1 Year Down...Oh Yeeaahh!

 Mauri Mauri Mauri!! I hope you all are doing great back there in the burning state of California, I mean wow that's a lot of fires! Last week was pretty "eventful" because I hit my year mark (Insane), I get to drive now, and I got a new companion. But yea here are a couple highlights from the week;

Wednesday was transfers which meant a 2 and a half hour drive up to Newark were the airport is. I said goodbye to Elder Mortenson and said hello to Elder Young, and I also said hello to Elder Lebaron (My Uncles nephew) so that was pretty sweet! Elder Young is a country folk from Riverton Utah. He likes to hunt, drive trucks, and wear cowboy boots haha. Honestly might get a pair sometime in my life ;) I am still down in Tom's River which is awesome because I love it here.

I hit my year mark on Friday!! That was pretty weird thinking about. It so awesome to look back on the past year to see everything that happened. I mean the experiences I had, the things I learned, and the people I have met, have helped me in ways I couldn't have imagined if I didn't come out on a mission. It was a good year full of excitement, and I cant wait for what the next one is going to bring!

We are still making some awesome videos to put out on facebook almost everyday now which is fun. Facebook is a strange way of finding people, but it works pretty well. I have had a couple good conversations with random people that I found on facebook, and many missionaries are having a lot of success throughout this mission.

Well that's pretty much everything that has happened/changed this past week. 

Remember to Laugh at things that happen instead of getting mad or frustrated at them. Trust me I tried it this past week, and it just makes you a happier person!

Well I tangiringkami ni kabane!

Elda Jeppson

A cool old church building 

Drawbridge

Post basketball pic

Music video filming

Song Writing, House Sitting, and Phone Calling..

 Mauri Mauri ngkami kain te tabo ae rangi ni kabuebue! Wow! It is already another week! I don't about you, but these weeks are just going by faster and faster! This week was pretty slow at the start if the week, but picked up towards the end. So here are some highlights;

Tuesday through Thursday we had an all mission zone conference on a Zoom call. It was definitely strange having a zone conference on a zoom call because 1: there was no delicious food afterwards, just some dried mangoes I had haha, and 2: it was over video call. But needless to say, it was a wonderful experience filled with lots of great talks and insights.

On Friday we met in person with our islander friend who we weren't able to get ahold of for about 5 weeks. On Thursday we saw that he was active on facebook, so we immediately sent him messages to get him to respond, and it worked! He told us that he would love to meet the following day. He wanted to know more about the Book of Mormon and what we believed, because he told us that he had had 2 close calls with death but was saved by God. That led to an awesome conversation with him for about an hour. He loved what we were telling him, and told us that next time we need to meet longer so he can learn more! I felt like I was back in Kiribati for a second when lessons would go for a lot longer than what you have planned for, but I loved it when he said that!!

When we weren't calling people, we kept ourselves busy writing a new song! I have to day it was going to be a even better one, but now we can't release it because my companion is getting transferred. So that's a bummer, but hopefully my next comp knows how to play an instrument so we can continue to produce music!

Here is a little segment from the talk, Come What May, and Love It,

"Over the years I have learned a few things that have helped me through times of testing and trial. I would like to share them

The first thing we can do is learn to laugh....have you had an encounter with an overhanging cupboard door left open at the wrong place and the wrong time which has been cursed, condemned, and avenged by a sore-headed victim?

There is an antidote for times such as these: learn to laugh."

Well there you have it folks, laugh instead of getting angry or frustrated cause it makes life a lot better!!

I tangiringkami ni kabane!

Elda Jeppson

The whole district

Mini golfing with our district 

Kiribati Zoom (all our teachers also hopped on the call which was super awesome)

My mini golf course I made and club 

Me having fun on the family history activities

Our Zone

Hurricane In New Jersey???

 Mauri Mauri ingkami ni kabane kain te tabo ae tikiraoi riki! How y'all doing on this peaceful Monday? Well I have to say that I never knew a hurricane could hit South Jersey. But I will get into that in a bit...Here's a highlight or two from the week

As many of you may of saw, My companion and I dropped our first song. Some call us the next big hit haha. All jokes aside, it was pretty fun making and filming a music video. The videoing was definitely my favorite part because... well I guess I'm better at it then singing haha. Making videos if definitely a cool way of doing missionary work because I feel like its reaching people in a more normal and natural way. So stay tuned for many more to come. (Cough*) Might be dropping one this week(cough*) so stay tuned! (Cough*)

So about the Hurricane... We heard we were supposed to get hit by a storm on Tuesday night, by Monday night comes around and Bang! Lighting and thunder all over! It was kinda intense cause he we are sitting in the middle of this parking lot with no one around us using Starbucks wifi while lighting is sticking the ground not far from us. I can't say it compares to the storms we had in Kiribati  but it was still a big one. Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon, we go to drive to the church and trees and power lines are down everywhere. Trash cans were blown everywhere with the trash inside  and over a million people in New Jersey lost power for a couple of days. Pretty crazy stuff! We got like 3 amber alerts for tornadoes, but I was kinda bummed that one didn't smash into our apartment because that would have been a sweet story haha.

Well that's pretty much all of the excitement that happened this week! Keep on Smiling and serving others!

I tangiringkami ao Tia Boo moa!

Elda Jeppson 

Locked in! 

Cool ship

Quarantine life of a missionary

                                The only hike here haha

The Week Where I Come Home In A Year

Mauri Mauri Ingkami Ni Kabane!! I hope you all had a fantastic week! This past week flew by haha. I'm starting to not even remember what day it is because we are living the same exact day with the same exact schedule over and over again hah. Anyways, here are a couple of highlights from the week:

We finally got to meet our mission President and his wife in person! Wow it that was nice I have to say. First off they are super cool people, and even cooler to talk to in person. I have definitely taken human interaction for granted because MAN there is nothing like face to face conversations. Even though that was my first time meeting them, I felt like I have known them for years.

Another Highlight... are you all ready for this one? We got to go to church!! Haha you were probably all excepted something crazy. Well I guess going to church was crazy because we only had 18 people there, everyone was wearing masks, we were all spaced out from each other, and we got squirted with the sanitizer of hands many times. But we finally got to meet ward member in person which was a big plus! Even though there was supposed to be no longer longer, everyone lingered longer because every one has been human interaction deprived for awhile haha.

I encourage all of you to read Jeffery R. Holland's BYU devotional talk called,

"Remember Lots Wife" 

It is probably one of my favorite talks right now! Though it is a little long, it is REALLY worth the read or listen.

Well that's all that happened to me! Keep on smiling and have a great week!

I tangiringkami!!

Elda Jeppson

Dentist Life

The new setup... (Thanks Mom)

This is the life of a quarantined missionary 

{The Life of a Director}

Mauri Mauri Ingkami Kain Amerika! How are you all doing?! I have to say that this past week was a pretty good one because I had to summon my inner Director/ Filmaker haha. It definitely is weird doing missionary work by filming videos and posting them on Social media, but it's the kind of the new direction of missionary work. Here are a couple highlights from the week:

So every Thursday morning we have mission wide zoom devotional calls, and this last one was pretty awesome because (insert drum roll here) we found out we are allowed to go outside! We have a lot of restrictions, but hey I'm not complaining. We are allowed to meet with person as long as they are not high risk, we are social distancing, wearing masks, and some other jazz. We can't really meet with any of the members of our ward because everyone, and literally every single person is over 65 years of age. But we can finally meet some of the people we are teaching in person which is super nice!

Also filming was a highlight! It made the week go by pretty fast because we had something to do haha. If you haven't checked out our new videos, head on over to my Facebook page and give them your love ha! Also if any of you have any suggestion for video ideas/ you want us to do something feel free to email me them.

Here's a little Spiritual Food for Yall:

Elder M. Russell Ballard Tells us in his April 2001 General Conference Talk,

"Today I make you a promise. It’s a simple one, but it is true. If you will listen to the living prophet and the apostles and heed our counsel, you will not go astray."

I think that's pretty awesome right there!! Like who doesn't want to be lead astray! I know I don't. I hope you guys can take this to heart and apply this to your lives. 

Well I hope you all have a Great Week! Jump in the lake/pool/ocean for me haha.

I Tangiringkami ni Kabane!

Tia Bo!

Elda Jeppson

Our District - we finally got to meet in person at the park 

Kiribati Zoom call for language study with our MTC instructor 

Some scenery

Filming on the Mission?!

Hello Again Everyone! Man these weeks are just flying by. I don't even know what day it is anymore because they all merge together as one. This week we had some fun experimenting with videos.

Let me tell you how it went. First I got to give a shout out to my Brother Colton Stone for teaching me some wild filming skills because they have definitely come in handy. (You'll see in the coming video) Anyways, I'm sure most of you saw our little news show -If not go to my Facebook page and check it out- I have to say I had a fun time doing it. Its definitely a very unique way of doing missionary work, but it has worked so far.

A little spiritual note: I encourage you all to read Either chapter 12 in the Book of Mormon. Super awesome and pretty quick read.

Well Have a great week you all!

I tangiringkami 

Elda Jeppson

Summoned my Inner Samurai 

First attempt at French Bread 

Apartment? More like Bakery

Mauri Mauri Everyone! How is everyone doing today?! Not really anything to crazy happened this week except a little storm. But there was one highlight of the week;

On Friday night I had an idea of delivering cookies to members of our church so I made about 75 cookies haha. It definitely took a little longer than expected cause I had to mix everything by hand, but hey, who dosen't love a good messy arm workout. So on Saturday we drove around for about 4 hours delivering cookies to people. Our plan was to basically doorbell ditch them, but each time i rang the doorbell i would walk very slow hoping they would open the door and start talking to us before I got in the car. Wow! Human interaction is sooo nice. 

That was definitely a highlight of my week because we were able to make connections with people.

Here's a cool little quote for you all,

"A secret to happiness is letting every situation be what it is instead of what you think it should be, and Then making the Best of it."

That definitely something we can all work on during this crazy time of life!

I hope you all have a great week! Serve others always and Smile at everyone you see throughout the day!

Elda Jeppson

I'd say this is the prettiest Ocean I have seen since Kiribati 

The new In N out 

Our bakery

Quarantine fun

I think this should be the new missionary look haha