Last Wednesday (like, the 11th), we went to the Rockefeller Center and saw the big official Christmas tree, then went to the little Lego store that's in the Center. We then went to Chinatown and went to a place called the Hong Kong market, which is basically a very large grocery store with pretty cheap prices. We bought groceries, then went to the Dennings for dinner, and read some Christmas scriptures with Rie (Luke 2 and a couple of Book of Mormon scriptures), then came home.
Thursday had a typical morning (exercise, studies, etc.), then we had a quick lunch and went and did a practice online event. That didn't go too well, but it was alright. After that we did weekly planning, and then a bit of online proselyting. We then got the chance to take the tram/gondola thing over to Roosevelt Island to meet with Bro. Brown from our ward to give him baptismal invitations we had made for his son's baptism. He was running a little late, so we looked up some former investigators while we were there, but none of them were interested. We finally met up with Bro. Brown, had dinner (yummy pasta), then went home.
Friday the 13th (ick) went alright, we had interviews with both pairs of Sisters, and then since Joseph bumped our appointment with him to Saturday, we went to an APF (Area Proselyting Focus) in Harlem and handed out hot chocolate at a Christmas tree lighting. That took a pretty long time due to the fact that we had to set everything up, as well as carry it up and down from Harlem to 87th street, so things got a little crazy.
On the way home, we stopped and got dinner, and then on the bus home, I did a terrible TERRIBLE thing. I left my retainer on the bus. Now, the reason you have not had me screaming that at you guys since practically two weeks ago is that I probably ran the world's fastest 400m to catch back up with the bus. Mind you, I was in slacks and my big poofy coat, so being able to run in and of itself was an impressive enough feat. Thankfully, he let me on, I got my retainer, and then got off. Phew. I don't think I've ever sprinted faster in my entire life. Then we went home!
Saturday was a really cool day. We got up, and it was snowing like crazy, we had about 3 inches on the ground by the end of the day (maybe more), so I broke out the winter boots, I really should've broken them in, I was getting chafed all around my ankle by them, but it was alright. Anyhow, we did studies then left early to get to Anthony and Norka's by 10. They fed us breakfast (nummy pancakes), and then we taught Anthony about the Plan of Salvation. We then got to the part about the Atonement, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and all that stuff, so we got onto the topic of baptism. We discussed it for a bit, and then I invited him to be baptized. HE SAID YES!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so ridiculously excited, and I still am. I think it's probably the best feeling I've ever had. We set the date for the 25th of January, so hopefully he will be ready by then to be baptized!
After that lesson, we went to go look up a former investigator who actually got referred to us by the mission office, so we went to visit him, but the doorman wouldn't even call him on their phone to tell him we were there, so we tried (in vain) to get him to pick up his phone, but he didn't. Sigh. Sadly, we just had to leave at that point. We then went to an appointment we had with a member for lunch, his name is Bro. Runyon (served a mission in France, is really cool and funny and a great guy to be around, going to school up here and is married), so he took us to Costco for lunch. Then we went to meet a girl named Naomi, who Elder Wang and Higbee had contacted when they were on their split. She wasn't home and wouldn't answer her phone, so we went over to our appointment with Isaac early.
The lesson went well, and then on the way to our dinner appointment they cancelled on us, so Elder Wang decided that we'd do what his former companion had termed a "miracle walk," aka walk around until we think of something to do. It was snowing and cold, so we decided to go to a Subways. After about 10 minutes, we pass this guy carrying a laundry bag. Huh, he looks a lot like Joseph....*Double-take* That IS Joseph! "HEY, JOSEPH!" So yeah, we had a lesson with Joseph in Subways. Guess miracle walks are actually miracle walks! We then went home, and the zone leaders were actually early for once! Very good day.
We also got the calls for everyone who was training a new missionary, and no one in our zone got one, so we're all unencumbered for another cycle. We also got transfer calls (now that I think about it, training calls were on Wednesday), and Sister Dunn got transferred to Olmstead in the Bronx, and some of the ASL district got shuffled around, as well as since Elders Fuhriman and World were going home on Monday, we got two new companionships to come in and replace them (one pair of Sisters, one pair of Elders).
Sunday was pretty normal, studies, ward council, then church. Elder Wang taught Gospel Principles, then we went and filled the baptismal font for the 2 Primary baptisms that were happening that afternoon, and then attended those. We then had our online event, but since no one showed up, we watched the Christmas Devotional. We then went to the Cannons for dinner, then went home.
Monday was a typical morning, then we went to district meeting, learned how to do a better companionship inventory, and then played a ton of ping pong (I beat poor Elder Longo 11 games to 0). We went and got lunch, finished our studies, and then went and did some unsuccessful less active look ups. We went to IHOP for dinner (since Sister Dunn was leaving), and then went home. Oh, slush is a horrible thing.
Anyhow, Tuesday was the day of the eternal walk, as we were looking up a referral who lived on this street that splits and disappears like, 6 times, and got hopelessly lost trying to find it. We walked for probably around an hour and a half (an hour past the appointment we'd made, we tried calling but he wasn't answering), and we finally gave in and went to a McDonald's to use our IPad maps. We had been panicking, because the street goes into Brooklyn and we were like, "Oh no, the address is going to be in Brooklyn. Bleh." It finally turned out it as two blocks from where we were at the time, so we went and of course, he wasn't home. It had also been snowing/raining sharp frozen ice chunks/raining up to that point, plus we'd done stair running exercises in the morning, making this out to be a very enjoyable experience. Ick.
After that, we went to the Yamada's to drop off some pass along cards for them (Sister Yamada made us yummy cookies), then went back out into the rain to go visit Isaac. After his lesson, we went to the Gibbons' for dinner, which was fun (they're a fun young couple, and they make a mean vegetarian curry), and Sister Dunn taught the lesson since it was her last day, then we went home.
Wednesday was pretty hectic, getting up to the transfer meeting, helping all the new missionaries get back, waiting for all of them, and so on. That's pretty much what we did all day. Sister Laititi's new companion is Sister Jensen (not the one that came out from the MTC with me), and all the new Sisters and Elders came down, I'll probably send their names when I get pictures of them. Elder Wang bought a Christmas tree and decorations, so that was fun, we got to decorate it once we got home!
Thursday we got up and pretty much went straight to the Dennings once we were ready to help them move. This took from about 8:30 to about 2:30, so we were doing that most of the day. He then took us out to lunch, and we got to talk with them for a bit. We then went and did online proselyting, and then had dinner with a member named Fletcher. He is probably the funniest, most eccentric and lovable person I have met. He's been a member for four years, and he has a really amazing conversion story, so I'll try to tell it as best as I can remember it.
So, he's an engineer and works with computer chips and stuff like that, so he has a lot of different places that he works for at different times. At this particular time, he was actually working for the military, designing a type of underwater laser (he says it was really cool being on the bottom of the ocean with marines and submarines all over the place). The commander of the unit he was working with was a guy named John, who was a really gentle and kind person, which he didn't expect from a military commander. They were finishing up this particular project (he was a year into about a 5 year contract) and so he took them all out for dinner (John that is). They all got to the place, and all the marines starting drinking alcohol and such, and Fletcher was the type who didn't drink, smoke, didn't drink coffee or tea or anything like that, as well as didn't swear, so he was just standing there with a root beer "watching humanity regress," when John walks up to him with his root beer. He said to Fletcher, "You must be a Mormon," and Fletcher was so surprised he didn't know what to say. The second thing that John said really struck him apparently which was, "I haven't met anyone like you who wasn't."
He says that these things really hit him that one, he appeared to others as if he was a Mormon (he knew of us but not about us), and two, that there were people who were like him, as he'd usually always been the odd one out in a crowd with his personal beliefs. So he kinda tucked that into the back of his mind, and went on for a few more months. Then one day he got called into his boss' office, and was told that his contract no longer existed due to funding being pulled (thanks to the big crash in 2009), so he was without a job, and many like him as well. He says things really went downhill from there, losing his house and moving into a small apartment, his wife left him, then eventually running out of funds so he no longer had electricity and water, and he lived solely off of pears for about a month. He was going to a church that had it's fancy lights, stage, singers, speakers, and all that, and his pastor and the pastor's wife would feed him 1-2 times a week, but they told him they really didn't have the money to do it since they were paying for all the above things.
He then remembered about our church, as he passed one every day to get to his to use their internet, electricity, and get water, so one Sunday he went at about 10:30 to see what services they were having. When he got there, the whole church was empty, and the lobby was dark. He was about to leave when one of the family history sisters came up and asked him what he was doing there, so he told her, and she got really excited and ran off. He got a little worried at this point, and was debating leaving while she was gone, when she brought the missionaries to him. They taught him for a while, and the bishop ended up taking him to the Bishop's Storehouse (he says it was like heaven for him, actually having food), and he was baptized a year from the time that he'd lost his job.
This is really paraphrasing (it's still really long), but it was really powerful when he told us it. We shared a wonderful dinner with him (he makes our sacrament bread which is SO GOOD), and then we went home.
Friday was pretty simple, went and bought gift stuff for our district/zone, got stuff for our district APF and made some posters, and then went around town and passed out about 125 pass along cards for our Christmas sacrament meeting. Had an interview with the Sisters, then had a lesson with Joseph, had dinner, got mail (cards from Mama and Sis. Alley Sr., as well as the card from Teddy), then went home.
Saturday was alright, I wasn't feeling too great, it was pretty warm (50s-60s), had a typical morning, did our APF (something called Kindness Kards), did online proselyting, went to the Bennion's for dinner (yay grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup with bacon), then went home.
Sunday (yesterday) we had the big Christmas program, a former investigator named Emanuel came and we're teaching him and his wife on Thursday, and we had a great time. Some of the Sisters' investigators came as well, and Joseph got to pass the sacrament. Yesterday was like walking through a tropical house in a zoo, it was in the 70s and very very very humid. It was GREAT I LOVED IT SO MUCH!!! So yeah, afterwards we did some online proselyting, went to church, did weekly planning and numbers, visited one of the sisters' investigators with them for a little, then went home.
Today we had district meeting/P-day stuff and we had a waffle lunch. Now I'm here!
Hope you guys are having a great week!
Monday, December 23, 2013
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Week 6/First month in New York
Sorry that I'm late on posting this one as well; Ralph sent it on Weds., 12/11:
Hey everyone! Hope you all are doing well and not freezing to death or getting snowed under.
I'll have been in New York a whole month as of tomorrow (good grief time flies). This last week was amazing, so I'll start from where I left off.
We did go to Times Square, explored a bit (went into a couple stores including the giant Toys R Us and M&M World), and I got myself a I <3 NY shirt (you know, the very typical one), as well as a new tie (you can sorta see it in the picture with my district on Facebook). Our appointment with Joseph fell through, so at that point we went to dinner, then went home and did weekly planning. We woke up on Thursday to major fog and everything was pretty wet, the basketball court was pretty much a slip and slide (wasn't even icy, just wet). Had an interview with the ZLs, got a package with food (in my journal I write that "I have enough food to last till the Second Coming"). We did our practice for our online event (went pretty badly, too many people goofing off, but we did learn a lot).
We got to teach Joseph about baptisms for the dead as well as family history work, and we're working on getting him a temple recommend so we can take him to the temple for baptisms for the dead. We went to the Porters for dinner, took Joseph along as well, and I tried eggnog for the first time in like, 8-10 years or some ridiculous span of time, and I found that I like it (I really need to be more open to trying things, I keep finding I like stuff). Had everyone in our apartment try one of each of everything I've been sent (looks like most of the German stuff is all mine bwahaha, they don't like it at all).
Friday was a fun day, we had our mission-wide Christmas Party/Devotional, so we took the Metro-North up to Ossining and met in the chapel there (the train didn't derail!) I got to meet up with my MTC district and catch up with them. Had lots of food (turkey, ham, rolls, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie, etc.) The devotional was really nice, the missionary choir was really good and the individual singers/players were great as well (violin players, flute players, piano players, and the like). After all of that, Sister Morgan and President Morgan both gave talks about Christmas. We got home pretty late (left at 9ish in the morning, got back around 6:30), then came to the 87th street chapel and interviewed Sister Weyandt and Jensen (well, Elder Wang interviewed them), then went home.
Saturday was an interesting day, as we got a call from a less active inviting us over for breakfast/lunch, so we went. We visited her as well as two others in her household. Her son Alex (also less active) and her roommate Anthony (a nonmember) were both there. We looked up Anthony in our teaching record and discovered that he'd been taught in 2011 and 2012, both times getting baptismal dates, but then the record would end with no reason given as to why lessons stopped (and thusly I have been inspired to keep good records because it was so FRUSTRATING not knowing why he stopped getting taught both times). It appears as if every time, he just got lost between transfers, which is really dumb. So we'll be teaching him more, we have an appointment with them for this Saturday.
After that was the highlight of our week, we went to Rie's baptism! She's been investigating the church for 2 1/2 years and is the wife of our ward mission leader, so it was really cool for that choice to have finally been made! There's pictures of us with the Sisters and their family on Facebook (the one I'm using for a profile picture at the moment). After that we had an interview with Hermana Dunn and Laititi about how we can better help out our ward (we're feeling a bit disconnected from them at the moment). After that was our Stake Christmas Concert at the temple. The songs were really good, I think we did well too. The concert ended pretty late, so we got home pretty much just before 10:30. At this point we got a call that the Hermanas had left their keys back at the 87th St. chapel, meaning they were locked out of their apartment. We called the zone leaders (who hadn't arrived home quite yet), and they went back to the chapel to look for them. Elder Wang stayed up and made dinner for the zone leaders for when they got back, and I was asked to go to bed, so I did. I found out the next morning that they hadn't managed to find the keys, so the Hermanas went and slept on the kitchen floor in Sister Weyandt and Jensen's apartment, and the zone leaders got back at about 1 AM, so they were very very very tired the next day (so was Elder Wang).
Sunday was fast Sunday since we had ward conference the week before, so we started our fast (ended up doing a 21 hour fast all told). We went to ward council, talked a bit how we can better assist the ward, then had fast and testimony meeting. Rie went to Sunday School, and there was no one else there for Gospel Principles, so we just went to Sunday School as well. Went to Priesthood and apparently we're doing some singing as well (not sure when), so we practiced What Child Is This. Talked to a lot of members, got to know some better, and then went and did online proselyting until the time of our event at 5. The event went well, we had us, the Hermanas, a member (Bro. Price), and Joseph there for our Word of Wisdom discussion. It went great, the lesson really helped Joseph. We then went to the Prices for dinner, and we shared a message on member missionary work. It was snowing when we got out of that appointment, so it was fun to walk around on our way home.
Monday we were going to meet with Sister N. and Anthony again in the morning, but Anthony had a business meeting he had to go to so we stayed and shared a very quick message. After that we had zone/district meeting (learned about How to Begin Teaching).During lunch I played ping pong with Elder Longo and beat him 5 sets of 21 to 4. We did some online proselyting after that, and then did some inactive lookups. I think it was this day that we ran into a less active named Rebecca who was baptized in 1997 but left the church a few years later because some Sisters in her ward started telling her to change things she did, such as her career (she worked in Rock and Roll), as well as her hairstyle and looks and so forth, thus she got offended and left. Talked with her for a while, and then left her with our information (she didn't want to be taught at that time).
After all this, we were invited to dinner by a member(along with Elder Higbee and Elder Monson, they were on a split). We went to a place called the North End Grill. I have never in my entire life seen a more posh, expensive restaurant. We had both appetizers and a main course (they insisted we do), so for an appetizer I had quail (it was like a whole fried chicken, but it was a quail), which had fried pineapple and bacon as a side. For the main course I had an 8 oz. medium-well done beef tenderloin.
Tuesday was weird, as I woke up at about 5 AM (probably some noise woke me up), so I kinda stretched as I was about to roll over and go back to sleep. As I stretched, I must've done something funny with my right leg, because as I stretched, I think I pulled something in my leg or something similar and I then went through the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life (to my memory). It was bad, and the pain really didn't go away much, so I was limping around all day as if I used that muscle in any way, it would flare back up, so that was interesting trying to do anything.
Did indoor exercises (sit ups and stuff) because it was snowing like CRAZY outside (only stuck to the cars though, I was hoping it'd pile up). Had an interview with the ZLs again, and then had apple slices with pumpkin butter for lunch (I improvised with my stuff in the fridge). We helped the Sisters pass out flyers for their Ward Christmas event, and then we got a call from the mission office that one of Elder Wang's friends from Hawaii wanted to see him. We met up with him and his dad at Grand Central and went to Shake Shack for dinner. Elder Wang enjoyed it (they all three were speaking in Chinese so I just quietly ate my food and answered any questions they asked me, which didn't happen too often), then we went to the chapel to help out the ZLs, but they didn't need us. Both of our appointments (one with Isaac, the other our dinner appointment) fell through (thank you Elder Wang's friend for coming and taking us out for food), so we went home.
Got laundry done today, it's pretty cold. We're planning on going to the Rockefeller Center today, as well as a place called the Hong Kong Market (apparently it's pretty notable). Not too much else planned for today. My leg is feeling a bit better, but still hasn't entirely recovered, so I'm still being careful with it.
Hope you all are doing well, I've been praying for all of you! I'll send the pictures in another email following this one, so for now, hope you have a good week and I'll talk to you all next week!
Hey everyone! Hope you all are doing well and not freezing to death or getting snowed under.
I'll have been in New York a whole month as of tomorrow (good grief time flies). This last week was amazing, so I'll start from where I left off.
We did go to Times Square, explored a bit (went into a couple stores including the giant Toys R Us and M&M World), and I got myself a I <3 NY shirt (you know, the very typical one), as well as a new tie (you can sorta see it in the picture with my district on Facebook). Our appointment with Joseph fell through, so at that point we went to dinner, then went home and did weekly planning. We woke up on Thursday to major fog and everything was pretty wet, the basketball court was pretty much a slip and slide (wasn't even icy, just wet). Had an interview with the ZLs, got a package with food (in my journal I write that "I have enough food to last till the Second Coming"). We did our practice for our online event (went pretty badly, too many people goofing off, but we did learn a lot).
We got to teach Joseph about baptisms for the dead as well as family history work, and we're working on getting him a temple recommend so we can take him to the temple for baptisms for the dead. We went to the Porters for dinner, took Joseph along as well, and I tried eggnog for the first time in like, 8-10 years or some ridiculous span of time, and I found that I like it (I really need to be more open to trying things, I keep finding I like stuff). Had everyone in our apartment try one of each of everything I've been sent (looks like most of the German stuff is all mine bwahaha, they don't like it at all).
Friday was a fun day, we had our mission-wide Christmas Party/Devotional, so we took the Metro-North up to Ossining and met in the chapel there (the train didn't derail!) I got to meet up with my MTC district and catch up with them. Had lots of food (turkey, ham, rolls, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie, etc.) The devotional was really nice, the missionary choir was really good and the individual singers/players were great as well (violin players, flute players, piano players, and the like). After all of that, Sister Morgan and President Morgan both gave talks about Christmas. We got home pretty late (left at 9ish in the morning, got back around 6:30), then came to the 87th street chapel and interviewed Sister Weyandt and Jensen (well, Elder Wang interviewed them), then went home.
Saturday was an interesting day, as we got a call from a less active inviting us over for breakfast/lunch, so we went. We visited her as well as two others in her household. Her son Alex (also less active) and her roommate Anthony (a nonmember) were both there. We looked up Anthony in our teaching record and discovered that he'd been taught in 2011 and 2012, both times getting baptismal dates, but then the record would end with no reason given as to why lessons stopped (and thusly I have been inspired to keep good records because it was so FRUSTRATING not knowing why he stopped getting taught both times). It appears as if every time, he just got lost between transfers, which is really dumb. So we'll be teaching him more, we have an appointment with them for this Saturday.
After that was the highlight of our week, we went to Rie's baptism! She's been investigating the church for 2 1/2 years and is the wife of our ward mission leader, so it was really cool for that choice to have finally been made! There's pictures of us with the Sisters and their family on Facebook (the one I'm using for a profile picture at the moment). After that we had an interview with Hermana Dunn and Laititi about how we can better help out our ward (we're feeling a bit disconnected from them at the moment). After that was our Stake Christmas Concert at the temple. The songs were really good, I think we did well too. The concert ended pretty late, so we got home pretty much just before 10:30. At this point we got a call that the Hermanas had left their keys back at the 87th St. chapel, meaning they were locked out of their apartment. We called the zone leaders (who hadn't arrived home quite yet), and they went back to the chapel to look for them. Elder Wang stayed up and made dinner for the zone leaders for when they got back, and I was asked to go to bed, so I did. I found out the next morning that they hadn't managed to find the keys, so the Hermanas went and slept on the kitchen floor in Sister Weyandt and Jensen's apartment, and the zone leaders got back at about 1 AM, so they were very very very tired the next day (so was Elder Wang).
Sunday was fast Sunday since we had ward conference the week before, so we started our fast (ended up doing a 21 hour fast all told). We went to ward council, talked a bit how we can better assist the ward, then had fast and testimony meeting. Rie went to Sunday School, and there was no one else there for Gospel Principles, so we just went to Sunday School as well. Went to Priesthood and apparently we're doing some singing as well (not sure when), so we practiced What Child Is This. Talked to a lot of members, got to know some better, and then went and did online proselyting until the time of our event at 5. The event went well, we had us, the Hermanas, a member (Bro. Price), and Joseph there for our Word of Wisdom discussion. It went great, the lesson really helped Joseph. We then went to the Prices for dinner, and we shared a message on member missionary work. It was snowing when we got out of that appointment, so it was fun to walk around on our way home.
Monday we were going to meet with Sister N. and Anthony again in the morning, but Anthony had a business meeting he had to go to so we stayed and shared a very quick message. After that we had zone/district meeting (learned about How to Begin Teaching).During lunch I played ping pong with Elder Longo and beat him 5 sets of 21 to 4. We did some online proselyting after that, and then did some inactive lookups. I think it was this day that we ran into a less active named Rebecca who was baptized in 1997 but left the church a few years later because some Sisters in her ward started telling her to change things she did, such as her career (she worked in Rock and Roll), as well as her hairstyle and looks and so forth, thus she got offended and left. Talked with her for a while, and then left her with our information (she didn't want to be taught at that time).
After all this, we were invited to dinner by a member(along with Elder Higbee and Elder Monson, they were on a split). We went to a place called the North End Grill. I have never in my entire life seen a more posh, expensive restaurant. We had both appetizers and a main course (they insisted we do), so for an appetizer I had quail (it was like a whole fried chicken, but it was a quail), which had fried pineapple and bacon as a side. For the main course I had an 8 oz. medium-well done beef tenderloin.
Tuesday was weird, as I woke up at about 5 AM (probably some noise woke me up), so I kinda stretched as I was about to roll over and go back to sleep. As I stretched, I must've done something funny with my right leg, because as I stretched, I think I pulled something in my leg or something similar and I then went through the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life (to my memory). It was bad, and the pain really didn't go away much, so I was limping around all day as if I used that muscle in any way, it would flare back up, so that was interesting trying to do anything.
Did indoor exercises (sit ups and stuff) because it was snowing like CRAZY outside (only stuck to the cars though, I was hoping it'd pile up). Had an interview with the ZLs again, and then had apple slices with pumpkin butter for lunch (I improvised with my stuff in the fridge). We helped the Sisters pass out flyers for their Ward Christmas event, and then we got a call from the mission office that one of Elder Wang's friends from Hawaii wanted to see him. We met up with him and his dad at Grand Central and went to Shake Shack for dinner. Elder Wang enjoyed it (they all three were speaking in Chinese so I just quietly ate my food and answered any questions they asked me, which didn't happen too often), then we went to the chapel to help out the ZLs, but they didn't need us. Both of our appointments (one with Isaac, the other our dinner appointment) fell through (thank you Elder Wang's friend for coming and taking us out for food), so we went home.
Got laundry done today, it's pretty cold. We're planning on going to the Rockefeller Center today, as well as a place called the Hong Kong Market (apparently it's pretty notable). Not too much else planned for today. My leg is feeling a bit better, but still hasn't entirely recovered, so I'm still being careful with it.
Hope you all are doing well, I've been praying for all of you! I'll send the pictures in another email following this one, so for now, hope you have a good week and I'll talk to you all next week!
Picture from Christmas devotional
From Ralph (12/6/13):
Picture of all the people from my MTC district and 3 others who came out with us.
Picture of all the people from my MTC district and 3 others who came out with us.
Week 5 - December/Thanksgiving
Sorry, I'm late in posting this from Ralph - it came in on December 4:
Hey everyone! I've somehow already been out for a month, still not sure how it's gone by so quickly! So last Wednesday I got to go to the Museum of Natural History (it rained most of the way there, and we passed by the Macy's Day Parade balloons!), I took LOADS of pictures.
Thanksgiving was really good, we went over to Bishop Yamada's house for lunch (aka dinner at lunchtime), had lots of turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, rice, and pie! (I still like Oma's gravy best though). Went out to IHOP for dinner (they still have the cheesecake pancakes here, yaaaaaaaaaaaay), and then went and collapsed from too-much-foodness.
Friday I got to go on a split with Elder Longo since his companion (Elder Monson), the zone leaders (Elder Potter and Elder Higbee), and Elder Wang all had leadership training up in Scarsdale. Elder Longo is from Connecticut, is 6'6" or 6'7" (he's TALLLLL), and is really funny and great to be around. We visited Times Square (their apartment is really close by, we stopped back there to do studies and Elder Longo took a quick nap because he hasn't been feeling well, the other companionship in their apartment had the stomach flu as well), and I finally bought some ear muffs (they catch the wind too much). We got to know each other pretty well, we like a lot of the same things (which was nice, I had someone I could talk to about stuff), and we did a lot of online/look ups/missionary work in general until the others got back at around 5-6 (we'd been pigging out on Thanksgiving leftovers for about half an hour before they got back). Elder Wang and I did a little more work before we went back to our apartment.
Saturday I had ANOTHER split, this time with Elder Potter. He's a little more strict than Elder Longo was (what do you expect, he's a zone leader), but he's still very easy to get along with and very kind and helped to instruct me in some things I hadn't known before. We did pretty much the same stuff I did with Elder Longo, online, look ups, etc. We also had a lesson with Joseph (we taught him about member missionary work and what he can do to help his family/friends).
Sunday was alright, we had our ward conference so Bishop Yamada and our Stake President spoke. Apparently our ward has over 500 people in it, and we have a little under 25% in attendance, with even less having active temple recommends and home teachers. This probably explains why we have so many less active look ups to do!
I don't remember if this was Sunday or Monday, but we had an impromptu dinner with Bro. and Sis. Winder (Bro. Winder is the second counselor in the Bishopric), as they invited us over the day of. It was really good, we had chicken, delicious homemade rolls, and sweet potatoes (something I've actually never tried before, the way Sis. Winder made them, they tasted almost like pumpkin pie filling, it was sooooooooooooooooo goooooooooooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). We had a lesson about Christmas and what the true meaning of it is.
Monday and Tuesday have been pretty empty, not too much going on. Tuesday we had a lesson with Isaac (we taught him about Charity, Love, and Virtue). Oh, Monday we did have something big, whoops. We had what is known as an APF (Area Proselyting Focus), in which we were outside the temple during the New York Winter's Eve festival and were handing out Books of Mormon, pamphlets, Christmas music CDs, and (most importantly) hot chocolate. I was practically losing my voice from talking to so many people, and I handed out several Books of Mormon!
We've also been having choir practice (had it on Saturday/Tuesday) for a Christmas concert the Stake is holding on Saturday (all of the Manhattan Island missionaries are singing Joy to the World).
I've been experimenting a little with Subway sandwiches, and my most recent one had Ham, Bacon, American Cheese, Lettuce, Spinach, Mayonnaise, and Honey Mustard (see, I am eating vegetables, sort of). I also ate spare ribs for the first time yesterday (albeit from a Chinese restaurant, but hey, they were still good).
It's been really warm this week (50s-60s in the upcoming days), so it hasn't been too bad lately. Our room is mainly the problem (somehow it gets absurdly cold in Elder Wang's and my room and not in any of the others, it got into the 30s IN OUR ROOM WHYYYYYY), so at least this week it hasn't been so bad. We're having our landlord check it out tomorrow.
Today we're planning on just going down to Times Square (Elder Wang has some Christmas shopping to do), and then we have a lesson with Joseph tonight. We have the mission Christmas party on Friday, so we're headed up to Ossining for that (we're taking the Metro North line that the derailment happened on, so hopefully 1) the line will be up and running and 2) we won't derail, though from what I've heard it was the fault of the conductor and not a problem with the track, so we should be ok), then Saturday is the concert.
That's pretty much our week, happy December! I've been eating away at the advent calendar, and have been doing the inspirational thoughts/quotes one as well (gotten 2 of Petra's and 2 of Oma's so far).
Hope you all are doing well, that work for Papa is going well, Mama is still holding up with all the things she has to do, Teddy with school and his health, Antonia with her jobs and supporting Eric, Eric with getting a job and his test results, Oma and Opa with not having killed themselves over Thanksgiving and that they're doing well in general, and the dogs that they're alright and not too lonely!
Have a great week everyone, hope you had a fun Adventsbasteln (if that's how you spell it) on Sunday, and that you'll have a great Nikolaus (if that's how you spell it as well)!
Love, Elder Ralph Smith
Hey everyone! I've somehow already been out for a month, still not sure how it's gone by so quickly! So last Wednesday I got to go to the Museum of Natural History (it rained most of the way there, and we passed by the Macy's Day Parade balloons!), I took LOADS of pictures.
Thanksgiving was really good, we went over to Bishop Yamada's house for lunch (aka dinner at lunchtime), had lots of turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, rice, and pie! (I still like Oma's gravy best though). Went out to IHOP for dinner (they still have the cheesecake pancakes here, yaaaaaaaaaaaay), and then went and collapsed from too-much-foodness.
Friday I got to go on a split with Elder Longo since his companion (Elder Monson), the zone leaders (Elder Potter and Elder Higbee), and Elder Wang all had leadership training up in Scarsdale. Elder Longo is from Connecticut, is 6'6" or 6'7" (he's TALLLLL), and is really funny and great to be around. We visited Times Square (their apartment is really close by, we stopped back there to do studies and Elder Longo took a quick nap because he hasn't been feeling well, the other companionship in their apartment had the stomach flu as well), and I finally bought some ear muffs (they catch the wind too much). We got to know each other pretty well, we like a lot of the same things (which was nice, I had someone I could talk to about stuff), and we did a lot of online/look ups/missionary work in general until the others got back at around 5-6 (we'd been pigging out on Thanksgiving leftovers for about half an hour before they got back). Elder Wang and I did a little more work before we went back to our apartment.
Saturday I had ANOTHER split, this time with Elder Potter. He's a little more strict than Elder Longo was (what do you expect, he's a zone leader), but he's still very easy to get along with and very kind and helped to instruct me in some things I hadn't known before. We did pretty much the same stuff I did with Elder Longo, online, look ups, etc. We also had a lesson with Joseph (we taught him about member missionary work and what he can do to help his family/friends).
Sunday was alright, we had our ward conference so Bishop Yamada and our Stake President spoke. Apparently our ward has over 500 people in it, and we have a little under 25% in attendance, with even less having active temple recommends and home teachers. This probably explains why we have so many less active look ups to do!
I don't remember if this was Sunday or Monday, but we had an impromptu dinner with Bro. and Sis. Winder (Bro. Winder is the second counselor in the Bishopric), as they invited us over the day of. It was really good, we had chicken, delicious homemade rolls, and sweet potatoes (something I've actually never tried before, the way Sis. Winder made them, they tasted almost like pumpkin pie filling, it was sooooooooooooooooo goooooooooooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). We had a lesson about Christmas and what the true meaning of it is.
Monday and Tuesday have been pretty empty, not too much going on. Tuesday we had a lesson with Isaac (we taught him about Charity, Love, and Virtue). Oh, Monday we did have something big, whoops. We had what is known as an APF (Area Proselyting Focus), in which we were outside the temple during the New York Winter's Eve festival and were handing out Books of Mormon, pamphlets, Christmas music CDs, and (most importantly) hot chocolate. I was practically losing my voice from talking to so many people, and I handed out several Books of Mormon!
We've also been having choir practice (had it on Saturday/Tuesday) for a Christmas concert the Stake is holding on Saturday (all of the Manhattan Island missionaries are singing Joy to the World).
I've been experimenting a little with Subway sandwiches, and my most recent one had Ham, Bacon, American Cheese, Lettuce, Spinach, Mayonnaise, and Honey Mustard (see, I am eating vegetables, sort of). I also ate spare ribs for the first time yesterday (albeit from a Chinese restaurant, but hey, they were still good).
It's been really warm this week (50s-60s in the upcoming days), so it hasn't been too bad lately. Our room is mainly the problem (somehow it gets absurdly cold in Elder Wang's and my room and not in any of the others, it got into the 30s IN OUR ROOM WHYYYYYY), so at least this week it hasn't been so bad. We're having our landlord check it out tomorrow.
Today we're planning on just going down to Times Square (Elder Wang has some Christmas shopping to do), and then we have a lesson with Joseph tonight. We have the mission Christmas party on Friday, so we're headed up to Ossining for that (we're taking the Metro North line that the derailment happened on, so hopefully 1) the line will be up and running and 2) we won't derail, though from what I've heard it was the fault of the conductor and not a problem with the track, so we should be ok), then Saturday is the concert.
That's pretty much our week, happy December! I've been eating away at the advent calendar, and have been doing the inspirational thoughts/quotes one as well (gotten 2 of Petra's and 2 of Oma's so far).
Hope you all are doing well, that work for Papa is going well, Mama is still holding up with all the things she has to do, Teddy with school and his health, Antonia with her jobs and supporting Eric, Eric with getting a job and his test results, Oma and Opa with not having killed themselves over Thanksgiving and that they're doing well in general, and the dogs that they're alright and not too lonely!
Have a great week everyone, hope you had a fun Adventsbasteln (if that's how you spell it) on Sunday, and that you'll have a great Nikolaus (if that's how you spell it as well)!
Love, Elder Ralph Smith
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Week 4 - Good Experiences
Hey everyone, sitting at a McDonald's at the moment typing this, so hopefully it'll go well (despite autocorrect wanting to change everything I say). This week was a lot better than the last one.
Last P-Day, we went and visited the new World Trade Center and the 9/11 memorial (yes I took pictures), which was an experience to get through as their security is almost more stringent than airport security.
The less active we were going to teach that night (Isaac) delayed our appointment by an hour, meaning we had an open hour to do anything we felt like, and thus we went tracting. We went to an area called The Projects, which is a very sketchy set of apartment complexes, picked a random number between 1-10 for what floor we'd go to, and then tried to find an unlocked building. First building was locked, but the next building we tried wasn't, so we went to the 5th floor and started going door to door. Only one guy opened his door, said he wasn't interested, and the rest didn't even come to the door. We were at the second to last door, knocked, and a lady opened the door. We told her that we were the missionaries, and she immediately invited us in. We were a little nervous, as she didn't look like the friendliest type of person, but then we heard more voices. Turns out, we'd just randomly tracted into Hermana Dunn & Laititi's lesson! Apparently Janice (the lady) had just been saying that she didn't think God knew who she was and that she wasn't really interested in going to church or believing in it, and right when she said that, we knocked on her door. She was pretty much crying all over the place, was very happy, and everyone felt the Spirit a ton (apparently I bore a very powerful testimony, I don't remember), and then the lesson really helped as well. It was the Mormon message entitled "Mountains We Must Climb" by President Eyring, which I had actually heard twice earlier that day and hadn't really paid attention to it. It talked about how we all face trials, and as long as we rely on the Lord that we can overcome them and be better for them, which is exactly what I needed to hear at that time.
The next day was new missionary training up in Scarsdale, so we took the train up (after Elder Wang lost me in Grand Central) and I got to see everyone from the MTC! I've really missed them more than I had realized, and it was great to be able to talk with them! Elder Reid got bitten or something and the left side of his face was swollen and painful (he was on antibiotics though), and it was already much better by the end of the meeting. President Morgan taught us a lot, including safety, answering the right questions (very interesting topic), and a lot of other things. Lunch from Sister Morgan was great, did some more training with the APs, and then piled 18 people into a van to get to the train station. Got to ride back with Elder Reid and his companion, caught up with him, compared pictures, and so forth.
Taught quite a few people this week and have had several dinners (none so far this week though, only one we have is Thanksgiving). Went and visited a member from upstate in the hospital several times (Joan), and had an opportunity to give her a blessing as well as bring the sacrament to her on Sunday. Have a new investigator named Tao (friend of one of the families we ate dinner with, came to church), she's Chinese so we may pass her on to the Chinatown missionaries, or just have Elder Wang teach her.
It's been very windy, and raining for the past two days. Supposed to clear up and get really cold tomorrow. Went to breakfast at the Denning's yesterday, not sure how but I ate 16+ blueberry pancakes (I literally lost count, I have no idea how I ate that much), and helped prepare Rie some more for baptism. Input a TON of inactive look-ups into the IPad yesterday, like 5-6 hours worth and still didn't finish. Planning on going to the museum of natural history today, which'll be cool.
Hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Ralph Smith
On the bus
From Ralph from last Sunday (November 24):
Someone on the bus was a photographer and was kind enough to take a picture of us! Hermana Laititi, Hermana Dunn, Me, and Elder Wang (from left to right), we're the missionaries for our ward.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Letter from the Mission President
Here's part of a letter we got at home from Ralph's mission president:
"Dear Brother and Sister Smith,
It was a pleasure for Sister Morgan and I to welcome your son upon his arrival in the New York New York North Mission. We were touched by his enthusiasm and sweet spirit. It is our desire to do all that is within our power to help him become the finest missionary possible during [his] opportunity for service in New York.
* * *
We are grateful to have your son with us. I enclose a picture we took with him at the mission home together. He is happy and very excited to be here. We look forward to getting to know him and serving with him."
Week 3
We've been trying to do street contacting and looking up less active members, but we've only managed to talk to about 2 people during street contacting and I think only one of them wanted a pass along card, and then of about 15-20 look ups we did, none of them let us in.
It's been getting very very very cold here, thanks to some weird wind system moving through (like 20+ mph winds almost all the time).
[My companion] made breakfast this morning (toast with an egg on top, a nice gesture). Despite eating 3 meals a day and more, I've apparently dropped down another 2 pounds since Sunday (may just be our scale, not sure).
Hope you people have a happy thanksgiving (that may be next week but I haven't been keeping track). Talk to you later.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Week 2ish, New York!
Well, week 2 has begun and gone for a little, I finished up at the MTC, took pictures with all of my teachers (will upload those when I get to a computer that can :P) and got sent off into the wild blue yonder. Got on the plane to Georgia, took about 3 hours, and made it there on time. It was nice, we had a 2 hour layover (the airport was HUGE), and then we left on a small little plain for the airport in White Plains NY. I didn't manage to fall asleep on either flight (whyyyyyyyyyyyyy), so I was awfully tired.
Met President and Sister Morgan at the airport, they're amazing and I love them so much. We then loaded up all the luggage and went to the Mission Home (it's over 100 years old and very pretty, I didn't get to take pictures though), and had a humongous dinner after talking to the rest of the mission presidency and the other missionaries. We then had a kind of testimony/introduction meeting, and then crawled off to bed. There were these weird bugs in our room (I think they were weevils of some sort, or possible stinkbugs, who knows), so we hunted down as many as possible before going to sleep.
We woke up, had a ginormous breakfast, then I found out where I was ending up. I'm currently in the Manhattan South area, the one with Union Square and a bunch of other cool stuff, and I got a new companion, Elder Wang (pronounced Wong). He's from north eastern China, and is very kind. I think we're going to get along, we'll see!
Our apartment is nice (has like 3-4 locks), and we share it with another set of missionaries (our zone leaders actually, and Elder Wang is the district leader).
I've already been on the subway/buses a LOT (passed through Grand Central Station too!), and I have to teach a lesson tonight!
Hopefully everything is going well over there. Love you all!
Elder Ralph Smith
Friday, November 8, 2013
In the beginning, there was week one
Hey everyone! As you heard last week, I made it to the MTC safe and sound (although very tired). Staying up for 19 hours really wasn't too pleasant, but I managed to survive.
The MTC has been going really well, I have a ton of good teachers, combined with devotionals from our branch presidency, MTC presidency, and videos of talks by Apostles (Elder Perry is speaking the day we leave, so I get to miss him in addition to Elder Oaks in Spokane *sob*). The Spirit here is really strong, and I've probably felt it here more than any other point in my life.
Elder Wallace and I have been teaching two investigators, one being our teacher who is role playing as an investigator, and then our "TRC Investigator," who can either be an MTC worker, a member, an inactive member, or a non-member volunteer, which is pretty nerve wracking. My district is amazing, we all get along very very very very VERY well, and all of them are funny, spiritual, insightful, and so on. The best part is that the whole district is going to the same mission, meaning I'll see all of them at mission meetings, and possibly even end up companions with them again.
The next few days are going to be pretty hectic, but I think I'll be fine. I'm starting to question the quality of the Distribution Service's shirts, as my shirt from there has had two buttons fall off already (have sewn them back on), and also my gray suit's top button fell off on Tuesday (sewing it on later today).
I've been trying to get as much sleep as possible, but it's still kind of difficult. Laundry is in about 30-40 minutes, so at least most everything will be clean. Got a haircut today, apparently it's required that every Elder MUST get a haircut before they leave, seems silly to me but whatever.
I am really starting to love the Elders in my district. Elder Wallace is an amazing companion, and is very humble as well (balances out my enormous ego). He's 6'3" (you'll see in the pictures), is from Declo, Idaho, and has really been a great blessing to me. We also think pretty similarly (pretty eerie at times), so we've been getting along swimmingly. The other two Elders in the district are Elder Reid (in the left in the picture of them two), and Elder Porter. Elder Reid is from Oahu, Hawaii, and is one of the most kind, funny, and spiritual people I've ever had the chance of meeting. Elder Porter is from Pleasant Grove, Utah and is pretty silly at times, teasing people, making movie references, etc. (reminds me a lot of Jacob Sok actually).
For any of you who didn't know, Elder Wallace and I got called to be the Zone Leaders over 3 districts (our own, the Iowa Des Moines District, and the Washington Everett District). We've been kept busy, doing new missionary orientation yesterday night, and we have to plan out Sacrament Meeting and Priesthood Meeting for Sunday. The date I will be coming home in October 27th, 2015 (at least according to my ministerial certificate), so I'll be out for just a little less than 2 years.
I've been eating well (yes I have been eating), though there's no scale here so I'm unsure of whether I'm gaining/losing weight. Also have been exercising a lot, playing 4-Square (ask Teddy what it is if you don't know), as well as running (won't Papa be proud). So yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say (sorry for the enormous wall of text), and I'll make sure to include anything else I wanted to say in my letters. I will have pictures attached, and I'll make sure to identify everyone. Hope you're all doing well.
Love you all,
Elder Smith
For any of you who didn't know, Elder Wallace and I got called to be the Zone Leaders over 3 districts (our own, the Iowa Des Moines District, and the Washington Everett District). We've been kept busy, doing new missionary orientation yesterday night, and we have to plan out Sacrament Meeting and Priesthood Meeting for Sunday. The date I will be coming home in October 27th, 2015 (at least according to my ministerial certificate), so I'll be out for just a little less than 2 years.
I've been eating well (yes I have been eating), though there's no scale here so I'm unsure of whether I'm gaining/losing weight. Also have been exercising a lot, playing 4-Square (ask Teddy what it is if you don't know), as well as running (won't Papa be proud). So yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say (sorry for the enormous wall of text), and I'll make sure to include anything else I wanted to say in my letters. I will have pictures attached, and I'll make sure to identify everyone. Hope you're all doing well.
Love you all,
Elder Smith
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
While We Wait
While we wait to hear more from Ralph, here are a couple more photos from the airport:
Thursday, October 31, 2013
At the MTC
Here's a slightly edited message from Ralph at the MTC:
Hey there, I did make it here alive. My companion is great, his name is Elder Wallace. Hope you all are doing well and getting enough sleep (unlike me as I was awake for something like 19 hours yesterday). I have been eating, the portions are very large so I think I'll be fine in the MTC at least. No snow here yet, so I think we'll be fine, and I'm very glad I chose to be here. Say hi to everyone for me, and post something to the blog so they know I'm alive!
Lots of love,
Elder Smith
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Off to the plane
Here's Ralph at the airport on his way to his plane to the Missionary Training Center.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
In the Beginning...
Hey everyone, this is the blog from which either I or my family will be putting stuff that happens to me for the next two years. Just about to head for the Provo MTC starting in about 7ish hours, so that's when the real fun will begin. See you all later!
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