This Has Been A Pretty Fun Week!!

Happy Wednesday everyone!! Holy cow, I can't believe that we're almost to October!! What da?! I'm kind of disappointed that I don't get to see all the beautiful leaves turn different colors! That was my favorite part about being upstate in the fall! I guess I have Central Park...but that's not nearly the same.

So the work here is going pretty well!! We have like 2 investigators that we are really trying to work with. We have a handful of potential investigators that we'd love to become progressing, but unfortunately they're not using their agency the way we want them to ;) our best investigator is a man named Greg. He is so awesome!!! He is from New Delhi and is WAY smart. He designs equipment that has something to do with how your brain processes the things hat your eye sees. It was way over my head haha. The reason he is so great is that he actually listens to what we have to say. He doesn't say a whole lot, but when he does say something, he really thinks about it and wants to say it how he's feeling. He's not afraid to ask questions if he really doesn't understand something. It's like perfect!! He actually does the commitments that we ask him to do, so hopefully he'll move right along and be baptized soon!!

We work mostly in the Upper East Side, almost up towards Harlem in the 90th and 100th streets. A lot of the poorer (and more humble) people live there, so that's really why we spend a whole lot of time there. Yes we ride the subways a lot. To get from where we live to where our area is, we usually take the NRQ which is just a subway line that takes us across the island below Central Park, and then transfer to the green line which goes up and down the East Side. I took the green line a lot when I was in Harlem. Then to get home, we usually take a cross town bus which takes us across Central Park. It's really cool!!

I'm still loving Elder Moss. He's such a great guy and someone I would consider a true friend. He's from Highland, Utah and has been out for 3 months. He just got done being trained, so I'm his "mom" because I'm his second companion! 

The ward is pretty great here!! It's actually pretty loaded with visitors!! TONS of people in the ward are just there for a couple weeks for a project or something, and then they leave. Elder Moss said that one time there were actually more visitors than there were members!! Our bishop is less active but......haha just kidding. But almost!! During the summer he's only there like 1/3 of the time! Crazy right? And then for about 4 months we didn't even have a second counselor, and then occasionally the first counselor is gone as well!! So yeah...it's been a rough summer. The Elders quorum president is also the secretary, so he's pretty much running the show ;) but now that summer is coming to an end, the bishop is back a lot more, and we sustained a new 2nd counselor last Sunday. Woohoo!!

That's crazy about feeding the sister missionaries! I agree (in a completely unbiased way) that having the missionaries over to your home is the best way to get to know them and gain your trust in them. Plus, they're hopefully able to bring the spirit of missionary work into your home. We also have to remember that feeding the missionaries is NOT a responsibility of the members. Members shouldn't feel obligated to have them over, but it is nice when they do. I think that reminding the ward in sacrament meeting or in individual classes that you do have missionaries and even of some of the blessings they will receive if they do is good...but people shouldn't feel like they have to. But I'm sure you know that and I think it's great that our bishopric cares about the sisters in our ward. :) 

The members here do feed us though! Probably like 3-4 times a week. We have alllll sorts of different food. I think that everyone thinks that there is a "staple" that we eat all the time, so they always try and be unique! I'm fine with that!! :) last night we went out to this super fancy Vietnamese restaurant. It was soooooo good!! I'm also fine not being fed as much, though because me and Elder Moss like to cook together a lot!! Every week we pick two or so meals that we want to try making together! It's so much fun! And we've even picked some really healthy stuff so don't worry mom ;) so far we've cooked baked macaroni and cheese, chicken gnocchi soup, homemade hamburgers, and some other stuff. This week we're doing baked potatoes I think :)

Well, this has been a pretty fun week!! Nothing super special!! Oh, well Elder Moss got Facebook finally, so we're going to try and do more online proselyting!! The last two companions I've had haven't had it, so it'll be good to have this new focus. I hope all of you have a good week!! Take care and keep praying!! I love you all! 

-Elder Stafford :)

Here's just a couple pictures from the Natural History Museum!

It was soooo fun!!