Elder Ashton Plummer, Morristown New Jersey : January 2015

Thursday, January 29, 2015

My new area in West New York, NJ with my new companion Elder Perez

Hey family!

We just heard about the storm this morning. President has not said if we should stay inside or anything. We are still waiting for his word. In the news, all those around NY city are being told not to go out in this because the wind speed could get up to 75 mph. They say it will be the biggest storm seen in the area since the 1820s. They’re calling it historic.

Our ward mission leader told us about this storm and said he will keep us updated and will bring over food and water if we need it. He is awesome! This is a very supportive ward! Saturday we were fed three times a day! I was so full I wanted to throw up. There are a mix of Dominicans, Ecuadorians, Peruvians but mostly there is a lot of Colombians. The ward is a great functioning ward.

We had a cool experience. We were walking down a busy street when we had an impression to contact this lady. It seemed out of the way so we kept walking but then we heard a voice saying "excuse me, are you mormons?" It turned out she is from Colombia and recently moved here 2 weeks ago from Miami, Florida. She said she has been wanting to go to church for a while but had no idea where to find it. We set up an appointment the next day and got to know her better. She is going to school to perfect her English and then wants to study to be an actress and get in to Julliard in New York City! She is very talented and smart. We invited her to volleyball that night and she got to know more of the members in the ward. She loved volleyball and thanked us for inviting her.

On top of our apartment in West New York!

My new comp (Elder Perez) and I!

We play soccer on Thursdays and Saturdays at the chapel which is a great finding opportunity. It is a good turn out with a lot of non members attending. It is so fun and I am working on my soccer skills.

Mirna: She is from Puerto Rico and speaks good English. So we teach her mostly in English. We taught her the importance of church and why she needs to pray about if the the church is true. She like to talk a lot and said she will read and pray.

We have been mostly visiting less actives and inactives that have been baptized in the last couple months but have not come to church since their baptism. The ward mission leader is from Ecuador and his name is Hermano Pieoman. He is always calling us seeing how our investigators are doing and if we need anything. He wants us to call anytime we are hungry and he will take us out.. He is so awesome.
My address is 705 74th Street - Apartment 2C, North Bergen, NJ 07047. The apartment is pretty old but it is spacious so it is quite comfortable for both of us. Well, I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and love.

Love,

Elder Plummer

Sunday, January 25, 2015

I was just transferred to West New York, New Jersey walking area on Wed. Jan.21- It's across the river from New York City, it's beautiful

One of our members has an elevator in their house! So cool!

Carmela (From Lima, Peru) she is in the Psych ward. We visit her weekly. She has been a great support to us, missionaries.

Adriana (she is so close to baptism) from the Dominican Republic.

Javier with his mom, brother and cousin. Going to miss them! Javier is so ready to be a missionary!

Brother Baldwin. Always had a good time with him. Going to miss him

Looking out at the Hudson river with Haverstraw in the backgound.

Abi and his son (Omri) He is Jewish and his wife is lds. Such an amazing family. He taught us so much.

Hola Family,
Well, it is official. I am leaving New City. I am going to miss it so much! Yesterday we had a bad ice storm which caused close to 500 accidents in New York. President told all missionaries with cars not to drive for a couple hours. Church was cancelled because a couple members got into bad accidents. Also we found out that Ramon had more problems with coffee than we knew. We went through the baptismal questions with him last Wednesday. He told us his addiction to coffee. We said that if he did not drink coffee from Wednesday to Sunday and not to drink it ever again he could be baptized. Thursday morning he called and said he had been praying about his baptism and said he needed to prepare more. So we are working on a baptismal date for him. He wants to be baptized soon. He is really taking his baptism very seriously. He is such a good example to us. The daughters are very prepared but decided they would like to be baptized with their father. But since church was cancelled, we could not have the baptism yesterday anyways. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
I did get the turron! Thank abuelita, it is so good! I really appreciate it. This week I said good bye to a lot of the members and investigators! Going to miss them.

Last week we taught:

Fransisco: He has many questions about the BOM and baptism. We cleared up those question using the bible and the BOM. I am also using the picture booklet that I got in the MTC which has been helping a lot. The spirit really guided our conversation and we invited Fransisco to do Moroni's challenge to ask if these things are not true. He said he will

Mauricio: We felt prompted to visit him at random and turned out he was home. The spirit is so cool. He had a hard time with Joseph Smith and the BOM. It started off as a little bible bash but then we moved it to James 1:5 asking if these things are true. He said he would read it and pray about it before he gave it up. He did invite us to come back.

Christian & Manuel: They are around 15 to 16 years old but very polite and intelligent. They do get distracted easily so we decided to watch the 20 minute Restoration video. They were really touched by it and after Christian said, "Yo creo que esto es verdadero". and we had a great discussion about the BOM. We committed them to read the first chapter of Nephi and said they would to it today! Such a great lesson.

Adriana: We went through the 17 points of the true church in the Bible. She really liked it and made sense to her. She is still praying and thinking about baptism. She is still committed to her Christian church but is now sincerely investigating the church.

Javier: He is now coming out with us to teach! He is so excited to serve a mission. He has started reading more of the BOM and is almost done with Nephi! It was hard to say good bye but is planning to go to the temple in February so, I will have the opportunity to go back when he goes! Excited for that.

Carlos: He is Jimi's dad and is really interested what we have to say about life after death. We had a good conversation on the Plan of Salvation. He started asking random questions about the 2nd coming and the end of the world. We were just talking about everything from technology to reincarnation. It was an interesting lesson but he wants to learn more. He has a lot of questions we are going to answer.

Mario: We showed him the restoration video and really enjoyed it. We had a great conversation about the importance of church. He said he will read the BOM and pray this week. Great guy.

These are some of the people we taught last week. Well, next week I will let you know where my new area is. I love you all so very much!

Elder Plummer

Email from Elder Muro: So this week is transfers!! The Reign of Elder Plummer and Elder Muro in New City is over :(. E. Plum will be transferred out tomorrow and the dynamic duo will no longer be. It was way fun working together. let me tell ya. having a good friend from back home as a companion is the coolest thing ever. We worked so hard and had PLENTY of fun. haha. Im gonna miss this big guy but we'll play ball after the mish.

All of us struggle with something that keeps us from being perfect. It's always a challenge as humans to be the best we can because Satan is always behind us. He knows us as well as our Heavenly Father does. We have to love each other no matter what happens in life. He will bless us if we keep the commandments though. That's what helps all of us if we do it. (mosiah 2:41) Check out the scripture because it's boss.

I love you all and pray for success for all of you in life.

*pic of Elder Plummer and I with Javier and his family. He can't wait to serve a mission.

Email from Elder Plummer:
Just wanted to let you know really quick that I have been transfered to West New York, New Jersey walking area, right across the river from New York City! It is a beautiful city with lots of people. We cover about a dozen streets because it is a very populated city. My companion is Elder Perez from Las Vegas. He is great! He is half Spaniard and half Mexican. Really cool guy. Well, just wanted to let you know where I am. Love you all dearly!

Elder Plummer

Thursday, January 15, 2015

A member gave us this beautiful flag! So proud to be an American and a missionary sharing the Book of Mormon.

Hey Family,
I absolutely love the bag! It fits perfectly and is very comfortable! Thank you so much! The contacts are great and I am not having any problems with them. My back is doing better, I do still feel a little pain but it is getting better. I am doing some back exercises which have been helping.
Tanner, I am SO excited for you! I am glad that you are studying Preach my Gospel! You will clearly have an advantage when you come in the mission field. I think this is my last week here in New City.

I am going to miss this place and the people soooo much. But I know that it may be my time to go. Yes, Costco accepts my insurance card without a problem.

Javier got confirmed yesterday and I had the opportunity to do it. The spirit was so strong and just filled the room. Ramon and Stephanie and Katherine are excited for baptism this Sunday! They are so ready! I will send pictures of the baptism next Monday! I have grown so much here in New City, New York and I am going to miss it a lot. Well, I love you all so much! Grateful for your support and love!

Love,
Elder Plummer

Monday, January 5, 2015

Amazing 13 yr old young man was baptized yesterday!!

I enjoyed interviewing this beautiful family for baptism

Trying really hard to eat healthy, mom, thanks for the green smoothies recipe

This 13yr old boy is amazing

Elder Muro baptized Javier and I confirmed him

Playing the piano during sacrament

A beautiful spirit at Javier's baptism

Dear Family,
Javier was baptized yesterday by Elder Muro! It was a great service. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. His mom is a little unhappy with him being baptized but she will support him. For being 13 years old he knows a lot about the church but most importantly he is acting on his faith and testimony of the church and Christ. Such a great spirit! Yesterday for sacrament meeting the organist was sick and they asked me to play the piano. I played "Come follow me" which went alright and of course "Thank thee O God for a Prophet". It was great!
The trip to California looked so fun! I am glad you all had a great time. THANK YOU so much for ordering the messenger bag and the contacts! I have not received them yet but I will probably get it today. The crockpot could be a good idea. We don't have a lot of time at night so I don't know if I could put it all together. But we will see. Thanks for the idea! That is great to hear from Parley! Tell him hello for me. Miss playing basketball with him. I need to use the toothbrush. I will use it tonight :)
This is how our investigators are doing:
Ramon, Stephanie and Katherine accepted baptismal dates for Jan. 18th! They are reading the BOM and attending church. His wife has not attended church yet but we invited her to be baptized in Feb. She accepted. This family is so prepared to enter the Kingdom of God.
Natalia: She has decreased her consumption of coffee and has mixed it with the coffee substitute. It has been helping her to feel more healthy but says it has been so hard. She looked so much healthier and happy! We give her calls of encouragement often.
Fransisco: We picked him up as a new inv. last week. He is from Guatemala and loves reading the Bible. We taught him the restoration and he said it makes sense. The spirit was strong and we invited him to baptism. He declined but says he needs to think and pray about it.
Christian: He broke his leg last week playing soccer. We read 2 Nephi 31 with them and were very attentive. Great lesson.
It looks like I will be leaving New city in about two weeks but I am not for sure. I have been here for almost 6 months but does not feel like it. I can't believe I am going to hit my year mark this Thursday! It has gone way too fast. Love being a missionary! I know we can not do anything without the spirit. Grateful for his guidance. We are seeing miracles in our zone and area. Our zone has 23 scheduled baptism for this month! The Lord has blessed us. Love you all so very much!

Elder Plummer

Friday, January 2, 2015

Christmas in the mission field was an unforgettable experience!!! December 29, 2014

Hey everyone!

Christmas was great! We did caroling at a random street in Haverstraw and gave out many "He is the Gift" cards. Christmas in the mission field was a unforgettable experience. The highlight of the week is our 13 year old investigator, Javier who came to church for the first time in a couple months. He has been taking the lessons with his mom for about three years. The young men were talking about how fun the temple trip was and Javier asked us what he needs to do to attend the temple. We said he needs to be baptized. And then replied," I want to be baptized this next week!" We then took him to the next room and talked about the seriousness of baptism and to pray about it. He said that he felt happy and at peace here at church and said he would like to be baptized next week. We wanted to make sure he knew the lessons and he knew most of them! We are waiting for permission of his mom. So cool! What a miracle!

Ramon has accepted to be baptized with his family. They came to church yesterday and mingled very well with the members and participated alot in all the classes. Do you remember the story I told you about Ramon's daughter not being able to sleep? Well, Ramon was telling us the night we gave the blessing, after she slept well and has not been having any problems! What also helps her sleep is reading the Book of Mormon and putting it under her pillow before she sleeps! Wow, another miracle! Well, I am grateful to be an instrument in the Lord's hands and be apart of his work. Love you all!

Elder Plummer

This week we also had like 5 Christmas dinners and some presents that people gave us. (lots of chocolate and socks). It hasn't snowed all December and Saturday felt like spring!