THE COLD ZONE!

My goodness! It has been frosty, cold and terribly freezin!  We have been tryin to stay well in this wintry season!  Yes the damp cold has hit Jersey with a vengeance and we have all been feelin it! We have been wearin thermols here along with earmuffs, gloves, scarves, hats, warm coats, boots, layers and whatever else we can to keep us warm! We were warned about the damp cold here.  Last winter was nice and quite balmy.  But it is true!  When that damp cold penetrates everything you have on your body and hits your bones it is COLD!  It actually aches and takes you a while to warm up! But you know what?  There are “SNOW” missionaries like Jersey ones.  Even in this immense cold they are out and talkin to everyone!  This month our missionaries will have taught close to 6,000 lessons to investigators.  A big shout out to them all!  They have caught our new slogan for the next year and a half…..Love, Faith and Effort!  They are lovin more people, havin more faith and puttin in a lot more effort!  We are very proud of our missionaries!

We had another group of wonderful missionaries depart and, of course, a brand new wide-eyed group arrived.  We thought it was cold here, but they had just left the MTC in Utah where they were havin cold zones enough for the whole country. Minus degree weather, freezing rain and ice everywhere and lots and lots of snow! We’ll take a little cooler Jersey for now!

Speaking of a cold zone, we had our zone conferences this month.  However, they were not cold, but very warm and loving! We have such a great time at zone conferences because we get to be with all the missionaries in a 3 day period to have yummy food, some fun, be with friends and should we say mission family and share our faith.  The five F’s of life!  The missionaries were taught great ways on “How to Begin Teaching and Working Effectively with Members”. We are sure hopin all of you back home are working effectively with the missionaries! We also had some instruction on diggin in the scriptures because as you know our scriptures are pure gold!    We had fun singin along with Sister Jeppson who tries to give the missionaries some stress relief.  The letter game during lunch time proved to bring laughter and smiles to many! Some of our missionaries showed off their talents at lunchtime as well.  After the Birthday Song and Way to Be Bag, Elder Pike from Utah did his impersonation of Elmo! Sesame Street had come to the mission.  Then Elder Miguel from Mozambique, Africa showed us a martial arts routine. Elder Blanco from Mexico played a beautiful piano number as did Elder Waite from Idaho.  It has been pure joy having the missionaries use their instruments, voices and a variety of talent to entertain us during Zone Conferences.

We are now heavily involved in Interviews.  Jon and I travel to each zone and interview the missionaries.  President takes one in a room and asks all the hard questions and I get to take the companion in another room, give a gospel message along with chats about their life, home, problems etc and then they all get bagels, fruit, yogurt, string cheese, fruit snacks, drinks etc,! So interviewing is certainly not cold and boring.  The missionaries come away hopefully with a feeling of warmth and love from the both of us.

As for the missionary work…it is HOT!  Lots of lessons, lots of investigators and hopefully lots of baptisms to come out of their hard work.  We had 17 more children of our Heavenly Father enter the waters of baptism.  Jon and I have the best calling each Sunday to see several baptisms each week.  Another family of three, a mother and her daughter and a quiet, shy 13 year old were baptized this week. 

Last month I was in a hurry to pick up my daughter at the mission home and get her back to our All Mission Christmas Conference. A policeman pulled me over and told me I was speeding.  I told him the situation, told him I was a missionary. He said “well, just watch the signs”. I told him he made my day and that I had something to make his day and gave him a pass-a-long card. He thanked me and I sped off.  I told the missionaries what happened and to my surprise one of our darling missionaries, Sister Herrea was pulled over by a police officer a few weeks later.  She started telling him what the missionaries do! She gave him a pass-a-long card and a Book of Mormon.  He gave them his number, they set up an appointment and they are now teaching this policeman! We have decided when you meet a cold police officer give him a pass-along-card with Jesus on the front of it and he will warm right up!!

We are busy getting new apartments, beds, furniture, making new zones and gearing up for the incoming missionaries that are upon us shortly.  We are excited! 

Even though we are in a cold zone here in Jersey our hearts are warm and we are glowin with the Spirit!  We love and miss you, Dad and Mom, Grandpa Jon and Bon Bon,  Jon and Bonnie, President and Sister Jeppson….NJMM