Week #91 Letter & Pictures

What just happened? I just wrote this email but now I'm writing it again...

Well, guess another week went by and what a week it was. Fairly normal until the weekend. Sunday specifically was a one to remember for like ever. And I'm not just talking about the broadcast, I'm talking about James. 

5-1-17

"Sweet dreams are made of this. Who am I to disagree. I traveled the world and the seven seas. Everybody's looking for something." Preparation day! And it was a very inspiring preparation day. There's a sentence you thought I would never say. Preparation day inspiring. But it was all due to interviews with President Reynolds. We did our laundry and went to Brooklyn to have our interviews and President had a lot of suggestions on how to improve not only as a district leader but also as a missionary. Useful things all around and I have thought a lot about what he said today. Then we had lunch at Grand Fortune with the zone leaders and went to the English chapel to email and and get pictures off the camera. Then went to the Spanish chapel to play basketball with the zone leaders and their investigators. It was a lot of fun and then after preparation day ended, we went to teach Banjo and talked about why he didn't come to church yesterday. Turns out he got a job and had to work yesterday but doesn't have to from now on as he got Sundays off. Then visited Howard and continued to talk about the Book of Mormon and how he needs to read it! He also had a friend stop by and I got to say, they were hilarious together as Howard would tease him with comments and his friend would fire shots right back at him. Old people style. Finished off the night with a little bit of finding around Howard's home street contacting. 

5-2-17

"Oh, but when I look back now. The summer seemed to last forever. And if I had the choice, yeah, I would wanna be there. Oh, those were the best days of my life." Today was pretty good as we had district meeting this morning. We have bee doing really good as a district actually and I have been excited these past couple weeks as we are doing really well. We are hitting goals and have around 15 people on date for the next few weeks. We have a baptism every weekend this month and into June scheduled and most are going to happen for sure. I have been so proud of the district and the huge improvements they have accomplished. Not that they were bad before, they were fine, but they have risen above fine and become excellent. This is what we talked about and set new goals for the week to keep improving as well. Then afterwards, we ate lunch and went to the church to finish studies as district meeting was earlier today and the tried to teach Margaret but she was still at work for another hour so we went and did some look ups nearby and came back but she didn't get on for a bit. Finally got to teach her during our dinner hour so we ate a late dinner and went to visit that member at the bottom of the area one last time and still nothing. So we have tried all different times of day and nothing. And no number for us to call. So we knocked another bit until we made the long trip home. 

5-3-17

"This is for ones who stood their ground. (Time with Gina?), never back down. And I ain't gonna be just another face in the crowd, you're gonna hear my voice when I shout out loud. It's my life!" Today was about average. We taught Banjo in the morning about following the prophet and helping him receive answers to his prayers as he has been praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true but hasn't received an answer. Then we had lunch at home and made calls and did some look ups around us. Went to try to teach Rocky but he was sleeping this time and said to come back tomorrow. Starting to see the trend happening. So we knocked around him but got no one. Went to dinner and tried Kenny who we haven't talked to in a week. But he wasn't home either. Then we went to a park and contacted around it which we got to talk to a few people but none that were interested sadly. Finished the night by trying a member but they weren't home either. 

5-4-17

"May the force be with you, always." Happy Star Wars Day:) Today took a turn of events mid way through. We were going to be on exchanges tonight with the Spanish elders but one of them got sick so we rescheduled it to later. So other than that, we had a semi normal day. We had our usual morning and went to the church for a church tour with Banjo but he never showed up! Called and texted but no response. So we had lunch and did a little bit of weekly planning. Went to look up the referral and no answer so we dropped him. Tried another part member family but we saw the member driving away right as we pulled up and we wont get let in without her. So we went back to the church in perhaps the worst traffic I've seen on Staten Island. Like Brooklyn traffic is bad but this was on the streets of Staten. Not usual traffic and it took 5x longer to get to the church so we got to our lesson with Margaret 40 min late but turns out she was still at work so we will try after correlation. Went to correlation and that drive took 20 min when it should have taken 5 min to Costco. Traffic was horrible today. Went back and tried her again for a few minutes but she wasn't available. So we went to look up Rocky. Not home this time so we knocked around him and talked to a few people. That concluded our night. 

5-5-17

"It's time for the sith to rule the galaxy!" Happy revenge of the fifth:) or cinco de mayo. Which ever you celebrate. But today was a little disappointing to be honest. But that was more at night. We had a usual morning and afternoon of look ups, finishing weekly planning, and knocking a bit around those look ups. I realize thats not in the correct order but I would rant about it than fix it. #Lazy. Nothing exciting but what was disappointing, sort of, was how we went knocking in a good area where we had some success before teaching but tonight after an hour and a half of knocking, we didn't even teach a lesson. We got close with 2 but couldn't teach in the end. Frustrating but thats the work. Then we tried to visit this investigator thats been in the hospital for the month of March and best resting for April. Now he is feeling better but still resting technically so we stopped by but wasn't available. Then tried a member and nothing. Story of my life. So yeah, downer day. Hopefully tomorrow is better. 

5-6-17

"I will finish what you started." Once again we ware back to Saturday. These weeks go by like hours now. No longer days, hours. So fast. And so because it is Saturday, that means we work on the progress record. Worked on that for most of the afternoon and went to try to teach Rocky. Rescheduled to tomorrow night this time. Then ate dinner and went knocking in the same area as yesterday to finish it off and this time, no one was answering. Last night people were answering but they weren't interested. Tonight, nothing. After a long time of that, we finished the progress record at night and headed home.  

5-7-17

"What does the handbook say now, soldier?" Honestly, that quote is the most perfect quote with how today went. So today we had an interesting one. No not interesting only but a lifelong memory interesting. For one, we had a special broadcast from Salt Lake for 2 hours that took place of church and heard various general authorities speak to us, including Elder Oaks of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. The next interesting thing actually happened before and after church and it was the surprise investigator at church. His name is James and boy does he have a story. There is a lot of backstory that I wont be able to get to in this journal but I have already typed it all up for memory. It's just way to personal to share over email. Basically he knows everything we would teach him, all 5 lessons. he has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and has read 1 Nephi and Ether. Read parts of Doctrine and Covenants and has watched general conference. Been to many different temple grounds such as Draper, Salt Lake, Manhattan, and others for prayers and reading the scriptures looking for answers. Learned it all on his own and is ready to get baptized. He is just waiting for his girlfriend to marry him and to be there for his baptism. There is a LOT of problems in between now and then though. Short story- she lives in Draper, UT and he lives here. And that's just the surface of the problems but I am not going into detail for privacy. So this investigator came out of nowhere and is ready for baptism. We talked to this guy for like an hour and a half today in total before and after the conference. And he met almost every member there, met in a personal interview level with bishop to ask for council on his situation too. So he's met a lot and some of the member know his story too. We are in shock at what just happened. We went home and ate lunch, finished studies, and went to teach Rocky but he rescheduled. So we are going to give it a week now. Nothing is going anywhere and he does have some things he is working through but he just isn't showing any interest. Ate dinner and went to give a member in a nursing home a blessing. She liked to talk so we were there for a bit until we went to the church to send off some messages and confirm appointments. And finished with calls. 

So where to start, oh James! Honestly, there's not much more I want to share over such a public email about him but my thoughts I will share. We honestly have no idea what to do. He does have this very elaborate plan that includes us into it on how to live a happily ever after story. And it is a very thorough plan. But we still don't know what to do. The only think we can think of is for him to get baptized first to help the situation not end in utter chaos. Moving on to Banjo, he tried to come to church but somehow he got lost and didn't make it so we talked with him about it Monday, last night, and he took the right bus but in the wrong direction and then had to go to work. So this week! Margaret we have had a hard time teaching and meeting. Saturday she was busy with family things so we couldn't go by and teach and then Sunday she didn't come. So James was our only investigator at church. 

Now to get to the first half of the subject of this email. The amazing district. So these missionaries in Staten Island have worked very hard over the past transfer and a half for this and I'm happy to say we've started our baptism a week month. Every week for the month of May, our district has some one on date and this most previous weekend, we had one get baptized. We have 2 more lined up for this Saturday, another 2 or 3 the week after and a few more for the final week of May. We also have more baptismal dates in June, for sure the first 2 weeks but not sure on the surety of them getting baptized at this point in time but we have baptisms lined up for weeks and it's all due to the hard work of the district. I'm so proud of them and am grateful to be a part of it. I'm excited to see how things keep progressing and hope we can get the goal of at least one a week this month. I can't contain my excitement right now about this. 

That is about it for the week but it was definitely a weird one at the end of it. But lots to look forward to in the future. See you guys next week, peace✌️ 

EJH

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