Week #17 Letter

You missed me, didn't you? I know you did.
Another week has gone by and I feel like every other day is
preparation day now. Time is flying by and I have now been out for 4
months already. That's crazy. And especially this week as we had 2
exchanges and 2 baptisms.

Some little summaries of the day:
1-25-16
"Gus, don't be a gooey chocolate chip cookie." Preparation day! Yay.
Today was pretty fun. I got an adidas bag really cheap for future
exchanges and then went to the church and emailed. The email servers
were down for some and acting up. So half of the emails I received I
didn't get until after 6. It was so weird and confusing but I was able
to talk a little with the family and other missionaries weren't able
to email at all so I count myself lucky. Then we have exchanges with
the Spanish elders today with the new exchange system. Elder Cisneros
and I went to the Asai's family and shared a message with them
challenging them to find someone we can share our message with. Then
tried to go by Anthony's but he wasn't home so we came back and waited
for the other two to get back to do daily planning. Now we are all in
our small apartment as a district. District sleep over! Sort of! Haha
1-26-15
"Shoot me! Shoot me!"
"I'm holding you Shawn."
"Oh yeah."
Last night was so much fun as we all slept out in the big room on our
beds. We talked for a bit about cars. Normal elder stuff:) then today
we woke up and quickly took showers and had breakfast. Studies was
basically district meeting teaching one another and then we had lunch
and went to district meeting ironically. So it wasn't an exchange
until after district meeting when elder Cisneros and I went to teach a
recent convert named Vince who lives at the mental hospital place.
Vince isn't mental, he desperately wants to move, but we taught him
about missionary work. Then we went and visited a lady that fed us
last transfer and we returned her tupperware. Contacted at Dunkin
until dinner where we went to Darros pizza place. Exchanged back and
had a lesson with Adrian. Adrian told us he wants me to do the
baptism:) I am honored he chose me. I'm excited for Friday, it can't
come fast enough now. Of course for those of you reading this, it will
be a few lines down. Then we were going to have a handoff lesson with
the Korean sisters but history repeats itself and it didn't happen.
That is 10 times that a handoff lesson I've been apart of falls
through. Two happened when I was in the Spanish pool last transfer.
I'm not meant to have a handoff lesson that Korean sisters are trying
everything they can to not tell me the name of the person, not tell me
when it is but tell elder Mitchell, everything to see what it is that
makes these lessons not happen. It is so funny now. Sad, but
hilarious. So we contacted at Dunkin until we went in for the night.
We have exchanged with the zone leaders tomorrow:)
1-27-16
"Boom, boom, boom, muffins!"
Today was pretty great. We went to give a blessing to this member's
sister in a nursing home and later, we got a call saying she started
eating again after not eating for 2 weeks and was on life support 3
times. Then we had a lesson with Robert on Family History and we
finally started his family tree on family search so now he knows how
to do the basics and can do it on his own. Then we made some calls to
find someone to give a talk on baptism at Adrian's baptism but no luck
so far. Went to a lesson but he didn't show up so we ended up talking
to a guy on the street for that time. He is homeless and has had
humbling experiences, gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to
read it. Went to the Asai Family's home for dinner and made more calls
at the church to potential investigators and then more members to find
someone to give a talk. No luck still. Now on exchanges with the zone
leaders:)
1-28-16
"Let's all do the chocolate dance, the chocolate dance, chocolate
dance. Everyone do the chocolate dance..." Exchanges were great:) we
had some great pillow talk till I fell asleep cause I was so tired.
But we all managed to fit in our tiny bedroom by playing a big game of
Tetris. Woke up and exercised and had breakfast. Studies were good and
then elder Ng and Mitchell left to go teach Hill. So elder Finch and I
went to New World mall for lunch and then went to the church to cut
fliers. We then went with a member to a traffic court so elder Finch
could help translate for him. We spent about 3 hours traveling there,
waiting and traveling back. Then went to a lesson up in College Point,
all in Chinese. Went to English Class they teach for free but we
didn't teach it, we greeted the people coming in and Elder Finch
interviewed Adrian for his baptismal interview. All is good! Baptism
is on. Then we had a lesson with an investigator and a member present,
in Chinese. So I sat there most of the time thinking. After that, we
taught some English to the member present during the lesson and had
exchange review with Elder Mitchell and Elder Ng. Came back  and now
having dinner as I haven't had it yet today. I'm so hungry right now.
1-29-16
"Whaaaaaaaattt." To start off, the baptism of Adrian Dimetriou was a
success. We started the day with a lesson with Hill at the library and
talked about the baptismal interview questions. Then had lunch and
went to the church to fill the baptismal font. We had some troubles
getting the hot water started for a bit but then we got it and the
thermometer said the water was 111 degrees... Probably not right but
it was pretty close. The whole room was like a sauna in a couple
minutes. Then we worked on the programs and printed off our hand out
cards to make tomorrow. Then did some of our weekly planning session
until we had to get ready for the baptism. We went and got my clothes
and then went to Pizza Hut for dinner and took it back to the church
to eat. Got changed and waited till 6 for everyone to show up. No one
showed up except for Brother Wong(1st counselor), Hill, Jay, Zone
Leaders, Spanish Elders, Adrian's mother, and we skyped in our
investigator, John. After the baptism, brother Sanchez showed up and
gave his talk and some sisters showed up with refreshments, and we
didn't even ask them to bring them. That was a blessing. The water was
really warm, super nice, but then the air outside the room was not.
The bathroom was freezing standing there standing all wet. Overall, it
went great. Then afterwards, we socialized with Hill and everyone
else. Hill then went into her interview and elder finch needed someone
to come with him to a lesson so I went with him to be his companion
and then went to correlation afterwards. Went home after that:) pretty
great day, and we get to do it all over again tomorrow basically.
1-30-16
"Who goes through a Wendy's drive through after learning of a murder?"
Well, Hills baptism was a success as well today:) Two baptisms, two
days. Wow. So today we started off by opening the church for a member
to have piano lessons today and we got a huge cheese croissant and
chocolate energy drink with it. Super good though. Then we made the
program for Hill's baptism and made more pass along cards. Ate some
lunch and went to teach John. Taught faith only as he likes to talk a
lot, trying to figure out ways to teach him better. Then we went to
start filling up the font and finished our weekly planning session
today and then went to dinner. Went to the church and got read for the
baptism. It was so much better today with who showed up, we had
members, the Chinese missionaries brought 2-3 investigators, not for
sure how many but something like that, and other investigators of ours
came. Good turn out to where there weren't enough seats. The water was
also very warm and nice. Then we socialized afterwards and cleaned up.
Then we went out and planted seeds. We got 18 seeds planted today when
we were barely getting 5 a day. It was definitely a good day today.
1-31-16
Today was a good day. We made some calls
and contacted in the morning. Had some lunch and went to church. Elder
Mitchell confirmed both Hill and Adrian and they were very excited. We
taught gospel principles and started over with lesson 1. Then we went
and had dinner and went to white stone to visit some referrals. Then
came back home. Very simple day and not a whole lot of excitement
today.

So the snow is almost all the way melted compared to what it was last
weekend. The we also have some 50 degree weather days this week and
one in the high 50s so that will be nice:) looking forward to that:)

Love you all and I will see you in the next email. Bu-Bye!!