Things are going pretty well here in New Jersey. I guess one word can summarize what my week consisted of... Service.
The work on cleaning up from Hurrican Irene continued this week, and sadly proselyting has taken a back seat at least for this week, although things should change back to normal this week. On Monday we played some amazing basketball with some other Elders, and received word that the next day we would be doing service again.
The work on cleaning up from Hurrican Irene continued this week, and sadly proselyting has taken a back seat at least for this week, although things should change back to normal this week. On Monday we played some amazing basketball with some other Elders, and received word that the next day we would be doing service again.
Tuesday arrived, and we headed out to do Work order forms, meaning we were going door to door, to see who needed help, and fill out the damage so that we could send people to do the work later in the week. Some places were fine, but others were really bad. I knocked at this one story house, and upon looking inside, I saw that the water level was probably like 2 feet above floor level. I don't think the lady will be able to live there anymore.
Wednesday was actually not a service day, so we did an exchange with one of our District Leaders (Elder Lee) and his Trainee Elder Montes. I left the area, so that Elder Lee could come in and do the baptismal interview for Ana. The exchange went better than I thought it was going to be actually. It was good practice being with a native from Mexico all day, and so we basically spoke Spanish the whole day. We actually saw some good success together, and found a couple new investigators.
Thursday rolled in, becoming another service day, but this one even more special than the others. It wasn't just the missionaries from New Jersey, but they actually sent in like 50 or more missionaries from the New York New York South mission. I was excited to see who would be there, because I knew I had a couple friends from that mission. Coincidentally, I saw more people from that mission than I thought. The first one, was one of my college friends Logan Lewis. Also, I saw 4 people that I knew from High School including, Elder Sean Kang, Elder Matt Daley, Elder Nate Gootee, and Elder Montgomery Campbell. Looks like it's a small world after all. Nice little High School reunion. Later in the day, we went to work at the house of a guy named Frank. He lived right next to the river, and basically his whole part of the village or whatever you want to call it was destroyed. We even had to drive through some water to get to his house. We started gutting the place out, taking out the dry wall, destroyed furniture and belongings. I really like taking out Sheet Rock, it's pretty fun to take a crow bar to the wall. The day came to a close, and we bid farewell to the Missionaries for New York.
Thursday rolled in, becoming another service day, but this one even more special than the others. It wasn't just the missionaries from New Jersey, but they actually sent in like 50 or more missionaries from the New York New York South mission. I was excited to see who would be there, because I knew I had a couple friends from that mission. Coincidentally, I saw more people from that mission than I thought. The first one, was one of my college friends Logan Lewis. Also, I saw 4 people that I knew from High School including, Elder Sean Kang, Elder Matt Daley, Elder Nate Gootee, and Elder Montgomery Campbell. Looks like it's a small world after all. Nice little High School reunion. Later in the day, we went to work at the house of a guy named Frank. He lived right next to the river, and basically his whole part of the village or whatever you want to call it was destroyed. We even had to drive through some water to get to his house. We started gutting the place out, taking out the dry wall, destroyed furniture and belongings. I really like taking out Sheet Rock, it's pretty fun to take a crow bar to the wall. The day came to a close, and we bid farewell to the Missionaries for New York.
We had taught Ana earlier in the week, and she decided to be baptized on Saturday, and then be confirmed on Sunday. The baptism went pretty great. We ended up having a good turn out and she seemed happy.
Sunday came, and things were different once again. Our whole district was going to have Sacrament Meeting in Paterson, and then we were to start serving. They called zones 1,2 and 3 to come help in the clean-up. I had the opportunity to confirm Ana there, and then I was able to participate in blessing the sacrament. One person did it in Spanish and the other in English, because we had two Spanish branches, and 1 English branch there. The work commenced, and we finally found a place to work.
I think I've changed a lot since I left on my mission, cause the place we cleaned out was not pretty. We went to this ladies house and went down to her basement. It was full of piles and piles of stuff. Clothes, Doors, unused insulation, bottles, bikes, water heaters, and the like. The floor was molding, and yeah, it just wasn't good. Our crew went down, and the work commenced on cleaning the place up. We did a ton of work, hauling up huge bags of stuff, and forming assembly lines. When we got to the end of the room, we worked on taking the unused Insulation, which is where all the mice were living.
It was pretty gross to see the mice climbing up the walls as we were destroying their home. But I guess I've gotten kind of used to mice from living in the Union City house and everything. We finally finished the progress, and we were able to have a really good lesson with Marcelino, Martin, and Manuel. Manuel had another dream that involved him accidentally knocking into an Idol Statue, and it falling to the ground and breaking. He was wondering what it meant, and we talked a little bit about how we aren't supposed to worship Idols. I'm not sure what exactly is holding Manuel back, but Marcelino and Martin are doing great, and really help us a lot when it comes to teaching Manuel.
Oh yeah, another little peace of news. Sadly, I heard that Ruth is trying to take her name off the church records. I don't know if that is a rumor from the Elders there or what, but sadly she has fallen away.
It was pretty gross to see the mice climbing up the walls as we were destroying their home. But I guess I've gotten kind of used to mice from living in the Union City house and everything. We finally finished the progress, and we were able to have a really good lesson with Marcelino, Martin, and Manuel. Manuel had another dream that involved him accidentally knocking into an Idol Statue, and it falling to the ground and breaking. He was wondering what it meant, and we talked a little bit about how we aren't supposed to worship Idols. I'm not sure what exactly is holding Manuel back, but Marcelino and Martin are doing great, and really help us a lot when it comes to teaching Manuel.
Oh yeah, another little peace of news. Sadly, I heard that Ruth is trying to take her name off the church records. I don't know if that is a rumor from the Elders there or what, but sadly she has fallen away.
Now I'm here in the Library, enjoying P-day, and ready for the last week of transfers. Am I staying or am I going? I really have no Idea. Elder Jarrett has been here for 3, and only has one more transfer left in his mission, and I have been here for 2. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
The work is going pretty great, and it will be nice to get back and focused on proselyting, and the service days are coming to an end. Thanks for all your support!
Happy Be-lated Birthday Brigham. Sorry to hear about BYU. I guess life just goes on.
Until next week
Love you all! The Gospel is True!
Love Elder Hicks
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