January 5, 2015

Happy New Year everybody!

This week was a slow one because both me and my companion had a sinus infection all week.  On Wednesday it was New Year's eve so we had to be in our apartment at 6:00, so we got together with the Spanish missionaries and the sisters living in the apartment building and we played Monopoly and Risk until 10:00 which was really fun.

On Thursday we had to bring mattresses to the Bushwick, Brooklyn apartment because they had a little bit of a bedbug situation over there.  The rest of the week was kind of slow since we both got sick and we didn't want to spread the sickness all over the mission.

Today for p-day we are going to the Brooklyn bridge.

December 29, 2014

I hope everyone had a good Christmas.  We visited a bunch of members and ate a lot of food.  It was great.  It was also nice to skype home.  Thanks for all the Christmas cards.  It was nice.

Right before church I was asked if I could bear my testimony for five minutes.  Good thing I am sort of able to do that now.

I helped clean out a missionary apartment for the first time which was pretty interesting.  We had to move everything out of the apartment and then deep clean it.  It took all day.  We also drove all the way down to Plainview to drop of Christmas packages for the Christmas concert we had.  There were so many packages that it filled up the twelve passenger van.

I hope everyone has a happy New Year this week.

December 8th, 15th and 22nd

December 8, 2014

This week was kind of a dull week.  We had exchanges again this week.  I went with Elder G. which was pretty fun.  We went over to the Elders' Quorum president's house and helped him a couple of days which was good.  Transfer calls are on Saturday so it will be interesting to see what happens.  I wish it would just snow already.  It's December and there still hasn't been a legit snow fall.  It has rained a lot though.

December 15, 2014

Transfer week and sadly I'm out.  It was fun being in Plainview, but it's time for me to go some where else now.  We did a lot of service this week cleaning up leaves on people's yards and helping people fix their fences and other things to help them get ready for snow.  We had a zone training meeting which was good as well.  I'm sad to go but I'm also excited to see where I'm headed.

December 22, 2014

Transfer week is now over and I am in Rego Park (Queens) as an office Elder now.  Basically what an office Elder does is we deliver beds and dressers and things like that throughout the whole mission.  I traded in car keys for a fifteen passenger van keys (for deliveries) and a metro card for the trains and buses.  I am with Elder MacCabe now.  He was the district leader while I was in Plainview my first two transfers.  I also went from an eight missionary district and a 24 person zone to a four missionary district (one set of elders and one set of sisters) and a twelve person zone so it's a big change.  The apartment I am in now has only missionaries in it.  On the bottom floor is me and Elder MacCabe.  The second floor is the Spanish speaking Elders.  The Sisters are on the fourth floor and one of the senior couples are on the top floor so that's a big change.  As an office missionary I get to go everywhere in the whole mission.  On Friday I got to go to the Hampton Bays which was a six hour trip but it was cool to see how different it was to the rest of New York.

I hope everyone has a good Christmas.

December 1, 2014

This week was a pretty busy week.  Tuesday we had an interfaith program where people from different churches all came to our church and had sort of a conference.  It was nice to see how other religions give their sermons.  One of them played "I'm Proud to be an American".  It was pretty amusing.

Wednesday I was on exchanges with Elder Maughan.

Thursday was Thanksgiving.  We had our mission wide turkey bowl.  We lost in the championship game.  Bummer.  We went to the senior missionaries' house for dinner and played risk after that.

Friday was a normal day and on Saturday our ward had a turkey bowl and we had a service project.

This week was busy but it is always nice when there is something to do.

November 24, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had our zone training meeting this week which was good.  I am starting to get used to driving but it still isn't my favorite thing to do.

On Thanksgiving we are going to Flushing Meadows park to play football, which I am super excited for.

The weather has been crazy.  One day it is nice outside and the next is super cold and windy.  Last night it was raining hard and the wind was blowing hard enough that the apartment was shaking.  It was crazy.  It snowed in upstate New York but not here on the island.

The primary program was yesterday.  It was super good.

November 17, 2014

Transfer week is finally over.  This transfer is only five weeks so there is no time to sit around.  My new companion is Elder N.  He is from Rwanda Africa.  Since he can't drive I have to all the time.  I hate driving here.

We had a meeting with Elder Halstrom who is in the first presidency for the Quorum of the Seventy.  It was good.  He talked a lot about how we need to continue to be good people even after our missions.

We haven't been able to get in contact with most of the people we found to teach last week but being persistent is something I can do.

November 10, 2014

Transfer week is here and my companion Elder B. is out along with Sister L. and Elder M.  Elder N. is switching to my pool so we will be companions next transfer.  Elder N. can't drive and he doesn't know a lot of English.  We may get another companion and be in a trio.

The Bayshore district came out here one night to do a power hour with us which is where we go to a member's house and say a prayer with them and then knock around their neighborhood.  Since there were so many of us we found some new people to teach.

The sister training leaders showed us a cool way to teach people on facebook by starting a group chat session.  The missionaries just have a discussion on whatever topic they choose.  It is a good way to not have to have a formal lesson and have the people they want to start teaching interested.  It is a good way to get people to talk to each other since some people are more comfortable talking on facebook than face to face.  It also gets members, less actives, and nonmembers involved.  It is pretty cool.  They found three new people to teach by doing this.