Week #50 Pictures

Week #50 Letter

Hey everybody!

So this past week, some of us in the district have been sick. We have had all different kinds of sicknesses or it affected each of us very differently as some had sore throats, others were too weak to get up, and other were throwing up in the back of our car. But thats a story you can read about in a sec. but yeah, that was our week mostly. But we did say goodbye for now to a dear Elder who has since gone home. His 2 years were up and we shall miss him. Love ya Messi! P.S. I think you got everyone sick 😷🤒

8-8-16

"I'll see you in another life, brother." Well every time these transfers come to a close, I always get depressed with the missionaries going home that I know. Especially this one as I say good bye to a district member that has been here for the 3 transfers I've been here. Good bye elder messenger! You will be reading this in 1 week from today but I miss you, probably! Anyways, we got up and did studies and got transfer calls. Elder messenger is the only one out as he is going home, but everyone else is staying. We went to Breezy Point for our district activity which is way out on the peninsula at the end of our area because that is where the ocean is. Took a lot of photos and had a fun time collecting sea shells and sea glass. Afterwards, had lunch and all met again at the park for slack lining. Then went and emailed at home and got ready again as we smelled like the ocean. We went and tried to visit some less actives and also Babatunde. He was super sick so we just said hi and bye. Went and visited Iderle as she is back in town and we talked about her baptism later this month. Then went and picked up elders Messenger and Roland but ended up eating some Spanish food at one of their member's home. Super good stuff and headed out. 

8-9-16

"Three hours! Three hours you kept me waiting here."

"Yep, now we are waiting on you, lets go." 

Well, interesting day as it didn't turn out anything like we planned. Didn't need to go to Rego till late in the afternoon to drop off elder messenger and I needed to talk to some of the office staff about somethings but we didn't end up having leadership meeting so we left after a half hour. We got back to our area at 3 and made calls at the church and contacted by the church until we had dinner. After dinner we went to a lesson scheduled with a kid we taught last week at night but we didn't have his apartment number so when we got there, he didn't answer his phone so we couldn't teach him. Which was weird as we called him an hour earlier to make sure we were still good to come by and he said yeah but we didn't realize we didn't have an apartment number. So we went knocking around Arverne and after a while of that, tried to look up a less active but no one was home. Contacted by the church and headed home. 

8-10-16

"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-o." It was a green day today. Meaning it was a finding day. We did our studies and lunch, went and got to the car cleaned. Got our mail key copied for our landlord to keep for backup, and some clerk stuff. Then we went and visited Edwin, our 9/11 survivor and he broke his leg. Funny part is he is paralyzed from the waist down so he doesn't feel anything down there so he does everything normal like before but with a shattered leg. Brought me pain just thinking about it. Shared with him a message and a passage to read before our next visit which is Friday. Then did look ups but nothing. Dinner and knocking in Inwood. Met this cool family, all older, but the problem was they all went through 3 beers each when we were talking to them and they had plenty before we got there so we aren't sure if they will remember everything we said to them. Afterwards, we went and taught sister Siddoway and had a good lesson with her. Headed on home afterwards. 

8-11-16

"Who puts pineapple on a pizza? It's something you don't do."

Well today was pretty good. Woke up with a sore throats but not too bad. Did personal study and went to service for an hour. Then had the conference call with the mission. We went home for that and then had lunch. We got halal for lunch and went back to service. Went and got cleaned up at home and the office elders came by to pick up a vacuum. Then went to the Clavines home for their daughters party. She is getting baptized tomorrow and the assistants said we can go! Sweet. Went to visit a potential and no one was home. Contacted a little until we went to the church for branch presidency meeting. After, contacted until the end of the night. I was talking to Elder Roland on the car ride home and he isn't feeling well. He said it all started with a sore throats yesterday and woke up dead. So he is super sick and couldn't do much today besides sleep. So he said that's what I'll be like as my sore throats has gotten worse as the day goes on. So I've taken some vitamins and medicine to hopefully slow it down and fight it but it keep getting worse. Great, hopefully I'll be able to do some work tomorrow. 

8-12-16

"You seem a little defensive there, cap'."

Well, I was sick today, but not as bad as Elder Roland was. I had to sleep all morning as I had no energy at all to get up but I had enough energy around 11 to get up and prepare for district meeting. We did a skype district meeting with everyone as Elder Roland was still recovering and Elder Liljenquist is worse and slept through district meeting. So we just skyped from our apartments, except the sisters who were at the church. It started off really bad, the song did not work out, but as long as only one person is talking, it worked out great. Then we had lunch and went to see Edwin. He asked for us to come back a different day as he was putting on his cast for his leg he broke and was in tremendous amounts of pain. And he is even paralyzed from the waist down. So we said ok and went to the church to weekly plan but didn't get very far as we had to change for the baptism tonight. Changed and went to Lynbrook's chapel just in time as it started 5 min after we got there. It was nice to see and well organized. I learned a lot from it. Afterwards, we went to see a potential but no one was home and so we contacted by Stop and Shop till the end of the night. As the day went on today, my sickness and sore throat got worse so tomorrow will be another fun day to deal with this.  

8-13-16

"What are you doing?" 

"I'm distracting you ya big turd blossom!"

So to continue on with my sickness update. I felt a little worse today than yesterday as I am now super weak and don't want to move. But nevertheless, I still went out. But I was not as bad as some people in sickness which I will talk about in a sec. But we had sort of studies. I ended up sleeping through personal and companion study and was able to do some 12 week but not really effective 12 week. We then had lunch at McDonalds as we were on our way to Woodside for a meeting! Yay! I didn't like how it was on a Saturday but hey, what can you do. We went to the meeting and it was only for district leaders and their companions so didn't get to see some friends as they are now zone leaders but I got to see others there. It was awesome to see them and talk with them. The workshops given were good and liked them but they are having some changes to district meeting like now we have to wear suits to district meeting. So not the most ideal attire as we are in a heat wave right now, but we will make do. On the way home however, was an adventure of itself. Elder Syme asked for a ride home as we drive right by his home on the way to our home. So we agreed but just before he left, he was not feeling good at all and ended throwing up at the woodside chapel a few times. He was good for a minute and then felt sick again. But didn't throw up there so we left and tried to hurry home. He ended up throwing up in Elder Messenger's old shirt we had in our car as we were going to burn it in memory of him but instead served the purpose of puke bucket in our car. Thanks for the shirt Messi! It smelled pretty bad but we made it to their home before he puked any more but he was in a lot of pain and did not feel well at all. So hopefully he feels better. We went to the church and made calls all night and cleaned out areabook as I was getting worse at this point and didn't want to cough all over people as i talked to them so we staye din the church for a while and did what we could. Did some online proselyting and whatnot. Went to the store as well and bought some ibuprofen too. But yeah, fun day and let the sickness adventures continue on tomorrow, hopefully not though. 

8-14-16

"You better call it soon Coulson. Im starting to root for this guy." Well, today felt the same as yesterday. I don't know what it is but the medicine helps for a few hours then I go right back to the way I was before. So we think it is a virus that has to run its course first before it will get better. But anyways, getting up was super hard today as we had branch council so early but we made it there a little late and got everything ready for today. Fell asleep during sacrament meeting though. The rest of the day went fine. No crazy stories of church this week. We did tithing and went home and I crashed instantly on my bed and so did Elder Johnson. We were asleep for an hour and then woke up. We quickly ate lunch and took the sacrament to sister Harvey and went back home. No time for studies today and had dinner. We went out to a lesson in Inwood with the family we taught earlier that had 3 bottle of beer each but they weren't home tonight. Try again later. W knocked around them to find rejection and signs that say No Peddlers, which is us I came to find out a while back. So we went to visit some other people in the area and find no success. We wen to visit another lady by the church but nothing so we went to the church as my allergies or something was acting up bad and I needed tissues. Then contacted around the church till the end of the night. So much fun being sick. Especially on the mission. Also made calls tonight and the numbers for this week were not good but the Zone Leaders understood as most of the district was sick.  

Well, I tried to figure out a way to change the font on my iPad so it doesn't come in like this but nothing so far. But Iderle is back in town but she didn't come to church yesterday so we are pushing her baptism back a little so we can get her on a regular routine and progressing again before it. Then that was it this week with investigators. We just were out of commission for part of the week. But I am now feeling better and hopefully that is now behind me and Elder Johnson doesn't get sick. Cause that would stink. 

Anyways, that was our lovely week. Hope everyone else had a better one! 

-Elder HĘÅTØÑ

Week #49 Pictures

Week #49 Letter

Here we are once again. Hello!!!!

This week was an interesting one. From late night stake meeting Saturday to this crazy investigator that we had come to church. Also a cat showed up at church... in a box. The weekend was a whole lot of excitement but the rest of the week was pretty good. Here is how it went:

8-1-16

"You're either with his or against us!"

"I'm not with you neither am I against you."

"Can he do that?"

"He's religious, I think it is required."

Preparation day! It was a sort of boring one but also a little fun. We went shopping after studies and got our groceries for the week. And headed on over to Elders Messenger's and Roland's apartment to hang out. We went down to the beach and put our feet in the water for a bit and then went slack lining as elder Johnson bought one recently and wanted to try it out. Then went back to their apartment and emailed and talked for the rest of preparation day. AT 6, we went out knocking and taught a lesson on the door step and got a return appointment for Saturday. We continued knocking and went to visit a potential investigator but wasn't home. Tried to visit Shaheed, not home. And so we went contacting by the church till the end of the night. Fun day, but a little boring in the middle there. 

8-2-16

"I don't get it. How can you go through an entire box of pop tarts and still be this hungry?"

"Oh this is so going on my Facebook, smile."

Normal day for the most part. We had service today and we put up sheet rock on the walls this time. It is starting to come together now. Looks like a basement now. We are working on the basement part of a home and we are almost to mudding and then to painting. We then went home after that and had a lesson over the phone with a referral we received. He is super nice but weird to teach over the phone. We are going to see if there is anything else we can do to meet with him face to face via skype or in person. Cause I'm not a big fan of over the phone lessons. Then we cleaned up real fast and did our companion study and had dinner. We then went out with brother Beatty to visit some less actives with him and after a bit, we picked up brother Thompson to go see a less active he wanted to go visit so the 4 of us went to visit him. We went to the apartment number we had on record but brother Thompson said it was on the wrong side. So we went down to the lobby and asked if there is a different apartment number we could try but no, their record matches our record. SO we don't know where he is. But we did go visit one more less active and found her. We were able to get in and Brother Beatty was able to connect again with her and we were able to try to talk her into coming to church this sunday. Then we went home for the night. 

8-3-16

"He did that stare and drive thing didn't he? I taught him that!" We had our studies but they were cut short as we went to visit a less active with brother Thompson at 10:30 so we went and were able to meet with him. Smelled really bad and wasn't a very clean apartment but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. We then went to the church so I can catch up on some clerk responsibilities and set up some lists on Facebook. Headed home, ate lunch, and got cleaning. We did deep clean today and we able to clean the entire apartment and get organized again. It is so nice to have a clean apartment. Had dinner afterwards and went to a lesson but didn't happen. Then we realized we didn't have the phone so we went to the church to look for it and there it was. We also skyped with our branch president and relief society president with the sisters about members to go visit. We found some really solid looking members. Hopefully they still live here. After wards, went to another lesson we had scheduled but weren't home. And so we contacted by the church till then end of the night. 

8-4-16

"Ok, the dentist thing is more of a hobby. In real life, I am a spy. And you must not tell anyone because if you do..."

*Zap

It was a pretty good day overall. We had district meeting today and we got to hear Elder Messenger's last workshop before he leaves to go home. We took some pictures together as a district on the roof again and went to Chipotle for lunch with Elder Messenger and Liljenquist. They were on exchanges for some reason. But fun anyways. We then went home and did some of our weekly planning. Didn't get all the way done like we were hoping so we will have to finish it tomorrow. Ate dinner and visited sister Randall with brother Beatty. Had to go pretty quick as I had a branch presidency meeting but it was cool to meet with her. Starting to get to know the members better now. Had the meeting and went to visit a less active family, Forbes, but there was no male home so we couldn't go in. So we did less active look ups in Arverne and contacted. Ended up teaching this kid right before we went home. Pretty cool to teach him. Hopefully he will continue to meet with us. 

8-5-16

"Who wants to have fun?"

"I do."

"Me too."

"Now are you just saying you want to have fun or do you really want to have fun?"

"I really want to have fun."

"I'm just saying I want to have fun." 

Pretty good day overall today with a long stretch of boring in the middle of it. We had studies and went to the church for 12 week but couldn't get the online thing to work on the computer so we moved on and while we were there, the Spanish missionaries had correlation and a little goodbye party fro Elder Messenger so they invited us to join in. We ate pizza and talked for a bit. Took pictures at the end and went back to continue 12 week. All that took a long time but that was the fun part. We then did our weekly planning again to finish it off and that takes forever. We didn't even have that many people but it took a while. Still trying to learn the new guidelines, again. SO we had dinner afterwards and went contacting by the church down to some apartments to drop off the book of mormon to our investigator we taught over the phone to find him home. So we were able to teach him again and introduce the Book of Mormon better and the Restoration better. Then we contacted don the way back and went to the Forbes. We taught them about service and got them signed up on Just Serve's website to find service around NY. And went home for the night. Pretty good day but weekly planning is not a favorite of mine. 

8-6-16

"I have 600 Titleist balls in the trunk of my car. Lets God down to Rockaway beach and hit them into the ocean!" Not a very productive day today. We just had meeting all night in Woodside so it took a huge chunk out of our day. We did our studies and lunch like usual in the morning, then we tried to have our first Facebook messenger lesson. We have met with him in person before, and it is hard to understand him. English is his second language and he is still learning it so we thought Facebook messenger would be a good way to communicate with him better. Well, it worked in communication, but he does not want to change religions. Not in the slightest and by the end of the lesson, he dropped us. Ok then. Great start to Facebook messenger lessons. We then went to another lesson we had scheduled but they weren't home. Tried to visit a potential investigator but not home. So we went home and changed into suits and went and picked up elders Messenger and Roland to go to Woodside. Took a while to get there with a little traffic and it rained super hard. But we were the only missionaries at leadership meeting and then 4 more showed up to the general priesthood meeting. They were good meetings but not much on the missionary aspect for us. Afterwards we started our long trip home and got home around 9:45 at night. 

8-7-16

"We got to do a double grasshopper."

"What's a double grasshopper?"

"You may want to close your eyes for this."

Super interesting day today. We had church and we went and this investigator the sister fund on the street came. They found him a couple days ago or earlier today, I don't know, but he actually came and was a very interesting man. We taught him the restoration during gospel principles as he was the only one there that was an investigator or recent convert. Then for elders quorum, there was only a few of us that didn't prepare the lesson so we took over and it just turned into teaching the investigator all about the priesthood. So we had 2 member present lessons during church basically. Super cool and then at the end, someone brought a cat into church in this old cardboard box and I didn't know about it until after tithing and the branch president and I didn't know what to do but it was in the Spanish branch's chapel during their sacrament so we didn't want to district it either so we left it for the Spanish branch to deal with. Still don't know what needed up happening to it either. So that was church, afterwards we took the sacrament to sister harvey and did studies afterwards. We broke our fast with fired rice and sweet and sour chicken. Super good:) Went knocking in Inwood for our prime time find and visited the Dures. Then home bound. 

So Iderle got home form her vacation yesterday so we will be trying to go by and visiting her this coming week! That investigator that went to church yesterday is named Kwasai I think is how you spell it.Anyways, he is super willing to learn more and continue learning so hopefully he will progress in the gospel. He already accepted the invitation to be baptized but we just don't have a date yet. We tried to visit our other investigators this week but either not home or not interested anymore. Its hard to continue to find people when there seems to be no one progressing. But we keep trying. 

Hope all is well with everyone! See you next week! 

-Elder HĘÅTØÑ

Week #48 Pictures

Week #48 Letter

Well hello again,

This week went by fast and we had some problems with our shower. We got most of it fixed by we have the repairman coming tomorrow to finish it off. It was a problem with the grout and sealing in the shower. Wasn't done properly so the water got behind the wall and started coming out onto our bathroom floor. Not good but they said they fixed the grout and sealing problem. Coming tomorrow to fix the part of wall they tore out. 

So for this week, here is how it went:

7-25-16

"I am iron man. You think you're the only superhero out there?" Preparation day! Today was really fun and I am drained. We had studies and went and dropped off my pants to get sewn back up and went to the church to get haircuts. Jay is always so nice and does a great job with it. I hope to have him cut my hair all throughout my mission. Then afterwards, we went to our place and made homemade pizza. It was super good and hung around. Around 5, a massive thunderstorm rolled in and lightning was going off every 30 seconds, sometimes even quicker than that. And it down pored with rain when we left. We went and contacted a few referrals and went and taught this Egyptian that was sort of interested but is very set on his beliefs. Hard to teach but we will see what happens with him. Then went to visit Thomas but he was busy and we didn't have time to wait so we rescheduled for tomorrow night. And went home and had to take elder Corzo and Liljenquist home as they were coming back for their laundry and it was already 9:30. So we got home really late.   

7-26-16

"I am bad. And that is good. I'll never be good. And that's not bad." Pretty normal day today. We had the 3 hours of studies and went to district meeting at the church. The church was having its carpets and floors deep cleaned so we had to walk carefully on the floor but it smelled clean. Had district meeting and went to get Halal for lunch and went to the church to eat it and we got stuck in the clerks office as the cleaner guys waxed the floor so we couldn't leave for an hour before it got dry. So we made the most of our time and got the less active list complete and started going through it with everyone I knew. After an hour we left and went home to get dinner and went knocking in Arverne. No lessons and went to a scheduled lesson with Ness but she couldn't tonight nor any other time this week so we scheduled for next Tuesday. Continued knocking and went to go see Thomas. Had a good lesson with him and contacted by the church till the end of the night and went home. 

7-27-16

"Is that the best you can do?"

...

"You had to ask."

So today we did our personal study and went to service. We put up dry wall on the ceiling which was super fun actually. Hardest part was holding up the dry wall long enough with either our head or arms. Also did a little insulation. I'm learning so much on how to build a home:) Afterwards, we went home and got cleaned up and made cards until dinner time. After dinner, we exchanged with elders Messenger and Roland. I'm with Elder Messenger for his very last exchange before he goes home. We went and picked up brother Beatty and we started visiting all the less actives in the branch and not many people answered. But we went and visited the Romeros and were able to share a message with them. We went and picked up the other 2 elders, Elders Johnson and Roland and took everyone home. Gonna be a fun exchange:) 

7-28-16

"From now on you shall be known as Darth... Vader." We had a great exchange full of service. We had studies and made cards after study till lunch. After lunch, we got a call that the Dubei's needed help to move some of their furniture down to their garage to finish up their move and so we went over and that took up our entire afternoon. We exchanged back to go clean up and have dinner. We then went contacting by the church until Branch Presidency Meeting and that didn't end up happening. We waited for 20 min and called but elder Shapiro said he was waiting too and would let me know if he hears anything so we left and never did hear anything. We went contacting by the church some more until we had to be home at 8 pm as our landlord was coming over to look at our shower. It has a leak and is ruining the wall. They said they were going to come by tomorrow with customer service from the neighborhood in which we live so they can take a look at it. We planned and got ready for bed. 

7-29-16

"I didn't even qualify. Apparently I'm self centered. Don't play well with others. That sort of thing." Well today was actually really good. We had a lesson at 10 but it didn't happen. It was with the same guy we had a lesson with last Saturday but he wasn't home this time. We did find parking though. So we went to the church  and did 12 week until we had Halal for lunch and went to Woodside for ZTM. It was a Facebook training on how to use it properly. It was really nice and really inspiring on how to use it well and not get distracted. So I'm excited to use it but I won't be posting publicly. All personally for members and investigators. Afterwards, we went to this burger place around the corner and ate there before our long ride home. Took us over an hour to get home and we got back at around 8 and went to visit sister Siddoway but she was busy so we weren't able to teach her. Went to the church and picked up the other elders and went home. 

7-30-16

"There seems to be no sign of intelligent life, anywhere." It was a pretty fun day today. We had our usual morning full of 3 hours studies and we had our landlord and the repairman come by and work on the bathroom and we were talking to our landlord about everything they want us to do every week. We even got our mail squared away and we can get mail here:) Got the key and everything. Then we went to go to a lesson after they left but he wasn't home so we went over to the Spanish elders neighborhood as they were having a Block Party and we got to socialize with the neighborhood and get to know a lot of people. It was super fun and got to be friendly in the community. Went to the church and had correlation and ate dinner at the church. Then went contacting by the church and went to pick up brother Romero to go to see the Forbes and SIddoway's. That was the best decision we've made, taking him to the Forbes. It was the best lesson we've had with them and Brother Romero shared a scripture that helped sister Forbes a ton. She said she would come tomorrow to church. We then went to the SIddoway's and gave sister Siddoway and her daughter blessings and went home. It was a fun night and super awesome. Hopefully the Forbes come tomorrow:) 

7-31-16

"You must be the worst pirate I've ever heard of."

"Ah, but you have heard of me."

Today was a great day. We had church and sister Forbes did come to church finally! It was awesome to see her and her son, AJ. But then for the second hour and most of third hour, I got stuck in the Clerk's office with the stake audit representative to do the mid-year financial audit. Cool to see how it was all done but it was super nice how the past 2 clerks, Elders Ko and Parrish, kept a neat record and everything was organized so it all went smoothly and we got done in an hour and a half. After church, we went home and ate lunch. Then went to see sister Harvey with the sacrament and went home to do studies. Ate dinner and Went knocking and visited referrals. We ended up teaching a referral and got a return appointment for Wednesday. Tried to visit some other investigators but no answer. We did go see Adly, our Egyptian investigator, and were able to continue talking to him about prophets. What we learned from that lesson is that we can't convince him of anything, but the spirit can. He said that himself and so we focused on reading the Book of Mormon and coming to know if it is true. Then we went home and I made the calls to the district for numbers. Fun week.  

So we had a pretty fun weekend with Facebook. Just trying to friend our investigators and members right now and hopefully start talking to them soon. But so far, we haven't used it for anything. 

Well, we had a few lessons, but not with the same people really. The best part was the Forbes came to church! So much fun to see them at church, but I didn't get to talk to them much as I had to do the financial audit. 

Well, I miss you all and can't wait to see most of you next week at transfer exchange. Have a great weekend! Bu-bye! 

-Elder HĘÅTØÑ

Week #47 Pictures (Birthday Week)