baptized and confirmed and now is a member of the church and has the
constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. It's incredible and it's a
new experience for me since it is my first baptism but it was really
cool. He is dope, I got some pictures to send to so wait for those.
Wednesday we finished out our Pday by going to see one of our
investigators Hamed. We got to see one of the best views I've ever
seen of the city and he fed us a super big burger. Of course he
ordered in but we had a good time with him. We did get to talk about
the Book of Mormon more and he had questions that we answered. It was
awesome to have the spirit guiding the conversation.
Thursday we had to go to the temple building to practice for our
musical event that us missionaries are singing in for the Muslim and
Jewish community, we are the only Christians that will be there so
it's cool. We then came back to the church and got chipotle which is
delicious. And we drank some monsters, they were these new ones that
were way delicious. I have dropped soda completely but on occasion I
allow myself to drink soda, or a monster. We weekly planned to and
went to see Dennis, he invited us over to his house and we got to have
some chips and salsa and these Belgium waffle cookies which were
amazing. Dennis is awesome and I love his apartment and him. He is
such a wonderful person who was slightly nervous about the baptism but
he was really happy too. He is great.
Friday we made our way up to the 87th street chapel to print off the
baptismal programs to get everything ready for the baptism. It took
about 2 hours but we got it all worked out and everything looked
awesome. We taught our recent convert Avi about the priesthood, he
gets off topic easily so we got to constantly bring it back to what we
are talking about. We also saw our investigator Carlos and talked
about the Book of Mormon and he really enjoyed it. Dennis called us to
ask and see if we could call him at 8 in the morning to make sure he
gets up so he doesn't sleep in. We set up the room for the baptism,
and cleaned it and spent time getting it ready for the following day.
Saturday we had our studies and I had a really hard time focusing on
what I was studying because I kept thinking about Dennis and how his
baptism was hours away. We got to the church about an hour early to
fill up the font and Dennis comes walking in at 10:30 with his bags
full things, it was awesome. He was telling me that he knew he wasn't
gonna die before Saturday because God wants the baptism to happen. We
got some awesome pictures of Dennis with us and brother Andersen. The
spirit was really strong throughout the baptism, it was a cool feeling
to see someone get baptized that I had taught. He truly humbled
himself and prepared for the day when he was able to enter into the
waters of baptism. Brother Andersen complimented us on how great of
missionaries we are and how great the baptism was. It was super
amazing and I can't express how I feel. Dennis will always have a
special place in my heart. Brother Andersen said during the bishopric
welcome, that God has prepared elder smiley and I when we were young
so we could hear the gospel and then be able to find Dennis and teach
him. It's cool how God prepares people and he does so much in all of
our lives, we don't even know everything God does for us. It was
awesome. Dennis gave his testimony too and that was a really special
moment for us. He has a strong testimony. We did good deed dares
afterwards, we also taught Carlos and Yun. It was a good day. The
baptism was the biggest highlight of my mission.
Sunday we got to church and Dennis showed up half and hour early, and
he was excited and super nervous but he wanted to receive the Holy
Ghost. The confirmation went perfect, brother Dupreiu confirmed him
and said a lot of things in the blessing that he didn't even know
about. Like Dennis' parents are in heaven and are happy for him to
make this choice so Dennis can do their work in the temple and help
them have the gospel. It was a long blessing but Dennis was pretty
emotional after as he hugged us all. What a wonderful blessing. Church
was good too and Dennis liked it all. We no longer will be meeting
with Dennis multiple times each week but just once a week. It's very
sad but it has to happen, he can now experience the joy of being a
member. We did a ton of look ups and happen to walk by Madison Square
Garden where the MTV Music awards was happening and we were surrounded
by people, it was very uncomfortable. The sisters called us as we were
heading to our apartment to eat dinner. And told us that a member from
the deaf branch was in the basement, in the dark doing a cross word,
naked. And he was walking around and the sisters were there and saw
everything and they had to wait there until one of the members from
their branch presidency came and took care of it. He waved to the
sisters like it was nothing but they didn't want to leave a naked dude
in the church by himself. Anyways the situation was taken care of. We
also got stuck in a train for an hour because someone pulled the
emergency brake.. It was a great opportunity to talk to people and get
information so we can teach them, it was fun! We talked to this guy
named John. It was a cool experience.
Monday we had district meeting and talked about a lot of miracles and
did an accounting where we all talked about one of our investigators
that we are struggling with and get input from the district on how we
can help. Afterwards we helped Carlos at their bookstore do some
renovations, it was all volunteer basis so we helped sand down some
parts of the wall where they filled in holes and paint. We also got
some pretty tasty pizza. Dennis called us and wanted to meet with us
just as we thought he didn't want to meet with us all the time but he
missed us. We did the Book of Mormon board, then had ice cream from
Baskin Robins, a member took us there. Then we met with Dennis and he
wanted to express his appreciation for us and how grateful he is for
us and how we did an excellent job. He had a few questions about the
announcements on Sunday. He also is looking to get a job. Yes a 75
year old man wants to get a job, he's young at heart. I seriously love
Dennis!
Tuesday we got our Chinese food from our typical place, ate at the
church and then went to get mail at the temple. We did a few look ups
and got to talk to Maliek from last Tuesday and we got him to download
the Book of Mormon app on his phone and he's free for 2 weeks so we
will be seeing him pretty often hopefully. He's a nice guy. We did the
Good Deed Dares at Washington square park and I got to meet a girl
named Jessica who is also from the Sacramento California area, she is
from Folsom so we had a good talk. She knows Mormons because her
really good friend growing up was Mormon. She said she would come to
church. It's cool to meet people from the California area, she was
going to NYU so you never know when you will cross paths with someone.
At a different time lady who was topless was screaming pretty loudly.
That's New York, it's legal. Whatever. We did some look ups and met
some members from Queens, it was fun. We did the B.O.M board out front
of the church and gave out a copy to this super nice man. It was a
long day and I was pretty grateful that it ended but the work is going
good. It's been tough but I'm working hard and trying to be diligent.
It gets a lot more tough towards the end of your mission, but
everything is awesome and we are seeing cool miracles. Time for
another baptism!
Today we went to the 9/11 memorial and saw the north and south pool
and they are so gorgeous. I love New York City, it's like my 2nd home
and I hope to live here some day. It's awesome. It's been awesome.
I finished the New Testament as well and now I'm starting over. I love
reading about Jesus Christ and his life. Revelations was fun and I
learned so much as I read the New Testament. If you haven't read the
entire thing, I would invite you to. It will building your testimony
of the simple gospel truths we know. Ponder and pray about what you
read and apply it into your life. I love it. Have a great week!
1. Chipotle with a Monster
2. The folded baptismal programs
3 and 4. The set up for the baptism
5. Dennis and us with brother Andersen too.
6, 7 and 8. 9/11 Memorial pictures!
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