So this week was not quite as great as last week, but it was still WAY good!! We were able to see so many miracles.
So the most important things that happened this week is that we were able to have member present lessons with both Cali and Toese! They are both doing sooo good! So on Fridaywe had a lesson with Toese at our branch mission leaders home. We went over the restoration in further detail, and then watched the Restoration DVD with him. He was like completely blown away! After the video was over, he was like completely speechless. All he could say was, "wow that was powerful". It was so cool! We KNOW he felt the spirit. It was kind of sad, though, because he wasn't able to make it to church on Sunday. Remember how I said that his girlfriend is a member? Well it sounds like he and his girlfriend had some sort of fight on Saturdaymorning, and it lasted like really late into the night so he was just not feeling like church Sundaymorning. We're hoping that this will be a growing moment for him, and he'll realize that he can't do this for his girlfriend or for anyone else...he has to do it for HIM. Our lesson with Cali on Sunday, though, was terrific!! We had it at the Creasons home, who are a family that she's gotten really close with in the branch. We also had two of her friends that are members there as well. We taught her the Restoration again as well because our last lesson with her was just so jumbled and crazy because there were like 12 people there. It was much more personal this time and we were able to use a lot of How to Begin Teaching Points (if you don't know what that is, read the section in chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel...yes I'm pushing for you guys to read Preach My Gospel...its a terrific book haha). But guess what? She's accepted to be baptized!! When we asked her she was like, "uh...I might." Haha and when we started telling her about how we think she can be ready for baptism by March 14th, she seemed a little hesitant. I was able to bear my testimony about how I know that by setting a goal to be baptized on March 14th, she is showing Heavenly Father that she is willing to show her faith, and that He will bless her with an answer to whether she should be baptized or not. She just gave us this big smile and was like, "okay...why not?!" And we all laughed and it was just great. We asked her how she felt and she told us that she was pretty nervous, but she felt kinda peaceful. We were able to tell her that it was the Spirit that was there, telling her that what she was doing was right.
So I'm sure you all heard about the super crazy blizzard that hit New York...well we were pretty bummed because it didn't really hit where we're at at all. We had this big conference call with the mission president about all the precautions and procedures we should be doing to prepare for it, and that we should expect the worst case scenario for everything and we were all getting pumped to survive another "Day After Tomorrow" if you've seen that movie.....but it never happened here haha. We had to go in early on Mondaynight, and we couldn't drive at all Tuesday, so all we did was shovel snow for people that day. It was pretty fun! I was kinda hoping to be in a blizzard but hey...maybe next time.
So we did have a pretty frustrating moment. We've been trying to set up a sports night at the Newburgh chapel for the last month...and every single time it fails miserably. This time, we had a guy that was supposed to bring a few people bail out on us last minute. He was also supposed to email all of the guys that we play basketball with to try and get them to come, but he never did that, so hardly anyone knew about it! The only guy that came was Brother Folau. He's an assistant coach for the rugby team here at West Point. He's a super cool guy!
We went on a split with the Newburgh district leader and his companion this week. I was in Newburgh with Elder Giesel, the district leader. He's a Spanish speaking missionary, so alllll of our appointments were in Spanish. I've never fallen asleep in a lesson before, but I got close this time haha. I couldn't understand anything, so it was just really hard to stay focused. It was fun, though, because for one of our appointments, we were on our way to go look someone up, and as were walking to their door, we here him yelling to us from this yard thing in the middle of the apartment complex. He waves us over and we see that he's playing in the snow with his nephew. He didn't speak English, so while Elder Giesel was talking to him, I made a big snowman with his nephew hahaha. And then we helped him make this big snow tiger! It was actually pretty cool! I'll try and get pictures to you next week.
But yeah...so that was about my week! It was great! We had a lot of fun in the snow and we have two awesome investigators. I love it here sooo much!! I can't believe that I have less than 5 months left now. That's so crazy. I'm going to be super sad to leave, but I'm also very excited for the next part of my life to start. Life's just great isn't it? Well, I'd better get going but I love you all so much! Take care!! :)
-Elder Stafford
Picture: So...this is my view from my apartment. That river is the Hudson. This is after it snowed a little over the weekend. Isn't that gorgeous?
Storm Preparations for the New York New York North Mission
Dear Parents and Family Members of Missionaries in the New York New York North Mission,
It’s a singular blessing for Sister Morgan and me to serve with your missionary here in New York. Our missionaries are talented, obedient servants with incredible work ethic and courage. We count our blessings every day, enjoying the opportunity to be associated with each one!
As you may already be aware, a significant winter storm system is approaching the New England States. Areas in our mission are preparing to receive as much as 30 inches of snow accompanied by high winds and whiteout conditions. Forecasts indicate the Borrows of New York City will experience the highest accumulations but Westchester County and the Hudson River Valley may receive as much as 24 inches as well.
Mayor De Blasio has indicated commuter rail and subway lines may be limited or suspended this afternoon determined by weather conditions on an hour to hour basis. DOT alerts for the Tri-State area (New Jersey/New York/Connecticut) are asking drivers to only use roads and highways for emergencies after 7:00pm this evening. (Times may change determined by changing weather conditions)
We have prepared our missionaries for the storm in the following ways:
· All missionaries have acquired extra food and water.
· Flash lights have been tested or acquired and extra batteries acquired.
· An “All Accounted” protocol has been tested.
· All phones and iPads are to be kept at full charge in case of loss of power.
We have instructed the missionaries to be in their apartments by 7:00pm this evening unless conditions require earlier arrangements or instructed by me, through the assistants and zone leaders. An “all accounted” call protocol will be conducted at 8:00pm this evening. Tomorrow, all missionaries will be performing service by shoveling snow and helping homebound individuals near their own apartments. There will be no automobile travel until the roads are completely cleared and the DOT issues and “all clear” bulletin.
Depending on weather conditions into Wednesday, p-day emails may be delayed - however as of now, forecasts call for good conditions in the middle of the week.
I will be happy to respondent any questions or concerns you may have by responding to emails or calls if necessary. My email address is tmorgan@ldschurch.organd my personal phone number is801-244-3601.
Wow I am SO sorry!! This is way late because I forgot to hit send and I just saved it as a draft!! I'm so sorry I just realized it!!
So...I had an AMAZING week. Seriously. We were sooooo blessed this week it was just ridiculous. Our area is like almost exploding now haha. It's pretty crazy considering how dead it seemed at first. So I'll just kinda go over the biggest stuff.
Okay so first off, this isn't like super exciting to all of you, but we've been able to start going to the gym at West Point in the mornings!! It's just the weight room for the staff and family members of the staff members, but it's SUPER nice. It has everything you could ever want. :)
So about the actual spiritual stuff, we have like 5 potential investigators now and two SOLID new investigators that are actually progressing!!! :) :) yup! In one week haha. So what happened with how we found the potential investigators was we did an APF in our area. All the missionaries in our district came and did some tracting in Highland Falls, which is the little town in our area. So our area is super super small. All it is is the actual West Point installation and then two little towns called Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery. Fort Montgomery is ridiculously small, so it's all just basically Highland Falls. Not that Highland falls is much bigger...but yeah. So when we aren't on Post, were usually doing service or other missionary work somewhere in Highland Falls. But anyway, so during the APF, we were able to get a few potential people that might want to learn about the Gospel sometime. One was super cool!!
So we went and knocked on this door and right as we knocked on the door, someone drove up (super awkward and it happens all the time). So we went and waited for the lady to get out of her car and we went up and were like, "hey how's it going? Were just going around sharing a video about setting goals, and New Years, and not looking back and stuff...would it be okay if we showed that to you?" (We've been showing everyone the Mormon Message "Look Not Behind Thee" as a finding and teaching strategy). She agreed and so we went inside and showed her the video by her front door (one of the only times I've actually been let into someone's house on the first visit). She LOVED it and we talked for a really long time. We got on the subject of God answering questions we have about things. She just kinda stopped, looked at us, and was like, "actually...you know what? This was an answer to one of my prayers. You really need to talk to my son. He's not home right now but here's my number and give me a call tonight. We'll have you over for dinner and we can keep talking." Sweet!! She hasn't answered quite yet but we've still got hope!
So then Sundayrolled around...and this was the HUGE miracle day. So randomly one of the cadets brought a friend that I guess had talked with some of the missionaries before, but they only did one lesson and it never really went anywhere. But we went and talked to him, and asked if he would want to talk to us right now. He agreed and we went and taught the Restoration with him and TWO of his good friends who are members, but one is slightly less than active in the Church. It was AMAZING. Finally someone that is mentally sane that I can talk to!! You don't really find a whole lot of people in the Bronx that are 100% "there". So his name is Toese Tia, and he is this super big, super nice Samoan football player that is from Hawaii.
But yeah, then after that we went and had lunch with the Lotzs. Elder and Sister Lotz are a senior missionary couple that live right above us. They are so cool. They're like my grandparents away from home (no offense Grandma, Mammaw, and Papa haha). They are just so great and we go over there all the time to hang out and talk with them at the end of the day. But anyway, so after lunch, we taught another lesson to Cali. Cali is a female cadet that has been coming to church for the last month or so, as well as institute. We just haven't been able to meet with her yet, but she is so solid!! She wants to be baptized! We taught her the Restoration as well, except there was kind of a lot of people there, so it was kind of strange, but that's fine! Were going to meet with her Saturdaynights now hopefully.
Then Mondaywe went to dinner at the Tonelli's home, and guess who showed up? Toese!! The members have the cadets over for dinner a lot, and they asked if Toese could come. Way cool! After dinner we got into this really spiritual talk about how the Tonelli's learned that the church was true. We taught Toese (Toe-es-ey) about how to learn from the Holy Spirit and how we can gain a testimony for ourselves. He's just so sincere and hungry to learn. Were really excited for him.
So yeah, that was our bomb week!! We are sooooo excited and so grateful right now. We have definitely been blessed immensely this cycle so far. Well, I gotta go but I'll talk to everyone tomorrow!! Love you! :) -Elder Stafford
Helllllo all!! This week has been so awesome!! So as most of you might know, I was transferred to the West Point Military Academy Branch to be a zone leader of the Newburgh Zone. So as far as companions go, I'm with Elder Neuerburg (new-er-berg) now and he is great!! We get along swimmingly. It's kind of funny because his name is Caden, so people look at us funny when they ask what our real names are (which happens a lot here) haha. At a dinner appointment last night, they had a son that was also named Caden, so we had a Cade, a Caden, and a Caden all in one house.....you can imagine how crazy that got ;) haha jk. Elder Neuerburg is super quiet and doesn't say a whole lot. It's kind of funny because his whole mission almost his first words to a lot of his companions have been, "so I just want to tell you now that just because I'm not talking or I seem quiet, it doesn't mean that I'm mad". Haha he's just got one of those faces, too, where you look at them when they're just sitting there and they look super ticked, so the poor guy is always getting told to smile more and not look so mad...but it's just his face!! So now about West Point. West Point is absolutely the most interesting place in the country to serve haha. It's also by far the coolest! So as you can probably guess, being a military installation, that things are pretty darn strict as far as rules go here. The rule that effects us the most is an EXTREMELY strict "no solicitation" rule. As regular missionaries, we are pretty much soliciting like 100% of the time so that we can get the good news out...but that doesn't fly here....at all. We can't even wear our name tags...like at all. I've only worn my name tag once on post so far, and that was to go to church, where it's kind of "our turf" for a little while. We meet in an auditorium in some building on post for sacrament, and then split up into different classrooms for the rest of the classes. Other than that, we either just go in our shirt and tie, or we are wearing our jeans. The only real reason they even let us on post, as missionaries, is if we are seeing a member of the branch. And even then we have to have a predetermined, set appointment with them with a specific start time and end time. Missionaries have almost gotten kicked out of West Point for good because they tried to look up a couple less active members that live on post without an appointment...and they didn't like that. It's really easy for people that don't want to see the missionaries to hide behind the no solicitation rule, so it's super important to talk with the members a TON and get them to reach out to less active members. We try and see a few of the cadets in the library at least a few times a week, just to check up on them and to see if they've had any luck trying to share the gospel with their friends. But anyways, so luckily for us, though, there are a lot of opportunities to be on post where we can go "undercover", or just merely as "civilians", as people in the military here refer to non-military people. Basically the only way to meet new people here is to just be involved in as many things as possible, as not missionaries. So lucky for us, we are on two basketball teams that play in a league during lunch and the evening. Like twice or three times a week we have actual games where our team meets in the gym at West Point and we put on jerseys and play against another team. It's pretty dang cool. We've met a lot of people so far that way!! Not very many that we've been able to even mention what we do as missionaries for our church, but people at least know who we are! Besides basketball, were trying to get involved in as much service as we can. We are going to start coming early to basketball and we're just going to sweep and mop the gym floor for everyone playing basketball. So yeah, that's basically the bulk of our work while we're on post. We just have to be super careful all the time because technically were only supposed to be on post to see members, so when we aren't seeing a member, we have to act like regular civilians coming to help out or participate in activities. The only way we can share the gospel is just being super friendly and starting conversation with everyone, and then after you tell them who you are and that you are missionaries for your church, trying to get them to ask more questions, because as soon as they start asking you what you do and stuff, it's free game to invite them to meet with you and stuff. It's just very strange. Our branch president summed it up best when he told us that "West Point is basically the Army's farm for people with type "A" personalities...so we just have to be careful" hahaha. As far as my week went, Thursdaywe planned...all day, and then played basketball. It's been so cool to have the responsibility of zone leader, now. It was so cool because from my first day, I've just noticed such a change in revelation that I've had that affect our zone. We had a lot of "wow I've never even thought of doing that" moments together...and I know it's because the Lord is helping us. Fridaywe had a leadership meeting with our district leaders and sister training leaders, and a couple district leader interviews. Saturdaywe had three lessons! One with our investigator Suzie. Suzie has been investigating the church for a really really long time, and she progresses SO slowly. We don't drop her, though, because she is progressing. I guess when she started investigating, she didn't even believe in God. But now she has a firm testimony of God, and she almost has a testimony about Christ. She wants to learn mostly out of the Bible, but she is okay reading the Book of Mormon every once in awhile. Then we taught two cadets in the Library. After that we went to a bowling party with our branch haha. It was on post, so we didn't have tags, we weren't wearing our shirts and ties, and we were in a loud bowling alley listening to music and bowling. It was weird. Haha but it was really good! We had FOUR non-members come! Three of the guys were from basketball!! And the other was actually the daughter of Suzie, our investigator. Sundaywas church and two dinners. Yup... We had dinner with the Lotzs (the senior couple) and then dinner with a member. I'm going to get so fat being here. Mondaywas district meeting and basketball. Tuesdaywas basketball, and then we escorted a missionary in our zone down to the mission home to meet the elder he is training. He got super sick in the MTC so they quarantined him there until he got better, so he didn't come in until last night. And then we had dinner with a member. So yeah, that's basically my life!! It's AWESOME. I'm thinking about asking President Morgan if I can just die here (which means end my mission here). I would love to be here for the next 6 months. I love it! Well, I'd better get going, but I hope you all have a good week! I love you!! :) -Elder Stafford :)
Sooooo...quite the interesting day... :) todaywas TRANSFERS!!! Annnnnd...I was transferred! Haha yup! Only one cycle in Kingsbridge! It was quite shocking!! Just the week before, it was the beginning of the month and so we got more food money on our debit card and so I bought a bunch of food at BJs, which is like Costco, that would last me like 2 weeks!! But nope!! I got the call to be transferred!
So as far as my call goes, there's three things that are pretty much awesome about it. 1)I'm going to be with Elder Neuerburg (new-er-burg). He is awesome!! I was in the MTC with him and so we already know each other a little bit. He's a staulky, blonde football player from Idaho Falls. He's really humble, though, and isn't your typical jock type at all. 2)I've been called to serve as a zone leader up here in Newburgh!!! My first zone I served in at the start of my mission!! A zone leader is like a district leader like I was, but with a LOT more responsibility and a lot more missionaries you're in charge of. I'm really excited, though. I love serving other missionaries and being there to help people. And 3) I'm now serving in the West Point Military Academy branch!!! Wooooo!! I'm pretty dang excited. This is basically the dream area of the mission in my opinion haha. We live in a SUPER nice apartment right under an awesome Senior couple that has us over for dinner and hangs out with us and everything. It overlooks the Hudson River and is SO beautiful. We serve "on post" a lot of the time, which means we serve inside the actual campus of West Point. There are a bunch of rules with what you can and cannot do here. You are not allowed to proselyte whatsoever while you're on campus. The only real way we can begin meeting with people is if they ask if they could learn more. We can push it on them at all and we have to be extra sensitive to treat it more like a conversation at first instead of trying to teach points of doctrine like you usually do to invite the spirit. While we're on post we can't wear or name tags, and it's discouraged to even look like missionaries most of the time. Some times we just walk around in our jeans and shirts haha. And the absolute best part of the whole thing is that we play basketball...and a lot of it. So basically our entire purpose for being here is to be super chill and get super close with the cadets and the faculty members, so that they will refer they're friends to us or they will give us opportunities to serve. And everyone knows that young, college age militants are quite athletic and LOVE basketball. So we join em!! We are in two different intramural basketball teams. One has games during lunch, and one during night. These are actual intramural teams with a coach, and brackets, the works. There are refs and scoreboards and everything...I'm basically stoked out of my mind. But the really the whole purpose of it is to develop close relationships with the people we play with. There's something about sports that bring people together (or tear them apart, depending on who they are haha). So yeah...that's basically what we do :) it's awesome.
So sorry I'm so rushed, but I'm already late (we had an interesting day) so I'm just going to quickly cover some of the things we did the last couple weeks.
So a couple weeks ago, I was able to hold a baptismal interview for a man named Ceasar that got baptized. I'm a district leader, and district leaders are the ones who hold the interviews. It was absolutely awesome. It was amazing to listen to the testimony and enthusiasm of a recent convert.
So last week we had to explain to a less active, John, how the sacrament is NOT cannibalistic or vampiristic hahahaha. He had heard that we believe that because the bread "represents" Jesus's body, and the water His blood, we were participating in a freaky-deaky ritual. It was very strange. But luckily I'd studied up on kind of what transubstantiation is and how we don't believe in it, which kind of calmed him down. Transubstantiation is the belief that when you partake of the sacrament, the bread and water (or wine) literally become the blood and body of Christ. It's something that a lot of religions, including Catholics, believe. We were able to explain that really they are just emblems to help up remember His Atonement, and really don't stand for us "eating" him to remember him. It was so weird....
So at Ceasars baptism I was asked to give a last minute talk on baptism like 10 minutes before I had to give it. It was terrifying, but I quoted Preach My Gospel hardcore and no one even noticed ;)
We had this terrible zone sickness that swept through everyone...it was awful.
So the reason todayhas been so crazy is that we lost Elder Michia todayon the way there. Elder Michia is a small, slightly mentally disabled (he has about the same maturity and comprehending level of a 10 year old) elder from Argentina. We live with him and his companion, and on our way to transfer meeting, we all got off a train to transfer to a different line, but he didn't notice even though he was right next to us, and the doors closed behind us. Before we could even think to do anything, the train drove away. So for the next 2-3 hours, his companion went everywhere looking for him, while we went to transfer meeting and organized a rescue with President Morgan. I got to help file a Missing Persons report to the police and everything. It was so terrifying, because there's NO way that he'd be able to know what to do or where to go. For all we know, he didn't even notice we were off the train and he would have ridden it down to Brooklyn. We said so many prayers, and I personally even went into a room with one of my zone leaders and we just prayed out loud so hard that he would have a clear head with what to do, because we were terrified. But we found him!! He is safe and sound. He had enough sense to find the nearest police station as soon as he realized he was lost, and then they were able to help lead him back to us. It was such a miracle. It was absolutely an answer to a very heartfelt prayer.
Well, I gotta get going, but I love you all! Have an awesome week and take care!!
-Elder Stafford :) Oh and I totally forgot to tell you that I sent a package home, but it's just a bunch of random stuff I've collected on the mission. If you really want to, you can open it, but I'd rather you wait and I can just tell you what everything is when I get home! Sorry I haven't sent anything for Christmasyet. I was so disappointed, but I wasn't able to get the thing I wanted to get the family, yet. I can only really get it in Manhattan and we didn't have enough time this week to get it :/ so sorry!!
Hey everyone!! Sorry about this but I'm going to have to wait until next week to tell you about my week. My iPad is being SUPER glitchy and doesn't want to work for me at all. The keyboard is acting weird and won't recognize the space bar 50% of the time, andI have to click some buttons like 10 times to get it to work. Transfers are next week but I'll try my best to write about everything that happened. I love you all!