September 16, 2013
The
Staten concert was in a church. That one wasn't that special, so don't worry
about that one haha. The concert [in
Jamaica, Queens] went AMAZING. I was so happy. I did You Raise Me Up. I'm going
to brag a little bit about it haha. We did the concerts 2x, one after the
other, and the workers who'd heard it the first time all stopped what they were
doing and came out and started recording me on their phones. Later I got
comments on how I was the only one they've ever heard do it as well as Josh
Groban and they know because they listen to/record music. They told me that I
need to continue. That made me really happy. All the musical numbers were truly
amazing, and I was by far not the best.
After
the concert on the way back home, we got stopped by a Muslim man who asked us
if we were Mormons and then asked us to tell him what we believed. After a few
minutes he asked us if we could come to the religious school he taught at and
talk with the faculty. Erickson, Sis Blosil, Sis Franklin, and I went and had a
truly amazing time. We had a wonderful discussion where they taught us what
Muslims believe and we taught what Mormons believe. It was not a conversation
where either side was trying to convince or convert the other. Just simple
informing. It was amazing. We learned so much and many misconceptions were
cleared up on both ends. They gave each of us our own Qur'an and we gave them a
BofM. It was so exciting and wonderful. We ended up being there for 4 hours.
What's crazy is that if things hadn't happened the exact way they did, we would
never have seen this guy. It was awesome. It is really interesting how similar
and completely different the Muslim faith is compared to the LDS faith. I would
say it is closer than any other religion to the LDS faith.
Things
in the ward are going well. We LOVE our new bishop. Due to suggestion from the
ZLs and comments from the Aps, we thought Adams and I were going to both be out,
but that wasn't the case. I'm staying and Adams is out. So we'll see who my new
comp is.
That's
all I got. I love you and miss you! I really really miss Kye. Send me tangible
pictures of him please haha.
[Pictures from Sister
Franklin, just before she went home.]
September 23, 2013
Well
things are ok here. My new comp is Elder Hellewell. It could be a long transfer.
He's from Lindon, went to PG. His cousin is actually one of my friends from
high school. So that's cool.
We
had a really cool experience where we went and talked to a guy on a bench about
English class and when we were done, I could tell something was wrong, so I
asked if we could help him in any way. Then we sat down, and he told us all
that had happened. It was really nice to be able to be of help to someone. Especially
a total stranger who felt like he had no one. If things had not happened the
EXACT way they did, we would never have run into him. So that was the cool
experience of the week.
I'm
so proud of you guys for talking at the Interfaith thing. That's so awesome.
I'm excited to read what you guys said. Also to see the interview. I'm
interesting to know who all saw it and made the connection haha. I do find it
really interesting and great that King played it off so coolly.
I
had known about the DC shooting, but had known that it wasn't the
same place that Sarah works in and that other areas were safe, so I wasn't
too worried.
It's
finally getting cooler here. I'm sick of sweating. I like the winter so much
better than the summer here.
