RS Garden Party

On Saturday, June 28th, the Relief Society in the YSA East Brunswick Branch held a garden party.  It was held outside behind the stake center in the trees.  The weather and setting was perfect.  The purpose of the activity was to help the sisters become better acquainted.  There are a number of new sisters here just for the summer doing sales and some new nannies too.  The theme was "Bloom Where You Are Planted".  Sister Wendy Eck was invited to speak and she was wonderful.  Sister Eck is the Branch President's wife.  It was fun to get to know those that came.

RS Presidency:  Back, Natalie Lawrence, Kate Wilson (pres)
Front, Faith Tremmel

Ashley Eck-- just graduated from High School, and her mother Wendy Eck

President Peter Eck
     (and Dalia in the background)

 

Back:  Sister Hancock, Wendy Eck, Ashley Eck, Natalie Lawrence, Kate Wilson, Sister Horning, Sister Young, Kellie Kercher

Front:  Faith Tremmel, Dalia Mendez

Trains

One of the things that are different here that we are still getting use to, are the high speed trains.  There is a train track next to our apartment complex, so we see (and hear) trains often.  This picture though was taken from a park in Elizabeth.

 

Eatontown Institute

When Elder Hancock was teaching Elder Andersen's talk on "Spiritual Whirlwinds", he had an idea of how to teach this and I saw a whole new side and style of teaching that I hadn't seen before with him.  The day that the idea emerged, Elder Hancock quickly got in the car and headed off to a nearby dollar store.  This is what he came home with:

Mickey and Minnie represent the young single adults.

Bruce (from Nemo) and Randall (from Monsters) represent the evil influences in the world.

He then developed the lesson by talking about the defenses that can protect us (or Mickey and Minnie YSA) from those evil influences.

The Young Single Adults did enjoy his creative presentation and did let him know if his barricade had a hole where "Bruce or Randall" could get through. Here are the defenses in pictures: Living Prophets, Temples, the Book of Mormon, the Savior, Repentance, Resistance to temptation, and the Institute (not in Elder Andersen's talk but added none the less). But these defense work ONLY if we use them. If we aren't reading the Book of Mormon or living worthy of a temple recommend, then they will not be a defense for us.

After class we always play games and sometimes we stay until 10:30 or 11:00pm.  In Eatontown, there is an English Institute class at the same time as the Spanish Institute class.  We meet together for opening exercises, then separate and have class, then come back together for refreshments and games.

Dalia Mendez

Violeta Mendez

Alex Courter

We usually have two or three in each class. But, sometimes, a group from Tom's River or Freehold comes to join us.  It is more fun for them and easier to teach when there are larger groups.

Birthday Inservice Luncheon

Twice every month all the senior missionaries here working in CES (Church Education System) meet with our director, Brother David Bean.  We all meet in the Scotch Plains building and our meeting is usually 3-4 hours long.  We start with a luncheon and as we eat we talk about how things are going in our Institutes.  We share any challenges, concerns, and budding romances.  After lunch we go over the upcoming calendar and plan culture day activities.  The last half of the meeting is when we are taught by Brother Bean.  He goes through the upcoming lessons that we are to teach and helps us find the doctrines and principles that we should focus on. We all look forward to these inservice meetings.  Brother Bean is very well versed in the scriptures and we all learn and grow from his insights.

The last in-service meeting that we had was on June 18, 2014.  Elder Hancock and I were in charge of the luncheon.  We served taco salad with all the fixings.  Since three in the group were to celebrate their birthdays within the next couple of weeks, we bought a cake at Costco for dessert.  Brother Bean was one of the upcoming birthdays.  Elder Hancock ordered a gadget from Amazon and gave it to him for him to use for object lessons.

This "gadget" is a Magnetic Levatator. I am in the process of writing up the details of the object lesson which I will communicate at a later date. (Elder Hancock)

Jeppson's Last Transfer Conference

On Tuesday, June 24, 2014, all missionaries serving in the NJ Morristown Mission were invited to attend this special transfer conference.  Usually, only the missionaries that are being transferred will attend a transfer conference.  But, since President and Sister Jeppson are leaving to go home, everyone was invited.  As it turned out, there were lots of transfers for those staying.  Many of those transferred were young missionaries that we have worked with closely.

Besides the Jeppsons, there are 11 seniors that are departing. That only leaves 13 seniors remaining.  There are some due to come in during the next month, but we will still be under staffed.  Our new mission president, Paul Taggert and his wife will arrive on June 27th.

President and Sister Jeppson have been outstanding in their calling.  We've only been with them for a few months, but we have felt their great spirit!  President Jeppson was a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and he plays the guitar well.  Sister Jeppson, before this mission, served as her ward's Primary chorister.  The Jeppsons are very musical and in all of their teachings, they used music.  Sister Jeppson is talented in coming up with lyrics.  Even in Stake conferences, she would sing a little to teach a point, then talk a little, then sing some more.  It is both entertaining and very well done.  I can still remember what she wanted to teach at zone conference or stake conference because she set her words to music.  At the end of the transfer conference, the Jeppsons had CD's available for us to take that had all these songs recorded on it.

Besides the seniors leaving, there are 17 young departing missionaries.  In six weeks there will be 21 more leaving.  This group is part of the first surge of missionaries that came with the age change for missionaries.  Our numbers will not be affected much though for the young missionaries.  There were 15 new missionaries introduced and there are to be 25 coming next month.

We are SO impressed with these young people!!!  They are all so strong and so hard working.  They truly have been great examples to us.

At the end of the conference, everyone gathered in the cultural hall, made a circle and sang the mission song "In Our Lovely Garden State" to the tune of "In Our Lovely Deseret."

President and Sister Jeppson

Senior Luncheon and Activity

      On Saturday, June 21st, all of the senior missionaries got together at a Charlie Brown restaurant.  Many of the couples will be leaving soon and this was one of the last opportunities to enjoy being with each other.

There is a great need for senior missionaries at the present.  In the MTC we were told that there was currently a need for 4000 senior missionaries. And, there is no age limit.  They'll accept anyone from age 40 to 90+.

Hancocks, Sis. Horning, Woodruffs, Smiths

Sister and Elder Bailey (who were in our Branch at BYU)

Elder and Sister Burt (great housing coordinators)

The Fullmers (MLS missionaries)

Sister Gilbert was the mission secretary/nurse.  Elder Gilbert took care of all finances.

The Loertschers are talented singers and would sing silly songs like "The One Legged Chicken".

Shaws, newer couple working in Paterson.

This is Sister and Elder Smith's fifth mission.  They taught one Institute class in Perth Amboy and also served as MLS missionaries. They are from Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Hancocks, CES Spanish-speaking

The Vauses from Phoenix, AZ.  This is their first week.

After lunch, we drove to the Fort Lee Historic Park to visit the reconstructed Revolutionary War encampment and visitor's center.  Fort Lee is on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River.
Fort Lee found its place in American history during the 1776 British campaign to control New York City and the Hudson River.

Having resisted the British siege of Boston, George Washington turned his attention to defending New York City and the Hudson River Valley and so he began building this fort to defend the area.  In 1776 the Americans began to fortify this site which was first named "Fort Constitution."  When the British attacked and captured nearby Fort Washington, Washington order this fort to be evacuated.  Just four days after taking Fort Washington, the advancing British army forced an immediate retreat, and most of the American supplies and artillery had to be left behind.  These were indeed dark days leading Thomas Paine to pen his famous words, "These are the times that try men's souls..."  

Sister Horning and Elder Hancock

Add caption

Elder and Sister Hancock checking out a rampart and cannon.

Elder and Sister Hancock

Sister Hancock

Elder Hancock

Elder and Sister Stroud, our newest CES couple from Eager, Arizona.

June Happenings

Green All Around

We have been wondering what we have done to deserve being here!  And, I don't mind that in a bad way.  We feel so lucky and blessed to be living in this beautiful part of the country. We know now why they call New Jersey the Garden State.  For the last six weeks or so, every time we would go out, we would point out a new flowering bush or tree and take pictures of it.  Most of the pictures in our files are of the beautiful vegetation all around us.  We find that as one flowering tree or bush looses its blossoms, another type of bush or tree starts to bloom.  It is never-ending and it is great!!!  Just when we think that spring has completely sprung, we notice how much more lush and dense the trees along the road are.  We took this picture on the way home from church yesterday.  The grass gives the forest a beautiful carpet.  Needless to say, we are enjoying all the green!!!

Here is Elder Hancock standing by a flowering tree outside the Tom's River building.

Fog in June/ Mission Conference

Last week it got warm and the humidity was very high.  In fact, it was so high that the water droplets were hanging in the air and sometimes misting.  For two or three days we actually had fog!  It felt weird.  I thought fog was only suppose to be with cold winter weather.

We hurried and took pictures after our early Thursday morning Institute class thinking that the fog would go away.  It didn't.  It hung around until on Friday and then the skies opened up and it poured most of the day!

On Friday, June 13th, there was a planned All Mission Conference in a park.  Since there was a forecast of a 70% chance of rain, the mission conference was changed and held at the Morristown Chapel.  All the outdoor activities were quickly adjusted to entertain 250 young missionaries.  This mission presidency has a motto where they encourage the  missionaries to "Work Hard and Play Hard."

It was great to see the missionaries enjoy being with each other and having a good time.

Most of the activities were very active.  For a change of pace, Sister Jeppson asked Elders Stroud and Hancock to share some stories in the chapel for one of the rotations. Elder Hancock mostly shared experiences of what happened during and after the earthquake in Peru in the early 70's. Elder Stroud is a cowboy from Eager Arizona and he likes to share cowboy stories.




After the conference, the rain stopped long enough for a picture outside.  The ground was so full of water, those sitting got really wet.

Our mission president and his wife will leave to go home in just a couple of weeks.  The Jeppsons have been great and they are outstanding!!!!!!

We have gotten close to some of the missionaries.  The pictures below show the ones that are helping us with our calling.  They encourage the members to attend and they also bring investigators to our class periodically.

Elder Martinez, Elder Smith, Sister Ericksen, and Sister Jane.

The Tom's River Spanish speaking
missionaries. Elder Smith, in glasses, is a Hancock relative. Sis. Jane (pronounced Jon, is from Houston) and Sis. Ericksen is from Layton, Ut.

Sister Larson and Sister Haycock

The Elizabeth Spanish speaking sisters.












New Institute Class

 A few weeks ago, we launched the East Brunswick Institute. This is a great group of young single adults and it will probably be our largest group.  We started with just three the first week and in this picture you can see that we had four last week.

Elder Hancock taught them how to play "Farkel" for our activity.

L to R:  Taurino Lopez (white hat), Javier Garcia, Paul Lora, and Liby Tejada.  Paul and Liby are engaged.







A week ago Sunday we attended Seminary graduation and invited the grads to come to Institute.  We'll be getting two young girls joining this group when they graduate from High School (June 24th). There are also other YSA's in the East Brunswick Spanish ward that plan to start attending also.

When we have our classes, Elder Hancock does the teaching in Spanish.  Sister Hancock prepares the refreshments. We are now teaching five classes each week.















What an experience we're having! We just love the YSA's and New Jersey and the people and the missionaries. We are very impressed with them all! Wow!

Visitors and Visiting New York City

Our First Visitors

On Thursday, May 29, 2014 we were pleased to get a visit with the Hunts from Tucson.  Randy and his children, Garth, LaRea, and Lincoln were out east and in between Washington D.C. and New York City.  They stopped in to see us.  It was so good to see someone we knew from home.

Visiting NYC with the YSA's

On Saturday June 7, 2014, we went into New York City to help with baptisms at the Manhattan Temple with some of the Young Single Adults from the New Brunswick Branch.  It was announced that we should all meet at the temple.  Elder Hancock and I picked up Julian Tay and Lawrence Marrah and drove into Newark to meet up with the sisters and take the train into New York.  This was our first time to do this and we were relieved to be able to be with Julian.  He acted as our guide through the subway system and also to see some sites around the city.

L to R: Lawrence, Julian, David (Sis Young's son) Sis. Horning, Sis. and Elder Hancock

The above picture shows us all ready and excited to start this venture.  We are standing on the platform of the Harrison Station waiting for our train. David Young from Green River, WY was in town for work and to visit his mother.

Lawrence is a returned missionary from Sierra Leon and served his mission in the Congo. He has several "hair raising" experiences in the mission field that he has shared with us. He is quite a guy!

On the subway

As we came out of the subway and was walking up to street level, this is what we saw:

Look up!

After serving in the temple we walked down the street and into Central Park.  The young adults who knew the city were ready and willing to take us around to show us some of the top places of interest.

Outside the temple with Julian and his former mission companion, Tom.

Shaun Baxter, Dane Morgan, Lawrence Marrah

We were a little over dressed for Central park, but that didn't stop us.

 

Lawrence, AJ, Adam, Mike, Sam, Tyler, Cole, Dane, Shaun, Tyler

 Only the two boys on each end are from NJ. All those in between are here working this summer. 

It was a warm day and the park was full!  We didn't stay long but wanted to say we had been there.

Just outside of Central Park two of our boys, AJ Hunt and Mike Peterson got involved with this:

Chinatown

. . . and real Chinese food.

Julian, who is Chinese and from Singapore, recommended this place and helped us order. We each were served a huge plate full of food for less then $10 each. The amazing thing was, we all finished it! We were pretty hungry by then as it was 1:30 pm and we had walked around a bit. It was good food. We must have requested "more water" 12 times. We were thirsty!

We like

Julian knew of this place because he came into Chinatown to visit the Chinese Branch.  The branch meets in the building next to the restaurant.  In the picture that shows the outside of the restaurant, look next door (left).  It shows a red front.  After lunch we went next door and went up to the floor where the Chinese meet for church. Here is the place where we ate lunch. http://www.xocafeandgrill.com/.

We got to meet a lot of missionaries and some members while there.  Right now there are only 12 Chinese speaking missionaries assigned to the area, but, recently there were 16:  8 Sisters and 8 Elders.

After running quickly through Chinatown and Little Italy, we went to Times Square. We don't recommend coming to Times Square with children. There was some R-rated stuff going on there. Next week's lesson is from Sis. Reeves' talk from April's General Conference.  It is timely for what we saw...

There are LOTS of people in New York City!!!

We were glad to leave it all and head for home. We started that morning about 7:30am and returned home about 7:30 pm. We were pretty tired and our legs and feet were still aching Sunday morning. But, we are fine now.

Working with the Young Adults can really tire us out!

New Spanish Class

We started the East Brunswick Spanish Institute class on Friday night with three students. On Sunday we met another four or so and invited them to join in. So we hope to have them all at our class next Friday. This will be a fun group when we get some momentum going.

We are having great fun with the YA's and the classes. We are with them almost every day or night in one form or another. Tonight (Sunday) was Seminary Graduation. It was a nice program. We met a Bro. Daniel Kinghorn who has a nephew in Tucson, Kevin Kinghorn, who did our family trust for us. Small world!