Metro Piece of .....

Okay so this week was full of crazyness and I'm going to try and write about it all. So here we go.... Well let's start with New Year's Eve. On New Years we went to this pottery place where you can paint your own pottery and made really cool pen cups for our ZL's because they are so nice to us, and always help us a lot.. I went and I bought myself a new puffer jacket from Century 21. It is really nice and I am in love with it, I call it Sheila and her and I get along sooo well. Just kidding, but really. After that we went to the church and were about to get stuck hanging out playing cards all night with two companionships of elders but we didn't. The Elders from the other zone came and picked us up and took us to the Midwood Chapel (my old church) and there was a huge party there with a bunch of missionaries. I played Dungeons and Dragons and  it was AWESOME. Then we went home and we may or may not have stayed up until 12. I can't really say... but I heard the fireworks. haha  Then on Wednesday it was my half-way temple trip! Can you believe that my mission is half over already? I can. haha I feel like I've been here forever, but not in a bad way. Just in the... well it's been a while kind of way. The temple was so much fun and afterwards we got permission to walk through the corner of central park. The senior couple that went with us bought us all a hot dog from a street vendor and I have officially turned into my father, I got sauerkraut on my hot dog. Be proud dad, be proud. It was super delicious. On Thursday my Companion and I had to go to a gynoclogist out in the island so we were going to borrow a car from someone in our zone, but it ended up not being available. So our Zone Leaders drove us there. It was about an hour drive. When we got there the place was called, A Woman's Way.. and it was funny because we went outside and they were inside still and they texted us and asked if there was only a women's restroom in there. hahaha It was funny. After the doctor we went to lunch at panera bread.. I LOVE THAT PLACE! It's so good. Then I got to drive home! It was my first time driving in New York and in about 9 months, so it was kind of nerve racking but still a lot of fun. Well, the next day we were out tracting and fearlessing people and it was super cold and really difficult because no one would listen to us. Finally I talked to this girl named Christina and I got her address and set up an appointment to teach her, but then we went there on Saturday night and she totally juked us, wasn't home and I don't think she even lived there. It was really sad. It was our first possible investigator all transfer! Then, nothing. We were really sad and we both wanted to just cry, but instead we started making really drastic scales.. like on a scale from pumpkin breath to bean farts, how bad does this suck right now??? haha It helped us get in a better mood and we had fun the rest of the night. On Saturday we had to do Service again for the last time, so we went out to Far Rockaway and when we got there we found that we were doing service with a bunch of NYNY North Missionaries.. let's just say they are all kind of weird,and I can see why Blair is the way he is.. haha. BUT I did meet one of the girls who happened to be my old Bishops daughter. Bishop McCurdy. She is super fun and it was cool to see her. On Sunday we had dinner at the Tolentino's house, they are the craziest Dominicans I have ever met. I love them. We had dinner and talked for like 2 hours. It was great. David made a joke about his cell phone company, Metro PCS, he said he calls it Metro piece of shii.... haha I was laughing so hard. They also told us these crazy mission stories about their missions in the D.R. and how one time the ward stole his companions bike because they didn't like him. So they put a pillow on his bikes handle bars and his comp rode there. I'm glad I'm not an Elder, and that I'm not in the D.R.  So on Saturday night we went and saw this less active named Margaret. She has been less active for a while but the week before Christmas she got really sick and was in the hospital. The bishop went and gave her a blessing and a few days later, she was healed! So she went back to life as normal, and moved into a new house. Now she has a bunch of bills from the doctor and her new rent and all this stuff. We told her that she should come to church on Sunday because the time changed to 1pm and she could still get sleep. BUT I was still super surprised to see her Sunday. I was like.. what?! So I was talking with her after sacrament and she was holding this huge envelope and she excused herself and went to talk to the bishop. I heard part of their conversation and in her huge envelope she was paying a YEARS WORTH of tithing!She has so much faith and she is going to be blessed for it. I can just see the miracles unfolding in her life. This week we have a lot planned. We are going to try and start teaching a woman in our wards husband who has been coming to church for years but isn't baptized, and also trying to reactivate some less active members who really need help. I also am going to be helping teach the Family History class this Sunday which I am really excited about, I just need to learn the vocab in spanish.

Well I hope you all are having a good week and if you ever have time you should write me! I love letters.. :D

Shelby Lou