It's heating up in New Jersey! May 27 and June 2, 2014

It is heating up in New Jersey!

Querida familia,

How are you all doing? Thank you mom for helping out our investigator!

She called and told me you were very nice and she was so grateful for your help with the immigration question. Yes, I will need two short sleeve white shirts. Thank you so much! Last week was a all time high on lessons with 17. Yesterday we taught Clotilde and Ricardo about prayer and the Book of Mormon. They have a strong testimony on prayer but feel like nothing can be added to the bible. We will be working with them on that. They are a great couple! We then taught Raul about the doctrine of Christ and he received it well. He has some questions on baptism which we are going to address next visit. Raul's friend was also there and is interested to learn more about the church. He is very knowledgeable in the bible and has a strong belief in Christ. He is from Honduras and we set an appointment with him next week. We then taught Giovanni and Yecenia about the Book of Mormon. We were going to go through the restoration but they wanted to read the testimonies of the three witnesses and of Joseph Smith's. As we read it they started to get interested and when we ended they were curious to read the book. The spirit was so strong and were amazed by Joseph Smith's story. I felt that it was one of our better lessons as a companionship. Last Saturday we taught our most progressing investigator the restoration and invited her for baptism for June 29th. She accepted! She is so ready and are very excited for her. The other day we were walking to an appointment and ran into this English speaking lady. She said that she has been looking for a church to fill something she feels is missing in her life. As we told her about the Book of Mormon and the worship services she got interested and wanted to come to church and have the English speaking missionaries come teach her. She said that God must have made us cross paths because she said she never walks this street. We probably would not have contacted her because she was English speaking, but I am glad Elder King did. Yesterday we only had four less actives come, but have many that are committed to come next Sunday. This was our first Sunday at the Scotch Plains church which will be a little bit further for our member, but still got a good turn out yesterday. It has been a great week and I am learning so much every day. I have a strong testimony of fasting. I felt that our four lessons went very smoothly and we invited the spirit. I love you all so much!!

Love, Elder Plummer

Our wonderful branch mission leader

One of the main streets in Dunellen!

In front of our beautiful apartment, it's very green and humid

   Thank you for that article!  We actually have been trying to get 11 contacts a day!  And have seen a difference in our teaching pool.  Tell Kris and Katherine congratulations!  I am happy for them!  I am so happy mom you liked my card!  I love you very much!  Yes!  I would love to have the chocolate protein powder.  This last week we have been visiting our new investigators from our new area that we just received.  We have three investigator that could possibly be baptized this month!  We have Effrian who has a testimony of the church and wants to be baptized.  He is unfortunately living with his girlfriend and have two kids together.  He is figuring that out with some senior couples.  We also have Raquel who is from Costa Rica and never have met anybody with so much of the truth.  She told us of an spiritual experience where she wanted to kill herself when she was 15.  She then said that she felt and heard a voice saying that God loved her. She said that since that time she has devoted herself to God by reading the Bible everyday.  When we explained that we pray to God in the name of Christ she said that made sense to her.  She also came to church last Sunday and is committed to keep coming.  The moment we gave the Book of Mormon  to her she started reading it and said that she feels good about it.  We committed her to pray about it tonight!  We also have Stanley from the Dominican Republic who is in the new area we recently received from the last Elders.  He has a strong testimony and wants to be baptized but works at a hotel every Sunday.  We are working with him to get Sundays off.  Last Sunday was the last day in our building.  Because the building is considered unsafe they are moving us from Plainfield to the Scotch Plains chapel.  It will be harder for less actives and investigators that live in our area to get to church so we are figuring out carpools to get there.  We had the same six less actives attend church last Sunday.  We are so proud of them.  Grateful to be a missionary.  It is hard.  But worth it.  I love you all so very much!   

Love,  Elder Plummer

Mi querido hijo:

Como te ha ido? If you have time, please read this amazing article about the 10 things a missionary should know from a mission president.

http://lets-get-together.com/2014/04/23/10-things-every-missionary-should-know-a-letter-from-a-mission-president/

I will briefly summarize it: 1) Expect an adjustment period - "Gordon, I have but one bit of advice to give you, forget yourself and go to work"  

2) Develop a positive attitude, be optimistic.

3) Smiling will increase success (show those beautiful teeth (retainers at night please).  Pdt. Kimball: a smile goes a long way, you will increase your success, if you are monotone, give your voice inflection, be enthusiastic, studies show that if you smile when trying to sell something, you will sell 30 to 50% more. You are sharing the gospel of Christ. those who smile come across more believable.

4) don't be afraid to be bold- open your mouth

5) learn to be flexible

6) make 10 contacts a day

7) study and pray faithfully daily during and after your mission

8) be grateful you have a companion

9) be absolutely obedient

10) be grateful for the supreme privilege which is yours and remember whose work this is. 

bonus: use hymns when you are teaching. play the piano, even if it is the only song you know. the power of music is stronger sometimes than the power of the word.

The Lord is mindful of all of us!! May 19, 2014

Hola Familia,

  

    It has been a good week.  It seems that the Lord is really blessing our family in Utah too.  It really was a miracle that I have my wallet.  The day we went to go pick it up, Calvin was really kind and we shared with him a pass a long card.  He did not seem interested but said that if I know of any good job to let him know.  I have prayed for him very often.  He is a good and solid Chirstian and I expressed how grateful I was.  I will be sending him a card this week of gratitude.  This week at church we had six less actives attend which is a record for us.  They have been great and have put God first in their lives.  We had Vilma, Hernan, Alex, Jhony, Frankie and Caterlina attend church.  They are coming back strong.  Vilma, Caterlina and Frankie are from Honduras and have strong testimonies and was not hard to get them to church.  Hernan is from El Salvador and is slowly coming back to church.  Jhonny is from Peru and was actually converted in New York City.  He has come the last three Sundays and is close to be put in the active column.  He has gone through a lot and has a strong testimony of prayer and the atonement.  Lately I have had a hard time expressing my thoughts in Spanish during a lesson and I always just have to go with the Gospel terms and the vocab I know.  It is mostly the grammar and when to conjugate but I have been improving lately.  In one lesson we were teaching, Alex just felt that my Spanish just accelerated and was able to quote scripture and convey what I felt I needed to say.  For me that lesson was a powerful lesson that I just needed to open my mouth with confidence and it will be filled.  Yesterday we taught Melvin at a members home.  He has not attended church for about a month because of work but we promised him that if he prayed with faith to get work off on Sundays, the Lord will prepare a way.  We are excited for him.  We also taught our recent new investigators, Giovani and Jasenia. They are from Guatemala and are living together.  We read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and had so many good questions and funny ones as well.  They wanted to know in depth what was the difference between the Lamanite and Nephite civilization,  It was a fun lesson.  We have been mostly teaching less actives this last week as well.  Also, mom the volume on the speaker does not turn down from the input device, so I was thinking if I could send it back and get a speaker out here??  If not, that is ok.  Let me know.  And could you also send some of those nature protein bars or any bars?  Thank you for all you do.   I love you all so very much!  I have been learning so much and especially patience and love. 

  Love,

 

Elder Plummer

The Lord watches over His Missionaries- A miracle just happened!!

Hola familia,

    I am so grateful that I was able to skype all of you!  I love you all so much.  A miracle happen today.  So as I told you I lost my wallet on Saturday and we checked through the apartment, church and called the transit authority.  My companion and I prayed a lot.  This morning we got a call from a guy that found my wallet on the street!  He said that he saw that I was a young student trying to do the right thing and actually told me he was unemployed and if I found a job to let him know.  The Lord is really looking out for me.  I was so worried all morning and actually started to doubt and get angry.  I feel that I don't deserve this great miracle.  But I know that my Heavenly Father loves me.  I am so grateful for that.  It looks like I will be staying in Plainfield another transfer.  I love you all so much.  So grateful to be a missionary!

With an investigator

I love my district

Playing ball on P-day with the locals, he bid me

Its'a great time to be a missionary

Se excited to skype you on Sunday!!!! May 5, 2014

Dear family,

   Thank you so much mom for the Nugo bars, the translated documents and the white shirts!  Glad Tanner had a good time at Prom! Tell Cynthia congratulations and Catherine hello.  This week I will be skyping from Hermano Sanchezs computer, he is the Elder's Quorum president. I will be skyping from their account.  We will be skyping around 6 to 6:30 Eastern time.  If anything changes we have permission to text you this Saturday night. This last week we found our investigator we could not find for awhile.  He said that he works a lot and plays a lot of soccer too.  He wants to come back to church and is willing to make the changes for his life.  We set a baptismal date for May 25th. We are excited for Melvin!  Last week we tried this five story apartment complex that was full of Hispanics.  Everyone was so nice to us and got two return appointments.  We also taught our investigator, Faustino from Cajamarca, Peru!  He has really found peace from our lessons and has a hard time learning but is willing to stay with it.  We have also been teaching him English which has been a great service opportunity.  Yesterday we had Stake conference in Newark.  All Spanish units from Plainfield, Elizabeth, Perth Amboy, Short Hills and Newark attended.  The Temple President of the Manhattan temple spoke on the blessings on the temple.  It was a great talk with so much power.  Our stake president speaks very good Spanish and gave a good talk on not judging others.  My Spanish has improved conversational wise and also understanding much more.  The other night we had just finished a contact and set an appointment when we saw our bus to take us home leave.  We ran to catch it but missed it.  Then this taxi driver told us to get in his car free of charge.  He took us all the way home and said that he always has respected missionaries and invited us to his home.  His wife speaks only Spanish and he speaks very good English.  Unfortunately they are in the other Elders area, so we set up an appointment with them. I am so grateful to be a missionary and have learned so much!  Love you all very much and excited to see you this Sunday.

Love, 

Elder Plummer

The Work of the Lord keeps moving forward in Dunellen, NJ April 28, 2014

Transfer Day

Hola familia,

     How are you all doing? Thank you so much mom for translating those documents.  My investigator really appreciates it and says thank you.  Last week we earned five new investigators!  The first family is an elderly couple that I told you about last week from El Salvador.  We visited them on the return appointment and taught them the 5 steps of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They accepted these doctrines and asked why so many churches are corrupt.  Elder King had a great scripture in Mormon that talked about churches that were built up for only gain and stray away from the things of God.  It was a really good visit and have another return visit.  The other family was a referral from the English elders.  We went to visit this referral and met Rebecca who is from El Salvador who wanted us to teach his 17 year old son who does not really believe in God.  He was not really excited to have us over so we set a return appointment with Rebecca and Pablo.  The next time we went Jorge the 17 year old son was more willing to listen and Rebecca and Pablo were very attentive.  We taught them the importance of the Book of Mormon and committed them to read the introduction.  They all said they would even Jorge.  Jorge understands English better but the parents only know a little English. So we taught in both languages.  It was a great experience.  We have mostly been working with less actives and had actually five less active show up to church.  We have been proud of our less actives as we reminded them that attending church is a commandment and will bless their lives.   On my mission I have learned to be patient and kind.  I have also gained a greater love for the scriptures especially the Book of Mormon.  I am excited for Tanner for his Prom and know he will do great and have a good time.  Thank you mom for sending the white short sleeves!   Last week we had Elder L. Tom Perry visit our mission.  It was an amazing experience as he talked about priesthood power and missionary work.  One thing he said," The time is NOW to hasten the (missionary) work!  We have never seen a time like this in the history of the church."  It was a powerful experience and we all felt the power and authority that he carried as he walked in the room. We all got to shake his hand. It was so cool.   I love you all!  Grateful to be a missionary.

Hope all is well and love you all so much!  Thank you for your prayers and love.  Excited to see you all on Mothers day.

Love,

Elder Plummer

Our Branch Building (part of an old factory building)

I love my Mexico MTC t-shirt

Helping a less active member

Elder L. Tom Perry visited our mission yesterday, Monday, April 21 - It was amazing to feel his presence!

Elder L. Tom Perry, he is very funny and uplifting!!

Thank you so much mom.  I will send the translation over.  It is on a hard copy if that is ok.  The music CD is great!  Thank you!  Today we have time to write to our families because of the all mission conference with Elder Perry yesterday.  It was an amazing experience.  He shook all 250 missionaries hands and I could feel his strong spirit.  He talked about religious freedom and said that "the laws of man should not be contrary to the laws of God."  He also talked about the job of an apostle who is to be a prophet, seer and revelator.  But "also to keep the doctrine pure within the church and to correct the affairs of mankind."   He said that he talked with Joe Biden about the new marriage laws and said it is important to listen and then to comment.  He also talked about how he really looks up to Elder Packer and how he goes to bed at 8 every night so he can wake up at 4am to have time to pray to our Heavenly Father.  Elder Perry said that it is really hard for him to go to bed that early because he wants to check the Red Sox score.  He is really funny.  I love you!

Elder Plummer

 Dear Family,

     Yes!  Elder Perry is coming to our mission today and is going to speak to us.  Thank you so much for the speaker and the CD.  They work great!  Unfortunately the CD player doesn’t work.  Probably it broke on the way here.  But we have one, so it is ok.  We had a great Easter. Yesterday it was a long day.  Most of our appointments fell through and none of our potentials were answering their phones or doors.  We then decided to try a less active with a nonmember spouse.  Fortunately they were home and we started teaching Soniya the restoration.  We asked if she has ever wondered why there are so many churches?  She suddenly became interested and said she has always wanted to ask someone that question.  As we taught about the apostasy and the first vision she said that this all made sense.  The spirit was so strong in the room as we testified of the validity of the Book of Mormon and committed her to read the introduction.  We have a returning appointment with her.  Last week Santos put his baptismal date for April 27!  We are going to go through the baptismal questions with him tonight and get a better feel if he is ready.  We are excited!!.  We also got two new investigators last Saturday.  They are an elderly couple from El Salvador and wanted us to come over to teach them English.  We slowly connected our English lecture to the Book of Mormon.  They said that most of their extended family are members of the church but they are strong Catholics.  We focused a lot on the Book of Mormon and committed them to read the introduction.  We have a returning appointment with them as well. Also this couple received a letter from the immigration office that is all in English.  They asked us to translate but there are a lot of words we don't know how to translate.  I was wondering mom if you have time if we could send the letter to you to translate.  It is three pages long telling her that she needs to stand before an immigration judge for overstaying her visa.  But there are many details we do not know how to translate.  Let me know if you have time.  We also could put it through google translate and send it to you to correct.  Whatever works for you.   I am grateful to be a missionary and have learned so much in my mission.  I love you all so much!  Grateful for your prayers.   

Love you,

Elder Plummer 

Easter Week - Nice weather to do missionary work! April 14, 2014 God speed the right!

Elder Plummer and Elder King (New Companion) at the City Library

New Study Room (We are Peru)

April 14, 2014

Hola familia,

General conference last week was amazing.  I enjoyed all of them.  President Uchtdorf's talk about gratitude was great!  My favorite quote from his talk was, "Gratitude is the catalyst of all Christlike attributes."  That really hit me and have been trying to give at least one prayer of gratitude every day.  I have already seen a difference and really start to appreciate life more.  This last week most of our investigators canceled but visited many less actives.  We were visiting this one less active from Guatemala who has not had contact from the church for months.  He still has a strong testimony of the church but has been having to work two jobs because of his tough financial situation. It is hard for him to attend church.  We promised him that if he found time to go to church he would be blessed spiritually and whatever he stands in need of.  It was a great lesson. Grateful to be a missionary.  I know this is the Lord's work. 

Thank you mom for the cookies!  They were so good and made our day.  Thank you for the Spanish Strength of Youth cards.  We will use them.  Thanks for sending the shorts and Peruvian jersey as well.  It has been a busy and hard week, but worth it.  We made 100 contacts this week because of the good weather.  Sometimes I really forget I am still in the US because all we hear is Hispanic music and only see Hispanics and speak Spanish.  It is so fun because of the good weather everyone is outside with their music and family and usually they are playing soccer.  People are usually very kind.  Last week Santos and Melvin were very busy and we did not get a chance to visit them.  We did visit with Luz who is from Colombia and has been investigating the church for a year and a half.  She made us dinner but really did not listen to our lesson.  Her husband Hernan who is a less active did listen to us and we taught him the importance of obedience.  He received the message very well and the spirit was so strong and we shared with him the verse "if ye love me, keep my commandment" (John 14:15).  He committed to come to church with his wife which he did.  Last Saturday we were visiting an inactive who has not had much contact with the church.  His name is Wilber and still has a strong testimony of the church.  He hasn't been able to come to church because of work which is a common problem here. His wife was also there and is not a member.  She is a devout Catholic but accepted to come and we teach her every week.  We testified to her about the Book of Mormon and felt the spirit.  It has been a slow week because every one has been cancelling.  But we have been busy working with less actives.  I have been learning to really stay focused on the work.  I have learned a lot from Elder King already.  He is very obedient and hard working.  Grateful to be on a mission.  I will try to send some pictures later today.  I will also find out the rules on skyping as well.   I love you all so much.  It has been a hard week, but I know this is the Lord's work.  Thank you for your love, prayers and support.  Have a great Easter!

Love you,

Elder Plummer