Wow!

Wow. That's all I have to say! Life is flying by here. I feel like I can't catch my breath some days! Sister Richeson has walked through 3 pair of shoes, if that tells you anything about our days. We have seen SO many miracles this week!

On Thursday of last week we went down to try and visit the two less actives that live at the marine school. we got down there right as it was getting dark... and as we were walking to their dorm we figured they probably wouldn't let two girls into the dorms at that time of night... but we both felt really impressed to go there so we just laughed and walked back to the bus!

On the bus we were talking to some marines from the school... midway through our conversation, our investigator Armando walked by! We were trying to get him baptized in september but he had been MIA for WEEKS! So we ran to the back of the bus to talk to him. He was really excited to see us and we set up an appointment to visit him. He was with one of his friends, so I was talking to him and he seemed really interested. I tried to give him a BOM but he said he didn't want to lose it so he told us to drop it off at his house the next day :) We stopped by his house the next day.. he wasn't home but we met with his wife who is also interested in meeting with us again! So, hello 3 new investigators ;)

Armando came to church on sunday and he LOVED it. he is really excited to be baptized, but he is afraid he doesn't know enough. we are still working with him as much as we can though :)

On Monday we had mission conference. Bruce A Carlsen of the 70 came and talked to us. It was amazing! He talked a lot about how we can become consecrated to the Lord without becoming perfect... which was nice to hear :) I'd love to tell you everything he talked about but it was a long conference and i'm almost out of time!

After conference on monday we went to go look up another less active I had never met. it took us FOREVER to find his house.. and when we got there we found out that he hadn't lived there for at least 4 years. awesome. We walked back to the bus and there was a guy standing there that Sister Richeson started talking to. He was really impressed with what we do as missionaries. He has SO much faith and he's really humble. I'm excited to go and meet with him as well!

This transfer went by SO fast. I can't believe October is already here! There's more I could say but I'm so out of time... So, until next week!

Love you all!!

-Sister Toone

Week 18

Okay well, I had my first baptism finally!! Can I just tell you how much I love Brother V? His last name is Villanueva but I can't say that so I call him Vanilla Wafer. He doesn't even mind. He is truly amazing and prepared. He told us that he just wants to get married in the temple. We had an interview set up so he could talk to the bishop about getting the priesthood... come to find out that they just ordained him during the third hour of church! He wants to start taking institute and they might call him to teach Sunday School! We took a ton of pictures.. I'll try to get some emailed out in the next week or so.

This next week we are having a mission conference with a General Authority. His name is Elder Carlsen I think.. he's a 4 star general in the air force or something. We have to prepare 2 minute talks for him and he 's going to interview people when he comes! talk about nerve racking!

This email is going to be short because I wasn't very prepared for it.. sorry everyone :) Nothing too crazy has happened.. OH! Our ward pretty much got reorganized on sunday! It's going to be amazing! We got a new ward mission leader which is really going to change things. Our old one was awesome, but so new to the gospel. He also had lead paint poisoning (Insert funny Tommy Boy quote here) So he didn't read well or remember much which makes it REALLY hard.

The work in the Bronx is slow. I really do love it here though, and I'm going to be sad when I have to leave! Time is flying by.. I can't believe I've only got 14 months left. I love the work and the people I've been able to meet!

Miss all of you!
-Sister Toone

p.s If you haven't seen the new temple video, GO! It's AMAZING!

Week 17- Lost in the ghetto!

Well this week was significantly less exciting than last week. We haven't had anything too crazy happen to us, which is a nice change!

On Friday we always visit Sister Griffin. She's been baptized for just under a year. She's 80 years old and kind of crazy so we really like her. We knocked on her door and she yelled "just a minute!" When she opened the door her pants were undone, she told us she'd been in the little girls room. I think she knew that her pants were undone, because by the end of the lesson her button was done up. :) We went to walk out of her apartment and Sis. Richeson said "sister griffin, i think your water is running..." she panicked and went off about how the neighbors were going to kill her! She's a hoot. She's missing most of her teeth and she shaves her head and she's about as black as black gets.

Anyway, after her appointment we got in the elevator. Sis richeson and I have been talking to her security guards so we wanted to find a scripture to share with one of them. The elevator door closed and sister richeson panicked because we hadn't thought of a scripture yet so she pulled an Elf and pushed ALL of the floors to buy us some time. We got to the 5th floor and a lady got in with us. (by now we had a scripture) When the elevator stopped at floor 4 and no one was there, she looked confused and just pushed the button to close the doors. When the elevator got to floor 3 and no one was there she said something in spanish and pushed the button. When the elevator got to the second floor and no one was there I'm pretty sure she cursed and pushed the button to close the door. by this point richeson and i were LOSING IT! I could not stop laughing but we had to laugh quietly so the lady didn't know it was us. She was NOT happy!

Yesterday was a real winner. The ward asked the sister missionaries to go and visit a lady that had just moved in. She lives in the middle of the hood so we had to have some elders escort us down there. The elders didn't want to take us through the worst part so we walked like three miles just to get to her house. We got there and she was NOT happy to see us. The bishop from her old ward moved her records without asking her (even though she lives in our ward boundaries..) and she yelled at us for a solid, oh, 25 minutes. The elders were outside waiting for us and they texted us to see if we were dead.. they were a little concerned! She wouldn't even let us share a scripture with her!

After that we went and looked up some people in our area.. and we walked another mile or so. Then we went to dinner as a district in a part of our zone that I'd never been to. After dinner we were on a select bus (which is like an express train, they make about half the stops so it's a lot faster) Our zone leaders acted like they knew where they were going so we all just trusted them! They told us to get off the bus at a stop, so we did. (It was sis Richeson and I and 2 elders) We thought we'd be right by the train station but we were actually in the middle of no where. in the Bronx. at 845. we are supposed to be home at 9! So we start walking.. and walking... and we ask a few people for directions.. and we keep walking. To make a LONG story short we finally found where we needed to be to get home at about 1015. The zone leaders felt SUPER bad so they met us at the bus stop. I was exhausted.. we'd walked about 5 or 6 miles total that day and it was SUPER hot. The zone leaders told me they were sorry and asked if I would shake their hand, so I did. One asked how I was feeling and of course by that point I'm tired and exhausted and mad and frustrated so I cried. Whatever. Everyone has to be THAT sister missionary at some point in their mission. :)

OH! GOOD NEWS!!

We are getting Iphones/Ipads/Facebook October 22. that means we will be able to proselyte online. I will keep the facebook that I already had, so Krisan you won't have to update it. I will have to hide all of my friends from home and I think my family.. so I can't see whats going on but you'll be able to see my posts. I won't be able to chat with anyone unless it's helping me fulfill my purpose as a missionary. This is REALLY exciting. The Ipads will have siri so I won't get lost anymore... and I'll be able to email as long as I want to on p-day. We'll probably be able to skype from them on mothers day and Christmas, too! Keeping these privileges depends 100% on how obedient we are.. so please, help a sister out. Literally ;) When I find out more information I'll let you know!

My very first baptism is on Saturday. I'll be sure to email you some pictures after that. Brother V is super excited and we've got a lot of the ward involved, so I think it will go well. You all are in my thoughts and prayers! Love you!

PS I got an email from Elder Carlee he just said that time flies and he's not really assigned to an area, so he and his companion are just roaming around. he said it was good to hear from me, so that's fun :) Just think. people probably think I just left. and in 3 months I'll get to talk to you on the phone and computer! :) we are on the downhill slope to christmas.

Week 16

Wow family. This week I had 2 emails! TWO! And one doesn't even count as an email because it's my debit card statement from the church! So, thanks for all the love and support :P

This last week was pretty awesome. We taught Brother V the law of chastity in preparation for his baptism on the 14th. He's so funny. We asked him what he understood already about the law of chastity and he said "ooh, is tonight when you fit me for my belt?" It just all went downhill from there. We had a member there who was joking with him about Madonna and the song Like a Virgin. You all know how awkward that makes me so I was just dying the whole time!

I don't know if I told you all or not, but President Morgan has challenged every companionship to have a baptism in September. Sister Richeson and I decided that since Brother V was kind of a shoo-in that we wanted to push ourselves. We are hoping to have Armando (an investigator that I tracted into on a split) be baptized by the end of this month! It's going to take a lot of hard work and even more prayer, but I know we can do it!

This week we had some move-ins to look up. They were down at the very bottom of our area at the Maritime College. Sister White had told me that we weren't allowed in because it's practically like a marine school... but you know me! We had to find out for ourselves! So we took the bus down there and the school was all fenced in. We walked up to the gate and asked the guard if he could help us because we were looking for some members of our church. Just then someone from the parking lot yelled 'HEY SISTERS!' we looked over and saw this older man in an officers uniform, so we went to talk to him. He was a member from another ward who worked at the school! (Miracle number one) We told him why we were there and he was so ready and willing to help us! He looked on his roster and both of the people we were looking for were still at the school (Miracle number 2) he then took us to the dorms (keep in mind.. these are male dorms full of potential marines.. sketch? probably.) We went to the first room and the person we were looking for wasn't there, so we went to find the other one! We knocked on the door and the poor boy about died when he saw an officer standing there. Then he looked and saw two sister missionaries and I think his jaw hit the ground! We were able to teach him a lesson WITH the member there and he said he is coming to church on sunday! (Miracle number 10000) it was such an awesome day! But oh, it gets better!

We got on the bus to come home and there were two black guys sitting in the back. I had carried a BOM around with me all day and I thought to myself "you should just go give this to one of them" Proselyting on public transportation is illegal, so I didn't. They got off at the same stop as us, so I held the bus door open for them. One of the guys chased us down and told us how he knew we were good Christians because we dressed the part and because I held the door open for him. He told us women wouldn't do that now-a-days (Look at all that hard work paying off, Mom and Dad!) He said he doesn't like church because he feels like they are full of hypocrites but that we were different. I gave him the book of Mormon that I had been holding and he promised to read it!

That all happened on Monday. Today has been... exciting. There was a member of our ward who had been staying in a nursing home. She passed away this week, and in her funeral plans she wanted the missionaries to sing! So.. the bishop and the senior couple drove us to a funeral on our P-day so we could sing a hymn for her. The funeral home was in the hood. Seriously. It was in the heart of Harlem! The chapel was tiny. Behind the pulpit they had a huge painting of Christ but he was black. It was surreal, seriously. It took all I had to not laugh because sometimes I just can't believe this is my life! I can now mark "See a black Jesus" off of my bucket list. How many of you can say that?

Sister Richeson and I are getting along really well. We wear each other out everyday. I don't think I've ever been so tired! I'm also getting over a cold... I had my first missionary sick day on Saturday. Don't worry Mom, Sister Richeson and Sister Dalley took good care of me :)

I think that's all of the excitement I've had this week. It doesn't quite beat China Town, but it's close ;)

Love you all!


PS Oh! exciting news! By next transfer (so the beginning of october) All missionaries will have an ipad mini and eventually we will all have facebook and blogs! So you can check up on me every day rather than once a week! We won't be able to friend our families but i can't imagine they would make us make it private so you can't see it. Exciting huh?

oh, and I just tried to email Joseph Carley. Hopefully his email is just joseph.carley@myldsmail.netbecause that's who I sent it to.

Sometimes I am amazed at the things I do. We walk through urine in the projects pretty much on a daily basis. I've never felt more looked after, though. My leaders here are awesome, even if they are a little over-bearing at times :) Elder Poulsen is our district leader and he likes to act like my dad. You can imagine how well that goes over! ;)

I'd love to find out who else reads my blog. I probably never will, but it makes me feel good to know that someone does!

Mid-week letter home

Hi Mamma!
So this week I got 4 letters from you! I was SO happy!  Sorry our email time was short & uneventful. Hopefully my China Town experience makes up for it! This should most DEF go on the blog.
So China Town is seriously like traveling to China. I didn’t hear English anywhere! We were looking for fake stuff to buy. Hello! It’s China Town! We have two elders in our district who are Mandarin speaking & had served in China Town so they were our guides. In China Town they don’t just have fake things in the market to buy….. you have to look for it. Usually people walk down the street saying the brand,  for instance they’d walk around saying “Michael Kors…. Michael Kors” You just walk up to them & then they take you to the goods.
So, naturally, I was looking for a MK watch. Elder Leung found a lady who told us to follow her. She got on the phone & called someone as we walked about a block. Then we met another lady who said to follow her! She opened this hidden drawer & pulled out tons of fake MK watches. They wanted $50 for them but Sis Richeson& I talked the down to $30! Then she showed us their fake Coco Chanel& Tiffany jewelry…..so naturally I had to buy a fake ring!  Then I asked about MK bags….. this is where the fun started!
She guided us to a backroom that was tiny. Then she pushed this hidden button to open a hidden door to a HUGE room full of fake bags!
Luckily the elders followed us because it was probably on of the sketchiest things that ever happened! I didn’t end up buying a bag….be proud of me! I spent $40 on fake things.
Anyway, hope that was enjoyable for you because that will be a memory I will NEVER forget! And yes,,,,my watch is rose gold!
I love all of you!
(especially you mom & dad)
Love,
Sister Toone