New Jersey Morristown Mission: September 2013

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES….come on…it’s a celebration! You all know that old song from the 80’s! Well we are singing it in Jersey! We celebrated an awesome time here bringing 47 more of God’s children to the waters of baptism. We were so proud of all the missionaries. They worked so hard to bring salvation and joy to many. Our Jersey missionaries stepped up to the call of the prophet and helped hasten His work. Congratulations, Felicidades! Chu-ka-hab-ni-da! Felicitacoes! And Felicitations! In any language, English, Spanish, Korean, Portuguese or French it is fun to say and is always positive bringing smiles to everyone! We are having a great time learning many phrases from many languages!

As the leaves begin to fall we realize that the hot, humid weather is basically over. My poor head of hair has had to be conditioned many times because of heat and high humidity! The dry climate keeps looking pretty good!!! However, we are anxious to see the beauty of Autumn here. With all these beautiful trees the dazzling display of color is a true sight to behold. It is our favorite time of year. We can all celebrate a new season of experiences, adventures and opportunities here in New Jersey. September also brought Leadership Training for new missionaries. We had 2 full days of training and it really helps the new ones adjust, learn and obtain a greater understanding of missionary work in general. We do a lot of role playing which helps them in their teaching. We wish the members would learn to role play more. This skill helps in contacting and sharing the gospel. For two days we fed 65 and then two more days we fed 90! Always buying and preparing food for hungry, hungry missionaries. It does remind me of a game we used to play with our children called “Hungry, Hungry Hippo!” Those mouths were always open ready to eat the marbles!!! Hmmmm….there is a resemblance!!! Our senior missionaries are always very helpful. The missionaries love them and enjoying having them be part of their missionary experience. Our seniors have truly loved their experience. There is nothing like being around missionaries and feeling the Spirit of this work.

We celebrated the completion of 15 fantastic missions once again and joined with everyone in celebrating 20 new missionaries who arrived as well. Our first Peruvian missionary was among them. They are serving in the greatest mission in the church! We celebrate that statement daily!!

We donned our yellow Mormon Helping Hands shirts and vests once more and helped cleaned the streets of Passaic, a city in New Jersey. Weeds, garbage and whatever shouldn’t be on the ground was picked up by 80 missionaries and put into large yellow bags. The city then came by and picked them up. Our missionaries love doing service and the city should have celebrated because it looked much better after our missionaries were through!

There was a huge celebration in Newark this month as the long waited chapel was completed and dedicated. We even got a shout out in the Wall Street Journal. One Bishop who spoke said, “I have waited 34 years. We met wherever we could find a place for many years. I had faith that one day God would give us a place. My day has come. The day I have been waiting for. This is the most wonderful and beautiful church I have ever seen.” They sang songs in four different languages, English, Spanish, Portuguese and French all in a beautiful Spirit of thanksgiving and gratefulness. Many tears were shed as they sang the hymn “The Spirit of God”. The Spirit was very strong and the love and outpouring of gratitude from these Newark saints could be felt with intensity. It was a true celebration! When Jon and I toured the building you could feel a real sense of peace and joy as you heard members comments. The Relief Society sisters started to cry when they saw the kitchen. These saints have been meeting in an office building over twenty years. The font was always freezing, the rooms cold in the winter, hot in the summer and the kitchen was 10 feet by 10 feet. All the modern day touches were installed in this beautiful building. You walk into the rooms and the lights come on, you walk out they go off. There are gardens on the roof with large containers that collect rain water, heated font, everything new. The saints are thrilled! We have never had the opportunity of experiencing this kind of joy over a new chapel! We take so much for granted!

We love our family, friends and our missionaries and celebrate each success with you no matter how small or insignificant you may think it is. So come on…..celebrate good times as missionary work is being hastened and charging forward. We hope you are all helping to hasten it as well!

All our love, Dad and Mom, Grandpa Jon and Bon Bon, Jon and Bonnie, Pres. and Sis. Jeppson-NJMM