Beautiful October

Falling Fall

We have just experienced the nicest summer ever here in New Jersey.  The weather is still very mild but now and then we feel a nip in the air so we know seasons will be changing.  In fact, just last weekend we started to see some trees that had changed colors.  Fall has always been my favorite time of year, but this is the first time I will really experience a real fall.

We are finding though, that we need to ride around and take pictures quickly.  With the changing of colors, the leaves are starting to fall also.  The other day, we opened the door to go to the church and it sounded like it was raining outside, but the wind was blowing and leaves were swirling around all over.  It looked like it was raining leaves.

I love this area where we live. We don't have to go far off the busy roads but we are in the country.  There are many fall festivals advertised all around and pumpkin patches.  We went to this market since they were advertising fresh corn, but alas, corn season is over.

Meet the Mormons

This next weekend, on October 10th, the movie "Meet the Mormons" will be released to theaters.  This last week, all of us missionaries got to see a preview of the movie.  The mission president and his wife provided the showing at the East Brunswick building close to us.  This movie is entertaining and very well done.  At the present, there are no theaters here in New Jersey that are showing it.  Our closest theater is in New York City.  Some of our young single adults are already saying that we need to have that as an upcoming activity.  We though, would rather have the showing in this state rather than having to travel to another state. We are trying to encourage them to request the film.  The theaters need 400 requests before they will consider showing it.  We heard one of the branch presidents say to use one of two zipcodes when requesting so we'll have a better chance.
By the way, for those of you planning to see the movie . . . I'd advise that you take a tissue or two, especially if you have ever sent a missionary on a mission.

Perth Amboy Building

Since we know that there will be some remodeling done to the Perth Amboy Church building, we thought that we should document the building as it is now.  Honestly, we don't have any idea of the history of this building, we just know it is small and needs some help.  The building is close to the downtown and the train and bus stations are just behind it.  Many of the members walk to church.  Downstairs is the main meeting area, the kitchen, the baptistry and the Bishop's and clerk's office.  Upstairs is everything else.  This picture was taken about 6:00pm.  You can see that it is starting to get dark earlier and earlier. Before long, we will be traveling in the dark to get to classes.

The door we enter from the parking lot

Elder Hancock getting ready for class

Sewing Again

This passed week, I started taking in some mending for the missionaries.  Last week when we were in Elizabeth, Elder Hancock was visiting with Elder León.  His suit pocket had got caught on a door handle and was ripped really bad. Elder Hancock brought him to me and asked if it could be repaired.  We took the suit coat and another elder's pants home and this week, and Sister Toy and I worked on the repairs. I was very pleased (and surprised) that the suit coat looks as good as it does.  Like me, Sister Toy graduated from BYU in Clothing and Textiles.  We both like to sew and it is nice to have a partner to work with on hard cases. Before coming on this mission I hoped to be of service with sewing and music. Now the word is out so I imagine little by little we will get some projects.  Also, I found out that there was a sewing machine in the mission that was not being used, so we picked that up a few days ago. I won't have to go to Sister Toy's apartment to use her machine.  Can you tell that I am excited?

Also this week, we started working on the wedding dress for Violeta Mendez.  We don't want the word out (especially in working with young single adults) that we make wedding dresses.  That could get out of hand quickly.  This is actually my first wedding dress.  Sister Toy has made many dresses.  She asked me to cut the dress out and I truly felt the responsibility especially in cutting the lace.  Elder Hancock's parting words to me that morning were "Measure twice, cut once" and believe me we did.

Conference Weekend

We have five young single adults (3 Spanish speakers and 2 English) that went to Utah this week to attend conference for the first time. We have been so excited for them.  We have many great memories of attending conference.

One of our Institute groups liked the idea of watching the Saturday conference sessions together and having a potluck in between. At the East Brunswick Stake center the sessions are broadcast in Spanish in the Relief Society room and in English in the chapel. They decided that we all need to stay together, so we watched conference in English.  Only the missionaries, our group, and a few families were there. It was really nice to have this experience with them.  Sister Oliveres made us some homemade tacos that were wonderful. There was enough food to serve the missionaries also, but not all of them joined with us.

Because we are on the East coast and need to wait for the live showing, the first session of conference started at noon, the afternoon session at 4:00pm and the Priesthood session at 8:00pm. Here are pictures of our group with the missionaries.

 During the afternoon session, Elder Hancock shared "Halloween candy" with all.