Just loving life here in JC! The people are amazing.

​I don't have much time this week to email and tell you all about the amazing people I teach and meet, but attached is a picture of a man named Joseph. He is the MAN! everyday he stops us and says "stay blessed."

I think this goes along very well with what Elder Russell M. Nelson said,  "Your responsibility to endure is uniquely yours. But you are never alone. I testify that the lifting power of the Lord can be yours if you will “come unto Christ” and “be perfected in him.” You will “deny yourselves of all ungodliness.” And you will “love God with all your might, mind and strength.” The living prophet of the Lord has issued a clarion call: “I invite every one of you,” said President Hinckley, “to stand on your feet and with a song in your heart move forward, living the gospel, loving the Lord, and building the kingdom. Together we shall stay the course and keep the faith.” I pray that each of us may so endure and be lifted up at the last day."

We all need to make decisions that bring us closer to God. We all need to endure this crazy life, and find true happiness. 

I have had the true pleasure of being able to see how faith In Jesus Christ can completely change someones life for the better. I promise all of you, that as you choose to 'stay blessed,' you will be able to feel true happiness, I have seen it in many peoples lives, but especially in mine.

Love you all,

Elder McOmber

To God Be the Glory

Let God be the glory!

Another great week! I love it here in Jersey City! I seriously never want to leave. My companion and I get along really well and we are able to touch many lives! We talked to a guy named Jamal in the street, he said he didn't have much time but he was really interested in what we have to say, so he gave us his address and a time to meet up again. When we went there he was really happy to see us, we talked to him about the restored gospel and you could feel the spirit in the room. He decided to read the Book of Mormon, and to pray to know if it was true. when we got to the end of the lesson we asked him if he wanted to say the closing prayer. He paused for a long moment and said that he wanted to but he had never said a pray before. We explained how to simply say a prayer, and then he did. When we opened our eyes we could see the happiness in his eyes. we asked him how he felt and he said, "I feel like god loves me" This was such an amazing moment.  It caused me to really think about how amazing god is. He is one being, in charge of an entire world. a world full of over 7 BILLION people! and yet he wants each of us to pray everyday to him. He wants each and every one of us to know that he cares about us. I don't care who you are. God loves you, and is anxiously waiting for you to reach out to him. Even though you take up an insignificant percentage of the worlds population. He cares about YOU and wants YOU to talk to him. Please, everyone, just take a moment in your life and talk to him. I promise you wont regret it! Love, Elder McOmber To God be the glory.

April 28, 2016

Hello all! 

Thank you to all those who emailed in their act of charity!

Again I don't have much time but I would love to talk to you about some of the people we taught!

My companion is the district leader, for one of his responsibilities he spends one day with each missionary in the district and offers advice for their area and the work they do. That means I spend the day with that missionaries companion. But this time my companion wanted to go into the other area so I had to stay in my area and lead it out. The following picture is a screenshot of our daily schedule for that day

​The green means we are trying to get in contact with that person and the blue is when we teach a lesson. A very busy day but definitely successful.

On Thursday we met with a man named Martin, he is an amazing man doing his best to recover from a cocaine addiction. Unfortunately his father recently died and he relapsed recently. He is in the thick of an internal battle, so in our lesson with him my companion shared a piece of a talk giving by one of the apostles in our church, it reads: 

My dear sisters in the gospel, whether you are 8 or 108, there is one thing that I hope you truly understand and know:

"You are loved. You are dear to your heavenly parents. The infinite and eternal Creator of light and life knows you! He is mindful of you. Yes, God loves you this very day and always. He is not waiting to love you until you have overcome your weaknesses and bad habits. He loves you today with a full understanding of your struggles. He is aware that you reach up to Him in heartfelt and hopeful prayer. He knows of the times you have held onto the fading light and believed—even in the midst of growing darkness. He knows of your sufferings. He knows of your remorse for the times you have fallen short or failed. And still He loves you. And God knows of your successes; though they may seem small to you, He acknowledges and cherishes each one of them. He loves you for extending yourself to others. He loves you for reaching out and helping others bear their heavy burdens—even when you are struggling with your own. He knows everything about you. He sees you clearly—He knows you as you really are. And He loves you—today and always! He loves you not only for who you are this very day but also for the person of glory and light you have the potential and the desire to become. More than you could ever imagine, He wants you to achieve your destiny—to return to your heavenly home in honor."

This is completely true for everyone. 

Yesterday was amazing, Arcides (someone my companion and I have been teaching for a while) got baptized! the following picture is us together.

​

After the baptism was over and everyone had gone, he stayed behind to help us clean up. He turned to me and said, "Thank you for showing me the way" and then he just hugged me. By far one of the favorite moments in my life so far. 

Last but not least is Alex.

We were teaching Marlon (someone we are teaching) and I got his nephew Alex to come in and sit down with us. By far one of the most spiritual lessons I have ever taught with my companion. Unfortunately Alex had to go back to mexico. About a week later we got a text from him saying that he had decided to read the book of Mormon as well as ponder and pray to know if it was true. He also wanted to Skype us, he was unable to talk to the missionaries in Mexico so we have had the opportunity to Skype him and teach him the lessons. So blessed to even know him. I will give you further updates as time goes on.

​Love you all!

Elder McOmber

April 25, 2016

Hello Everyone! Another week full of ups and downs, but overall a great week. I don't get my ipad until next Wednesday, so next week will be the last short email week. A topic I have been really studying this week is Charity. In my studies  I found a really good scripture in Leviticus 19:19, it is also found in, Matthew 5:43, Matthew 19:19, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27, Romans 13:9, Gal. 5:14, and 3 Nephi 12:43. It reads: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself Something so simple, but obviously so important! Charity is simply doing something for someone else, simply to make their life better /easier. I challenge all of you to do something for someone else! it doesn't have to be big, for example if you see someone struggling to carry all of their groceries, just help them out! When you do send me a quick email saying that you did it and what you did! And remember... I know who reads these emails! go forth and serve :) Love, Elder McOmber Â

April 19 worked with his cousin!

	Hey everybody! I love you guys so much and appreciate the emails you send, and I always welcome more! I will respond to the ones I can. Again, I have limited time because of the computer situation here, but when I get  my Ipad in 2 weeks I will have a lot more time to respond! My companion and I are blessed to have a lot to do over here in Jersey City! Over the past week we met with 25 different people. It is amazing to be able to see a very real change of heart in many of these people. Over the past 4 weeks I have been blessed to see many lives completely turn around, and you can see the change in their countenance! I wish I had the time to tell you about all of them, and I will be able to tell you all about some of them in 2 weeks.   I just realized that I forgot to send a picture of my companion! This is Elder Verhaaren. I will have the pleasure of spending the next few months with him. He is a lot of fun to be around! The Exchange: On Tuesday i had a really cool opportunity to go on exchange with my cousin, Elder Rigtrup. Even though it was a really slow day of knocking on peoples doors, we still found ways to have fun and enjoy it! If you happen to see missionaries in your neighborhood, please talk with them for a little bit, even if it isn't about the gospel. No one goes on their mission to get doors slammed in their face all day!    You're not really in the hood if there isn't a local Hood Goods truck I thought I would throw this into the email. These guys roll around town together on their hover boards, just having a good time. Its always a good time talking to my lil' homies. This is the Balbuena family. They are super helpful to us missionaries, they always feed us and Brother Balbuena comes on Team ups with us sometimes! May-lynn and Ezra are the cutest kids you will ever meet. sorry that the picture is blurry.  This is my favorite of all the murals you find in JC! Every time i pass it I can't help but to think of all the hope we as missionaries are able to bring to these people through helping them understand the roll of Jesus Christ in their lives. Through him we can all be washed clean and shake off the past mistakes that bring us down. I love you all, Elder McOmber

new post for April 11 serving with his cousin, Elder Rigtrup!

Love you all still not a lot of time! I am going to do the same thing as last week and tell the story through pictures. Next weeks email will be really cool. I am in the same district as Elder Rigtrup (my cousin) and as you can imagine we get along really well. We will be going on exchange tomorrow so I will be spending the day in his area. It will be fun. I love the people I serve. It's a really big thing here to keep track of all the nationalities you as a missionary teach. some missionaries have more than 100. Some days here, you have 5 lessons with people from totally different cultures and backgrounds. That doesn't even include the many street contacts you have.  Here is some more of the artwork around town. I still have to get one of my favorites. more to come.  the young women in the word decided to make us cupcakes for one of their activities. Needless to say they were really good. ​Again really low on time. I will be giving stories of the people I teach next week. Can't wait to get my iPad in 3 weeks.  love, Elder McOmberÂ

I love this letter!!!! Enjoy!

Hey! I appreciate all the emails! I don't have much time on the computer because all the new missionaries share 2 computer until we all get our own ipads in 4 weeks. So I am reading everything I just won't have time to respond for the next 4 weeks. Another great week here in Jersey City. I love the people so much! I have so many stories and I wish I had the time to share them all, and unfortunately I am super crunched on time, so I am going to update you through pictures.  This is a painting by a cute little girl named May-Lynn, she told me that the letters next to me in the picture say "I wanted to draw this picture of you because you are so awesome" I love her and her family so much, they are so helpful to me and my companion. the dad (Brother Balbuena) is a Return Missionary who went through some serious trials and has since become less active in the church but he has been coming out with us missionaries when we invite him and he feeds us all the time! I send pictures of them next time.  This is a picture of me with the view from the stake presidents house, I love him to death! he comes out on team ups with us all the time, and shares great insights that really help people understand who god is and what his plan is for them. These next few pictures will be of the graffiti I have seen around Jersey City, I love it because the city is full sadness and crime, but there are some people who create art just to make the city beautiful, and not for personal gain. Its something that is encouraged by the city. Its called "Jersey City, Make It Beautiful" This is just the stuff I have had the opportunity to take pictures of. My companion and I are very busy so I don't have much time to stop, but there are a few more that I have seen that are amazing. I will do my best to take pictures and send them to you guys!    This is the view of New York from the northern part of my area, I am in a driving area because it is so big! My ward covers 3 missionary areas because the church isn't as strong here in New Jersey. There are wards in New Jersey that cover 15 high schools. But I like it because I get to see people from all different walks of life. There are the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor in my ward, but they all work together really well. More and more people are deciding to join the church, so that they can lead better lives. It is truly amazing to witness.     Last but definitely not least is this man. He calls himself Minister Peter. He lives a few doors down and every morning he is sitting in that chair and yells, "hey! Missionaries! God loves you! He told me himself!" definitely a bright spot in my day :) That is all for now, I wish I had more time but I promise to go a little more into detail next week! Love, Elder McOmber