July 10, 2017

Hey everyone!

Elder McOmber here. This has been a good week! I'll fill you in on all
the fun non spiritual stuff first and then I will go to spiritual.

First off, today we had Popeyes with the elders that live with us. By
the way Popeyes is my new favorite restaurant! They are ALL over in
the hood. I probably get Popeyes once every 2 weeks. Anyways today I
asked for the 9 nuggets combo and the guy HOOKED...ME...UP! He gave me
9 tenders!! (Picture included)

Second, one of the elders here had a ping pong set sent to him so we
set it up in our middle island and play on pdays. Not gonna lie, I'm
pretty good... (video included)

Now to the real stuff!

Niegell got baptized! He is so awesome. You can tell he really wants
this in his life. Like I said before he walks 30 minutes to church
every Sunday in 90 degree, 60% Humidity weather. And comes ready to
learn. He has grown so much so fast. After the baptism I asked how he
felt, he said, "I feel like my heart is on fire" I am so proud of him.

I love you all, have a great week!

Elder Mcomber

July 4th

Hello everyone!

This week has been a roller coaster of a week! My companion and I had
the opportunity to to pick up the new mission president (President
Hess) and drop off the departing one (President Taggart).

It was really hard to see President Taggart go. He has helped me grow
so much and has created a great culture here in this mission.  He will
for sure be missed.

President Hess is such a spiritual giant! It's only been a few days
but I can already tell he is very humble and he knows the scriptures
like none other! I am really looking forward to where this mission
goes under his stewardship!

4th of July

For those of you who don't know, The 4th of July is literally my
favorite holiday! Last year was amazing because I was in jersey city
so I could see the New York fireworks in New York for jersey. Now I am
a little farther a away so I will be watching local fireworks. Still
very excited.

I am truly grateful for all of the work the founding fathers put in to
make this country what it is. True it has a lot of issues here and
there, but when all the dust settles it still stands as a beacon of
freedom and liberty. That is always worth celebrating. It is on this
day in 1776 that this nation declared its independence, creating an
opportunity for freedom of religion, which of course provided the
perfect opportunity to restore The Church of Jesus Christ, in these
latter days! I have always loved these verses in the Book of Mormon,

2 Nephi 10

19 Wherefore, I will consecrate this land unto thy seed, and them who
shall be numbered among thy seed, forever, for the land of their
inheritance; for it is a choice land, saith God unto me, above all
other lands, wherefore I will have all men that dwell thereon that
they shall worship me, saith God.
20 And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has
given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember
him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are
not cast off; nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our
inheritance; but we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has
made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea.

Let us all be grateful to be able to live in such a blessed land, and
strive to be worthy of such a blessing!

Love you all!

Elder McOmber

Hello everyone! Great week! Niegell is doing really well! He walked 30 minutes to church again and he loves the teachings of god. Like I said before he has never had a strong faith in god like this before and he is just taking it all in. He is a champ. My companion and I had the opportunity to pick up the new missionaries from the airport and spend the night with them and then the next day we picked up the missionaries going home and spent the night with them. It was soooo interesting to see the difference. With the new missionaries you can see the mixed emotions, excited, scared, happy, nervous. I remember being those shoes. To be honest I wasn't really that nervous, but it's funny to think of how much I thought I knew. I have grown sooo much over the mission. With the missionaries going home there were the same sort of feelings but a very different feel. Among those missionaries was Elder Adams. Many of you know him because he spent some years when he was younger in my home stake. Elder Adams has changed my life and perspective on so many things and in so many ways, I'm not going to lie it was really hard to see him go. It is so interesting to see how God shapes us and our lives by giving us mentors and examples as well as stewardships. If God asks you to do something that seems hard at first, trust him. He will make you capable of anything he asks you to do. I love you all soooo much, Elder McOmber

Hello everyone! Good week for us here in Elizabeth. We met this guy named Nigel. He is a very committed yet shy person. He really wants to be a motivational speaker so he is pushy himself out of his comfort zone. He lives 30 minutes (walking) away from the church. But he has walked to church in the really hot and humid New Jersey air, so that he can receive the good word. He comes drenched in sweat but he doesn't care. He is hoping to be baptized on July 2nd! Today my companion and I get to pick up all the new missionaries and do their first day of missionary work with them so I have less time to write but I want you all to know that I love you! Be strong and walk with God! Elder McOmber

June 12

Hello everyone! 

So sorry I have been lacking on emails! Things have been crazy so not a whole lot of time to email. 

When it comes to the work a few things happened this week that were awesome. We have been working really hard and seen a lot of opposition. But we decided that it didn't matter what happened we would work hard and trust the lord. We have been going out and talking to as many people as we can and skipping meals. found a lot of cool people, but they all wouldn't really progress.  On Saturday night we knelt down and prayed. We have definitely been humbled. In that prayer we opened our hearts to god. We told him that we know that this is his work and that we are simply his instruments. We asked him to please allow us to more fully fulfill our purpose. Yesterday out of the blue 3 people came to church who we hadn't talked to and want to be taught. Then some other missionaries found a family of 3 from Nigeria. We taught them last night and they outright said they want to be baptized. I now have a testimony more than ever of Alma 26:12 (Book of Mormon) "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

I am so greatful to god for this time here in New Jersey. I have never felt so close to him in my life and this connection is something I want to maintain and strengthen for the rest of my life. If there are any of you who don't feel like you have a strong connection with god and want one, PLEASE talk to me. There are so many blessing waiting for you.

I love you all,

Elder McOmber

great letter!!!

Hello everyone, I know this is long but it is worth reading.

I realized that I update you every week on events that occurred throughout the week, and spiritual experiences, but most the time what I write about them merely scratches the surface to what they really mean to me, and most of the time I don't take the time necessary to really write out how this mission experience (and more importantly god) is changing me to become better and better each week. Each day, each minute. I am so grateful for this experience but I have been hiding it under a bushel (Mathew 5:15-16).

This week has been a week of serious reflection there has been a lot going on in my head. To make matters worse, I felt like I wasn't getting the answers I needed in my prayers, All of this came to a point in my morning studies on Friday morning. I was reading in the scriptures, kind of going through the motions. I looked up on my shelf and a white binder caught my eye. Just before I left for New Jersey my dad gave me a white binder, he had put in it some advice, favorite talks, and letters from my extended family. One of the letters was from my cousin Megan, who was serving her mission in Latvia. The letter wasn't actually meant for me, it was a weekly email like the one you are reading right now, but it may as well have been for me because it has now caused one of the biggest turning points of my mission.

She talked about so many things that I wish I could dive into and talk about in depth but I know that it would make this email 10 times longer than it is going to be. Something really big is she said that there are so many things outside of her control, but the one thing she can control is whether or not she chooses Christ and his work. She said that there was a period in her mission that she was brought low and it was through her trials that she was truly stripped of her pride and was able to truly feel gods love. I would like to add my testimony. There have definitely been periods of time in my mission when I was brought very low. Though they were so painful it allowed me to remove my pride, soften my heart and truly be able to feel the love of God. Heavenly Father was able to let me see what is truly important. 

Later that day we were seeing this women that we met named Yajaira. She was super fun when we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and we were coming back to teach the restoration. We came back and she welcomed us. We went through everything and it was seriously one of the best restoration lessons I have ever been a part of, everything flowed so well. The scriptures were understood, her questions were all answered. We then talked about the Book of Mormon and why it is so important. We told her about how it will help her know more about Jesus Christ and his teachings, that that there is a prophet (like Moses) on the earth today, and that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints really is Jesus Christ church on the earth. After talking about it a little more we gave her the Book of Mormon we were holding and invited her to pray. She said she would give it a shot. She said one of the most beautiful and heartfelt prayers I have ever heard, I honestly wish I could remember what she said. But I will never forget what happened after she finished. She looked up at us and said that was my first prayer I have ever said... She paused and then said... In my whole life... and then she just started crying. 

This was such a perfect moment, Huge testimony that  God truly does hear our prayers. he is waiting, yearning for each and every one of us to reach out to him. I know that this is why I am here. I am her to teach people how to pray. Help them get over their struggles. Help them see the light but more importantly walk to it. I want to help as many people as I can to come back and live with their ever loving father in heaven. 

As for transfer news... I'm leaving... good news I am going to Elizabeth to be companions with my boy elder Follett! The one that was trained in the same area I was trained in, at the same time! I didn't think we could be companions because he was Spanish but Elizabeth is both English and Spanish! And to make things better my trainer (elder verhaaren) was called to be a traveling AP so on Sunday nights and all of Monday's he we be with us in the apartment! 

Bad news... I found out at 8:40 last night. The second I found out we drove over to Marlene's house and told her. It was a sad moment but one I won't ever forget. I am going to miss Marlene sooooo much. I will be saying goodbye to her today. I am grateful for the opportunity to get to know her. She will always be my Mama Marlene!

I promise my emails won't be this long in the future.

Much love,

Elder McOmber

May letter! Good one!

Hey everyone! Sorry for not emailing last week! Time got crazy and just didn't have time for it. Update on Rayza: She loves the church! But more importantly she really likes our message we share, it is such a blessing to teach her! Miracle!! Remember Patrick?? He is back! He reached out to a member who he knew from before when we taught him and wanted said he wanted to meet! We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and he said, you know what, I'm not messing around this time, I'm getting baptized. It was a super cool lesson. I seriously love Patrick! Went on an exchange with Elder Bailey. I love him so much he is this 6' 6" 350 pound newer missionary who has so much confidence it's awesome! He is so funny, probably one of my favorite missionaries in the mission. Spiritual thought: This month is consecration month here in this mission. Basically we start the month with a 24 hour fast from food and water. During that fast we pray and focus on things we can give over to god, things like our time, dedication, thoughts, desires. And focus on specifics on how we can improve. I have done this once before in my mission and it has been such a blessing. I know the more of myself that I give to God, the more he gives back to me. A living apostle once said, It's amazing how easy it is to find yourself when you are in the service of the lord, the simple reason is there is so much more of us to find! Another apostle said, our god is not a god with strict purtainalistic requirements to receive his love and blessings, in truth his blessings are like the rain coming down, and his commandments are loving instructions on how to lower our umbrellas that we naturally put up with our imperfections! I would encourage you all to get on your knees tonight and ask god what it is in your life that is holding you back from receiving all of gods blessings. Love you all! Elder McOmber