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

birthday week

Hello everyone!

First off I wanted to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday, I
really appreciated it! My birthday was a busy day of missionary work
so I didn't get any time to slow down and celebrate but I wouldn't
have it any other way! I did however get a chance to go to Popeyes and
get some great chicken, I just wish my fried chicken would turn out
like theirs.

We had a pretty good week. Talked to a lot of people and found some
new people who want to know more about this gospel. Ibette is doing
really well, she is probably going to end up in the Spanish ward. She
is fluent in both but she prefers Spanish.

I'm out of time so I will have a more extensive email next week.

Love you!

Elder McOmber

Hello everyone!

This week was a pretty good week! I'm not sure if I talked about her already but we are teaching this young women named Ibette. She is the sister of someone who my companion baptized at the beginning of his mission. She is really cool. She reads the Book of Mormon and she comes to church, we are just waiting on an answer.

In my studies I came across a talk that I really like. It is titled, Stand Up inside and Be All In.

Da part of it reads, "Our son Justin passed away at age 19 after fighting a lifelong disease. In a sacrament meeting talk he gave not long before he left us, he shared a story that must have resonated with him about a father and his young son who went into a toy store where there was an inflatable punching bag in the shape of a man. The boy punched the inflatable man, who tipped over and immediately bounced back after every punch. The father asked his young son why the man kept bouncing back up. The boy thought for a minute and then said, I don't know. I guess it's because he's standing up on the inside. In order to be all in, we need to stand up inside, come what may.

We stand up inside when we wait patiently upon the Lord to remove or give us strength to endure our trials and hardships, Such trials may be disease, disability, mental illness, death of a loved one, and so many other issues. We stand up inside when we lift up the hands that hang down. We stand up inside when we defend the truth against a secular world that is becoming increasingly more uncomfortable with light, calling evil good and good evil and condemning the righteous because of their righteousness.

May we all stand up inside and say, come what may. May we all live with our shield, or upon it.

Elder McOmber

8/28/17

Hello everyone! This week we were out, talked to a ton of people and saw some fruits. We met this girl named Lakeisha , she is super cool. She has been through sooooo much in life and has such a good attitude and faith. After our second lesson with her she said followed us to the church to know where it was for Sunday, she didn't end up coming but progress haha President Hess issued a huge challenge to the whole mission 2 weeks ago. He gave us all a hard copy of the Book of Mormon and challenged us all to read it and underline or highlight every reference to Jesus Christ. Someone has officially gone through and found that there are 3,925 references to Jesus Christ in the 531 pages. That averages out to 1 reference ever 1.7 verses. One of my favorite references is 2 Nephi 25:26, it reads, "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." I love the Book of Mormon with all my heart! If you haven't already I hope you read it. That book (along with the Bible) brings so much joy peace and understanding, but most importantly, it brings me closer to Jesus Christ. And because I read it I know that much more to what source I can turn to receive a remission of my sins, and more importantly, HOW how can receive it. How I can receive peace, how I can receive joy, how I can be forgiven for the sins and mistakes of my past, and how I can BECOME someone so much more. I love you all! Elder McOmber