Spanish Skills Come in Handy Again

Well I'm now with elder Coakley and things are going pretty good. We cover quit a bit of area like Gloversville. We only have like 8 investigators but we do have one with a baptismal date. He is 13 and his mom is a member but she went inactive for a while so he never learned about the church. We have been teaching... I have not done any tracting here yet but Elder Coakley said the average of people they talked to in the summer was way more then Gloversville. Schenectady is pretty ghetto, everybody acts so gangster it funny. People in Gloversville were just poor but the people here are poor and gangster like but they all walk around with I pods and have plasmas in their houses. They all spend more then they have and waste their money on crap. These people need a lesson on finances. So last night was pretty cool. We went to this guy's house who requested a "Joy to the World" in Spanish. Well we got there and the guy didn't speak any English so I had to bust out my Spanish again. I can hold up a small conversation but it's so frustrating because I wish I could just talk and be completely fluent. Well anyways we went out and got him a Book of Mormon as well in Spanish and when we came back in there was a lady there too and she didn't speak any English but I found out that she was a member and had been baptized in Mexico by missionaries like ten years ago...she was a long way from home. Anyways we are going to go back with a guy that speaks Spanish so he can help us out. Before we left I asked the lady to say a prayer for us and she was like "No, no, we want to hear a prayer from you" so I had to say a prayer in Spanish. It was hard but I got through it.

THANKS FOR ALL THE GREAT CHRISTMAS PACKAGES, CARDS, AND LETTERS!!!!!!!!!

Snowed in and Waiting for Christmas

We got our transfer calls Saturday and I'm going to Glenville, which is about 40 mins. from Gloversville. I am excited to be in a ward again. The Glenville area has one of the biggest wards in the mission. My new comp is going to be Elder Coakley. He has been out for a little over a year and was my district leader. Wednesday was fun. We went to Utica for the half mission conference. I got a couple of packages from the you guys but I'm waiting for Christmas to open them. It's so hard not to open them. There is nothing harder then being a missionary and not opening your mail. I'm sad to be leaving the area but I'm glad at the same time. I love the Wilsons (senior couple) and I'm going to miss them so much. They have been one of the highlights of this area...that's for sure.

We have spent the last three days basically sitting in our house cuz our car got grounded and it would take too long to walk to the people we are teaching. We did a little tracting but tracking in this area is really ineffective. The temp last night got down to -15 or -20 with the wind chill.

Surviving the Storms

Ya, it stormed here but we didn't loose power like a lot of the missionaries around us did. We just got snow, the other missionaries got freezing rain. We drove down to Glenville for our district meeting and every tree was covered in ice and also the power lines. There was a lot of stuff broken. It looked kinda like a war zone. It was cool to see. I just found out that this really cool family all finally got baptized in Carthage {the last area}. I had been teaching them with Elder Vogelsang.

We have not done as much tracting lately cuz it's been so stinkin cold and nobody ever wants to talk to us anyways. Plus everyone thinks we are dang Jehovah's Witnesses. Man they are buggin. They tracked a lot around here.

Miss you all a million times a million. The mission is fun and I'm still learning so much.

BEAUTIFUL NEW YORK!

MISSING BEAUTIFUL UTAH!

I got to watch the Christmas devotional last night by the first presidency. It was so good to hear from them. I think I have decided that's one of the hardest things I have had to deal with from leaving Utah to be a missionary somewhere else in the world. In Utah you are constantly surrounded by strong testimonies that help and support yours. Out here we are talking to people everyday that either don't believe in JESUS CHRIST or GOD, have very little faith in him, or their faith has been weakened and want us to help them strengthen it..... which drains my spiritual strength. If I didn't read my scriptures, go to church and take the sacrament each week, and say like 20 prayers a day I would never make it out here. I'm not saying my testimony is gone I'm just saying I miss the strength of the people I was surrounded by back home. I hope I never take advantage of being in Utah again. It is such a beautiful place to live, physically and spiritually!!!

Church in Carthage

Thanksgiving

This really nice lady had us over for Thanksgiving dinner with her son and boyfriend and then gave us a bunch of left overs. 5 people [were there], not exactly what I'm used to but it was good food and nice conversation none the less. Later we went to this families house for some tasty pie and all was well. One of the girls in the family has a friend that we have been teaching for the past 2-3 weeks or so. She is awesome. She has stopped smoking and reads everything out of the Book of Mormon that we ask her too. She also likes coming to church a lot., probably cuz her friend goes but if she can survive this branch here then she will make a great latter-day saint. Not speaking bad about the branch but it needs a lot of help. A lot of the people have been in the branch for thirty years and just like to do things their way and don't take council to what they are supposed to do. It's frustrating cuz I don't always feel comfortable bringing investigators but that's where I just have to have faith that the Lord will bless the people who come for the first time. Oh boy am I learning patience out here. Church last week was so tough for me, you know I don't deal well with crying baby's in church and people rambling on about nothing spiritual, especially when there is a new investigator there for the first time.