Week 35: El fin del ciclo

Buenos dias! Last week of this transfer here in Harlem, we have transfer calls this Saturday which is crazy, it seriously went way too fast. This week was awesome, and it ended with a cherry on top of 6 of the people we are teaching coming to church! 

So first off, on Tuesday we were on the bus and I started talking to this guy from Perú. He seemed super interested, and then on Thursday we called him up and randomly invited him to come and see the chapel and have a tour and he said yes! So he just left work, and came over to go through it with us. We had Noland, the kid preparing to go on a mission, with us and he bore super solid testimony to this guy. Our lesson was right in front of the baptismal font, and it was just awesome. He came to church on Sunday and we had a lesson with him right after where he told us some of his interesting beliefs in numerology, but he also said that he feels like this church is where he needs to stay. Pretty cool how a bus contact turns into this!

On Friday we had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators who has a baptismal date for next month. We went into the lesson planning to teach about the 10 commandments and just ended up sharing sharing scriptures and experiences about how we know that God loves us. I think that is the most important thing that we can tell people. That we have a loving Heavenly Father who knows us by name and wants us to be happy. He knows your every need and will give you the help you need to return to him, as long as you do your part.

Saturday we had a dope service project that we helped out with at this Catholic church. We made bags filled with personal hygiene stuff and candy, and then handed out free halal food to people that had been waiting in a line for a few hours. They do this service for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Valentines day and it's awesome. The lady who runs it is the nicest person ever and all the volunteers love the missionaries because we just get in there and work super hard. It was raining pretty good during the whole thing, but it was still awesome to be able to be out there serving all these people. One guy that I helped ran back to his apartment, and sent his family to wait in the line and look for me to help them it was awesome 😂 He came back to me and was like, "Hey I told my family to come and wait for you to take them through the line cause you're a cool guy." I was laughing but it was actually really nice of him to do that, people are way nicer than you think out here in NY.

We went over to our members house the other day, the one from Spain. This guy is seriously the best. He is just hilarious and it literally feels like home over there which is so awesome. He loves the missionaries tons and always feeds us the best dinners ever, and I always make a cake in return. The funny thing is, that this guy literally LOVES the cake and always compliments it. Which is rare cause he is a stickler for food. Then, he brought some to his neighbors, and they came back and asked me to make one for their daughter for her birthday, and asked how much I would charge them 😂 I told them it would be free of course, it just is hilarious because I don't know how it's special I literally spend $4 on it to make it, but hey missionaries have special baking power I guess. Also, Elder Cid and I are going to a music festival after our missions with this member, he's already planning it out so that'll be awesome 😂

My famous cake!!  haha :) 

In church on Sunday we had someone from the high council come and talk. He was speaking in English so our Bishop was translating for him. In the middle of his talk he asked how many people knew someone who was Jewish, and then from way in the back you hear someone yell "Why don't you ask if any of us are Jewish?!" It was this guy that has been coming for years and we have no clue if he's a member or not, but then when the high councilman asked, the guy threw his hands in the air. it was one of the funniest things ever in a sacrament meeting and everyone was seriously laughing so hard 😂

Valentine's Day Cookies!!  Thanks Angela and Derek!!

Yesterday we went and met with a family who hasn't been to church in a while, and we watched the message from President Nelson. One thing I noticed while listening to it again, was the purpose of God. It is described perfectly in Moses 1:39. "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." God wants us to return to Him, he has provided us with the path we need to take to be happy and live with him forever. The coolest part is that we can do this for ourselves, and live with our families there as well. It's so awesome to be able to share that message with people, and see them light up as they realize their potential. 

Have an awesome week everyone, and Happy Valentines Day!! Go make someone feel loved today!! 

P.S. I received a call from our mission president this morning, I will be training a new missionary starting Tuesday! So crazy! 

Elder Adam Ray Allen
New York New York North Mission
700 White Plains Rd Ste 315 Scarsdale, NY 10583