Monday, July 15, 2013

Week 35 NYNYS, Staten Island- the best area in the mission...

Everything is great in Staten Island. We are seeing such positive results here! It gets better and better every week. The week before was a little difficult, but this week was great!

Our mission loves Elder Tuiaki and I and provided us with an extra A/C so now we can survive in our apartment! It was getting unbearable.

Early in the week, we visited the Fernando family from Sri Lanka. Sister Fernando made Curry Chicken, and oh man, it was the best food I have ever eaten in my life! She also made this awesome noodle dish that was amazing. They are the coolest family ever. We had a great time with them. I am so glad that we had a chance to get to know them, because lately we have been coming in contact with many people from Sri Lanka. One, we are meeting tomorrow with Bro Fernando, and the other is trying to find a new job just so he can meet with us and come to church on Sunday! People from Sri Lanka are so warm and welcoming.

There is this beautiful place by the St. George Staten Island Ferry that has a wonderful view of the water, Brooklyn, Manhattan and New Jersey that many people come and sit while they wait for the ferry. Most people are sitting quietly and thinking and we simply say hi and start a conversation. We have met some great people there that are very interested in what we have and are being prepared to hear as well.

On Saturday we had our ward Cultural Party which was a blast. It went very well and there was tons of food from many different countries (these are my favorite parties, because all the left over food comes to the missionaries, and it is a buffet). There was one kid that could do the Gangnam Style dance perfectly. It was hilarious.

The baptism that we were planning on having yesterday, didn't happen this Sunday. We did not feel quite comfortable having the baptism then because we have a few more things to go over with them and we didn't to rush them. They are really excited and ready for baptism this Sunday. I feel that pushing the baptism back will help them have a much more memorable experience. Yesterday, the other Elders had a baptism too that I filled in for the musical number on the violin and played the piano as well. I played a medley of He Sent His Son, Baptism, and When Jesus Christ Was Baptized. It went well and the baptism was nice.

Following the baptism, we went to the Ferry to go talk to people. We walked down and ran into the Lettoerle family and they asked us if we wanted to go meet their upstairs neighbor they talked to about the gospel and wanted to meet us. I was like of course we do! Him and his daughter are definitely ready for the gospel. We talked about the Restoration and and watched the 30 min movie on it as well and they loved it. They also said they would be willing to be baptized. They have had a very tough life and really want to follow God and keep His commandments.

Staten Island is great! I really love it out here. Everything is going well. Thank you so much for those who wrote me this week. I will work on writing you back today. Time for our zone activity- volleyball (YES!) and ping pong at the chapel in Dyker Heights!

Love,
Elder Hooper
p.s. I have been out for 8 months now.

No comments:

Post a Comment