Monday, January 30th

This was a week was a week FULL of miracles 

On Monday we tried by someone who hadn't been to church in years. We stopped by and started talking to him, he talked about how he had fallen out of faith. We invited the rest of his family to join us. We started talking about faith in Jesus Christ and what it means and then went into the restoration, awesome lesson, they all decided that they wanted to be baptized 

On Tuesday, my companion and I brought another companionship into our area and we went on splits the whole day. We both found families of 4 and all of them decided they want to work toward baptism. We went over the plan of salvation and they were loving it. 

On Thursday, we were knocking doors and we met this girl named temeka, she had met with missionaries before. She was so excited to see us and has a sincere desire to follow God. Looking forward to meeting with her!

On Sunday we tried by someone, they said they weren't interested but said their was a member of our church living in the apartment above. There was no record of them so we decided to stop by. It turns out they were! We talked to them and they said they were interested in meeting with us some more and then they told us about their daughter who got baptized a long time ago and has since moved to Paterson but hasn't been to church in a long time. We stopped by and she let us in. It turns out she has been wanting to come back to church for a long time and she has a sweet nine year old daughter who wants to get baptized. 

This week has really strengthened my testimony of dedication. The more you give to God, the more god gives you. 

I love you all, sorry for the late email,

Elder McOmber

1/16/2017

Such a crazy week I don't even know where to start. Elder Trask and I were doubled into Paterson, which means that the 2 missionaries that were here we both taken out and my companion and I were put in. And it has been crazy. We haven't even unpacked, we got here and just went ham! We found some really cool people. We just pretty much called everyone in the phone, member and non-member to set stuff up. It was really fun I'm in a straight hood area, it is arguably the most hood area in the mission and I'm loving it haha.  On Sunday we finally met the ward and they are amazing! They just became a ward and they are pumped about it. Their mindset is completely missionary work oriented and it is awesome. The bishop is 29 and FULL of fire. The members love us and we love them. We are going to see miracles here! Sorry for the short email, we have a lot of zone stuff going on today. I will have way more to say next week! Love you all! Elder McOmber

1/23/2017 Baptism!

Another great week here in Paterson! Sorry about the short email last week, Ive got some filling in to do.

Patrick: we taught him the second day we were here and he is soooo solid. He was one of those people that you have to start with who Jesus Christ is and what he asked us to do before diving into who prophets are and such. He is progressing so well and is going to be baptized on the fifth of February!

Nay, Nicki, Keaira: at church on the first Sunday we met this lady who had recently started coming back to church after having being gone for a long time. She invited us over because she wanted us to teach her daughters (1 is a member that hasn't been to church her in 10 years, and the other 2 have never been baptized) we taught all three of them and they are all on the right track!

Exchange with President Taggert: President came out on an exchange with us and we had a really good time teaching and finding people. We had a really good lesson with someone we found walking on the street, he was actually a member of the church and hadn't been for about 12 years, now he is on his way back. I love president, we had a blast! 😊

Sunday was an awesome day! We had a great day at church, a lot of people came and had a great experience. After church I had the opportunity to go back to jersey city and witness Rashee's baptism! He was soooooo happy. When he saw me he said "Elder McOmber!" And ran up and gave me a huge hug. Never going to forget that day.

1/9/2017

Crazy week!

I got to go to the Manhattan temple with Gillian! It was soooo much fun, the old crew was back together! (Picture included) I had to wake up early and drive from Princeton to Newark, left Elder Brinkerhoff with elder Crowthers companion, and then from there elder Crowther and I went to jersey city where we met with the crew, we then took the train into New York where we got to the temple RIGHT on time. Had an amazing experience, especially Gillian and then we whipped back. CRAZY day. 

It snowed like crazy! On Saturday we were knocking doors and I was frozen to the bone, but try to keep things light I let my companion walk ahead and I made a snowball, I turned to some kids who were playing in the snow and jokingly gestured to be quiet and pointed at elder Brinkerhoff who wasn't looking, I threw it at him and everyone laughed, they said WOW you make the best snowballs. So even though my hands were freezing, I made each of them a few snowballs and they had a quick snowball fight, a fun sized memory I'll remember for ever. (Picture included)

On Sunday I found out that I am leaving Princeton. I am getting doubled into Patterson with Elder Trask! He is a boss missionary and I am so pumped to be heading to the hood again. 

Sorry I don't have much time to email today, kinda crazy with transfers, expect more details next week!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! This week was a slower week, but we had a really big miracle! On Friday we were feeling beat down, it had been a week of rejection, pretty much every kind of rejection you can think of we had it. So we were talking it all out as we went door to door, about all the time we had spent together and all the things we had done, all the people we had talked to, and then we talked about how transfers are coming up next Sunday and we realized that we might only have 1 more week together. I said, "Ok regardless of what happens to us we are going to just simply control what we can control. We are going to put our faith and trust in God and talk to everyone. We are going to show god how much we love him." Literally right then a women came out of her house, and started walking in the opposite direction as us, we picked up our pace until we caught up to her and struck up a conversation, she said she was grabbing something heavy from her car and could use our help. We of course agreed and brought it in. After we did we continued talking and she told us that she had a really tough year and she was looking forward to the new year, we started asking questions about it as well as her faith in God, after we had talked for a while I said, "I know we have taken your time already but would you mind if we had a nice gospel discussion about Jesus Christ and how his teachings could bless your life right now?" She said absolutely. So we sat down and taught her the message of the restoration.  For those of you who don't know, this message is one of the most (If not, the most) important message that I share with people. It talks about how God called prophets from the beginning of the world like Adam, Moses (parted the Red Sea), and Noah (built the Ark) to give devine direction and guidance to the people of this world, and how they prophesied of Jesus Christ (Amos 3:7). And then of course Jesus Christ came to this world and suffered for our sins and made it possible for us to return to god, but another thing he did was he set up a church, and in that church he had 12 apostles and he gave them the priesthood, which is the proper authority given from god to teach and to baptize (Luke 6:13, Hebrews 5:4).This church continued even after Jesus was rejected and Killed, but after some time, eventually the church and that authority he set up was rejected as well. So god took the priesthood away, fulfilling the prophesy given in Amos 8:11-12 where it basically says there will be a time when the true teachings of Jesus Christ will not be on the earth. After many many years, just after America was formed for freedom of religion, a young man named Joesph Smith was looking for the true church, the church that was in line with god. A search common in a lot of people, because there are so many different Christian church's in the world. They all believe in the same God, but they teach different things and worship in different ways. Joesph Smith was reading in the Bible one day in James chapter 1, in verse 5 it reads, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." So he decided to do just that. He went into a grove of trees where it would be quiet  and peaceful, and said a prayer out loud. He then had an amazing experience that I think only his words do justice. Of the experience he said, "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other saying "Joesph, This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” It was then that Joesph Smith was called to be a prophet proving that god really is the same yesterday, today and forever. He has called prophets since the beginning of time and he continues to call prophets today! And not long after he was called to be a prophet, the priesthood was brought back into the world as well as the full teachings or gospel of Jesus Christ! After we shared these amazing truths with her, she told us that she knows that it was meant to be that we ran into each other. She told us that she too, had been going through a time in her life where she needed direction from god, and had gone from church to church and hadn't felt like she had found the whole truth. And she said I know you two were sent to give me that direction. We then explained to her that the Book of Mormon is the way to finding out whether or not all these things are true. We explained to her that if the Book of Mormon is true, if it really is the word of god, then she could know three really big things: That Jesus Christ really our savior, because the whole book testifies of Jesus Christ That Joesph Smith really was a prophet, because it is through him that The Book of Mormon was brought to the world That the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the lords kingdom once again established on this earth, if Joesph Simith really was a prophet, then the church that was restored through him really is the church with the proper priesthood and teachings of Jesus Christ.  She accepted the Book of Mormon and said she would read it, really think about what it says, and pray to know whether it is true! I really love this church and the amazing truths that are found in it. I know that Jesus Christ really is our Savior and that it is only through him that we can be saved and return to our father in heaven, I know that Joesph smith really was a prophet and that the amazing truths that were brought back through him, really are from god, And I am so thankful for this opportunity to share these truths with the people of New Jersey! I love you all and wish you all a happy new year! Elder McOmber  Pictures: 1 and 2 are of me next to John Witherspoon's grave, he was a member of the continental congress and a president of Princeton University.  it was honestly so cool to be so close to a hand that signed the Declaration of Independence!  3 is of me in front of the fire house headquarters in Trenton  The rest are of the cool buildings and monuments in trenton