the light of Christ!

Have an amazing week!

Love,
Elder Marz

EMAIL: Week 56 - Makeshift Ponchos and Little Froggy

WRITTEN 8/21/17

Hey errbody let me tell you how my week was.

Monday: pday and we just had a bunch of member appointments. 

Tuesday! We were in Newark for majority of the day for zone conference. It was super awesome! Got to see Pres and sister Hess, they gave some great trainings! Later that day we had a few appointments with less actives. Also on the way home I found a little froggy haha it just had rained and they were coming out and jumping all over the sidewalks.

Wednesday we had service and we had an appointment with a less active part member fam. We had English class and we had a ward family home evening activity and the chapel after that. Some members brought tamales for everyone! They were bomb!

Thursday we had a meeting in Morristown for a few hours and then we came back to Perth Amboy. We didn't have a ton of appointments so we did some knocking and we stopped by a lot of people.

Friday we had to do weekly planning and we had an appointment with the luna family. Such an awesome fam. The have 4 sons who are all out of the house already. One of them is in the marines, two are at byu and one is on a mission in the Montreal Canada mission. They get kinda lonely not having their sons home so they have us over once or twice a week:) also there was a huge storm! We took cover at the chapel for a while and did some Facebook proselyting. It was time that we left so we put on some trash bags and went out. Haha we looked soo funny. But by that time all the rain had stopped and there was a double rainbow and the sky was super cool!

Saturday we had a meeting at the church with our ward mission leader. Later we had an appointment with some members. We made mofongo which is a Dominican dish and is sooo delicious! It made out of mashed up fried plátanos and chicharrón (bacon on steroids basically) and yeah it was good. I took the whole plate like I was going to eat it all haha. 

Sunday was great! Our ward mission leader gave a great talk and elder ferolino and I taught elders quorum. We talked about the Book of Mormon and why we need it. A the end we gave fresh off the press Book of Mormons to all the elders for them to write their testimony inside and give them to friends at work. One of the members actually asked for two! Later that day we were just finding. Not a whole lot of luck but we are out doing what we are supposed to and that's what matters!

Hope you all had a great week!

Talk to you next week!

Love,Elder Marz

EMAIL: WEEK 55 - New Companion

WRITTEN : 8/14/17

Week this week went by really fast, can't believe it's Monday already!?

Well I'll tell you how it went.

Monday was my last day with Elder Sillanpaa. It rained all day so we hung out at the apartment and we went to the chapel for a little bit so members could come by and say their last goodbyes and take photos.

Tuesday we had transfer conference. Said goodbye to elder Sillanpaa and got say goodbye to all the missionaries that went home. A lot of the missionaries that went home are missionaries that I've been around my whole mission. I learned so much from those missionaries and we are going to miss them here! When we got back o Perth Amboy with elder Ferolino we just stopped by most of our members and they were all home so that was sweet! I got to introduce them to elder ferolino.

Wednesday we had district meeting. I'm still district leader and I love it!  My district is a little different this transfer, now I have 1 companionship of sisters!

Thursday was a pretty normal day for us. Not a whole lot happened. We went by some members and our investigators. At the last part of the day we stopped by a family who's from Bolivia and they made some really really good food for us! For those of you who know what empeñadas are these things were like Bolivian empeñadas, super duper good!

Friday I was in Morristown for a leader meeting that took pretty much the entire day. It was with Pres and sister Hess (And yes I still love them! Every time I'm with them I just get a reassuring feeling that know that President Hess was called of God to be here in New Jersey. For the people, for the missionaries, and for many others!). I got to see elder Brooks, that was fun to see him haha, I got a little update on how dover is doing. On the way home we saw a garbage truck with a clown in the back 😬

Saturday we had a meeting in the morning with our ward mission leader and then we had a few appointments with less actives which was really nice. Kinda funny we sorta had our first bible bash with a less active. He has doubts and he doesn't understand why we don't believe in baptizing little children. Anyways after sharing many scriptures out of the Bible and the Book of Mormon it was our time to go and we rescheduled a time for us to discuss this topic some more. So even though it may have seemed like a not so great use of time but actually it was a good use of our time. The Book of Mormon has power! and any opportunity we are given to open it and study it's words we will strengthen our testimony and the Holy Ghost will testify to us that these things are true! Hopefully this less active open his heart and listen to what the Holy Ghost is telling him. There was a Dominican festival that we just passed through on the way home, it was nuts!

Sunday was great. Elder ferolino got to meet some more members. We taught the 12-18 class. We did a Q&A about missions and what they are like. It was awesome to see how many kids want to go on a mission. After church we had a meeting and then appointments with members. We had a class for married couples at 7 so what we did is for the hour right before we stopped by the members homes with invitations to the class and we basically just waited until they were walking out the door to the class. And we had a lot of couples come, it was sooo good! The family starts the parents!

And today we just kinda hung around, did our shopping, got some gainz and that's pretty much it.

Talk to you next week!

EMAIL: WEEK 54 - Last Week until Transfers

WRITTEN : 8/7/17

Last week of until transfers!

This week was good, it went by really fast!

FYI this email will be kinda short, sorry!

Monday was chill. We didn't do a ton. A couple days ago we found a free fryer so we took it and cleaned it all up, bought some potatoes and then Elder Sillanpaa made fries 😂. We were at the chapel for a while for a birthday party, got fed some really good tacos!

Tuesday we had district meeting and then I went on an exchange with Elder Hicks in his area. It was a fun exchange, we basically did service the whole time helping members move.

Wednesday we had a few appointments with members and then we had our family home evening at the chapel with the ward. It was a good turnout but we hope that next week will be better.

Thursday we went to a service we only do once a month cause it takes a big part of our day. And then we had to do TAC, which is deep cleaning of the apartment that happens once a transfer. Then we had a dinner appointment with an active family and then we visited some less actives after.

Friday we did weekly planning and we met with some less actives. On our way home we walked past this group of people who were sitting on the steps right outside their home and the asked us if we had a book? We said yeah we have a book. They wanted our book so we talked a little bit about the Book of Mormon and then we gave them one and set up a return appointment.

Saturday we knocked all day! We found some cool people. This week is full of appointments so I hope we can get some new investigators!

Sunday was great as always. It was even better cause it was fast Sunday! We had a meeting at 8:30 and then church but after there was a baptism of a kid in the ward. Every hour after that baptism we had an appointment. We got wrecked with food! Every appointment we went to we took pictures cause Elder Sillanpaa was pretty sure he was leaving. Then we had the transfer call last night. It turns out that I'm staying in Perth Amboy and Elder Sillanpaa will be going to Jersey City!

Man it's kinda weird that its August already! Time just flies!

Have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Marz