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| At Ellis Island August 5, 2016 |
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| Ellis Island August 5, 2016 |
Hola family!!
Sunday was AWESOME. GUESS WHO CAME TO CHURCH. HERMANO HERNANDEZ!! It was crazy! We totally weren't expecting him to come!! It was so awesome. And his daughter, Alexa (10 years old) came too, and she totally loved it! We also had a bunch of recent converts and less-actives at church, so it was way fun! And the pianist was out of town, so I played. And then the primary president stopped me and said they needed me to play in primary. But the chorister didn't think she had a good voice, so I had to sing to the kids. And play. This song I'd never heard before. hahaha it was pretty interesting! But it was in English, at least :) But I was so happy to serve and help! After church we went to Bishop Haro's house for dinner again, and that was awesome. We told them all about Facebook and it totally blew their mind! They have a daughter who's 18 and a son who's like 15 and they're so kind. Then we had a lesson with an investigator at the church that went super well! All in all, it was a really great day.
This week was super crazy! We had so many meetings and trainings and things, we didn't have a ton of time to actually proselyte! But we did some good work for sure :)
On Tuesday we started the day nice and early and went out to contact at 8am. We went to the train station a couple minutes away and found a ton of hispanic guys standing around waiting to find work for the day! In total, we taught 7 lessons and got a few new investigators! It was so awesome! Sister Troconis is such a rock star. It was an amazing way to start the day! By noon we'd already done a ton of work! It really motivated us to keep working hard and doing awesome the rest of the day. And it was pretty intimidating because most of them were all standing around in groups, but we put on our big kid skirts and got to work! It was cool to be able to be out and about and meet so many people in just a couple hours. We also almost died today because of some crazy driver... But the Lord surely takes care of his missionaries :) We also met with a less-active guy from CHILE!! Woo!!! So that was cool :) Chilean spanish is really pretty, so I've heard! We also got a personal concert by some guy in his apartment belting Josh Groban.. Hahaha it was so funny. We were trying some other less-active and we were walking past a pond with some geese, and we heard him jamming out. Throughout the song he switched off from vocals to trumped to keyboard.. It was pretty epic.
On Wednesday we had interviews with President Taggart! That was pretty good! I love President and Sister Taggart. They are so loving. We had a couple lessons with some new investigators--Cornelio and Juan--that went pretty well! We're doing a lot of teaching the Restoration! And man, Sister Troconis is such an awesome teacher. And we're getting our flow down and our comp unity totally figured out! It's great! We did a little table stand with the elders in downtown Dover for about half an hour, but there weren't a lot of people out. But that was pretty interesting and new! I'm having lots of fun getting outside my comfort zone!
On Thursday we had a TON of training. We went over to Morristown and had some 3-hour training from the Taggarts' neighbor, Dennis, that was cool! He goes around and trains people all over the world on business communication. So we talked a lot about non-verbal communication and about reflective listening. Then we had a lovely lunch, and then another 3 hour training, but this time on Facebook! We talked a lot about different ways to find and stay in touch with people over Facebook. It was a pretty crazy discussion, all 200 of us were just blurting out ideas pretty much, but it was helpful nonetheless. And THEN we came home and had our first Facebook lesson! It was so weird. But our investigator said he couldn't leave his house, so we found him on FB and had a whole lesson over chat! We taught about the Book of Mormon and it all went really well! And then for the closing prayer, we recorded it and sent it. And he messaged back "amen, hermanas." Haha it was so crazy! Missionary work is definitely changing here in New Jersey. And ALSO! I got permission from President Taggart to start teaching Katherine Barber over Facebook!! Isn't that so crazy?! She's living in Utah now, but she told me she wanted to maybe meet with missionaries there, but wasn't sure.. So I messaged her on Facebook and we've started teaching her! I'll write more about that in a little bit :) But we did get some sad news on Thursday. Jesse Vega of the beloved Vega family in Lakewood messaged Sister Pace and I and said they've decided not to meet with the missionaries anymore. They said they don't really connect with the new sisters and don't want to be pushed into something they aren't ready for. So that was a super bummer. But Sister Pace and I talked about it with President and we've decided we'll try to keep teaching them and helping them over Facebook! They love the gospel and they want to keep learning and reading, so we'll do our best with that. It's so crazy--the whole world is our mission now!
On Friday we went all the way over to Ellis Island and did service there! That was SO awesome. We took a bunch of pictures before and after. It was my first time serving, so I had to get trained a little bit on the program. But they have a little family history place there where people can pay for some time to search for their ancestors in the Ellis Island records. They can find the ship's manifest, pictures of the ships, and passenger information for their families. There's such a cool spirit there. It was really cool to help people find their grandparents and family members and see a whole bunch of information about who they were and what their lives were like when they came to America. The Spirit of Elijah is so real! And it was cool to talk to a couple people about what we're doing there and why we have black nametags in Spanish on :) The traffic coming home was CRAZY, but we eventually made it back! Then we went to a lesson with the Elders to the Hernandez home. I love that little family. We taught the Plan of Salvation, but we only made it about half-way through before we got way side-tracted. But long-story-short, the elders gave their home and Sister Hernandez a blessing, and that was lovely! And of course, she fed us some tacos before we left :) We were pretty late getting home because the elder who was driving got pulled over.. Haha but the cop was super nice, it was just our tail-light :) It's so interesting to go on drives with the Elders, one is from DR and the other is from Mexico. So in the car, we usually all talk in Spanish! Oh man, I'm learning SO MUCH. It's so awesome. I'll have Spanish as good as Seth's someday ;)
On Saturday we did a TON of weekly planning, but it was good! We had to get it done at some point. We also had a lesson with Katherine! We set up the Facebook video chat and talked to her for about 20 minutes. She's in a similar boat than Sister Troconis, and they totally connected. It was way awesome. I just stinkin love that girl. All this technology makes the world so much smaller! But yeah, it all went really well! And then, at like 8:50, we realized we had no gas in our car for tomorrow.. So we ran to the gas station without shoes on. And in New Jersey, they have people pump your gas for you, so we thought we would be okay! But Sister Troconis needed cash for fast offerings.. haha so we walked into this tiny conveince store (literally all they had was soda and chips) and bought some chips. And the guy was all "do you have sandals on?" And I was like "ummmm nooo..." And he was like "hmm. Well be sure to wash your feet, we just painted the floor." And so I said "yeah, of course!"... but I didn't wash my feet. #rebel.
Sunday was AWESOME. GUESS WHO CAME TO CHURCH. HERMANO HERNANDEZ!! It was crazy! We totally weren't expecting him to come!! It was so awesome. And his daughter, Alexa (10 years old) came too, and she totally loved it! We also had a bunch of recent converts and less-actives at church, so it was way fun! And the pianist was out of town, so I played. And then the primary president stopped me and said they needed me to play in primary. But the chorister didn't think she had a good voice, so I had to sing to the kids. And play. This song I'd never heard before. hahaha it was pretty interesting! But it was in English, at least :) But I was so happy to serve and help! After church we went to Bishop Haro's house for dinner again, and that was awesome. We told them all about Facebook and it totally blew their mind! They have a daughter who's 18 and a son who's like 15 and they're so kind. Then we had a lesson with an investigator at the church that went super well! All in all, it was a really great day.
So anyway, this week has been super awesome! I've found myself feeling pretty weak, but I know the Lord is aware and He's here to help. This area, companion, and everything are such an amazing opportunity for me to learn and grow. The Lord surely loves me! I feel his love every day as we focus on all the little miracles that happen. I'm working harder than ever and I'm so happy :)
I love you SO MUCH! I think about you and pray for you all the time :)
Hermana Millington
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