Nov. 19th, 2012

Ok First here is what I wrote on Saturday about helping out in New Jersey. I though it would be easier to just copy and paste it from my journal instead of rewriting it. Since I have a limited time on the computer.

Saturday, Nov. 17th

Well today was a busy and exciting day. We went over to Union Beach, NJ to help with the clean up from hurricane Sandy. We woke up at 5AM this morning. Got all ready, put our layers on etc. Then got to the church around 6AM. We hung out with the Frankford Missionaries - Elders Manoa & Whitaker. Brother Dyer showed up at the church and picked us all up. We drove to the Morrisville, PA chapel about 30-40 minutes away. That was the central meeting place for those in our stake that where going. They had some bagels and juice for everyone, and we got our yellow Mormon Helping hands vests. The stake presidency gave us a little run down of how things would work. Then we were split up into teams and we headed to Union Beach, NJ. It's near Staten Island, and about an hourish away from the Morrisville chapel. When we pulled into the city, we saw big piles of junk, furniture, drywall and installation on the sides of the road. There was a big set up for FEMA. We went to our first house that we were supposed to work on but no one was home, and we weren’t supposed to work on the home unless someone was there. So we just asked around to see who needed help in the neighborhood. We found a guy that wanted our help. His shed had floated away from his house, so we tried to push it back but it was too heavy. He eventually got it back by pushing it with his truck. He also wanted all the installation from underneath his house taken out under his crawlspace. We put on these white jumpsuits and our breathing masks, and a few of us crawled through an opening into his crawl space under his house. It was dark and super wet, and there wasn't a lot of space so you couldn't stand up. A lot of the strips of installation were hanging from the bottom of the floor, and was wet and soaked, so we needed to tear it all out. So we spent some good time down there tearing it out and throwing it out the hole for the others to bag up. There was water dripping down there, and it was hard on our knees because you had to squat, and we were sweating because of the facemask and the layers and moisture. So we helped him out with that and some other stuff. Then we went to a neighbor’s house to see if they wanted help, they had a shed up side down next to their house. We asked if they wanted it tore down. She said sure, she said that originally it was on the other side of their house, but it had floated around the house and across the street into their neighbors yard. Yes I said floated. We were kind of confused we knew it had flooded here, but we figured it was maybe 3 feet at the most, and she said oh no the water was up to here, and she pointed towards the top of her door. And her house was on a higher foundation. So pretty much over our heads!! Makes sense why all of these houses are completely gutted. I was wondering why they would have to tear everything out for a couple feet of water, but if it came up that high it makes sense. We tore up her shed for her. Then we headed to another house, this guy’s house was already gutted, so all that was left was the floor and the studs, and the outside of the house. There was a huge pile outside of all the sheetrock and installation etc. So some people worked on getting it into the dumpster, while some of us worked on ripping up his floor. Which was a tough job. We didn’t have a lot of tools, but there were 4 layers of wood on these floors!! So we had to pry them all up, which was hard because they had tons of nails. It took a while and we only got one room done. After that house we took a lunch break. We had brought our own sandwiches for lunch. After that we went to a guys house that had asked for help earlier. He also needed the installation ripped out of his crawl space. So we put our white jumpsuits back on. His crawl space was a lot shorter, so we had to be on our hands and knees! And unlike the first guy there was no concrete floor, it was just mud, so it was kind of nasty. The installation here had plastic around it, so it didn't rip as easy which was nice because it would stay in one piece, but it also held in a ton of water because it was wrapped in plastic. So the pieces were pretty heavy and filled with lots of water. I was wearing goggles and they got all fogged up. So it was hard to see, then I was on my knees in the mud pretty much in the dark with little light, and handed all the installation out the opening. Then we came out when were done. I was all muddy and hot. Luckily I had that suit on so it didn’t get all over my clothes. We had got a picture of all the guys in the white suits before we went down, and then they got a picture of us after we came out all muddy. We filled a lot of bags. We then headed to our last house; we helped the family there move some stuff out of their house. Then we worked on tearing out a floor there. It was made out of particleboard, so since it had got wet, it was all warped and had swelled up. We had to just hack at it with hammers and then shovels too. We had a lot of people working on it so it went pretty fast. It was about 5 pm and it was getting dark, so we called it a day. Brother Dyer drove us home. It was 2 hours back, and we were on the Turnpike, so we had to stop and pay a lot of tolls, which is annoying and expensive. We got back to our church around 7:30 pm, and there was some sort of party going on. We went in to use the bathroom etc. And some members from our ward were there, and they came and talked to us. I guess it was a birthday party for their grandma that was 85. They offered us food, so they let us come into the gym, and once they found out that we had been helping out with the clean up all day they gave us a ton of food. So we sat down with everyone else and ate. They had Mexican music blasting and a slide show on etc. So we got to eat. The Frankford missionaries were still with us too. Then we headed home. I was tired and starting to feel sore. We showered and changed, and it was about 9 when we had finished. So then we planned for our day tomorrow. I could not wait to go to sleep.

Ok Now the letter:

Heeey,                                                                                     Nov. 19, 2012

Well we had a good and interesting week. Ok so on Monday for P Day we went to this place in our area called Wissahickon Valley Park. It’s a really cool area. There is a river and then a walking/biking trail along side it. Then there are some cool old bridges. So we figured since it was a nice day and the leaves were changing that we could go and get some cool pictures. So we went with the Germantown missionaries and spent sometime walking down the trail and taking pictures. That night we had our 2nd appointment with Debbie our new investigator. We taught her the restoration and then set her with a baptism date for Dec. 23rd! She is catholic but she is pretty open. It's going to be a little hard to get her to church though because she teaches a class at her church and it ends when ours starts, and she didn't make it yesterday. After that we went over to "Mom's" house to give her a blessing because she hasn’t been feeling well. Tuesday- we taught Ester. She is a recent convert, who is really into the church. She is from Trinidad and is going back to visit, she just left yesterday and will be there until March. So we were trying to do her re-teaching before she left. That night we went over to the Dyer family’s home. They are a young couple that moved here this past summer for school. They are really cool, Bro. Dyer came out with us teaching afterwards. Wednesday - We taught Rueben (the blind guy) we had an interesting lesson with him. He isn't completely "all there" so it’s already hard to teach him. But he wanted to argue about how Saturday is still the Sabbath. I read like 4 scriptures from the bible that said that Sunday is now the Sabbath and he was having an issue with it. His baptism date was for this Sunday. But he's just been way to difficult to teach and we have a lot more to teach him before he can be baptized. So we decided to drop him, and give him a break for a bit. Later we taught Jordan. He's about my age. We've been teaching him since I got here. He's a cool guy and has been to church a few times. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. I explained to him how you get to start over with a new clean slate, and I also used the whole GPS analogy thing for the Holy Ghost and he really liked that. So it sounded like something that he wanted. We weren't able to set him with a date yet, because he had an issue with receiving the Holy Ghost as being a separate thing. He believes/thinks that when you are baptized you are automatically filled with the spirit. I came up with all kinds of scriptures from the Bible and Book of Mormon proving that you have to receive the Holy Ghost by the Laying on of Hands. But for some reason it was still hard for him to swallow. So we gave him a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon and asked him to think/pray about it. He did come to church yesterday. Thursday - We had District meeting and weekly planning. We had FHE with Ruby, she is a member, and Brother Carter came with us to that. Friday we taught Shamoya, she is a recent convert that we are re-teaching. We went over the 10 commandments with her. Then we went and saw Ester to get some info before she left for Trinidad. Saturday - We went to Northern New Jersey to help with the Hurricane Clean up! We had to wake up at 5AM! It was a long day!! I just copy and pasted what I wrote in my journal (above). So that describes what we did. Sunday – we had our meetings in the Morning. Went and picked up Jordan for church. Later we went over to the Groff's for dinner. And guess what... Sister Groff is from PG!!! Her maiden name is Argyle. I actually ran Cross Country with her Brother Evan. She said that she had written him (he's on his mish in Paris) and told him I was serving in her ward. She grew up near the Grove Creek stake center. And Celeste Lines was in her ward!! How cool is that. Anyways we had a good time with them. Then Bro. Groff came out with us. All of our appointments fell through, so he just did some stop by's with us.

I didn't mention this the other days, but its ridiculous how many of our appointments cancel or fall through here. Like you can almost plan on the person forgetting or not being home.

Man I can't believe its Thanksgiving this week!!!  That came fast!!! Thanksgiving was like my 2nd day in New Jersey last year.

"Mom" has invited us over as well as Rishie. Oh btw Rishie's baptism date is for this Sunday, but we are probably going to have to change it to sometime in Dec. because we need more time to teach him. I’m supposed to go on Exchange with Elder Taylor tomorrow. I’m really hoping I’m with him in his area, because I do not know how to get around this city! The buses are so confusing!

I’ve been hearing about lots of Girls from Back home that are getting mission calls!!! Crazy stuff!!!

Well happy thanksgiving!!! Have a great week!