Week #11 Letter

Hello everybody!

12-7-15
"Ready, aim, fire! Ready, aim, fire away!" ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Preparation
day!!!!!!!! Yeah! So we went shopping today for like 3 hours. Stopped
by a lot of 99 cents stores around here as there are like 20 of them.
Bought some Christmas presents for the family to send home. Then went
to AT&T and saw an iPad pro. That thing is huge. Went to target and
walked around for a while and ended up in the movies area where we saw
a trailer for Star Wars we never saw before. Yeah, we regretted seeing
that. It looks so good but it is so far away!!!! I quickly pushed that
out of my mind and forgot all about it now. Bought food and on the way
to the church after we dropped off the food, we saw Kio. He is the one
that ended up having a sister missionary midnighted out of flushing
because he wanted his prayer beads back when he proposed to her. Yeah
that Kio. But he was sober. He asked if we were Mormons, we said yes.
He then asked if we believe in multiple wives which we said we used to
but not any more. He then asked if we are missionaries and we said
yes. He then says, "well you're doing a good job, keep it up." And
walks away. What just happened? This is not the same person we met
that night but it is!! Crazy. We go to the church and play ping pong
when Jay brings us Chick-fl-a! Thank you Jay!! Then we eat dinner and
go contacting for 3 hours from 6-9. Showed the video 7 times and gave
out 25 cards.
12-8-15
"Whop, whop. Whop, whop, de Gangnam Style!" So there is this sound we
hear every morning that sounds like a submarine with the sound every
couple of seconds. Bong...bong...bong. It sounds like here and I
finally saw the person that does it every morning. They clap two
wooden rods together and sing. Different. Tat happened on the way to a
lesson with Jay. Pretty good lesson as we talked about different
methods of reading scriptures. Then we had district meeting, then
lunch! Went contacting and then dinner. We bought a pineapple and a
Japanese drink that I've had before at Epcot. It has a marble in it
that holds the carbonation in. Then went to visit a less active family
who is going through some rough times. And then went to visit a less
active we haven't been working with named Albert. He wasn't home so
then we went home. #FTiF which stands for Fun Times in Flushing. :)
12-9-15
"I will not doubt. I will not fear...where faith endures" Favorite
song I've found on my iPod so far by Alex Boyè. Really good. Today, we
had ZTM and it was good. I love meetings now as I learn so much from
them and love to hear what other people say. Before, I hated meetings
as they were so long and boring... That came back to bite me in the
butt. But it is good now:) then we went to visit Tevin but he wasn't
home and then went to dinner. Went to teach Erik and Katalin about the
Plan of Salvation and got through half of it as that hour went by very
fast. We were going to go to Anthony's but he cancelled and so we went
contacting. Good thing too as we hadn't shown the video to anyone
today but we showed it to 5 people today making the number of times
I've see it 46. That's a lot. Then, we bought a new drink tonight,
Mistic flavored as Tropical Haze.
12-10-15
"Don't stop, believing! Hold onto that feeling!" We had weekly
planning today which went well. Then we went contacting and only
showed one video in the hour and a half we were there. Went to dinner
and got shish-kabobs on the way. I love Shish-kabobs all because of
one street vendor. Then taught Robert on service and went to Anthony's
but he wasn't home. We found the Spanish elders waiting for Elpedio,
which is Anthony's great uncle living there, in the stairwell. So we
started talking and ended up talking for 45 min and not even realizing
it and then we went home. Pretty boring day.
12-11-15
"Because I'm happy! Come along if you feel like nothin is stoppin
you!" I'm happy, actually, overjoyed, as Hill accepted a baptismal
invitation for Jan. 2, 2016! So exciting and now we hope she will stay
with it and continue with lessons and progressing. So we went to
Subway for lunch and then helped the Spanish elders clean the
baptismal font for tomorrow's baptism. Then went knocking in
Whitestone but went by a less actives home to see if he was home and
he was home so we taught him. Then on the way back, we taught a lesson
to a guy on the street and he was open to hearing us then but not as
open about us coming by to see him again. So we went home, had dinner,
and went contacting. We met a couple from Florida visiting NY and they
were members and wanted to take us to dinner, but we just ate so they
said maybe tomorrow. Showed the video 7 times today and also exchanged
companions with the zone leaders. I am at the zone leaders apartment,
and his name is elder Finch from Cali and he is mandarin speaking.
Gonna be fun!! He also plays tennis by the way.
12-12-15
"This is crazy. But here's my number, so call me maybe!" Last night,
elder Finch and I stayed up till 12:50 talking from 10:30 to 12:50 am.
It was fun and I really got to know him well. The first hour was get
to know you and the second one was answering all of his questions
about movies and spoiling all of them as he didn't care and wanted to
know. But today, we had studies and language studies and went to the
church to drop off my stuff before we went to go get lunch. We ate
lunch at New World Mall on Roosevelt and some Chinese man from BYU
bought us lunch. Then we went back to the church and worked on the
zone Christmas song to practice Monday for the Christmas devotional
and then went to Rite Aid so elder finch could get his flu shot. Went
back to the church and had a lesson Chinese so I didn't know anything
that was going on. Then we went to English class where all the Chinese
missionaries teach English to Chinese people and I actually could help
as I was in the advanced class. Then we had another lesson in Chinese
directly after that and then went contacting for 1/2 an hour and went
back to do the exchange review. Went to Elpedio's after party for his
baptism and said hi. He is an investigator for the Spanish elders.
They fed us and we exchanged companions back and went home. Pretty
eventful day with a whole lot of sitting around for a couple hours at
a time. But fun over all, just glad to be back in my apartment with my
stuff. It just makes me feel at home again.
12-13-15
"Hello, hello. Hola! I'm at a place called vertigo!" Today was weird.
We had church and during second hour, we were teaching gospel
principles class when a member, brother Estava came and got us saying
there was a woman asking for us. We went down and found out she came
for sacrament meeting and we gave her our card 2 months ago and now
she is wanting to come. She went to sacrament meeting and afterwards,
we taught her the restoration with brother Estava as a member present
lesson. Then we walked home with brother Estava as he lives right down
the street from us and he is also the one that gives us free food
sometimes. On the way home, we ran into Kio. Perfect... Not. He wanted
his prayer beads back and so we went back to the church and ran inside
while brother Estava stayed outside with him and our elders quorum
president, brother Novak, came out and talked as well. So I felt a lot
more comfortable with 2 members there. So we gave them back and then
Kio wanted to show us how he can dunk. What? Ok then. And he did in
the parking lot and left. We went inside so we didn't follow him and
told brother Estava the encounters we've had with Kio before. He then
told us the neighborhood he grew up in and how bad that was. And that
was in Brooklyn. But like 20 years ago. Then we went to eat dinner as
it was then 6:30. Ate, and went to Hermana valdez's home to check on
Anthony which he wasn't home. But his cousin, Albert was there and he
is less active in our area so we talked with him and he wants to come
back to church and so we set up a meeting with him tomorrow. Defiantly
meant to talk to Albert this day. He has a bright spirit.

So yeah, Kio is back. Ugh but whatever. He's not too bad when sober
but he is a pain when he is high or drunk. I prefer the legitimate
crazy people that yell at busses or trash cans all day. But whatever,
it's probably my trial to go through and endure well so I try to keep
a positive attitude about it but it is very hard. Every time I see
Kio, I get a pit in my stomach that doesn't go away for an hour.

But on the bright side, we now have an investigator with a baptismal
date! I was over joyed that day and had the best day. She didn't make
it to church yesterday so we have to move the baptismal date now a
week later at least and that is most likely when elder Reese will be
transferred out and maybe me as well but who knows. So that is our
concern as her baptismal date is after a transfer meeting.

Hope all is well and everyone is preparing for a Merry Christmas:)
This will definitely be a different Christmas for me this year but
should be fun as we have plans to go to a members home to FaceTime
home and plans for dinner that night at another members home. Holidays
are awesome in the field:)

Love you all and Merry Christmas!!!

-Elder Heaton