Week #43 Pictures

Week #43 Letter

Hello everyone!

So this week was an interesting one. I got a few new callings and you
will read all about those in the daily summaries and how I got them.
Check them out for your self:

6-20-16
"But if you like the way, you look so much, then baby you should go
and love yourself. But if you think, that I, am holding on, then baby
you should go with someone else." I don't know why but that song is
really good and I like it. And I've heard it like 3 times through in
the field. Decent song by JB. Anyways, as you probably noticed last
week, I didn't send out my email Monday as it was a half preparation
day due to temple tire this Saturday, hopefully. It's not even set
with the temple yet. So we get to call the temple tomorrow and set
that up. But back to today, we went shopping immediately after studies
and then went to the Spanish elders apartment to hang out for our half
day. We played Munchkin and that was a lot of fun. Ate subway for
lunch then our day was up. We had to drive to Richmond Hill to pick up
a metro card for one of the Spanish elders and drive back. We made
calls at the church until we went home and ate dinner. Then we had a
great session of knocking the prison yard. We found 2 new
investigators and one with really solid potential. He was asking us
the same questions Joseph Smith was asking and so we shared the story
and he was even more interested it seemed like. Hopefully he will
continue. Afterwards, we went to brother Thompson's and had family
home evening with them and brother Gureck. We talked about patriarchal
blessings. And went home.
6-21-16
"If I got locked away, and we lost it all today. Tell me honestly,
would you still love me the same? If I showed you my flaws and I
couldn't be strong. Tell me honestly, would you still love me the
same?" Pretty interesting day today. We went to service after a half
hour of personal study but we had to pick up the other elders that
live far away to go to it as they lost a metro card. So we went to
service till lunch, had lunch, then went to Richmond hill to get
another metro card for the lost one. Came back and stopped by a new
investigators home and taught him. Tried to stop by Edwin's but he
wasn't home. Drove to service to give the metro cards and supplies to
the elders and ate dinner. Then it got crazy where we had a lesson
planned, it fell through. Went to Forbes, not home but come back
later, SIddoway's, not home, Dures, not home. Knocking for a bit then
went back to the Forbes and taught them and Shaheed texted and told us
to come by at 8:30 and so we went to the church to help brother Gureck
and went to Shaheed's. Taught him and then went home. We had a night
of planning on the go. Then we got bad news for today. We called the
temple and scheduled brother Gurek's endowment but we could only do it
at 3:30. So we aren't able to go. Too late. So we will be emailing
tomorrow.
6-22-16
"Sugar, yes please. Won't you come and put it down on me. I'm right
here, cause I need, a little light, a little symphony." We got a
normal day finally. We had our last district meeting of the transfer
and we went to the roof of the church building and took our final
district picture and then we went to a lesson with Iderle. That was a
fun lesson and it was potentially Elder Parrish's last as he might be
leaving Tuesday. So we also took pictures with her and she leaves
Monday for her month and a half long trip. Went and visited a referral
in a shelter so that was an experience getting through security and
that process to drop off a bible. Went and visited some members but
not home and potentials but not home either so we then went to eat
dinner. Went and picked up brother Romero to go to a lesson with
Ayodeji. That was another long lesson as we finished the commandments
and went over the interview questions. Dropped off brother Romero and
went to another lesson but didn't happen so we knocked around. Went to
the church to make sure we still had the baptismal suits there and
contacted around the church till we went home and took the Spanish
elders home too.
6-23-16
"They found me. I don't know how but they found me." Great day today.
We had a lot of weird things happen but it might not sound weird
written so bear with me. We had our studies and that sort of merged
with weekly planning and we were planning for our baptism this Sunday
and we were trying to figure it all out as much as we could and
everything wasn't going right. We were struggling to find rides, time
for baptism, and other minor details too. Then we got a call to go to
the church so we got ready only to get a call not to go to the church
anymore. We are not needed so we ate lunch and continued weekly
planning at the church. We then went to Richmond Hill to exchange so a
zone leader could interview Ayodeji. Elder Wixom went to interview him
so I am with elder Selfaison. We went and did a look up and ate
McDonald's. He had some essay to write for scholarships so we did that
during dinner and had correlation afterwards. Went and taught a less
active I think and it was in Spanish. Then went and taught a guy named
Carlos. I've actually taught him 3 times now so I feel like I know him
now even though he speaks only Spanish mostly. Great day and fun one
too:) love exchanges.
6-24-16
"The dinosaur's alive."
"What?"
"THE DINOSAUR'S ALIVE!!"
So interesting day today. We had studies and exchanged back afterwards
but I found out that Ayodeji wasn't able to make it to the interview
and won't be around this weekend... So no baptism. That's great. So we
went home and had a quick lunch, and went to the SIddoway's and taught
Thomas and sister Siddoway. Fun times and went to visit some
potentials but nothing. So we knocked for the afternoon and only
planted seeds. We had dinner and went knocking some more and taught a
lesson. Then we went to the church and here is the big news: President
Reynolds called and I am going to be a trainer! So now I'm a bottle of
mixed emotions. We went to the church to help brother Gureck prepare
for the temple tomorrow and his talk on Sunday and I could hardly
focus. I was basically distracted the rest of the night and we went
home. Gonna be a great 12 weeks.
6-25-16
"I didn't see that one coming." So you thought a trainer was cool,
well there's more. SO today we went to the new trainers meeting and
that was cool. Inspiring messages given by the assistants and
President Reynolds. Then Elder Ko, an assistant, came up to me
afterwards and said president wanted to meet with me and Elder
Parrish. So we went downstairs and Elder Parrish met with President
first, then I did. President Reynolds was telling me about Belle
Harbor a little bit and how he wants me to be the new district leader
down there. I was kind of expecting it as we thought Elder Parrish was
leaving so this just confirms our thoughtS. But the trainer we didn't
think would happen as president says he doesn't want to send trainees
down here. It's a very fragile place and he said that he first didn't
have me training. He just kept having the thought that Elder Heaton
needs to train but he put it off 3 times he said. Then he made me a
trainer after the fourth time. Pretty cool story. So I get to be
District Leader, Trainer, and the Branch Clerk down here:) Great:)
Afterwards, we went home and didn't get to have lunch as we had a
lesson to go to and we needed Brother Thompson so we picked him up,
went to the lesson, then had correlation afterwards. Went to the
Forbes for dinner and went knocking for a bit for prime time. Only
planted seeds, and not that many. Went and visited the Dures
afterwards and made sure they were coming for elder Parrish's last
Sunday. Looking forward to seeing who my new trainee is still:)  Other
good news for the day, Brother Gureck did go to the temple today and
got his endowment!!!
6-26-16
"I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!" Well, today was a normal
day for the most part. We had church and elder Parrish was saying his
goodbyes to everyone. He even showed me how to be the branch clerk
too:) not too hard but just add that to the list of responsibilities
now. After church, we had lunch and took the sacrament to sister
Harvey. Went and did some look ups and knocked for a bit. Had a quick
dinner and took a nap. Went out and knocked more and visited a few
more members for elder Parrish and contacted by the church to end the
night. Simple day but a lot of goodbyes.

So I'm a trainer! And the new district leader! And a branch clerk!
Told you I got new callings:) I'm pretty excited about all of them and
the new experiences I get to have with each one. So excited but also
very nervous. Lots of new responsibilities. I'll do my best though!

So as you could also see, we didn't have our baptism Sunday like we
were hoping. He just couldn't make it and we haven't been able to
contact him at all. We stopped by everyday and called him a few times
but nothing. So my trainee and I will try to figure something out with
him. Hopefully we will get back in contact soon. Iderle left today for
her vacation so we will start facetiming her to teach her. And we are
trying to find new investigators to teach and hopefully baptize as
well. Looks like my trainee will be able to have at least 1 baptism
while he is here. Hopefully.

Love you all and miss you! I will try to let my parents know who my
new trainee is and if a certain someone (you know who you are) will
take a picture at transfer exchange and send it home of me and my
trainee. I will see you in the next email! Bu-bye!

-Elder Heaton

On top of our church building with Manhattan in the background 

Week #42 Pictures

Week #42 Letter

So yeah I know, it's Wednesday. The thing is we were going to have a
temple trip this Saturday for an endowment for a member, but it is
scheduled at 3:30 so that is too late for us to go and we just found
this out yesterday so we are emailing today to send out the mass
emails and that's it. And this is the second temple trip we have
scheduled but won't be able to go to. There has to be brownie points
for skipping preparation day 2 times to do missionary work. But the
first one we ended up feeling with our car until 8:30 at night
anyways.

Anyways, here is how last week went:

6-13-16
"Cause it's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight. Keeps
me risen up, to my chances." Good preparation day today. We had a trip
to Burlington and I got a Penguin tie. They are skinny ties and skinny
ties aren't allowed but it had a great floral design I liked so I got
it to wear at home. Long time, but I like it. We went shopping at
Costco and did a few emails for about an hour and then had to make the
drive to get our car from the shop with the Spanish elders, elders
Messenger and Corbett. We drove in one car there and then we drove our
original car to Rego and they drove the used one to Rego and we
dropped off the other one and then drove home in our original car. If
you want to hear about how our car got in the shop or forgot, go check
out the blog post on 6-6-16. That was a rough day. We came home from
that to 30 min left of preparation day so we sent a few more emails
and went out. We stopped by the Siddoway's to teach sister Siddoway
but she wasn't there but Thomas was! Her son. And so we proceeded to
teach him. He just finished sophomore year and he was talking about
his last day of school today. If 1/10 of the things he told us
actually happened in Utah, that school would have been shut down or
lots of kids would have been expelled. Like, he was talking about how
there were fights every 10 feet because kids would randomly throw
punches just because. There were water bottles being thrown at
everyone, full of water and doing damage to people and objects. There
was like 2 self lockdowns during his school and the school had to call
the police to come in and reinforce the guards. And he had plenty of
other stories he was telling about it too. It sounded like a mad house
all day. He said it was like war at their school. But every man for
them self style. We proceeded to teach him and afterwards, we went to
visit a referral form the ASL elders and their recent convert gave
them. We stopped by and she was nice and said we could come by
Saturday morning. Then we went to the Thompson's for family night but
brother Gureck wasn't there and wasn't going to be there for an hour
so we taught them without him. We went over enduring to the end. And
headed home for the night.
6-14-16
"We are the champions, we are the champions. No time for losers, cause
we are the champions, of the world." Great day today. We had our usual
lunch right after studies and went to go to a lesson but they weren't
home, picked up brother Thompson and as soon as he was in the car, our
next lesson cancelled on us. Tried to visit Edwin, but he wasn't home.
So we went to Inwood to knock. There wasn't much success up there
except planting seeds. Had dinner and had a great lesson with Isaac.
We took Babatunde with us and he was an excellent member present
lesson. It went so well, we moved Isaac's baptismal date up to June
26th!! In 2 Sunday's!! Went knocking for a bit in Far Rockaway and
some members from Flushing were driving past and they said hi. It was
nice to know they still remembered me:) ended the night with
exchanging with the Spanish elders, elders Messenger and Corbett. I'm
with Elder Messenger for the day:)
6-15-16
"Band aids don't fix bullet holes. You say sorry just for show. If you
live like that, you'll live with old. Oh-oh. If you love like that,
cause baby now we've got bad blood. Just look at what you've done."
After our studies, we had lunch which was some good Mexican food some
members made for the Spanish elders but I got to have it:) went to
district meeting and I gave the workshop on the Message of the
Restoration and A Successful Missionary. It was a good workshop I
think. Afterwards, we made cards for a bit as they were all out of
cards. Afterwards, we went and did a look up and went knocking. Not
very many people were interested today as no one really let us talk to
them for very long. Just a day of planting seeds. We went to dinner at
checkers, which is a burger place around here. We went contacting by
the church for a few minutes until we went to a lesson. The lesson was
half in Spanish half in English so I was able to help and teach a
little. Contacted some more around the church until we had to head
home. We exchanged back and went to our normal homes now.
6-16-16
"Oh, I can't feel my face when I'm with you. But I love it. But I love
it." We had great day lad-ies. We did some service at a home to
rebuild and I worked on caulking the base boards and the door frames.
We left at lunch to go get some supplies for deep clean and ate some
lunch. Then deep clean!! Our apartment desperately needed it. With a
big apartment, your just just goes everywhere. And by your stuff, I
mean Elder Parrish's. He isn't very good at cleaning up. So now it
looks all nice and clean. Ate dinner afterwards and went to teach
Isaac with Babatunde. It was a good lesson. Went to the church so
elder Parrish could do his branch presidency meeting. Afterwards, we
went to the Sidoways and taught Thomas but I was distracted by his two
sisters, Ariana and Sarrita. They wouldn't leave me alone so elder
Parrish taught Thomas solo. Afterwards, went and contacted by the
church and went home.
6-17-16
"When the lights go down in the city, and the sun shines on the bay.
Oh, I wanna be there in my city. Oh-oh-oh." I've been missing San Fran
this week one, due to WWDC, two, it's been a year since dad and I went
there for my senior trip, and three, because it's San Fran. Anyways,
today was a bit boring. We had weekly planning and lunch afterwards.
We realized we had no pass along cards so we went to the church to
make more and that took a while of its self too so by the time we got
around to actually proselyting, it was 4 so we went knocking at the
prison yard for an hour till dinner. Then went knocking some more and
taught a lesson, finally. Been all day. Went to visit the Anglade's
but they weren't home so we went to Sister SIddoway's again so we
could teach her this time and it was a hoot of a lesson!!! I love
going to teach them and it was her and Thomas tonight so we heard all
sorts of funny stories that Thomas did when he was younger. So funny:)
Afterwards, we went home. Great boring day for the first half but it
got good.
6-18-16
"But I keep cruisin. Can't stop, won't stop bruisin. Cause I got this
music in my heart saying it's gonna be alright. Cause the players
gonna play, play, play. And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate. So I
just shake it off, shake it off." I am tired. And sore. And tired. We
helped the Dubei family move some of their stuff this morning from the
FOUR story home to their truck. They only took some of it today and we
had to pack all the heavy stuff and some personal stuff too. And I
though a 1 story home was hard but 4 was a lot. So my legs and arms
kill form taking stuff up and down those stairs. We did that for like
4.5 hours in the morning and then went to a lesson with Iderle. It was
a good lesson. Then had correlation and had dinner at the Inikori's!
Some good Nigerian spaghetti that had some spicy meat sauce on top. It
was the spiciest spaghetti I've ever had. Afterwards, we went to a
lesson with Isaac and we covered a lot. Since his baptism is like in a
week and a day, we talked about the big 3 and sabbath day observance
for the baptismal interview next week. Then stopped by a couple
potential investigators homes and tried to stop by some members but no
one was home. We ended the night with contacting by the church. And as
haul, went home at the end of that.
6-19-16
"Why did you say I was a marine biologist? You know I've always wanted
to fake being an architect!" Today was a crazy day. We had normal
church but had to do some correction of false doctrine during gospel
principles. Always a good time doing that. Thank goodness for brother
Romero and his RM knowledge of the scriptures and helping us prove
what we are saying is true. After church, we tried visiting some
potentials but nothing. Ate some lunch and went and took the sacrament
to sister Harvey. Then the craziness starts. We tried to visit Edwin,
which background: He is our investigator we had been teaching but he
really wasn't all that interested it seems but he was super nice and
always invited us to his home whenever we saw him on the street. Oh
yeah, and he is a survivor of 9/11 and has had extensive surgery and
is confined to a wheelchair. So to today, we went to visit him and we
got there to find "Edwin" standing straight up and walking. WHAT??? We
get in and he says what's up, come in sit down, etc. we get in and he
is acting totally like "Edwin" but standing and walking. We ask him
about it and he said he walks on Father's Day. Ok then. We get talking
more and he says how his brother was in the hospital. His twin
brother. OHHH. Makes more sense but as we were leaving, we noticed how
he has this scar on his wrist. So we leave and it will get crazy later
on today. We went and ate dinner at the church with the Spanish elders
and then knocked a little down the street from the church. Taught a
lesson to a guy and invited to be baptized and he accepted. Hopefully
he will continue to meet with us. Then we tried to visit the Dures but
now home. So we did new investigator look ups around and on the way to
the church to pick up the Spanish elders to take home cause we are
nice and they don't have cars. On the way, we saw Edwin driving on his
wheelchair down the street and we pulled over and said high to him and
started talking to him. He was saying how he just got out of the
hospital and is on his way home. Then we said how we met his brother
and he was like my brother isn't around. We said how his name was
David and all this other stuff then he believes us but we are like so
confused now as Edwin now was wearing the exact same thing David was
wearing earlier. We are so confused!! But we told him to go home and
take a picture together because they look the exact same, talk the
same, laugh the same, and have the same scar on the wrist.
Coincidence?

So, to go through our investigators to today, Wednesday. We have
Ayodeji, (Eye-o-da-she). From Nigeri, and his baptism is Sunday! If
all goes according to plan, which so far it is, he will be a 3 week
miracle. Found, taught and baptized in 3 weeks. Not true actually. He
was found 4 months ago but he couldn't meet or come to church as he
had a lot of work. Now he doesn't and has Sunday's off because elder
Parrish and his companion at the time asked him to get Sunday's off so
he did. And here we are, we are going to teach him the rest of the
commandments tonight and go through the baptismal interview questions
so he is ready by tomorrow for his interview. The Iderle is leaving
Monday for a month and a half trip to Ohio. But she says she wants to
get baptized as soon as she gets back. We told her elder Parrish won't
be here then most likely as that is almost 8 weeks away so not even in
this coming transfer but the one after that! So she said she wants me
to baptize her then. Sweet. That's about it with progressing
investigators. Colleen is traveling a lot and hard to meet with now so
we will see if there is anything we can do cause she still wants to
come to church  and do everything we ask just work got in the way now.

Well, love you all and miss you. Have a great week and I will see you
in the next email! Bu-bye!

-Elder Heaton

Sister SIddoway's daughter, Ariana.

Week #41 Pictures

Week #41 Letter

Hey everyone!!
Been a while but I forgot to mention last week. Temple trip this week
as we are taking a member to go to the temple to take out his
endowments. So we are heading to the temple today!!! Also is why I am
emailing today as it is our preparation day. But Monday of this week
was an adventure of its own that lasted till Tuesday. You'll hear all
about that adventure Monday. But onto some summaries of the day #34

5-30-16 Happy 8 months!!!
"Born, in the USA. I said I was, born, in the USA." Happy Memorial Day
everyone! Hope everyone had fun swimming and barbecuing cause I
didn't. We went about our normal preparation day but a highlight was
Jay coming to give haircuts:) Got it nice and short for the summer.
It's getting hot here. We did that in the morning then we went and got
food at stop and shop and ate lunch. Then we waited for the other
elders to get here and we played Munchkin. That's a fun game but it
took a while with 6 players. A lot quicker with 2. We then went and
knocked around our house a little but a couple streets over and we got
a lot of rich Catholics so they weren't interested. Got a lot of weird
answers to basically, "No." . Then we went to the Forbes and taught
them and then had family home evening with the Thompsons and Brother
Gureck. Talked about temples and then went home.
5-31-16
"5, 4, 321 were going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship. Zooming
through the skies! Little Einsteins!" Awesome day today. We woke up
early and headed up to Richmond Hill for a carnival service project.
The zone was there and we ran carnival games and I was in charge of a
bounce house race thing. It was so much fun and we got a lot of sun.
Almost burnt. Then we went on exchanges with the zone leaders and we
went and got our stuff and went to their apartment. Ate lunch and got
ready to go. And I am with... Elder Wixom!! Again!!! We went knocking
and not much success but just like we did 7 months ago on our first
exchange, we went to Taco Bell for dinner. And the other two were
there too, elders Parrish and Selfaison. So we ate dinner together and
then we went to the church and taught English class for the night.
Afterwards, we went and contacted around our apartment waiting for the
other 2 to get there and got some Dunkin doughnuts ice cream. Then
went home:) super fun day:) loved it.
6-1-16
"Welcome to my house. Baby take control now. We can't even slow down.
Welcome to my house." Ok, time is going too fast. It's June 1st and
Dylan is out of school today and Emma is out tomorrow for the
summer... I'm done. Anyways, I'll talk about my day. It was a good
morning with sleepy studies and heading back to Far Rockaway for
district meeting. Then we went and taught Iderle and we went over the
baptismal interview questions. Then we ate lunch and went and did some
look ups. Ate dinner and did our referral visits and had a return
appointment with one and taught a lesson to the other. Pretty
successful I say. Then we taught Sister Sidoway and we just talked
about the sacrament prayers. Then went and exchanged with elder
Corbett and Messenger. I'm with Elder Corbett again!! Back to back
exchanges are the best #imalreadyexhausted
6-2-16
"Yeah, it's alright. Cause we're, doing fine, so fine, so fine,
Thunderstruck! Ah-a-ah-ah-ha." Awesome exchange with Elder Corbett! We
did studies and then went out and knocked for a bit. Then we headed up
to Inwood and ate lunch at Chipotle. Then went knocking in Inwood for
the next couple hours. Half way through, I had to use the bathroom
really bad so we headed back to Chipotle and used the bathroom at Taco
Bell and then went back and finished. Headed home for dinner and it
took an hour of walking and taking the train to get home. Long time
without a car. But I miss walking areas. It is just so much fun:) and
the people you see are entertaining. Ate dinner and then knocked
around the church a little then went to a lesson. It was all in
Spanish so I sat there for 45 min listening to my thoughts and barely
fell asleep during it. Then went to the church and met the other
elders there and headed home and exchanged back. Great day with Elder
Corbett:)
6-3-16
"I'm walking through the kitchen with a bowl full of chicken!" Pretty
good day today. We did studies and had lunch. Started our weekly
planning and then went to visit Edwin. We talked about the plan of
salvation and then went to visit Iderle. We talked about baptism a
lot. We aren't so sure when her baptism will be any more but we will
see. Continued a little more with weekly planning and then went home
and had dinner. We then taught Babatunde and he had an interesting
concern we had to address. Always pleasant to correct false doctrine.
Then we went to the Mendinghall's and they had other family over so we
taught them the restoration. Then we contacted around the church till
the end of the night. And went home.
6-4-16
"King Bob!"
*Mic drop
Pretty good day. We had a lot of finding today so we did studies and
lunch, then we were out. We went to the prison yard to do some look
ups first. We got 1 return appointment out of that. Then went to our
corner area and did look ups there. Nothing. Knocked for a bit around
it and taught a lesson to 2 guys and they were really interested. We
just taught restoration and then have a return appointment for
tomorrow. Then went to the church and got a drink and then knocked
around the church. We taught this lady who had just had her brother
killed right by the church last week. We shared with her part of the
plan of salvation and will meet with her later this week as the
funeral is Monday. Then went to correlation and had a great time with
that:) Had Halal for dinner and then called the Manhattan Temple to
schedule the endowment session for brother Gureck next Saturday and
ended up staying for an hour on and off the phone with them trying to
get an email from them to forward to brother Gureck but still no
email. So we left hoping it would come soon and went to the Inikoris
and they fed us African food. A little spicy and really good. Shared a
message and then went to the Forbes. We were talking with them and
read the Book of Mormon with them. Then went home:) great day:)
6-5-16
"I said dart gun, not, ugh ok!"
Happy 1 year anniversary from when I opened my mission call. That was
1 year ago today. Anyways, we had a good day at church today and there
was a lot of people that came. We had 1 investigator but members came!
It was nice and we didn't have to do anything either:) great. Then we
went and taught Jason and Damon from yesterday. They are awesome. Then
we went and took the sacrament to sister Harvey and then went to teach
a new investigator but it was awkward as we taught on her doorstep.
Then we had dinner and went to the Dures and we didn't know this
before hand but they fed us dinner too. So I was really full after
that. Then taught the Sidoways and her 3 daughters who also came to
church today! All of them! Then contacted by the church till the end
of the night. Beautiful sunset tonight too.

Shaheed hasn't been confirmed yet. Sadly. The devil has been at work
to make sure he hasn't been confirmed. Perfect but we will get there
eventually. Hopefully tomorrow. Iderle isn't ready yet she says to be
baptized which is ok. She leaves for a month in a couple weeks so it
probably is better she waits until she gets back from her trip. Then
Colleen has been out of town until now. Clifton we haven't been able
to meet for a while. Still waiting for his dad to pick a date but it
also is hard when we can't meet with them. Met Jason and Damon and
they could be potentials. We have a return appointment for Sunday so
hopefully!!!! That's mostly it for investigators we are working with.

Hope all is well with everyone and sorry for not telling you about the
modified preparation day this week. My bad!!!!!

Week #40 Pictures

Week #40 Letter

Hey all!

This week started to get warm and it stayed warm with humidity! We got
up in the mid 70s most of the week with 80-90% humidity! That was hot!
And so naturally, our Tiwi in our car fell off the windshield and so
we had to go get that fixed. It was falling off at the beginning of
the week but we thought we could make it 4 more weeks till transfers
but no. We also started our 5 exchanges we have this week and I was
with the new elder in the district, Elder Corzo. So here is how the
week went:

5-23-16
"We are going to need to do a double grasshopper."
"What's a double grasshopper?"
"You may want to close your eyes for this."
Preparation day! Pretty boring day overall but it was nice to relax.
We went shopping in the morning at Stop and Shop and then the rest at
Costco. Ate lunch at Costco and then went home and met the elders at
our apartment and emailed and talked all afternoon. That was it until
we went out. We went knocking in a new place tonight. Up by 90th
street and we are usually down in the 30s or 20s. Not really a whole
lot of success, just some nice conversations but no lessons. Then we
went and taught Brother Gureck and invited him to go to the temple on
June 11 for the branch temple trip. He would be getting his
endowments!! That would be fun if we could go with him:) Then we went
home for the night.
5-24-16
"This time it ain't about just being fast." Good day overall. I
finished Jesus the Christ during my studies today! Only started that
at the beginning of January. We had lunch directly after studies and
went to teach Colleen with brother Thompson. She is great and is very
receptive. Taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then went home, changed,
and went to service. We painted brick with this plastic paint the
entire time. Had dinner afterwards and then went knocking. Taught a
doorstep lesson and then went to teach Shaheed with Brother Romero. We
wanted to teach his friend, but he never showed up so maybe next week.
We taught Shaheed the restoration and now on exchanges with Elder
Corzo!!!
5-25-16
"You're my brother, O'Connor." Great day with Elder Corzo. We played
munchkin during breakfast and got ready for studies. Studies and then
went to district meeting. Went to Taco Bell and he had to stop by a
store real fast afterwards and then we went knocking! It was a great
time and taught a lesson. We also planted a ton of seeds and had a
jolly time. We then went to Far Rockaway again and went contacting by
the beach. So naturally we took pictures while we did so and planted a
lot of seeds and taught a lesson there as well. Then headed home and
exchanged back. It was such a fun day with Elder Corzo, can't wait to
do it again.
5-26-16
"He did that stare and drive thing, didn't he? I taught him that."
Great day today. We had studies and then lunch. Went to visit a
referral and ended up teaching a lesson to them. Tried to visit
another but no answer and then picked up the Spanish elders, Elders
Corzo and Honey, to go to Richmond Hill for interviews with President
Reynolds. I got to chat with Sister Reynolds while elder Parrish was
in his interview and afterwards, the assistants gave a quick workshop.
That was a great experience to have the one-on-one interview with
president. Then we went to Costco for dinner with the Spanish elders
and then changed out of our suits and went knocking. Planted seeds
only, no lessons. Visited the Anglade's and set up an appointment for
Saturday. Then went and taught Shaheed till the end of the night.
Great day and a fun one too:)
5-27-16
"There is only one crew in the world who could pull off a job like
this...How did that get up there?" Interesting day today. We did
studies, and companion study lasted 2 hours as we were talking about
the district and how to best help them. Then had lunch and walked out
to our car and found Tiwi (big brother in the car at all times) had
fallen off the window onto the dash board so we went to Rego to get it
fixed. That took a good chunk of our day. We got back and did weekly
planning at the church until we went to a lesson, but they cancelled
on us. So we went and ate dinner and had a lesson with Babatunde.
Talked about general conference. Went to visit the Dure family and
then contacted by the church till the end of the night. That's all
folks!
5-28-16
"You call that drifting?" Sad day today. We had a lot of lessons
planned, all questionable, and most all of them feel through. We did
studies and then lunch. Knocked around prison yard since a lesson fell
through. Picked up brother Thompson to go for the afternoon to our
lessons but they didn't happen except one during that time. And that
one was on her porch. Tried a few more but none were home or they were
too busy at the time. So we took brother Thompson home and we had
dinner at the church. We brought something to eat and waited for
correlation to happen. Had correlation and then visited the Anglade's,
only taught 2 of their sons. Then knocked for a while in our little
corner and taught 2 doorstep lessons. Visited the Sidoways and talked
about coming to church tomorrow and then headed home.
5-29-16
"There's a storm coming Harry. And you best be ready for it." Great
Sunday. We went to church early in the morning. That's what I missed
about Flushing, we had 1:30 church and so we could do studies, lunch,
and then go to church. Here, we wake up at 6, get ready and go to
church for the morning. Then we have the whole afternoon to fill with
something productive. Anyways, church was nice, only had to do a
little false doctrine correction this Sunday, not bad:) Then we went
and took the sacrament to sister Harvey. Had lunch and then knocking.
Just planted seeds only. Had dinner and then more knocking:) Did some
referral look ups but no success with them. Then contacted by the
church until the end of the night.

Shaheed still hasn't got confirmed but we knew it wouldn't happen this
week as he said he was going to be out of town a couple week ago. So
this Sunday he should get confirmed! Iderle is doing great. She is
basically ready as we have taught everything up to the commandments so
now we just need to build her faith more. Colleen is doing great, she
is the only one that came to church of investigators and she loves
church. She will be out of town these next couple weeks so we are
trying to set up skype for her to have skype lessons. Clifton, our 9
year old, is ready too, but his dad hasn't found work off yet. So
still waiting on him. And that is mostly all our progressing
investigators we are working with.