E-mail received 8/16/2010

Note:  For some reason Kyle didn't get my e-mail last week so this week he responded to both weeks messages.

I'll respond to both emails so that I don't forget anything. If I leave out any capital letters by accident it's because the shift key on this keyboard doesn't work very well. Neither does the "a" key. First off, awesome drawing Maleah! It looks really good. I can tell you're getting a lot better. I did want to ask if Maleah ended up going to girls camp but it sounds like she did and it sounds like it was a blast! That's awesome that Maleah got to bear her testimony in a lesson with the missionaries. We always try and have a member be there when we teach because really members bear the best testimonies. While ours are always strong, we still will always come off as "The business face of the church." That's really great. I encourage you to continue to develop and use that powerful testimony that you have to benefit, bless and strengthen the testimonies and lives of others. I hope to read in the other email how that baptism went!

-Elder Guinto

P.S. Thanks for the extra money. I'll definitely use it. I've budgeted out the money that I do have pretty well so that I should be able to get by for the rest of the month though so I'll probably use it to buy pants and shoes once I get to November. Thanks for your support!

Woa that's crazy that Jason Hensley's already coming home! That feels like it was just yesterday. It's already hard to believe that I'm coming up on my year mark. I feel like I'm still fresh in the mission field. Alright so I'm going to assume you put in 125 and not 100 like you said in your last email but like I said in the earlier emails I'm probably not going to use it for food. One thing that my time in Paterson taught me was how to be thrifty and wise with the missionary support fund that we get. Also the reason that the msf became a problem wasn't exactly the missions fault. (Just to dispel any bad feelings.) Someone got a hold of Elder Coffin's card information and then tried to put a huge charge on it so the bank locked his card. The mission gave me extra money to help us to get by while Elder Coffin got a new card. When he got his card back, because the bank had locked the card on the first charge, Elder Coffin still had the money that he would've had. So instead of going through a big hassle of transferring money I asked the elder in charge of finance to take the money I had received and just deduct it from the following month. I thought Elder Coffin and I would remain together so it wouldn't have affected anything but then he got transferred. So that's what happened. All is well!

Thanks for sending the stuff. I'll send you the new sd card, which has a ton of pictures on it, as soon as I get them. I'm looking forward to having slippas again and to the letter from Brittany, but then again her writing me back soon probably means that I'll get it in a few months or so. Sounds like around my birthday would be a good guess. Hopefully not but I'll plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Sounds like you're having a fun time dentally. That's not going to be a pleasant thing to go through but I hope that it all goes smoothly. I can't say getting my wisdom teeth pulled was a particularly fun experience but I definitely wouldn't say it's horrible. 

Sounds like Olympia's just been spiritually rocked! Baptisms and a visit from an apostle?! What luck! Or divine providence! I wish I could've been able to meet him and hear the words and counsel of an apostle of the Lord! But I am satisfied with my lot.  (Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke at our stake conference this past weekend.)

We had a pretty good week this week. We had great experiences as we worked with the members this week. We received a lot of referrals and this week will be spent contacting them all. We also had this guy that Elder Coffin and I contacted on the street a couple weeks ago just show up to church with his daughter! It's been a week of miracles. This one investigator, who I haven't been able to teach for the time that I've been here because she's so hard to get in contact with, finally met with us and we had an amazing spiritual lesson. We almost got her to commit to baptism but there's a few things that she's got to get in order before she feels like she can make that commitment. It's not an if but a when for her at this point. We also set a baptismal date with another one of our investigators who we've been working with a lot so that was a great thing to do as well. We hit the streets hard this week and we found a lot of potential but unfortunately none of them began investigating right away. We're following up with a lot of them this week and we have faith that the Spirit will prick their hearts. There was this one guy who thought that Christ might actually be the devil but he was so intrigued that there was another testament of Jesus Christ that he took the Book of Mormon with almost a hunger. It was a really cool experience.

We're excited for what this week will bring. We're going with kind of the same plan with the exception of we have a lot more potential for the week as far as new investigators. 

I hope that you guys have a great a week as we're going to have and have a chance to relax after a long hard summer!

-Elder Guinto

E-mail received 8/9/2010

Dear Mom,

 

We had a great week this week! I got my new companion. His name is Elder Elliott. He's fresh from the MTC! He's from Farmington, Utah and comes from a pretty big family. Turns out the MTC taught him like nothing so I'm pretty much training him from scratch! But he's got a really great heart and a fire for obedience so it's turning out to be really easy. It's really just coming down to the nitty gritty of the lessons and also getting used to being a teacher and a missionary. He's really cool though.

 

It's really different training because I've always had companions who were older than me so I really am his introduction to a whole new way of living. It's really interesting how different missionary life is from regular life. I've been immersed in it so long that I can't even remember what it was like to do my own thing.

 

We had some really cool experiences this week. We finally found the first new investigator in a long time. He's a Filipino guy who's really been searching for the truth for a long time. He's really excited to learn about the Book of Mormon and about everything.

 

Our ward mission leader has decided to take a really member focused approach this week as well. With the change in missionaries he's going for really getting the members weekly immersed in actively doing things to help or learn about missionary work. He had us set a ton of appointments with members and then we're going to teach them just like investigators. We're probably going to have a really good week this next week with this new approach and we're excited to see member work take off more than it already is. And it's already the best I've experienced so far! Emerson's the greatest!

 

We had a really cool experience with one of the families in our ward. Saturday evening all of our appointments were falling through and we didn't know where to go and we felt prompted that we should go and visit that family, even though it was unexpected. I've never been in the home of that family either. They were home and we were able to visit with them for a little bit. Turns out they've been swamped with all kinds of things going on with their family company. We tried and tried to see if there was any way that we could help but unfortunately there wasn't much that we could do. However the Spirit did lead us to exactly the scripture that they needed. I read to them from Isaiah 26:3-4 and they really felt the power of that scripture help calm their fears about the really uncertain future. It was a really cool experience.

 

Just a heads up, you'll see one charge from last week for a suit that I bought at goodwill. Brand new, by the way, and fit me perfectly. I'm probably going to try and buy some pants today as well.

 

Thanks so much for all your support and let me know if there's anything that I can do for you guys!

 

-Elder Guinto

 

P.S. If you guys could send me the picture card that I sent you I will send more pictures. Also Elder Elliott got some cookies from his mom. That would be amazing if you sent me some because your cookies are amazing! I love you!

E-mail received 8/2/2010

Sorry this one has taken so long to post.  I spent the week up at girls camp, so I wasn't able to get Kyle's letter until today.  Enjoy!

WOAH!!!! That is so crazy! My jaw seriously dropped to the floor! So much is going on! Michelle almost died and is engaged and Shon's engaged too!? And they're both super soon! That is crazy! I'm totally at a loss for words. I guess I'm happy for them both. So much has happened since I left.

 

That's really good that Kelson and Michael seem to be moving to greener pastures. Hopefully Chris and Stephanie will be a good influence on Kelson and get him to rearrange his life a little bit. Sounds like God is doing some massive humbling on all fronts.

 

Thanks for getting me Brittany's address. I've decided that I'm only using email to communicate with family and so I wanted that. She emailed me today so I just sent her a short email telling her the new policy. I'm trying to really focus in on doing great work here.

 

Life in Emerson was actually pretty laid back this week. A lot of our investigators and many member families all went on vacation this week and so we didn't have much work to do. Plus, due to all the trips that we had to make in July, we were completely out of miles and so we were left walking in a gigantic area. Travel time took a little longer but we got some great exercise.

 

Transfers are tomorrow and Elder Coffin is going somewhere else. I'm really going to miss him because I've had such a good time and learned so much from him. He goes home in six weeks and it's driving him crazy! It's funny because he'll all of a sudden be reminded of it and it's really just something he can't fathom. When you've been out for a while, being a missionary is all that you really know how to do. Going back will really be like beginning a completely different and new life. On top of that, his parents have moved since he left and so he's going home to an entirely different state where he won't know anyone. Crazy!

 

On the upside, I'm going to be a trainer this transfer! I'm going to be getting a missionary straight from the MTC and this will be his first area and I his first companion! It feels so weird because I feel like I was just there yesterday and now I'm going to be doing it! Also, it'll be the first companion that I've ever had who's been in the mission less time than I have. It's going to be a great experience and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm expecting to see a lot of miracles from this faith-filled greenie!

 

This week should be great. We're spending most of today seeing people because Elder Coffin's been in this area a while and wants to make sure he says goodbye to all the great people here.

 

I'll have a lot to update you guys on next week but for now keep the excitement that goes on there to a minimum if you would. Have a great week!

 

-Elder Guinto

 

P.S. Hey girls, read your scriptures!

E-mail received 7/26/2010

We received a fairly short e-mail this week and much of it had to do with family stuff which I don't think most of you would care about.  But I didn't want to skip a week, so here is the rest of the e-mail:

Oh man this week was crazy! We received amazing and inspired training from our missionary leaders and I'm super excited to put it to the test in the field and reap the great harvest about to unfold. The training really focused on simplifying things. We as missionaries talk too much and we need to focus on really what our purpose is: to invite! We try too hard to tell them information and not hard enough to help them receive the restored gospel through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. Unfortunately because of the long training we didn't do much work in our area this week.

 

On the massive upside, we had a baptism! One of the greatest yet! The baptism was so well attended that the relief society room was standing room only. It was super hot and stuffy but that just added to the spirit which also filled the air. Even greater was almost all of our investigators attended too and a lot of nonemembers and they all could feel the Spirit there. We're expecting to have an amazing week this week.

 

Well last week of the transfer and we're finishing it strong by setting a lot of people with baptismal dates and hitting the streets hard. I hope you all have as great a week as we will and know that my prayers go with you.

 

-Elder Guinto

E-mail received 7/19/2010

I didn't forget the zipcode I just simply don't know it. I don't know if WA is the same way but in NJ they have a different zipcode almost every ten or fifteen miles. I figured you guys could look that up somehow. If not I can probably get it. I got the pictures dad sent. Katelyn's boyfriend looks like a decent guy. But I still have to meet him in person before anything drastic happens. And no dating local guys! That goes for Maleah too. If they're not members they're not for you! Trust me on that one.

 

That's cool that a bunch of the Utah family is coming to visit! Tell them all I said hi and I love em. A couple update requests. How's Tyrie and Paige doing? Also how about Mike and Kelson? Have they had dinner at our house lately? How's Kim doing too now that she's all graduated?

 

Sounds like you guys have just been going a hundred miles an hour and even crazier that we're more than half way through the summer already. This transfer is going by so fast!

 

There's not much more to update you guys on this week because I didn't spend much of this week in my area. I had to go on exchanges with all the district members so I spent a day in each of their areas training them. One day back in Paterson, one day in Passaic, and then one day in the Englewood area. Next week I'll probably also have to go on an exchange into West New York (which is actually in NJ). I also did an interview this week in New City, NY which was pretty cool to be out of New Jersey for a little while. We ate at this cool restaurant called Five Guys and you'll see a charge on my card for that because we've been having problems with our MSF card but that's all getting solved. We're also going to buy ties today so you'll see a small one for that today too.

 

The mission is going through a big changing period and so this week is going to be insane. I have a four day mission leader training conference that I have to go to Morristown tuesday through friday so I won't be really working in my area that much this week. It's really kind of a riot because of all the things that we have to get done this week in preparation for one of our investigator's baptisms this Sunday. But the Lord will provide for us. Also since we've had the problem with our MSF (Missionary Support Fund) we have to wait until wednesday to buy food and we're totally out! Fortunately the members are great here and we should run into any problems.

 

I'm holding pretty steady at 198.4 so that should make you guys happy. It was funny I was sitting on the couch this morning and I realized I haven't weighed that little since I was like 10 or 11! It'll be so funny to see the looks on everyone's faces when I come home.

 

Well I'm sure I'll have a lot to talk about next week with all the training that we're going to get. It's going to be a nightmare scheduling around it all but I have faith that it'll all be worth it. The brethren also released new training videos for us to use so we're getting a lot of new material.

 

I hope you guys have a great week and hope you have a chance to relax a little bit. Let me know if there's anything that I can do for you guys on my end.

 

-Elder Guinto

E-mail received 7/12/2010

Man sounds like busy busy busy. Sounds like Katelyn's friend is pretty cool but I still have to meet him!

Also I'm probably going to buy athletic shoes pretty soon because the ones I have have a lot of holes in them. I beat them up pretty bad because I exercise a lot. I'm going to try and wait till my year mark to get them though. If they have them anywhere could you keep your eyes peeled for a sale on adidas sambas milleniums. They're an indoor soccer shoe and Elder Coffin swears by them. I was thinking about indoor soccer shoes anyway because they're light and really durable and he said they lasted him like four years so if you could keep your eyes out for any good deals  that would be stellar. He said they retail at about 65$ but if you could find them for 20$ or 30$ that would be super cool.

The mailing address of our house is 23 Laurel Ave. Dumont, NJ. I guess the Mathuseks would just get it in the mail and then give it to us. That would be good for letters and stuff but packages would probably be better off sent to the office. I'm not always sure when we'll get mail because zone conferences are now going to be held on an even less frequent basis but zone leader council is held at the beginning of every month so that would probably be a safe area of opportunity.

Man that's so crazy that Elder Oaks is going to be speaking in Olympia! And I'm missing it! He is such a powerful speaker. I love how he always seems to talk about the order of God in his talks. You guys better take diligent notes!

News from here, it has cooled down, thankfully. Now it's only in the 90's instead of over 100. It continues to be super humid but all in all pretty nice.

This last week we had the mission merge. It was really cool to meet all the new missionaries and see how things were changing. Our zone was the only zone to stay completely the same as before, which was pretty cool because that means president likes us the way we are.

Unfortunately we weren't able to get as much work done this week as we wanted to because of the all day mission conference and then also we got stranded in Paterson when we went for interviews and decided to go to the Pepboys there because we had gotten an oil change order and they ended up finding something wrong with our tires and we were stuck there for five hours.

However we had an alright week. A lot of the people in our ward are leaving for summer vacations and students coming home for the summer. It's a crazy time for the families here as well.

In our interviews we found out that I'm more than likely going to stay with Elder Coffin for the next transfer as well so I'll be the one that sends him home. Also I got the go so that we can teach people in Spanish in our area now.

We're working with some really choice people here in Emerson and so many are just ready and prepared to receive the Gospel.

We love it here and we love you guys for being valiant in writing and sending your love and support. Everyone have a great week and remember to read your scriptures!

-Elder Guinto

E-mail received 7/6/2010

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!