September 29, 2014

It is transfer week and the whole district is staying except for Sister P who is going home.  It is hard to believe I've already been out a whole transfer.  I "get" to start driving this week and I am guessing that it is going to be interesting figuring out how to drive in New York.

September 22, 2014

We did three service projects this week.  They all involved yard work so I knew what I was doing and enjoyed it.  After one of the service projects we were fed spaghetti and some homemade shrimp biscuits.  Eating those shrimp biscuits was an extremely hard thing for do for me.  I don't know how Jasmine eats weird food and likes it.

There is an investigator that we have been trying to contact since day one of the transfer and we were finally able to get in contact with them.  We will be visiting them this week.  It's week six and it is hard to believe that I've already been here for a transfer.  It has gone by pretty fast.

I saw my first firefly the other night which was cool.  It is starting to get cooler her and it has rained a lot this past week.  A lot of people said that since it was a rather nice summer the winter is going to be brutal.  I'm not sure if I should get excited about that.

Love you all.

Elder Shirts

September 14, 2014

Not much happened this week.  On Wednesday we had our trainer/trainee meeting.  It was good to see all of the people I became good friends with in the MTC.  We had zone conference on Thursday and exchanges with the zone leaders Thursday and Friday.  That was good and I learned a lot.

I'm super excited because this week we get to deep clean our apartment.  That means I can finally organize my space.  I've been going nuts because of how unorganized our apartment has been since day one.

I think that crazy traffic stories are going to have to become a thing in these emails because I have another one.  On Monday we were on our way home from picking up my birthday care package from the mission office and the traffic was bad only in the middle lane.  When we finally got out of the lane we drove past these two guys stopped in the middle of the road engaging in some nice casual conversation while people were stuck behind them because they wouldn't move.  It was the craziest funniest thing ever.

September 8, 2014

I gave my first blessing on Wednesday.  I had my first exchange on Monday and Tuesday.  It was really fun and I learned a lot from Elder MacCabe.  We had a zone meeting as well.  It was pretty good.

We had a service project this week at a 5k race.  We threw cornstarch mixed with food dye at people and it would get all over them.  The paint got everywhere (including all over us).

We visited the (T) family again, and of course we got super good Mexican food as usual.  I understand why people say that New York pizza is the best now, because it is.

It is super funny to see how people react when I say I am an Eagles fan.

My hand is getting better.  It doesn't hurt anymore and I don't need to keep it covered because it is starting to scar.  It is pretty cool looking.

It feels kind of weird to be 19 now.  It was already hard for people to believe that I was 18, now it will be hard for people to believe I'm older.  I experienced some more crazy drivers and I finally noticed how narrow the roads are compared to Utah.  On Sunday the sister missionaries surprised me with sort of a surprise birthday.  After the young adult linger longer I was taken outside and sprayed with silly string and got brownies.  That really made my day after a hard couple of days during the week.

Notice his batman socks?

And of course we have to get some Batman in here

And some how it should have ended:

September 1, 2014

New York drivers are crazy!  On Tuesday we were in a traffic jam and people were goin' nuts! (He says this with a British accent).  There was grass off of the shoulder of the road and there were people lined up on the shoulder of the road getting off the freeway.  Some were using the freeway entrances to exit.  Some were driving on the grass to get off.  I'm glad I'm not the one who has to drive.

My companion, Elder Byrd, is a nice companion and trainer.  This week we met with A. and J.  (full names will not be given on this blog to keep their privacy).  They are long time investigators who I think are super close to wanting to be baptized.  They had been taught the lessons already, but they had a lot of questions, so we answered them and they said that it is a lot clearer now that they have been taught more simply.  We also have been reading the Book of Mormon with the T. family.  They are recent converts and are really nice people.  I also gave a talk in sacrament meeting which was traumatic for me.

There are a lot of different religions in our small area and a church on almost every other block so every neighborhood has a specific religion that lives in the area.  Our house apparently is in a mostly Muslim and Hindi area.  This week was mainly another week of knocking doors, being called names, and being yelled at.  One funny thing that comes up is the Book of Mormon broadway musical.  They always ask us if we don't see it because it is offensive.  They also think that is how we are, so I'm glad the movie "Meet the Mormons" is coming out soon.  If people go see it they might understand that the members of the church are normal people.

On a good note though, I got to dedicate my first apartment the other day.  My hand is doing better too, after I popped the blister playing volleyball.  A lot of people this week have asked me how old I am and apparently I look like I'm 13.  I'm not sure if I should take it as a compliment or something that I need to pay attention to because it seems like they don't take me as seriously when they find out that I'm 18.  Another thing is that they seem a little underwhelmed and disappointed when I say I'm from Utah.  One cool thing is that one of the main Joe Camel and mucinex artists is a member in the ward.  He's pretty cool and has a lot of cool stories.