So this week... Nothing too exciting has happened. I'm planning
on sending ya'll home my SD card today so hopefully that will be something
to look forward to.
OH WAIT! HELLO! did you all go to the broadcast? if not..
Shame. Seriously. Missionary work is changing! You ALL need to be involved!!!
They talked about how the church is going to be open all the time for tours
and missionaries are doing away with knocking doors and etc. watch it.
We aren't sure when FB and Iphones are coming our way, but I sure do hope
it is SOON! Tracting... not my favorite thing.
This week sister white and I were walking to the church
for a meeting. As we crossed a street some guy pulled right in front of
us and said "I need something from you!" So we walked over to
his car. He said that he needed our Bible. He told us he was in a hotel
in canada, and they had the regular bible and a mormon bible... he wanted
the mormon bible but the hotel wouldn't let him take it! Luckily I had
one in my bag. He gave us his business card and told us to call him. It
was the oddest experience of my life but so funny. We called him and he's
super busy but hopefully the Elders will be able to go over soon. :)
Speaking of Elders... Oh dear. Everyone told me that Elders
and Sisters can't be friends and I know why! They drive me nuts! One of
them loves to ask me if his shoes match his eyes (so it looks like i'm
checking him out) The rest of them started calling me Mama Toone last night
because I made them sandwiches and did their sewing. Go figure. I guess
that means I'm home here!
All of our less actives recently fell off the face of
the earth. We can't find them anywhere. It's been good though because we've
been able to work on finding. We found an Albanian Family that is awesome
and a few others we are hoping to meet with.
Mom asked me a few questions so I'm going to answer them
for all of you. No. There are NO WALMARTS here. We shop at sketch-tastic
places with names like Chang-Li's and C-Town. Today we are venturing out
of the zone to go to target before I go crazy because I have NO CLOTHES.
We have a washer and dryer in the bottom of our apartment building, but
we have to pay to use them.
Keep the questions coming!
-Sister Toone
PS-Yesterday we were talking to this bus driver.. He told
us how his mom has been wanting him to go to church for years but he just
hasn't. I gave him a picture with the address and time of church on the
back and said "well, come on Sunday. Then you can call your mom and
tell her that two white girls talked you into it!" He just laughed.
:) People in the Bronx don't even mind that kind of thing and I love it!
PPS- OH! I Forgot to tell everyone. I went to the temple on saturday
to do baptisms for the dead with the ward. Sisters can't be baptized but
we did confirmations. You never realize how much you miss having the spirit
of the temple with you till you go, I think. It's so different here because
there isn't a church or a temple on every corner so you don't have that
reminder. I still haven't been able to do a session at the temple and I
miss it a lot. We took a few minutes and walked through times square. Holy
wow. It's crazy there. Worse than vegas, i'm pretty sure. I love the city
though! We were right by lincoln center where fashion week is and I about
died. :) i took about a thousand pictures so you guys can see it too.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Hello!
Hello all! I am putting mom in charge of forwarding this on, because last week I did oh, so well at making sure I got everyone. Oops :)
So this last week was kind of crazy. Wednesday night after P-day kind of set the stage. We went to dinner at a MBR's house. Her name is Barbara Jean Kaufman and she's AWESOME. anyway, she likes to talk and she loves the missionaries, so we were there pretty late and in a hurry to get home. There was 6 of us in the elevator... the two elders (Zone leaders, mind you) Decided to start jumping.. then one of the sisters joined in... and the elevator stopped moving. All of the lights went off. We were stuck in this tiny elevator! at 9:15 no less! AND we were in the ghetto (seriously, we can't go there without the elders) So we tried to call 911 from the elevator. Epic fail. We called the MBR and she got the super of the building involved. we were in there for like 20 minutes before they got us out. I was in my red pencil skirt and I had to climb out of a freakin' elevator! Go figure. I guess our 911 call worked, Sister Kaufman said the fire department showed up about and HOUR LATER! sheesh.
So I hear you all saw my picture with Brijin! So that was on Saturday. It was my one-month mark and it was also father's day. It was kind of a downer day.. one of the first I've had. We went contacting at a park in our area and everyone was with their families. After the park we went tracting and no one wanted to talk to us... so we decided to go look up a less active. We were waiting for a bus for like 20 minutes. It was okay because we were talking to this girl that was also waiting. We were talking about life experiences and how hope goes a long way. Her Grandma had had breast cancer so we talked a little about that, too. I had been thinking about Brijin a lot recently because I knew she was here but I wasn't sure where and I didn't know how to find out. Anyway, I looked up and there she was! I was SO EXCITED!! She said she NEVER takes that bus. Sister White said she thought about having us take another bus that would have been faster, but she didn't feel right about it. Not only did I see Brijin, she is in OUR AREA! And she is a LESS ACTIVE! We invited her to church and will hopefully be able to meet with her every once in a while. Hello Tender Mercies of the Lord! I feel like she is the reason I am here in Olmstead.
I saw a firefly for the first time! They are so awesome! I'll try to get a picture of one for ya'll :)
Now to the funny parts of my week. Ward Correlation here is.. well, a joke. The best part about this week was this: So, we were talking about a guy that the other sisters had met. They were worried that he only wanted to meet with them because they were girls, so they wanted to take a member. When they told the potential investigator that, he wasn't interested in meeting. So the Ward Mission Leader pipes in and says "OH! He wanted to say Hallelujah, just not at church" OKAY. this is awkward. I was dying.
I'm seeing my hard work slowly pay off! We had two less actives at church on sunday. I am loving the people here! So many of them have gone through things I can never even imagine. So much domestic violence, rape, etc. it's crazy.
This week I also got to go on a split (my second in this area) I went to Kingsbridge. My area might be bad, but it really is one of the best in the Bronx. They get cat-calls constantly there, and TONS of white girl jokes. It was fun to be there and meet the members. We did a TON of walking though. My ankles are swollen to prego-lady status.. so that's cool. I'm trying to take it easy so they will go down.
We weren't able to go to the temple today, but we get to go on saturday and help with baptisms for the dead! Sister missionaries can't be baptized, but we get to help. i'm so excited to see the temple! i'll probably send my sd card home after that so you can see it all.
Anyways... I think this is long enough! I love you all and I can't believe I've been gone a month already!
-Sister Toone
PS
Oh! I was going to tell you in the big email but i forgot...
So i have been having the weirdest dreams here. I wake up feeling sick to my stomach most of the time because they are so weird. Anyway, I've been praying about it and the only thing I could think of was that letter you sent me from the sister that was going home. She made some comment about sleeping with her name-tag on. So, I tried it. I slept better last night (despite the heat and my swollen ankles) than I have in SO LONG! It's so interesting how the Lord answers our prayers. :)
So this last week was kind of crazy. Wednesday night after P-day kind of set the stage. We went to dinner at a MBR's house. Her name is Barbara Jean Kaufman and she's AWESOME. anyway, she likes to talk and she loves the missionaries, so we were there pretty late and in a hurry to get home. There was 6 of us in the elevator... the two elders (Zone leaders, mind you) Decided to start jumping.. then one of the sisters joined in... and the elevator stopped moving. All of the lights went off. We were stuck in this tiny elevator! at 9:15 no less! AND we were in the ghetto (seriously, we can't go there without the elders) So we tried to call 911 from the elevator. Epic fail. We called the MBR and she got the super of the building involved. we were in there for like 20 minutes before they got us out. I was in my red pencil skirt and I had to climb out of a freakin' elevator! Go figure. I guess our 911 call worked, Sister Kaufman said the fire department showed up about and HOUR LATER! sheesh.
So I hear you all saw my picture with Brijin! So that was on Saturday. It was my one-month mark and it was also father's day. It was kind of a downer day.. one of the first I've had. We went contacting at a park in our area and everyone was with their families. After the park we went tracting and no one wanted to talk to us... so we decided to go look up a less active. We were waiting for a bus for like 20 minutes. It was okay because we were talking to this girl that was also waiting. We were talking about life experiences and how hope goes a long way. Her Grandma had had breast cancer so we talked a little about that, too. I had been thinking about Brijin a lot recently because I knew she was here but I wasn't sure where and I didn't know how to find out. Anyway, I looked up and there she was! I was SO EXCITED!! She said she NEVER takes that bus. Sister White said she thought about having us take another bus that would have been faster, but she didn't feel right about it. Not only did I see Brijin, she is in OUR AREA! And she is a LESS ACTIVE! We invited her to church and will hopefully be able to meet with her every once in a while. Hello Tender Mercies of the Lord! I feel like she is the reason I am here in Olmstead.
I saw a firefly for the first time! They are so awesome! I'll try to get a picture of one for ya'll :)
Now to the funny parts of my week. Ward Correlation here is.. well, a joke. The best part about this week was this: So, we were talking about a guy that the other sisters had met. They were worried that he only wanted to meet with them because they were girls, so they wanted to take a member. When they told the potential investigator that, he wasn't interested in meeting. So the Ward Mission Leader pipes in and says "OH! He wanted to say Hallelujah, just not at church" OKAY. this is awkward. I was dying.
I'm seeing my hard work slowly pay off! We had two less actives at church on sunday. I am loving the people here! So many of them have gone through things I can never even imagine. So much domestic violence, rape, etc. it's crazy.
This week I also got to go on a split (my second in this area) I went to Kingsbridge. My area might be bad, but it really is one of the best in the Bronx. They get cat-calls constantly there, and TONS of white girl jokes. It was fun to be there and meet the members. We did a TON of walking though. My ankles are swollen to prego-lady status.. so that's cool. I'm trying to take it easy so they will go down.
We weren't able to go to the temple today, but we get to go on saturday and help with baptisms for the dead! Sister missionaries can't be baptized, but we get to help. i'm so excited to see the temple! i'll probably send my sd card home after that so you can see it all.
Anyways... I think this is long enough! I love you all and I can't believe I've been gone a month already!
-Sister Toone
PS
Oh! I was going to tell you in the big email but i forgot...
So i have been having the weirdest dreams here. I wake up feeling sick to my stomach most of the time because they are so weird. Anyway, I've been praying about it and the only thing I could think of was that letter you sent me from the sister that was going home. She made some comment about sleeping with her name-tag on. So, I tried it. I slept better last night (despite the heat and my swollen ankles) than I have in SO LONG! It's so interesting how the Lord answers our prayers. :)
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Hello from the ghetto
I'm so excited to finally send out a long email from the bronx! It's nuts here.. seriously. The ward is so new and well, dysfunctional. The Bishop has only been a member for 4 years, and he was called to be bishop from the spanish branch. there are 4 sets of missionaries just for our ward, and the missionaries do all of the less active work and the home teaching, visiting teaching isn't even set up yet, and the missionaries teach most of the sunday school classes. Seriously.
Well I can tell you it's definitely worth it. :) I think of how much i've learned in the last month and it's true when they say NO experience can teach you the things you will learn on a mission. I've learned how to truly love people, even if they have nothing in common with me. SERIOUSLY, nothing. I've also felt the love that Heavenly Father has for his children. That's the best feeling in the world. I love sharing messages about Christ and being His Representative. Just remember that when things get hard. :)
At my first ward correlation, I got hit with the real world here. They talked about fellowshipping homeless people, and how we have to make sure they are clean and free of disease before they come to church... Um, is this for real?! Then they talked about the baptismal clothing (we share with the spanish ward) and how it's important to make sure they are clean. One member raised his hand and said "You never know what kind of background people have... they could have crabs or something and then it becomes a sanitation issue" Well dang. They just went there. I was DYING!
We teach a lot of less active members... It's hard here because no one has a big desire to improve their situation, spiritually or physically. One of my favorites is a kid named Kyle. He is 13 and he wants to go to fashion school.. his drawings are AWESOME! We teach about 12-14 lessons a week, and we only have one investigator. His name is Miguel, and his girlfriend is LDS.. they just had a baby and he met her parents. He said he LOVES the feeling in their home and how close their family is. He's read the whole Gospel Principles book... He read it before we even met with him! He just kept asking us "So what's the process? What does this take?" He's so ready!
We eat a lot of rice and beans, and indian food. Most of the people that cook for us are hispanic, but one is from Guyana and one is from Jamaica so it's all sorts of food. The lady from Guyana makes the spiciest food i've ever eaten. My poor companion's face was bright red and she was sweating. I couldn't help but laugh!
Yesterday on the bus this guy asked us if we were from salt lake... we said no and then he proceeded to tell us about an accident he was in where he got hit by a car. then he told us he was 39, single, and struggling to find a job. What a keeper!! He asked for our information, so we kindly gave him the address of the church ;) The other one was Mary.. she was disabled and in a "rough place" she asked us to pray for her.. people here are oh, so interesting!
Missionaries really are representatives of Jesus Christ. People notice us! We walk past this area that is under construction a few times a week. One day a construction worker walked up to us and told us which way we usually go and how often! People notice us, especially here. Most of the time it's awesome. Sometimes we attract some creeps, but it makes for a good time. ;)
I don't know if you guys heard about Tropical Storm Andrea. Holy cow. RAIN GALORE! I was soaked. My shoes took three days to dry and my rain coat soaked up water like a towel. There really is no such thing as bad weather for missionaries.
Well I can tell you it's definitely worth it. :) I think of how much i've learned in the last month and it's true when they say NO experience can teach you the things you will learn on a mission. I've learned how to truly love people, even if they have nothing in common with me. SERIOUSLY, nothing. I've also felt the love that Heavenly Father has for his children. That's the best feeling in the world. I love sharing messages about Christ and being His Representative. Just remember that when things get hard. :)
One thing I think I've emailed you about before, but I keep experiencing is about Faith.. Specifically having faith to make miracles happen. Pray like you KNOW your prayer will change lives. Start your day with the attitude that big things will happen today because you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. It will change your life!
I've been out almost a month.. It's been the longest and shortest month of my life, but I wouldn't change it for anything! There is no way I could come home now, I'd be selling myself short and missing out on SO many opportunities.
I love you all and I pray for you. Hope everything is as exciting at home as it is here in Da Bronx!
I love you all and I pray for you. Hope everything is as exciting at home as it is here in Da Bronx!
Love, Sister Toone
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Week 2
So I'm going to send you a short email you can tell everyone about, and then I'm going to read the rest of mine. I had 18 today! sheesh!
so my trainer is awesome. she's so patient which i really need. and she is 101% obedient which, lets be honest, i also need. life here in the bronx is crazy. i wasn't joking about being the only white girl. we've taught a few lessons, but mostly to less actives. it's awesome. we walk up about 1000 flights of stairs each day. public transportation is okay, not my favorite but much better than walking! the yankee's game was seriously boring. but it was fun to see all the missionaries together!
I've grown more in the last week than I feel like I have in a whole year. I don't even know how to describe it to you. Oh, I was going to tell you... just to clear some things up.
our proselyting area is Throggs Neck. The sketchy part of the Bronx is hunt's point, and we can only go there with elders as escorts. it has the highest murder rate in the whole USA.. it's nuts. We don't actually live in the area that we proselyte in.
public trans. is okay here, it's all above ground. I rode the subway for the first time today and its' pretty claustrophobic. also, its SO hot here. It's not a matter of if i sweat through my clothes, but when. It's sick. There are lots of cute little black ladies in the ward to take care of us, and the bishop and his wife feed us every week. other than that, we don't have tons of dinner appointments, We eat a lot of sandwiches :) We also live with two girls from the spanish ward and they generally have a lot of left overs. I'm not starving, so that's good.
next week I'll have more time.. I have to go now.
LOVE YOU!! I pray for you guys every night :)
-Sister Toone
so my trainer is awesome. she's so patient which i really need. and she is 101% obedient which, lets be honest, i also need. life here in the bronx is crazy. i wasn't joking about being the only white girl. we've taught a few lessons, but mostly to less actives. it's awesome. we walk up about 1000 flights of stairs each day. public transportation is okay, not my favorite but much better than walking! the yankee's game was seriously boring. but it was fun to see all the missionaries together!
I've grown more in the last week than I feel like I have in a whole year. I don't even know how to describe it to you. Oh, I was going to tell you... just to clear some things up.
our proselyting area is Throggs Neck. The sketchy part of the Bronx is hunt's point, and we can only go there with elders as escorts. it has the highest murder rate in the whole USA.. it's nuts. We don't actually live in the area that we proselyte in.
public trans. is okay here, it's all above ground. I rode the subway for the first time today and its' pretty claustrophobic. also, its SO hot here. It's not a matter of if i sweat through my clothes, but when. It's sick. There are lots of cute little black ladies in the ward to take care of us, and the bishop and his wife feed us every week. other than that, we don't have tons of dinner appointments, We eat a lot of sandwiches :) We also live with two girls from the spanish ward and they generally have a lot of left overs. I'm not starving, so that's good.
next week I'll have more time.. I have to go now.
LOVE YOU!! I pray for you guys every night :)
-Sister Toone
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