Thursday, May 10, 2012

People Waiting to Hear the Gospel in New York City

This week has been suuuuuper legit!!!!   Not to say that we got a lot of news, and that we found a really awesome prepared person, which we did, but that it's just been a good week.

So I guess I'll start off with Last Thursday which involved going down to Central Park to do some volunteering.  The Revlon Run & Walk (a women’s cancer fundraiser) took place this weekend, and on Thursday I and twenty other missionaries went down to Central Park to unwrap medallions for the people involved.  Over the space of about 4 hours, the 21 of us opened 15,000 medallions, and so we all got an idea of what it's like to work in a factory, and how to get carpel tunnel syndrome.  But it was fun just chillin’ in a tent with the other missionaries and talking and unwrapping the medallions.

Thursday wasn't the only day we helped with this Revlon event.  On Saturday we had the privilege of waking up at 3:30 and going down to...TIME SQUARE!!! woot woot!!! It was way cool.  That’s where the start of the event took place, and we were in charge of making sure the different teams got their signs.  Some of which had pretty funny names.  The teams are groups of people who raised donations and participated in the run...normally a family or group of friends.  So yeah, a few of the names were: Friends on a Mission, Yushka Babushkas, Breast Friends and Black Girls Run NYC.

It was a lot of fun.  All the missionaries from Manhattan were there, and so that went until 9 in the morning, and after we went to lunch with some of the other missionaries and I got this super delicious steak burger with spicy guacamole.  It was SOOO good, and pretty fairly priced.  Then the rest of that day was pretty slow because of how tired I was, but I can definitely say I slept well that night...

Then nothing much happened until Monday, which turned out to be a great start to this week.  On Friday we received a referral through the Sisters in my District, which they received from the Ward Mission Leader in the Bronx, who happens to work right next to our chapel.  Anyways, we made an appointment with him, and saw him on Monday.  His name is Francisco.  He's Dominican, speaks pretty good English, and has had some health issues but is doing well now.  Anyways, so we went over, and got to know him a little, and found out that he's wanted to get back into a church.  He grew up Catholic, but doesn't agree with it.  And he really likes the Ward Mission Leader from Olmsted (one of the wards in the Bronx), who's name is Brother Mota.  He likes how much Brother Mota has changed since joining the church, because before, Bro. Mota was a big drinker, and now the Gospel has had a strong influence on his life.  So that's how Francisco got interested in the church and stuff.  It was just so cool to see how the Lord is helping us, and giving us those little things to say “Good job, just keep going, there are people here who are waiting for the gospel”.  He also committed himself to going to church on Sunday which is always super awesome.  So thanks to all of you for your prayers.  They're definitely being answered.  But it would still be nice if we could change that free agency a little bit.  But yeah, that's about it for me.

Love you all, and I'm excited to talk on Sunday (Mother’s Day),

Carson