Mission: Week #93 Letter & Pictures

I love hot weather. It was mid 90s for 2 days this week and it was amazing to feel again. So my week was awesome because of that, but also because we were able to find some new investigators:)

5-15-17

"What? Are you too good for your home? Go home! Go home!" Preparation day! And today was so relaxed. We did our laundry and went to the church to email but I wasn't in the mood as much today. Probably because I didn't have anything to talk about as I talked about it all day yesterday. But we eventually made our way to the Spanish chapel and played cards and basketball. Then we went to our chapel and met James there. He bought us dinner, pizza:) He said he is considering going to Utah Thursday so we will see if he follows through with it. He said maybe though, not for sure. Then we went to try to teach Banjo but he wasn't home so we tried to look up a referral but no answer. Finished off by sending off a few messages at the church and heading home.

5-16-17

"Lets be honest, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing." interesting day today. We had district meeting early in the morning and the senior couple, the Openshaws, came and gave a Temple and Family History workshop that took an hour and a half so we just had a quick accountability and set a goal as a district. Then ate lunch and finished studies. Went to try to contact a referral again but no answer. Then went to the church to try calling another referral we just got today and he is still out of town until tomorrow so that is when we are going to call again to set up an appointment. Tried Margaret but nothing so it is starting to look like we are going to have to drop her soon if things don't change. Then we had dinner with James again and he brought Subway this time. We texted him our order earlier today and he claims to keep feeding us but maybe not tomorrow as he might be traveling. He called his girlfriend after a month of not talking to her due to technical issues and gave her the news he's coming to Utah. So probably no dinner tomorrow but he is doing it. Then we went and talked with Howard for the rest of the night. He gave us our gifts of an art book signed to us by the author himself who is a world renowned ship artist. Super cool and nice of Howard.

5-17-17

"Nice game, pretty boy!" Average day for the most part as we had our normal morning. We tried to go teach Banjo but he wasn't home. Then Elder Stewart had to do something on the computer so we went to the church real fast and then home to eat and finish studies. We went to do some look ups and knocking but the afternoon is always so slow so didn't talk to many people. Went to the church to try to talk to Margaret and we got a response today so that is a step in the right direction! She just said she has been busy though. We kinda figured that but hey, she responded! Then we ate dinner and visited our referral but the people that answered said they didn't know the person we were looking for. Great... Then James texted and said he wanted to talk but didn't say how or where so we went to the church thinking he was there but no he wasn't. Texted back but never responded again so we went to try Banjo again just before the end of the night.

5-18-17

"Some day, love will find you. Great love, chains that bind you. You know I still love you even though we went our separate ways." It, is, Thursday and that means we had weekly planning today. That took place after studies and lunch then went to the beach and contacted people all along it as that is where we knew people would be on a 95° day. No one was interested but we only had 30 min there before having to go to correlation at Costco. Then went knocking but we got mixed up in directions to the place we wanted to go and where we ended up. We ended up in a rich neighborhood and they were not interested when we were trying to go to a neighborhood not as well off. So knocking didn't go as planned and then went to see brother Colbert to end the night.

5-19-17

"Cause baby now we've got bad blood." Friday! And we had that district leader training meeting this afternoon in Bensonhurst. That was pretty cool but now I get to teach the district in a way. Fun. Then we went to the church and made calls and sent messages to investigators. Had dinner and looked up 2 members that we were asked to look up. Both weren't home so we knocked around them and tried to go to a college campus on the island to walk around. We have a focus as a mission to try to find more college aged investigators to grow up in the church and have families in the church. Problem was we took a wrong turn and ended up on a 15 min back track as NY streets don't have a turn around area as easily in some areas so we got set back and then we get there to find no one was there and they just had their graduation earlier this week. So the students have left. Well thats perfect. That's when it was time to head home.

5-20-17

"First rule of magic, always be the smartest guy in the room." Today ended up being really awesome. We tried Banjo in the morning but not home. Went to the church to change and went to service and ended up getting fed pizza for lunch. The lady was from Houston visiting and she is a member of the church so thats how she knew to call us. We helped her non member family she was staying with so hopefully they get interested soon. Then went home and changed, and went knocking for an hour with no success. Did the progress record during dinner and into the night a little so we didn't eat dinner. But we went knocking right afterwards and taught 2 households. We talked to a grandmother and grandson that were interested in what we had to say and got a return appointment for Wednesday night. Then the other was a father that we talked to on the porch and he liked talking about religion but not interested in changing so we said we would just talk. So we found 3 new investigators tonight:) We were excited and also heard from James in Utah. He's doing good but under more stress now.

5-21-17

"You ever wonder why we're here?" Well today was a nice Sunday. Had ward council in the morning and it went fine. Nothing wrong with this one and then had church. No one randomly showed up like we had for the past 2 weeks. We had no one there though and we kinda expected that sadly as we knew James and Harold wouldn't be there and the other investigators we haven't been able to talk to much this week and didn't talk about church with them. After church, we went home, ate lunch and had studies. Made calls till dinner and then went knocking and we were going to try a new area but we found it to be a little rich for us so we drove over to the area we were in yesterday and knocked for an hour. Found a new investigator! Making 5 new investigators for us this week so we are excited for that and all the lessons next week already scheduled. Then we did look ups till the end of the night and made calls to the district.

So James is in Utah. Which means he didn't come to church here but did there. Harold we got to schedule a lesson for this upcoming week and hopefully can invite him to be baptized and then get him on date. Margaret and Banjo are falling away slowly and haven't shown any progress so we are starting to break off and give them the drop talk to see if they will change or if they are done as well. We will see but it is so sad to see as they were both so excited for baptism but somethings just got in the way. Then we got 5 new investigators this week so we are really hoping to get more on date this week and 2 of those individuals we know have other family members we can teach, maybe another but not for sure. So there may be a few more new investigators from these individuals! Exciting things happening in Staten:)

I heard a quote this week that has stuck with me. "Do your job." You are where you are for a reason, so make the most of it and do everything you can to fulfill your duty/job. You only get a certain amount of time to accomplish the task so make the most of every moment.

Have an amazing week and I will see you next week when we see if I stay or leave for transfers. Hopefully stay.

EJH

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