First, I'm so excited that Gabby got
baptized! that's really cool. I figured she would because she was so solid.
That's great to hear about her husband! I remember I taught him and
his friends once, and they seemed pretty respectful if not accepting. That makes
me so glad to hear! I am excited to talk to them when I get back home. They
knew I spoke a little bit of spanish then, so I can blow them away when I get
back. That's sweet I'm really happy about that.
So I'll tell you about what's new. My area is
Bushwick, Brooklyn, but it has a lot more than just Bushwick. It is mostly the
north, northwest of Brooklyn (it has about a third of it.) The church is
on one floor in a building owned by a Jewish company, and that area is
full of Jewish people. It's very interesting. Fiday
or Saturday at 5 or so we heard this loud siren, and it was signaling
the end of the workday in preparation for their sabbath. The zone is really fun
and the district is good, so I'm excited to work here. We have a big branch (I
counted about 100 at sacrament meeting) but it's not a ward yet because there
aren't enough Melchizidak Priesthood holders or something. So that will be
something to work on.
There are more missionaries in my district
and zone than were in my previous ones, and everything is much more spread out.
In Flushing, you would see missionaries around town, especially by the church
all the time. Here it's not quite like that, although you do see the others
occasionally.
It's kind of weird not knowing what's going
on in your district. I was pretty used to being the veteran of Flushing, but
here I know nothing. (Actually that's not true, I know plenty now, I've been
here almost a whole week!)
Interesting story though, I've already been
here before a couple of times and recognize a couple of things. Toward the very
beginning of my mission, Elder Rose and I came and visited on a preparation day
and played basketball with an investigator from here who was going to be
baptized. We sat in on the lesson with him afterward and his mom gave us some
nice dominican snacks (a drink called morir sonando is one of them). She was
catholic and not really interested but nice and respectful. Well now both of
them, mother and son are members and really strong!!! It's funny that I
actually met these people before anyone in the district that is here right now
met them.
Mom, putting in all of that info reminds me
of what we will need to do pretty soon when we get our mini ipads. The info
will all be accessible from the cloud all mission long, but we need to put it
in by hand from our paper area books first! so that will take much time.
I don't think I need more kitchen stuff, I
brought some with me from flushing that you had already sent, and I don't do
too much crazy cooking that requires it. This week we had pretty much no food
in the apartment because transfers were just before the end of the month. money
and food were low. But I had brought pancake mix with me and I had that subway
gift card. Around thursday we got paid by the mission, and we did a lot of
service last week, and were given food at each service we did. So we didn't do
much cooking. That was pretty handy. Today we are going to BJ's which is like
costco to load up on the groceries.
Also side note before I forget, next monday
is veterans day and the library we are emailing from might be closed, but we
might also have ipads by that time, so it's really up in the air if you will
get an email monday or tuesday. I also brought my camera to the library, but I
forgot to bring the connecting chord so I'll send some pictures next time.
My new companion is Elder Sua'ava. pronounced
swava. He is half hawaiian half mexican, but doesn't already speak spanish. He
has been out about 6 months, all of which has been here in Bushwick. He is
really nice and has a big heart. It will be good to work with him. The
apartment we have here is newer than the one in flushing, so that's nice, but
it's getting so cold outside that sometimes we need to wear coats inside. Dad,
to answer your question it would be nice if you sent my down jacket, and maybe
my fleece one? maybe not, it was quite a squeeze packing all of my stuff
at transfers. I need to find a way to simplify my things a bit.
I don't know how long it will take to do, but
I'm still planning on sending a package home with letters, etc for the family
and friends. I'm not very far along the way of getting it ready, but it should
probably be ready by Christmas.
I don't know everyone, or even all of these
people very well, but pray for (this is a mix of less active members, new
members, and investigators)
Also just pray that I will be able to
coordinate well with the branch leaders in picking up and moving from where the
work is at. I think it will go really well!
Love you so much! thanks for all of your love
Elder Eric D. Schenk, from Brooklyn
No comments:
Post a Comment