September 30, 2013

Hello all!

I am learning so much here in NY!

I put up a lot of photos. Some are of a few weeks ago when we walked around the us open for a couple of minutes. others are of Ignacio's family (I told him he wasn't smiling in the first picture, and he still didn't smile in all the other pictures!) I didn't take time to sort through the pictures to send the best ones, so I just sent them all. Others are us at a train station for the long Island railroad close to an investigators house. I was experimenting with what my camera can do. And some others (with the manhattan skyline) are at Hunter's point. We took the 7 train until the last stop before manhattan. then you just start walking towards the bigger buildings and find the water, and you're there! Also, I posted the recipe for last night's dinner. I also had a salad with other fruit and chicken nuggets in it. the All-in-one Mixitup is pretty good. It came about because I wanted to know if you could just microwave pancake battter and have it make a pancake. But I needed a meal, so of course I threw in some of my oatmeal and frozen fruit (target had a great deal on frozen fruit last month, I hope it's still going on) and for some reason I have developed quite a love for peanut butter, and I'll eat it plain, sometimes mixed with instant breakfast chocolate powder.  So i just threw everything together, and it turned out rather well. the pancake had cooked a bit, and the oatmeal was good, and it was all REALLY sweet and flavorful.

This morning I tried the microwave pancake thing again, and it was a great success! I just made sure to spray pam on the bowl so it wouldn't stick, and that worked too! I then poured some syup and milk on the little pancake in the bowl, and it soaked them both right up, and it turned into some sort of tasty bakery treat thing. My life has been revolutionized by these cooking strategies I have learned

Elder Wright had a bit of a rough week. At hunter's point, he was setting his camera on it's tripod to take a picture of it (luckily I got an action photo of this happening) and then we were posing, and the wind picked up! the camera and tripod toppled over into the East River! there went all of his pictures and his camera. Elder Wright really likes photography, so he had taken a lot of pictures. Then later on this week, he had propped his speaker on one of our lamps in the house because it gave it perfect position, and later part of the speaker had melted! (it was one of those new ihome springy speakers, and the accordion-type part had melted.) it still works fine, it's just not springy. But I think it looks really cool.

Our branch has been changing a lot. Our branch president moved back to columbia a while back, so the branch presidency is changed. The new presidency has a lot of energy. Also, our mission leader is new, and he has A LOT of excitement and enthusiasm for the work. we worked with him the other day, and it was great contacting people with him. He connected well with the people, because he has a background like most people here. so the branch is steadily progressing I think. I'm developing lots of love for Flushing. Flushing Family!

This is most of my letter to President Calderwood.

Dear President,

This week I am really grateful for revelation. Every big experience from this week is accented by revelation, and it has really helped me learn. I have continued to have understanding of forgetting myself in the service of the Lord fortified, and expanded on. I know two specific things that I really need to work on, and I feel calm and confident that I can get them done, with the help of the Atonement. They are punctuality and serving others. These are definitely two things that will help shape my mission and life to be even better. I've come to gain understanding of these needs over a bit of time, and now I have a clear picture, and I'm excited to see how the Atonement shapes me even more on my mission. The last major experience was this morning in my personal study, as I prepared a workshop for district meeting. When I need revelation to bless and help teach others, it comes quickly. Clear connections of the gospel and work and our attitude came quickly to my mind, and it helped me apply my new understanding of losing myself to the aspect of finding people. I'm so grateful that God takes the time to teach us.

I love my companion, district, zone, and branch. They are really fantastic, and I'm growing so much because of them. I am so thankful for them all.

Love

Elder Schenk

I'm learning and enjoying a lot here in ny. Our new district is getting along really well, it's pretty fun.

Love,

ElderSchenk, not the one and only