I miss the CCM. It was so sad to leave some of my friends. Although we hadn't been together for a long time, I miss them so much.
I know here in Jersey I will make lots of friends.
So Monday morning I got up at 1:50 in the morning, showered, said a few quick goodbyes, and I was off to NJ. The airport in the morning was a little stressful. I couldn't really communicate, but there was a man there from the CCM to get us through customs. We got through and had to wait for two hours. I slept for about twenty minutes of that. Then we got on the plane and me and sister Monsen talked practically the whole time since we were seated by each other. We are pretty close I guess. Anyways we got to Dallas where we waited for a long time to get into a gate. Then miraculously I got to call you guys. That was wonderful. I wish I could have stayed on a little bit longer. But our plane left and me and Hermana Monsen talked for a while until I fell asleep. I talked a little bit to the guy on my left about the church... but nothing really came of it.
I arrived in Jersey. We walked for a while and then out of the blue I saw President and his wife. They greeted us, helped us get all our bags, introduced us to the cool assistants, then we all left. Elder Bellavance and I rode with the assistants to the cool mission home. It was way cold that night so it felt nice to have a wonderful dinner and a cozy environment. I got to meet with President Jepson. He is phenomenal. That night I was feeling really nervous. I couldn't really sleep, so I was thinking about my day and I noticed I hadn't read my scriptures. Sluggishly I grabbed my scripts and went out and read. Immediately I was calmed and received the Spirit. I went back to bed and slept decently.
The next morning was good. I woke up late due to a malfunctioning alarm clock so no shower for me.... But we had a great breakfast. We went through some training, such as car stuff (which by the way they have nothing of mine for that so I need help). We then packed up all our stuff from the night out in the sunny but freezing weather. Sister Jeppson told us it hit a record that day of an all time low, after a few minutes in the freezing cold, we left to transfer conference. There I met E. Murray. Yes... This is the brother of the kid I gave a blessing to in the CCM. Crazy right. Well for some reason, he and I knew we would be companions... and guess what. We are. He is very energetic and good at being excited. He has been a great trainer, and I am learning a lot. We then went into a very long meeting where I introduced myself, where I would be serving, and my companion. I am in Paterson Walking Spanish. I walk everywhere except to the store on P-days. It is actually pretty good for me and hasnt been too bad yet. We walk a lot, but its refreshing sometimes. Luckily our church is not far from our apartment... actually we are right across the street from it. We are in a Spanish branch with very few members. All the people I teach here are Dominican or Peruvian. The Dominicans cut off there "s" so its como ta instead of como esta. Its weird, but I am slowly getting the hang of it. On the other hand, the peruvians' accents are very clear, but they talk super fast. So sometimes I know what they say, and other times I just guess.
Wednesday was zone conference, and then I have to do four hours of study, so our day started at like six. My first lesson was in English/Spanish, with Milagros. She is a Dominican/Puertorican. She is big. She is very sassy and has some sort of brain damage. She is less active and snooty to her husband. she fed us and is a child of God so I love her. I am Slim Goodie to her. We then walked forever to get to Miguel. Miguel is a genius in history, but lets it get in the way of him finding out if this is true. He doesnt want to know spiritually, so he was dropped a while ago. I was hopin' that I would get to say something, but he talked about his research until we had to leave. That was a hard night.
The next day we visited with Lissette. She spoke in English with us. In this lesson the spirit really took over and guided my words to Jac 2:8 and my experience with the scriptures in the mission home. I shared that with her, with the de la cruz familia, and with this girl named zule. Each time the spirit has taken over and led me to say certain things. Its amazing how the Lord can touch others through the Spirit. He truly does put the words in our mouth.
So I have been preaching and keeping warm. NJ is good... but I am super homesick. Keep me in your prayers, because I get so much needed strength from them and they are felt. Thanks for your love.
Until next week. I love you all.
Elder McFarty
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