Week 21: Weight benches and miracles!
World trade center
At 9/11 memorial
So first off, last Wednesday we went down to Manhattan and it was super cool! The 9/11 memorial is the best place ever I swear, every time I go there I love it. It makes me like 20x more patriotic haha. We also got some dope penguin ties from this place and Elder Stevens and Horner and I got a unity one that’s pretty snazzy. Then we went and played some ball at the chapel inside the temple with our old roommates and my boy Elder Munoz! That night we had a super good lesson with one of our investigators on baptismal date, and then a FHE with a family in the ward. This family is seriously so cool, and they love sharing the gospel to people which is awesome to see.
Jersey set up at Nike store
Nike store and LeBron!
LeBron again
Best player ever again
Hornets jersey is the nicest
On Friday I was on a split with one of the Zone Leaders and it was good! We were both kind of disappointed at first because like 3 of our lessons bailed on us, but then we had some super dope stuff happen! So first, we go into our boy J_____ building to teach him but he wasn’t there, so we decided to go knock some doors in there. We went through like 2 floors, and then finally this guy opens up. We start to tell him who we are and stuff and he gives us the classic “Oh I know who you guys are”. But then he tells us that he was actually baptized when he was 9! He said he always used to hang out with the missionaries and feed them and stuff, but eventually went less active, and now is Atheist. He has a wife and a kid and he is such a dope dude, and we just talked about his life and how he felt when going to church and what made him stop believing in God. One thing he said stuck out to me, he said he just wanted everything to make sense intellectually in order to believe. I totally saw where he was coming from, because I had looked at it the same way earlier in life. Just tried to make sense of it all in my head, and if it didn’t, I didn’t think it was real. I didn’t believe in gospel stuff till I really prayed, So we invited him to say a prayer with us kneeling down, and he ended up agreeing to it after a little bit. Elder Aurich said it, and the spirit was definitely there. He gave us all his info and said we could come by whenever to talk and eat and chill, so we will definitely be hitting this guy up soon! Another cool thing that happened was this kid we walked by on the street was playing basketball, and right when we walked by he picked up his ball and just looked at me like super excited. We went and talked to him and figured out that he had seen me and my comp Elder Gomez on the train yesterday, and had felt like he needed to talk to me, but just was nervous to do it. Then the very next day, we pass by again! So crazy! He was super excited to see us and we told him who we were and what we do, and gave him a Book of Mormon. We’re going by this week to try and teach his whole family! So crazy how the Lord puts us in the places we need to be.
Me, Elder Horner (L) and Elder Stevens (R) in our sweet ties!
Sunday we had stake conference and that was awesome. We had invited a lot of people, but nobody had shown up. One family that was investigating the church had said that they would try to make it, and like 10 minutes in, they texted us saying they were outside! We ran out and grabbed them and brought them in to sit down with us, and they loved it. The mom the next day texted us saying “I loved the conference so much, I am going to go to church next week as well, I am going to read the Book of Mormon, and learn as much as I can about your guys’ religion!” She was so excited and her kids liked it too which was awesome. We’re going to try bringing her sons to mutual on Friday because they like to play ball, so we’ll take them so they can see us white boys kick some booty out here in NY.
Dope street view
Yesterday we had something super funny but awesome happen! We were doing some lookups at the bottom of our area, and we walk by this pile of trash outside, and I spot a weight bench that’s worth at least $150 just chilling. It was dirty but besides that it was perfectly fine. I stop Elder Gomez and told him we had to take it cause I was tired of benching on the floor hahaha. The only thing was, we would have to walk it home about 2.5 miles to our place, and up a massive hill. Right while we were talking about taking it, this lady walks by and tells us to just take it! I started joking around with her and then eventually got to ask her some questions about where she is from and stuff. She’s from Puerto Rico but speaks perfect english, and I ended up sharing "Because of Him" with her. She really liked it and had some questions about life after death and stuff like that. We gave her a Book of Mormon and said we could come by later to teach her more about it and answer her questions. It was so crazy how we had stopped for some crappy bench, and then ended up teaching this awesome lady and setting up a return appointment for Friday! So we start carrying it, and like half a mile in this Dominican guy on a bike stops and tells us to put it on his handlebars! We put it on there and start walking with him for like 2 miles, just talking the whole time about his family and work and everything. He had seen and talked a little bit with missionaries in the DR before, and he was the nicest guy ever. We finally got home and thanked him so much, and gave him our info. It’s so cool how many little miracles happen!
Our weight bench we found
*(emily here, I emailed him and told him he had better
clean that thing REALLY well before using it!!!) :)
One thing I have learned this week is to recognize the good. I know that life is hard at times and sometimes we don’t think anything is going our way. When we look out with a positive attitude and look to serve others, we will begin to see the love that God has for his children and be able to feel that love as well. I was talking to the Bishop of our ward yesterday, because we had gone over to give him a blessing, and we were just talking about the people in this area. I told him that I just feel such a genuine love for everyone here, and it’s so true! When I am teaching people, I seriously get this overwhelming sense of love and compassion for them. Its so awesome. I wouldn’t trade this feeling and work for anything!
Love you all so much! Have a bomb week!
Elder Allen
Comments
Post a Comment