November 28, 2017

Not a whole lot to report, and even less time! 

I had the opportunity to go to the temple today! To make things better, the new senior couple from Redmond Washington (the Woods) came with us! A lot of fun and very spiritual.

I love you all!

 

Deember 11, 2017

Hey Everyone!

I’ll start with the big news. I’m being transferred to Bayonne! I am really looking forward to spending my last 2 transfers there. The area covers part of the unit that I spent the first 8 months of my mission, so I will be in contact with some of the people that I taught before, but I have been asked to focus my efforts on helping the Bayonne Branch so I look forward to that!

Although that is good news it meant a lot of goodbyes. We were really busy yesterday but we were able to say a few. Rasheedah definitely wasn’t happy. The hardest goodbye was Sister Currence. My companion and I have been taking the sacrament to her for the past 8 months so we have grown pretty close, when I told her she started crying. I got her number and I will definitely call her regularly. 

Other news, we had 5 exchanges this week and I am beat. Englewood and Ceder Lakes had to reschedule theirs to this week and we already had Eatontown, Paterson, and Plainfield this week, and they are not close together. I am happy that it is over haha I have really loved my time here, especially my last 2 transfers, but I’m definitely looking forward to Bayonne haha

Gabriel is doing well! He came to church again and he is going to be baptized on the 24th! We also had a few more at church, things are rolling here in Elizabeth. 

That’s about it here love you all!

Elder McOmber 

December 28, 2017

Dear Brother and Sister McOmber, Just a quick email to let you know what a great missionary Elder McOmber is.  I have attached a copy of a letter that was sent to Elder McOmber after he accepted a call to serve as a Trainer here in the mission. We love and appreciate his good works so much here in the mission.  You can be proud of your son and all that he has accomplished here in New Jersey. Love, Sister Naylor   Hello everyone!  The first week here in Bayonne was amazing! I absolutely love it here and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. It is a branch but it is pretty strong. The chapel itself is probably the size of the primary room in the Sammamish Chapel. But it works!  The people here are amazing! The branch president is this fired up, energetic, small Guatemalan. I love him to death and boy does he love missionary work. The primary program was yesterday. In the middle a young man who was about to turn 12 got up to give his line, because the entire program was in English it had to be translated into Spanish for those that only speak Spanish. The person translating happened to be the father of the young boy giving his part. After giving his part he said that he felt like he should give his testimony. He then went on to testify of how grateful he has been for the primary program in the church and how he has grown so much, he then started to cry as he explained how grateful he was for the church and this gospel. Then the father, with tears in his eyes, translated what his son had just said. Such a powerful moment, I am so grateful for all of the many people I have met here in New Jersey, and especially grateful for the time that I have been given to work with the members here in Bayonne, New Jersey. The church truly is the same everywhere you go. My companions name is Elder Gwilliam, though these have been his first few days in New Jersey. He is already a great instrument in the lords hands. I love you all, Elder McOmber

Oct 22, 2017

So I’ll start with the heavy hitter. Elder Rasband! It was honestly amazing! He gave a lot of insight on the back story behind his 2 most recent talks, he also talked a lot about his time that he spent as a missionary here in New Jersey, shaking his hand and hearing his voice, you could honestly feel that he truly was an apostle Of Jesus Christ. Just as if you were listening to peter, James, or John. It was amazing. I wish I could give you what he said word for word, but I can give you some quotes that I remember. If you have any questions feel free to email me! He said,  “Most often, our good works are known to only a few. They are, however, recorded in heaven. One day, we will stand as a witness of our whole-souled devotion to works of righteousness. No trial or calamity can derail God’s plan of happiness. Indeed, by “divine design,” “joy cometh in the morning.” “I came into the world to do the will of [the] Father,” Jesus taught. Dear brothers and sisters, so have we.” “The Lord’s hand is guiding you. By “divine design,” He is in the small details of your life as well as the major milestones. As it says in Proverbs, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; … and he shall direct thy paths.” I testify that He will bless you, sustain you, and bring you peace.” I love this church, and it’s chosen leaders. So,thing that he strongly testified of is that this church is not led by man, it is literally directed by our savior above. I love you all so much! Elder McOmberÂ

Hey Eveyone!

I’ll start with the big news! Elder Rasband of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles is visiting our mission! I am so pumped. He is going to address our mission for 2 hours and I get to shake his hand. This is going to be awesome.

We saw some miracles this week. We found some really cool people who we hope will progress. One of those people was Janine. She is so cool, we were just out knocking doors into the night and couldn’t find anyone interested. We decided to go a couple more houses when finally a Nice older lady opened the door, she has such a crazy back story as well as an amazing testimony of how Jesus Christ can help us through our trials. We look forward to teaching her in the future! 

Spiritual thought of the week:

In the latest General Conference President Uchtdorf said, 

“You cannot just float in the waters of life and trust that the current will take you wherever you hope to be one day. Discipleship requires our willingness to swim upstream when needed.

No one else is responsible for your personal journey. The Savior will help you and prepare the way before you, but the commitment to follow Him and keep His commandments must come from you. That is your sole burden, your sole privilege.

This is your great adventure.

Please heed the call of your Savior.

Follow Him.”

I would like to testify with him, we all need to come unto the savior Jesus Christ, no matter. Thank you to all the stalwart amazing examples in my life, most of you know who you are, keep being you!

Here is a video of Sister Currence. A very fun and spunky lady we take the sacrament to every week!

Hey everyone! As promised I wanted to give you a few thoughts on Conference! Two talks really stuck out that I wanted to share. One was Be Ye Therefore Perfect--Eventually by Elder Jeffrey R Holland and Has the Day of Miracles Ceased? By Elder Hallstrom. In the first talk, Elder Holland explains how in Matthew the savior commands us all to be perfect, even as our father in heaven is perfect. To you and me that seems impossible. But the truth is that it is possible... to eventually get there. Near the end he testifies: "Brothers and sisters, every one of us aspires to a more Christlike life than we often succeed in living. If we admit that honestly and are trying to improve, we are not hypocrites; we are human. May we refuse to let our own mortal follies, and the inevitable shortcomings of even the best men and women around us, make us cynical about the truths of the gospel, the truthfulness of the Church, our hope for our future, or the possibility of godliness. If we persevere, then somewhere in eternity our refinement will be finished and complete--which is the New Testament meaning of perfection." I testify that through the atonement and grace of Jesus Christ we can become perfect! In the talk given by Elder Hallstrom he starts by explaining an amazing miracle that occurred, that could only be explained by divine help where a man who should have been dead miraculously lived. But then he goes on to ask, what about all those who don't receive the miracle? Or at least the miracle they are Hoping and praying for. He goes on to say: "Often we describe a miracle as being healed without a full explanation by medical science or as avoiding catastrophic danger by heeding a clear prompting. However, defining a miracle as a beneficial event brought about through divine power that mortals do not understand gives an expanded perspective into matters more eternal in nature. This definition also allows us to contemplate the vital role of faith in the receipt of a miracle." "King Nebuchadnezzar demanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego worship the golden image he set up as a god, threatening, If ye worship not, ye shall be cast … into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.Then he taunted them with a Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? These three devout disciples said: If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods. They possessed full confidence that God could save them, but if not, they had complete faith in His plan."  We all need to ask ourselves, do we have the faith to know that the lord can provide those miracles? But more importantly do we have the faith to accept that god knows best and work toward the most important miracle... to return and live with god forever! Updates for the week! I saw Marlene! I went on exchange in Paterson and got to see her. Such a blessing but I forgot to take a picture. I also got to see Chase! (Elder Verhaaren) he is doing awesome and it was so nice to catch up with him! Love you all! Elder McOmber

October 3, 2017

Hello everyone!

It's been a while! Not a lot of time but I wanted to let you all know that I love you! 

Update: got a new companion! His name is Elder Feick! We have been living with him for a while (we are in a four man) his transfer was really easy haha! Just moved one bed over! He is awesome, I feel so blessed to be his companion.

I will give you my thoughts on General Conference when I have a chance to actually compose some. In the mean time I wanted to say how grateful I am to have living apostles and prophets on the earth today. It is such a blessing to hear gods word for us here and now. 

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland once said, "In a world of unrest and fear, political turmoil and moral drift, I testify that Jesus is the Christ--that He is the living Bread and living Water--still, yet, and always the great Shield of safety in our lives, the mighty Stone of Israel, the Anchor of this His living Church. I testify of His prophets, seers, and revelators, who constitute the ongoing foundation of that Church and bear witness that such offices and such oracles are at work now, under the guidance of the Savior of us all, in and for our very needful day. Of these truths and of the divinity of this work I bear witness."

With Elder Holland I testify that god truly is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Just as before he has once again revealed his secrets to the earth (Amos 3:7) and they are here to bless us all! Please listen to what they have to say, it will only bless your life.

Much love Elder McOmber