Post Christmas!

Happy day after Christmas everyone!

Just having a great time over here in Princeton. 

Christmas was awesome! We went to the LeSuers for breakfast, sooooooooooo good! Brother LeSuer made this egg dish with tapatio, I was in heaven because for some reason you can't get tapatio out here! Then we went to church, solid day, sung hymns and the Arnold family read the story of Christs birth over the pulpit. After church we went to the Castano-Owens where we were definitely fed well haha I got a new tie and a Seahawks beanie for Christmas from the members. Then we went and contacted people on Nassau street. Sooo much fun.

Not much else to report, please tell me how your Christmas was everyone!

Much love,

Elder McOmber

Still There!

Hey everyone! No I wasn't transferred, the mission president is thinking about redrawing area lines for the two areas in our ward, so he asked me and my companion to go in and work part of Trenton (picture included) to see how the work goes and see where the lines should be drawn. We got our first chance to go down there on Saturday, and not going to lie, It felt pretty good. In the two hours we spent there we were able to find two people who are willing to hear our message. We were trying by a .member, but she wasn't home. So we knocked around them and ran into this guy named marquise, he let us in and we ended up talking to him about the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ for about 15 minutes and gave him a Book of Mormon to read. We are looking forward to seeing him soon. On Friday we had the Christmas all mission conference, so all the missionaries in our whole mission got together in Morristown. I got to see elder Follett and elder Merritt, we had a blast! My mission president attempted to do the whip  On Sunday we had the English Christmas Fireside. All the English missionaries in the mission got together and formed a choir. A lot of people came! Huge success and Gillian surprised me by showing up! It was really nice to see her as well as elder Crowther and Kyle (picture included). I love you all! If you have any questions feel free to email me! Elder McOmber

December 12, 2016

Update on Richard: we met with him on Thursday in the Primary Presidents house, with the 10 year olds Sunday school teacher so that he could build a connection with them and feel comfortable at church. It went really well! He was also able to attend church and he had a great time! Loving working with him.

On Wednesday, our ward did a missionary activity. All the youth got mission calls when they came in. They all opened them together and it got a little crazy haha (video included).They all went to their corresponding missions (rooms) in the building. And then the missionary companionships went around and told them about different aspects of the mission. And then at the end the end we all came together and bore our testimonies of this gospel and the importance of missionary work.

On Saturday we had Traditions With the Taggerts (at the mission presidents house) soooooooo much fun. We had an amazing breakfast and then read Luke 2 and sang Christmas songs. 

I have to get going, but I love you all!

Elder McOmber

December 6, 2016

Just loving life in Princeton! Hey everyone, nothing too crazy this week. Just a week full of being a missionary 😊 On Tuesday, We were stopping by some people that we haven't seen a church in a while. We ended up stopping by this guy named Patrick while he was home. We watched the because of him video and got talking. He is a super cool guy who just stopped going to church while he was in the army and hasn't really been back since. He is going through some things and has to work on Sundays, we asked him if he knew anyone that could really use the gospel in their lives and he said, "actually, maybe." He told us to get in the car and follow him. He took us to this foreign exchange program that he helps run. It is full of people from china who want to go to college here in the US. We had the opportunity to talk with them a bit about the gospel. It was SUPER cool because most of them knew VERY little about Jesus Christ. It was a very unique opportunity, even though we didn't get any return appointments it was still a moment in my life I will cherish. On Saturday we met with Yves and his 10 year old son Richard, we taught them about the plan of salvation they are working towards baptism! At the end of the lesson We asked Richard to say the prayer. He said the most beautiful prayer I think I have ever heard. It was a beautiful children's prayer. I literally had tears in my eyes. After the prayer he said, "guys, I just talked to god." It is a moment I will never forget. I love you all and I hope you are all lighting the world! (Mormon.org) Elder McOmber

Princeton, and played football in the Giant's stadium!!!!

Transfer 1 in Princeton is over!

I can't believe it has already been 6 weeks, man time flies. I really love this area and the people in it. Especially the members!

Thanksgiving was awesome! All of the missionaries in the southern half of the mission got together and did a turkey bowl at Princeton stadium! Soooo much fun! You already know I balled out haha but someone got hurt so we had to stop early 😕

After the turkey bowl we went to the LeSuers (our ward mission leader's house) for an early thanksgiving dinner. It was sssoooooo good! After finishing that meal we went to the Marcelinos. The father is Brazilian and an AMAZING cook so we had a second thanksgiving there and it was soooo good... I don't think I have ever been so full in my entire life. 

On Saturday we had dinner at the Owens. I love them SO much! They made some of the best chicken I have ever had in my life, they put it in the oven with pepper jack cheese over it. They were so kind and gave me the left overs.... they are already gone... After dinner we talked about the new Christmas initiative the church is doing. If you haven't heard about it is soooo cool, I don't care if you are a member of the church or not you have to join in! It is a service advent calendar. Instead of eating chocolate everyday of December, the idea is to do a small act of service, but you can eat chocolate too haha just go to Mormon.org it has a cool video all about it, as well as ideas for small acts of service for everyday of December leading up to Christmas! Let's all help god light the world!

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

-Mosiah 2:17 (The Book of Mormon)

Go and serve!

Much love,

Elder McOmber

November 21, 2016

This past week was a week full of tender mercies, here are a few: Yves We were contacting down Nassau st. (Right in front of the university) and we started talking to this super cool guy named Yves (pronounced Eve) we started talking about the Book of Mormon and why it is so important, he said he had one a long time ago and had even come to church. But he had to move for a time and lost contact with the missionaries. We figured out a good time that we could come back and he told us that he wants us to talk to his 10 year old son about being baptized. Jim We were knocking doors in Belle Mead showing people a really cool 3 minute video about Jesus Christ. We knocked into Jim, he was on the phone, we told him that we were sharing the video with everyone and that it is worth a watch. He wrapped up the call and we watched the video. We talked about the Book of Mormon and he said he would read it. We came back 2 days later and shared with him the message of the restoration and we will be going back on Wednesday to discuss the plan of salvation. Super cool guy. Herber We were knocking doors in franklin and it seemed like no one was home or interested. We knocked this one door with this really nice front yard, no one was home but there was a man working in the yard, we started talking to him and he was running behind schedule, so we took off our ties, rolled up our sleeves and went to work. We dug this long trench to hide wires for the lights he had just installed, it took about 2 hours to finish the job, we got to talking and he asked if we do "prayers over sick people" we told him we do. I showed him a picture of Jesus Christ in the restoration pamphlet (with his hands on the apostles head) and we talked about how the priesthood authority that Jesus Christ had has been restored to the earth. He asked us if we could give his daughter a blessing. She had recently gotten a bad knee injury. We said we would love to. He took us to the hospital and we gave her a blessing. SUPER cool experience, the spirit was sooooo strong. They invited us over for thanksgiving, and I am looking forward to it :)  This week is the time that we celebrate one of my favorite holidays. I will always remember the great times going over to my grandparents house and eating crazy amounts of food with my extended family, and taking part in so many great family traditions.  It is a time of the year that we are able to reflect and ponder on what we are grateful for. Thanksgiving gives the people of this great land the chance to take stock and consider how blessed we truly are. Gratitude for life’s tender mercies and blessings will help us all be better people.   For all the wonderful things in my life which God has given me I AM TRULY GRATEFUL. For the Savior and His Atonement. the ultimate gift of Love that he continually gives. For my Parents, and the amazing example of Christian discipleship they were and are to me. For my brothers and sister  who continue to love and support me in so many ways. For the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all that it brings to my life. So many blessings that come because of these unchanging and foundational truths. For the many incredible missionaries, here in New Jersey and all over the world who give and serve each day to Help others come unto Christ.  For Leaders and Servants who have laid it all on the alter of sacrifice to teach me and the people of the world what truly matters. A living Prophet of God who gives us counsel and guidance that brings happiness and Joy. 12 Apostles who are full time consecrated ministers to the world. For many friends who have mentored and molded me, who have supported and sustained me through the good times and the bad.   For this great country of America. Even with the trials and challenges that we face we are still the greatest nation on the planet (in my opinion haha). We are still the bright beacon to the world showing all that Freedom must reign. For turkey, mash potatoes, pumpkin pie and other great food that seem to only come on Thanksgiving.  For Football. Even though I won't be watching it this thanksgiving I am still grateful for it! For all those people who dot the earth who are trying their best to do good things. For the millions who work each day to make life better for someone else. I am so thankful for goodness that abounds in the lives of so many. It is obvious to me that the world we live in is so much better that what we are led to believe by the media. This world is full of wonderful people who want to be happy and are helping others to find it. If we simply open our eyes to all that is good out there we will see it and we can find it. For these things and many, many more I am so Grateful. Much love, Elder McOmber Look everyone! It's Albert Einstein!Â

second week November

This week was pretty cool, On Wednesday we went to the "3 week meeting" where President and Sister Taggert basically make sure that all the trainees and the trainers are doing okay and no one is feeling stressed out. It's my 3rd time going through it, but it doesn't matter how often I go, I LOVE the training that President Taggert gives. In it he talks about the plan of salvation (gods plan for each and every one of us). If you have any questions about where we came from before we came to earth, why we are here, or where we are going after we die, please ask! After the meeting we met with a man named Juan with a member of our congregation. Juan is super cool. We talked to him about Jesus Christ and the church that he set up while he was on the earth, and about how Through Joseph Smith he restored the church to the earth. Juan was super open and wants to find out whether or not it is true, so we gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read and pray about it. We are looking forward to meeting with him in the future.  On Friday we went to the Philadelphia temple! Sooooo awesome. Easily my favorite temple. So much American history in the architecture as well as the surrounding sights. I wish we had time to see them all. But even more amazing was the spirit that was felt inside. Man I wish I could feel that all the time but it was definitely a breath of heavenly air before returning to the struggles of life haha (pictures included) On Sunday we had the primary program in our ward. So it was cute seeing all the little ones growing a testimony of Jesus Christ.  Love you all! Elder McOmber

November first week

Man this week was a real rollercoaster. But I only want to share one experience because it truly was an amazing experience. For sure one of the major highlights from the mission. My companion and I have just been doing our best to talk to everyone. 2 weeks ago we started talking to this guy named Kulbir (pronounced Colby). We talked about the Book of Mormon and some of our basic beliefs. After a little while we told him that we would love to come back and talk to him more about our beliefs. He said I would love to but I don't have that kind of time. I said that it would only take 15-20 minutes and he was like, "REALLY?!" We were like yeah! And so we got his number, and we hadn't been able to contact him in 2 weeks until we got a random text from him during district meeting. we set up a time to meet with him and went and met him. We did some HTBT and found out his religious background, that he was from India and he is a doctor. We then started teaching the restoration. It wasn't until we got to Jesus Christ earthly ministry that we really got his interest. When we got to Joseph Smith, I recited the first vision and you could tell that it really hit him. I asked him, how do you feel right now? He said, I feel the Holy Spirit confirming that this is true. I testified that what he said was true because I was feeling it too. We discussed the Book of Mormon and why it is important and the priesthood being restored. And he told us he had been praying for spiritual guidance and help with his faith in the Christian God. With tears in his eyes he told us that we were the answer to his prayer. He then asked us where he could buy a copy of the Book of Mormon, and I told him "you can have this one." Giving him the copy I had in my hand. He took it and said "thank you, thank you so much." And then started writing on the first page. (Picture attached) After talking a bit longer he asked about our belief when it comes to right after we die. He had heard people say things that weren't true about what we believed so we talked about how right when we die our spirits and our bodies separate. Our spirit then goes to a place known as the spirit world, I asked him "have you ever thought about how we are judged based off of whether or not we followed Jesus Christ and his teachings, but there are people who never even get a chance to hear about Jesus Christ? He said "I have been asking that question to christians since the day I became one. I told him that the spirit world was a place where those who didn't get that chance to hear about and follow Jesus Christ get that chance. Tears started to fill his eyes again. I told him that I know that God put us on Nassau street at the same time 2 weeks ago to give you this opportunity to hear about this gospel, he said, "I was thinking the same thing." Kulbir lives in Philadelphia so he will continue to be taught and go to church there, but I know that Kulbir was just as much an answer to our prayers as we were for his. I am looking forward to hearing about his progress as well as finding ALL of those God has prepared for us to find as we continue to "Open my mouth" Elder McOmber

First week in Princeton, NJ

It's been a crazy week! 

Tuesday was crazy! I through all my stuff into bags Monday night and Tuesday morning and we were off to transfers. Before I left I threw my shoes that had holes in them on the power line outside my house ( it's a thing here in Jersey City, picture attached) at transfers I met my new companion Elder Brinkerhoff, he is a good guy and we are going to have a lot of fun! (Video attached) 

The rest of the week was A TON of just talking to people, knocking on doors, and street boarding. Just basically anything to find people to teach. We knocked our own complex saying that we just moved into the complex and that we were looking for service opportunities. We met 2 super cool people. The first was Pat. Nice lady who has had some recent health problems so she can't leave the house too much and needs help walking her dog. We walked her dog for ten minutes and then came back and shared a spiritual message. She wants us to come back every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to walk her dog and said she would be interested in hearing all our messages! The second person was Lisa, she said that she worked at a senior center where they needed more people to come, play cards and talk with the people, we told her we would love to do that! After a while of talking the topic of the Book of Mormon came up and we talked to her about how important it is. She told us she would read it and was open to have us come back to tell her more about it. Things are looking up

Sunday we met the ward, and I love them! Definitely different from Jersey City though haha things are a lot more casual. We are going to be meeting with a lot of members this week! Gillian got baptized!!! I couldn't go because I was a whole state away but I heard it was amazing. Elder Crowther told me that the spirit was SO strong and everyone felt it. It has been a long road getting Gillian the opportunity to be baptized and I am so blessed to have been a part of that process!

I am happy to be here in Princeton, It is sooooo beautiful and I am very excited for all the possibilities!

Love you all,

Elder McOmber

Special shoutout to my cousin Ethan Thompson! He goes into the missionary training center this week!

This week was my last week in jersey city. I am going to miss this place so much! After serving here for 7 months, I have been called to train a new missionary in Princeton, New Jersey! Gonna be a blast.

I've had some amazing times in this area. I said my goodbyes to all the members, the hardest goodbye was probably Rashee, Gillian, and Jahadah. Luckily I will be seeing them tonight before I leave tomorrow. I have been so blessed to have gotten to know them so well. I look forward to all of the amazing things God has in store for me and for them!

If anyone knows about Princeton New Jersey let me know!

Much love!

Elder McOmber

The district at our last district meeting

October 8, 2016- I love this missionary!

Slower week this week. Lots of contacting. Met some cool people though!

We met this one guy named Nathan. He thought we worshiped Joseph Smith, we explained to him that we are christians (we are the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints) he was super cool and after talking to him for 20 minutes about the importance of the Book of Mormon  he decided to take one and read it to know whether or not it is true. Super cool guy!

I didn't get a chance to talk much on it last week, but General Conference was awesome. It is such a blessing to be able to hear from God's Living Prophet and Apostles.

My favorite talk was by Elder K Brett Nattress, in it he said, "The gospel truly is about the one. It is about one lost sheep (see Luke 15:3–7); it is about one Samaritan woman at a well (see John 4:5–30); it is about one prodigal son (see Luke 15:11–32). And it is about one little boy who might claim he is not listening. It is about each one of us--as imperfect as we may be--becoming one with the Savior as He is one with His Father (see John 17:21). I testify that we have a loving Heavenly Father, who knows us by name! I testify that Jesus Christ is the living Son of the living God. He is the Only Begotten and our Advocate with the Father. I further testify that salvation comes in and through His name--and in no other way. It is my prayer that we will devote our hearts and our hands to helping all of Heavenly Father’s children to know Him and to feel His love. As we do, He promises us eternal joy and happiness in this world and in the world to come. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

I testify that everything he said is completely true. The gospel really is there for each of us. Heavenly Father knows you by name, and cares deeply about you!  

Love you all and I hope you all have a good week!

Elder McOmber

Picture 1: all m missionaries in my original area on top of the church

Picture 2: my companion and me.

Loving life here in New Jersey!

We met some cool people this week:

Eileen: we were looking for service and saw a nice women struggling with bags of groceries, we helped her get her stuff up to her apartment and asked if she had ever seen missionaries like us before. She then told us that she was baptized into our church over 20 years ago and was recently praying for direction in life and felt like we were god sent. Everything happens for a reason. 

Renee and Genesis: two really cool people we ran into, we taught them the beginning of the plan of salvation, they were interested in having us come and teach them and their families. Looking forward to it!

Update on Rasheem and Jennifer: they came to church! And they loved it 😊 looking forward to meeting wit them on Wednesday.

Update on Rashee: we haven't been able to meet with him in a couple weeks but it is because he has been super busy with school, football, and work. He came to church and told us that he is quitting work because he needs to make God a priority in his life. He wants to find a job that will honor his Sunday devotions. He is so awesome!

Update on Gillian: she is doing well! She is meeting with the bishop on Thursday so that they can get to know each other. Things are moving 😊 we stopped by while she was at work to surprise her haha (picture included)

Update on Shruthi:I don't know if I talked about her before but a couple of weeks ago we contacted this guy named Ashok, he was atheist but he said his friend would be interested. Her name was Shruthi, she was super cool and loved the lesson, we found out she lives a half a street into the hieghts area so we passed her off the those elders, she has taken all of the discussions and is getting baptized. Every week at church she comes up to me and tells me the countdown to the baptism next week and gives me an update on what she learned. She was so prepared it's crazy!

At church Brother Murphy (they guy we used to help read every week) came up and told us that he has been missing us since they split the area. He is so awesome (picture included)

I just love it out here! If you have any questions about what I believe or what I do out here, please feel free to shoot me an email! 

Love you all,

Elder McOmber

Happy bday Elder McOmber! Caught a shark, if a Greek person could rap the bible, I think it would sound like this video...

Hello all! I just want to say, thank you for all of the birthday wishes! They really meant a lot 😊 Pretty Long week, Elder Crowther and I just talked to A LOT of people. Sometimes it gets hard finding those that want to listen, but you just gotta keep trying. My birthday! My birthday was a blast, we started out the day contacting the top of our area, after doing that for 3 hours we took a 7/11 slushy break, so good. Worked again for a while and went to Taco Bell, where this homeless guy came in and sang Psalms 1 for us! The video is attached, He was super cool haha Sunday Sunday was stake conference, for those of you who don't know that means all of the congregations in the Jersey City and Newark area get together super fun! After that we came back to jersey city and helped with a baptism for Bayonne (they don't have a baptismal font, and ours water system gets complicated) went the rest of the day doing the work but at 8 we went down to the waterfront to talk to people and see the 9/11 tribute across the water. Super cool! While we were there this guy caught a mini shark! That about sums up the week! I hope next week is a little more eventful haha Love, Elder McOmber

Aug 29, 2016

Hello everyone! This week has been a blast! Elder Crowther and I are going out and talking to everyone! I don't remember if I talked about her yet but Elder Crowther contacted this girl named Solange in a Dunkin Doughnuts, we taught her the restoration there but had to leave for another lesson. We got in contact with her and met with her this week at the church with another member. She had done a lot of reading and homework of her own and came loaded with questions. We answered them all and then taught the Plan of Salvation. Afterward we talked a lot about baptism and she has accepted September 25th as a day to work toward. Super cool lesson. The Elders in the Jersey City Heights Area Contacted two cool people named Rasheem and Jennifer. We had an awesome lesson with them and Jennifer's mother Debby. After talking about the Restoration of Jesus Christ we told them we will be holding a baptismal service on the 25th and asked them if they wanted to get baptized. Jennifer looked at Rasheem and said, "Are we ready baby?" He said, "Yeah, we're ready" Then she said, "Alright the 25th is the day." We turned to Debby and asked, "what about you Debby?" Debby said, "If Gods with it, I'm with it." Hahaha such an awesome lesson." Update on Alex: Alex is in Mexico now and doing well! He went to church and said he loved it. We also talked about him going to the Mexico City Temple soon! Last but definitely not least, on Sunday the primary president wanted Elder Garfield, Elder Crowther, and Me to dress up as Book of Mormon Prophets and act out some stuff and they guessed who we were. Elder Crowther was Nephi, Elder Garfield was Abinadi, and I was Alma All I can say is I am loving it here in Jersey City! Much Love, Elder McOmber

Aug 22 letter

Hello everyone! I love you all and I appreciate the prayers! We stopped by someone's house who had not been to church in over a year, just make sure all was well with him and see if there was anything wrong and if we could help out in any way, turns out he has moved to West Africa! His son, Albert, is living in the residence now and we were able to teach him the message of the restoration and we will be back again later today. On Tuesday during district meeting, the senior couple did a fun game with all of us (Picture and video included) I love them so much! I went on exchange with another new missionary named Elder Findlay. He is a really good guy. He is from Pocatello Idaho and he had never seen a sky scraper before! I took him into Newport and we contacted people at the waterfront. The whole time he was just saying, "Elder, I have never seen anything like this before, this is amazing!" Hahaha I loved it. Update on Gillian: she is awesome, we had a couple lessons with her and Jahadah. We are hoping that we can go to the Philadelphia Temple open house with her. She is intrigued with the idea of temples and wants to go. That is pretty much it when it comes to highlights from the week, but still a really good week full of blessings. Much love from New Jersey Elder McOmber

Aug 15 letter

It has been an awesome week! Jahadah is continuing to be so active with the missionaries! She is with all three sets weekly! She has been especially helpful with Gillian. Gillian is very shy so it is really good for her to have a solid friend helping her along. We had an awesome Word of Wisdom lesson with both of them in Newport. Gillian came to church for the fist time on Sunday! So happy about that, she bought a new dress for it and she said she couldn't sleep the night before. You could just see how nervous she was. But Jahadah made her feel welcome and took her around with her. After church she said she really enjoyed it! It was Alex's last Sunday in jersey city, he is off to Mexico on Wednesday. I am bummed because I thought I had more time with him but it's okay because I know it isn't really goodbye. I will be able to skype him as well as Facebook him. I made my special desert and we sat and had a very nice gospel discussion that included many Gospel principals. Those are all the major updates from this week! Love you all, Elder McOmber 1 and 2 Me on top of an Elephant after the lesson with Gillian and a picture next to where we had the lesson 3. Picture with Alex on top of the church 4. The last hug I gave him in Jersey City

letter from Aug 8

It has been an awesome week! Update on Jahadah: We have three sets of missionaries in our ward and every single day this week she went out with at least one of the sets of missionaries to teach a lesson! She is getting very excited for her mission! She has introduced one of her friends to us, her name is Madavi. Madavi is so cool, she was a Hindu and she had lost her faith in God. Jahdah introduced her to us and we taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She ate it right up, she is really diving into the New Testament and the Book of Mormon because she really wants to know who Jesus Christ is. It is so cool to work with someone's faith from the ground level! Update on Alex: he is doing well! He was given the priesthood yesterday at church! He invited us to his apartment to have a few bean, chorizo, and cheese burritos. Soooo good. He told us that he had to go to Get some more undergrad work to get done in Mexico. So he is leaving on August 15. I am not going to lie I was really bummed because I thought I was going to have 10 more weeks with him. I am sure He will be great and stay strong in Mexico and I will be able to stay in contact with him! Yesterday was my favorite Testimony meeting I had been to in my life! To start off, Jayla and Rashee were at church, super awesome to see them there. It was Fast and testimony meeting. Sister Sabo bore her testimony because to was the 9th anniversary of her joining the church, she talked about how it was such a blessing in her life and that she was never turning back, she also said it was the 24th anniversary of her being sober. Then princess got up and shared her testimony of her conversion experience. She talked about how she had been smoking crack for 30 years and how the church took her from a life of drug dealing, getting jumped, homeless, being dragged by cars, to living a godly life, being drug free, and having true friends that were there for her. She said, "The atonement works from the inside out!" It was truly amazing to hear her complete turn around and to see how happy she was about it. She then pulled out her harmonica and started singing amazing grace. A Brother who had been visiting for the past 3 weeks from Utah, got up and said that this was his last Sunday in this ward. He said it was the best ward he had ever been in, and that it was definitely the most powerful testimony meeting he had ever been a part of! He wasn't wrong. Latrinda Ross got up and bore her testimony on how awesome the leadership has been in this ward. Bishop Thompson is an amazing bishop. To cap it all off we saw an old women that we had contacted a couple days before walk in, we had told her about the meeting and so she knew it was a testimony meeting. She got up and bore a testimony about how great God is and how he has totally turned her life around. In third hour I was with Elder Garfield in Young men's where Brother Dyer did a very real and in depth lesson where he talked about this amazing experience. He is a Stage dancer for Pop Artists (One of the most physically fit guys I have met) He had been given an opportunity of a lifetime and was told to think about, He then got home and realized that he needed to do some scripture study, after that he prayed and said, "God, I really want this job, but I want you to know that If this is something I shouldn't do then tell me. Nothing in this life is worth stopping my eternal progression and coming to church to take the sacrament feeling awful." He said that he didn't accept the job but later he was given even better opportunities that allowed his life to grow even more. I love this ward so much!

better be ready!!! Elder McOmber is your new companion!!!!

Hello everyone! Pretty eventful week! On Monday, Elder Woodward and I went around and he said his goodbyes to everyone, he had the pleasure of serving in this ward 3 times over his mission so he was super close with them all! On Tuesday I met my trainee! (Video of us meeting at the end/attached) that experience was the moment that we found out that we were companions. He is the man hahaha he wants to talk to everyone! On our first day we were sitting in the car at a red light and he rolled down the window and yelled, "hey! We have a message about Jesus Christ do you want to hear it!" We talk to a lot of people hahaha He is fresh out of Utah and never lived anywhere else, he gets really surprised when we talk to someone who has never heard of Mormons or the Book of Mormon. He is a little scared of the hood but I think he will get over it. He is awesome! We taught this really cool women named Rosemary and her fiancé named Zubin. A lot of Rosemary's family recently joined the church, she was living with her family in Idaho for a few months and went to church a few times there. She has since come home and is meeting with us. She has invited Zubin to meet with us as well and things are going really well! We also met a women named Lubna who is a semi-practicing Muslim. She was interested in hearing more about our church so we set up a time that we could meet up. We brought Alex and the lesson went super well, Alex shared his conversion experience and testified of the Book of Mormon. Soooo cool. That's it for the big stuff this week, love you all Elder McOmber

july 25, 2016

I just love it in this place, today is basically the last day for Elder Woodward and Elder Rigtrup as a missionary in the New Jersey Morristown Mission. It's crazy, but it is true. They will definitely be missed. On the bright side I found out that I will be staying in this area and training a new missionary! A lot of missionaries go their entire missions hoping to serve in this area for one transfer and I get to serve for 5 ( about 7 and a half months). The traveling AP that was with me and elder Woodward for the Fourth of July is going to come to the Jersey City heights area to train a missionary. I am so pumped, it is going to be a blast! On a more sad note someone I grew really close to is leaving. His name is Elder Follet. We both entered the mission field at the same time and were trained in the same area, he is Spanish speaking. He is the man and I am going to miss him, I'm sure our paths will cross again. Even though there is a lot of change happening, I am super excited for what is coming! Life is so good. This week has been good. A huge highlight was taking Jahadah to the temple. It was such a beautiful experience and you could tell she was loving it. In church on the next day she gave a talk on her conversion experience and told the whole ward that she was going to serve a mission! Alex got confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting. When we sat back down he turned to me and said, I am just so happy. Amazing moment I won't forget! I love you all! Elder McOmber

July 15, 2016

Special shout out to my cousin, Ethan Thompson who just got called to
the New York, New York South mission (just across the pond!), and to
another cousin Hunter McOmber, who I am pretty sure just entered the
MTC and is going to Houston, Texas!

This week has been crazy so I am just going to give you a few of my
journal entries that I am keeping on my iPad, they sum it up pretty
well

July 13 Paulina, Julissa, Julio

Today I went on a exchange with my district leader Elder Brooks, in
his area (Bayonne). The last lesson, we taught was a super awesome
lesson! Paulina has been investigating the church for 23 years, and
Julissa has been for the last 6, waayyyyyy to long. So we talked
lovingly but boldly for a whole hour just about how baptism is a
blessing and a starting point rather than a scary end destination.
They were still unsure, I felt like we were going nowhere so I decided
to have us all kneel and have Julissa give a prayer for whether or not
they should be baptized and what day, and have us sit and wait until
they knew they had an answer. So we knelt down and I looked of over at
the clock and it said 8:23. We started a prayer that last a minute and
then we waited...with our heads bowed... Me and elder brooks said
nothing and waited... Finally they got up together and sat back down.
I looked at the clock and it said 8:47. We had been kneeling on the
floor for 24 minutes. Julio was the first to speak, He said he knew it
was the right thing to do and that he just had talk to his son first
(who is a member of the church). Paulina and Julissa followed suite
and the spirit was soooooooo strong. I found out from elder brooks
that that was the first time Julio had been taught by the
missionaries. I already know that will be one of my favorite
experiences from my mission.

July 16 bitter sweet bitter

The 15th was such a crazy day. I heard my cousin, Elder Rigtrup, give
his dying testimony in zone conference. He has been in my district for
my whole mission and it wasn't until I saw him give that, that I
realized that he is really going home. Though he has been trunky and
talked about home the entire time, I knew he was working hard. I spent
all of today's shower in tears over the fact that he and my companion
(Elder Woodward) are going home, I wish they would just extend!  Then
after zone conference we went to Alex's house and went over the
baptismal interview questions. He is completely ready for baptism, so
I was on a complete high. I met Alex 26 days into my mission, and now,
exactly 3 months later, he is being baptized. I love him to death and
will always stay in contact with him. We then went over to Moses
house, where he continued where he had left off a couple days before,
expressing how he felt like there was too much going on in his life to
worry about whether or not he should get baptized. After trying to do
and explain everything I could, trying to figure out what really was
holding him back, he was still saying the same thing. We finally left
him 2 Nephi 31 (which talks about the gospel of Jesus Christ and talks
specifically about the importance of baptism) and talk him to pray
really hard, for a long time to know what it is God wants for him. He
accepted and whatever he says today will be what we have to do,
whether it's to continue to prepare him for baptism or to leave him be
and hope that he will pick up the Book of Mormon again at a later
date. I have come to truly love it out here. I honestly never want to
leave my mission, these bonds that I am making with the people, and
other missionaries, are stronger than life itself. I am looking
forward to the day that I get to reconnect with all of them.

July 17 good day

Morning: Today is the day of Alex's baptism! It has been a very long
journey, but it is only the beginning for him. But I want to talk
about the news I just got about Paulina, Julissa, and Julio. They are
officially getting baptized! When they said they had to talk to the
son (victor, a active member in the church) they were figuring out
when he could come back and baptize them!!!! September 7th is the day.
I am honestly so grateful that I was able to meet them and witness
first hand the spirt work with them. I am sooo happy for them and for
Alex. Like it says, Good Day.

Night: Today was such a blessing. We met with Moses before church to
see what his decision was, he told us that he wanted to get baptized!
He came to church. In sacrament meeting Alex turned to me and said,
"Elder McOmber, I can't thank you enough, you have been there for me
from the beginning, I am nervous but so excited." I just about cried.
Alex's baptism went so well, the ward loves him! He had 3 people
invite him over for dinner, and the bishop and stake president want
him to have a calling as soon as possible. And he is excited to have
one. Just when Alex left the room to go with brother Starks into the
baptismal font, Jahadah walked in and sat down behind me. She tapped
on my shoulder, when I turned around she had the biggest smile on her
face and was holding a temple recommend... Needless to say I was soooo
happy. Me and elder Woodward are going to the temple with her on
Saturday!

This week has been a great week.

Love you all!

Elder McOmber