Staying in Newark 6 more weeks!

Hey everyone! well sorry we were not able to write yesterday with the holiday so i am writing you today. Well there is good news i will be staying here in this area for another 6 weeks looks like the Lord really has something planned here for me or a lesson he wants me to learn cause usually missionaries don't stay in an are this long it will almost be 8 months here in this area when its all said and done. But i am excited we are starting to see some success starting to happen here its taken some hard times and some repenting but we are starting to see the Lords hand as we try and work our hardest. just a little glimpse of last week we had a great week the best week i have had since being here. we taught a total of 32 lessons it was fantastic. It was not easy we worked our tail ends off but we were able to accomplish something that we hadn't done here before it felt really good. We were able to find 7 new investigators and we have a full schedule this week because we got return appointments with them. The thing that i don't like is the peoples agency its been super hard to get people to church we got 3 people to commit to come to church this last week but not one of them showed up, that's really been the biggest struggle here. We do have an investigator that is progressing really well his name is Ramiro we are getting a member to come with us tonight so that he has a fellow shipper to kind of friend him so he feels more comfortable to be able to come to church. we are going to have to re-set his baptismal date again because you have to go to Church 4 times before we can baptized them. so we are really focusing on getting people to church. i love working hard its really tiring but i truly am learning, i am repenting and becoming a better missionary there is so much more things i can do to be a better preach my gospel missionary, but i love the mission. I got a tape from Ellie and her family this week it really made me appreciate all of you are there to support me it was a great motivator to help me work harder. Her dad shared this story that really stuck out to me about planting the seeds and that we never know what impact we are going to leave on the people, we just have to do the best we cant to help them come unto Christ it helped me a lot since i still haven't had a baptism which has been super frustrating for me, as you all know i don't like to fail i like to see success, and i like to work hard at it so that i don't fail. We had a member that is having a big problem she is only 21 years old and is having family problems. we have been helping her out all weekend and has really shown me how important families are. The two little kids and her are living with a member right now Edgar Hernandez who is our Elders quorum president coolest guy ever. But the kids started calling him dad and grabbed on the legs when he left. It was pretty sad. it just goes to show how important the role of a good father is. This is what the mission is truly doing to preparing me for my family one day. We always teach in the first lesson that the family is the most important unit that God has given us and it truly is. i am excited one day to have a family and i want to be the best husband and father i possibly can because i have seen good and bad examples out here and am trying to learn. because my wife will deserve the best man possible because the women of the church are truly amazing. we had a great talk this last week in stake conference that one of the sisters talked about the women of the church and how amazing they are. i am thankful for all the women in my life my grandmas, my moms of course and Ellie and her mom what amazing people you are thanks for all you do and i love you all.  I Know this church is true and love the book of Mormon. have a good week love you all be safe! Elder Taylor Smart