Wow sounds like you guys have had an exciting time. I feel a little bit for your heat concerns. We're going through a massive heat wave here with 104 temperatures and 100% humidity. It is HOT! But we love working still. Yeah the sizes are right because that's what I'm wearing now. 32" waist, medium sized shirt, and I'm officially down to 198.4 lbs. Elder Coffin and I eat really, really healthy and I exercise a lot so I'm building a lot of lean muscle and losing a lot of fat so I'm losing the super healthy way. We're on an all natural diet. Which pretty much means we're not looking so much at the calories but at the ingredients. Rule of thumb being if we didn't make it, or it wasn't hand made, we generally don't eat it or if it is bought already made the less ingredients the better. It's working out pretty well.
Tell Katelyn that I still have to approve! Just because he's the nicest guy she's ever met doesn't mean he's the nicest guy I've ever met! No sister of mine is going out with just another dude. That goes for Maleah too. How did Katelyn do on the ACT by the way?
My companion, Elder Coffin, is kind of from all over the West U.S. He was born in Texas then moved to Seattle when he was 2, then moved to Tucson, Arizona when he was 14, then moved to Hawaii when he was 19, then came here. He considers himself from Arizona pretty much though. He's on his second to last transfer so about 22 months out. There's a large possibility that I won't be his last companion though because this is his 3rd transfer in the area and they've previously moved him around after only 2. Also the mission is considering making this a Spanglish ward which means either he'll get transferred and I'll get a Spanish companion or I'll switch to the Spanish program, so we'll see what the future holds I guess.
We had a great week this week! Our baptismal candidates are holding strong to their commitments and we're having a great time. One of our people, who's getting baptised on the 25th of July, is so excited and organized she's already got pretty much the whole program mapped out and has already asked all the people who're going to participate to do things! She's so prepared it's crazy!
The members in this ward are amazing, although the primary wrench in my physical improvement goals. I don't think we've gone a single day without getting food from one of the members and/or getting a member present at a lesson with an investigator. We do a lot of work with them and it's really great. There's a lot of Filipino and Hispanic people in our ward. It's pretty multicultural.
What Emerson Ward is most famous for is being the home of the Mathusek family. The Mathuseks are the most prominent member family in New Jersey. They have at least a member of their family in a leadership position in every stake in New Jersey! They are the rock foundation of the NJ Saints. Very strong and extremely active in missionary work and they started here in Emerson. Half the ward is Mathuseks! They are the best family! They all love and support each other and they all get together often. They really have what our family, extended, used to have: a great family unity. They invited us, among many others, to come to their 4th of July BBQ and it was amazing to see the joy and happiness in their celebration. I really see in their family what I hope to have in my future family. They really are a family to each other first and then to others.
Also an important note is we live with them. Unlike previous apartments that I've had, which have been our own apartment rented for us, we live in the home of Warren & Claudia Mathusek in their basement. It's really nice! I was so taken aback when I expected to pull up to an apartment and we pulled up to a house!
Emerson is definitely the most beautiful area that I've ever worked in. It's also a very wealthy area but there are people who are searching here too. I'm really happy in this area. I continue to talk in Spanish, A LOT. We have two investigators who speak Spanish and several families who speak Spanish. I still can't speak it very well but I understand everything. I really wish I could speak tagalog though! Bergenfield is almost all Filipinos and one of our investigators is from the Philippines, but she speaks perfect English.
We receive mail twice a transfer now. We'll be getting it tomorrow before they switch over to the new system. It'll be every zone conference and every zone meeting I think. So it'll be just about every two or three weeks. I think it's good though because now we can all focus a little more and really organize well because we only get supplies (i.e. copies of the Book of Mormon, pamphlets, Pass-Along Cards, etc.) once a month!
The mission combines tomorrow and we're super excited! We're getting, I think, 33 new missionaries from the South mission and their being fully integrated right away. Also this sunday I'm going to the Spanglish Ward in Englewood while their testing our ward for the possible switch over to Spanglish so this should be an exciting week for us. I know it's going to be a hot one!
I hope you guys have a great week and keep on reading your scriptures!
-Elder Guinto
P.S. just so you get a feel of how rich this area is I've ridden in a porsche three times already! Along with an audi and a mercedes! Crazy!
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