Transfers! Westchester!

Last pday was a fun one! We went and did lots of things! We saw where Broadway is, the Trump tower, Radio City, Little Island, the Highline, and Chelsea Market.

I found out that I will be transferred to Westchester tomorrow and will be an stl(sister training leader). I'm very sad to be leaving Manhattan but I know Westchester is where the Lord needs me. I also have randomly been learning a little bit of Spanish as my companion studies her Japanese and I've started trying to pray in Spanish. My new companion, Sister Vera, in Westchester speaks Spanish and a lot of my zone does, so I'm excited to be around others who are speaking it and hopefully learn more! 

We also had another one of our recent converts reply to us this week! Missionaries have been trying to get in touch with her through Facebook, knocking and about any other way you could think of since February and she reached out to us this last week! We are planning to meet with her tonight so I'm really excited! 

We sadly were not able to meet with the random guy who showed up to church last week but we did meet a super cool guy while street contacting named Rodd! We were walking down by the Hudson and decided to turn around and walk the other way instead, then there was Rodd! We simply just said hello but he stopped and continued talking with us and we found out he was Christian and interested in meeting. We met the next day and the day after. He sadly wasn't able to make it to church this weekend, but he is one of the most prepared people I have ever met! That's about it for this week! Love you a

Spiritual Thought: 

I loved reading 2 Nephi 4:20 this week. 

"20 My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep."

I love this because Nephi knew that it was because of God that he was able to do all that he did. I know that it is because of the Lord that I am able to do all that I can do. I know that you all can do anything through the Lord! I invite you all to think about how in your life, you can trust in the Lord more and allow Him to be your strength and support. 

**Pictures:

1. The district, one last time. 

2. Little Island! 

3. Radio City! 

4. Trump Tower 

5. Best family ×a million!

6. Central park and pretty fall leaves! 

The Weekly!

This week was full of lots of ups and downs! On Monday I went on the Staten Island Ferry for the 3rd time because Sister Rasband really wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. After the ferry we went to the 9/11 memorial pools and the world trade center. And as always we hit the souvenir shops! 

On Tuesday some awesome members in the ward ordered us shawarma and falafel. I'm not a huge fan of falafel but shawarma was pretty good! We also got gyros again at the gyro truck by the temple so lots of lamb this week! We also decided to try contacting at a different park, called Riverside this week which runs right along the Hudson. We met lots of cool people there and were able to get quite a few numbers so that was exciting. There are a lot more locals there than at central park 😂

We got to go in the Manhattan Temple this week as well and it was so amazing! I love the temple! Right after the temple we had an amazing lesson with Megan and we had one of my recent convert friends from staten island join our lesson and share his testimony. It was exactly what Megan needed to hear. We also shared with her that there are misconceptions about our church and she asked about what Latter Day Saints meant so we explained that to her and she said it all made sense, we also warned her about Satan and how he tries even harder to pull us away when we are getting closer to God. At the end we asked her if she had any questions and she said, "Nope, but I'm getting baptized!" It was the sweetest thing and we were so excited...but the next day she texted us and said that she doesn't feel like she can get baptized and become a "Latter Day Saint" or be "Mormon". I cannot stress enough as President Nelson, Elder Andersen and others have, how important it is to use the correct name of the church. We are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we are Christ's church on the earth today! It is so important that we help others realize who we are and what we are about. I invite all of you to do all you can to help others know who we really are and remember to use to correct name of the church always. As President Nelson has said, "The name of the church is non-negotiable." He also has mentioned that when we leave Christ out of it we let Satan win. 

We had ysa stake conference this week which was really good. We had one of my random Facebook friends show up for like the last 10 minutes because she got a little lost on the subway 😬 and we found out she lives in Jersey, but we were glad she came! We also had some random guy show up at church for the Manhattan 1st ward. His name is Seymour and he's so cool! We are planning to meet with him Tuesday and are hoping things go well! We didn't know him before and he said he wasn't invited by anyone, he just came. 

That was about it for this week! Love you all! 

**Pictures:

1. Statue of Liberty 

2. 9/11 Memorial

3. The Oculus 

4.Gyros!

Chinatown! MEGAN IS ON DATE!

 Hello Everyone!

Last pday we went to Chinatown with our district and got some yummy food! We went for soup dumplings, but we did things family style and I was just eating what was in front of me so to be honest half the time I didn't know what anything was😅 it was all delicious though! We also went around to some souvenir shops and they love to make you negotiate there. They don't put prices on anything and a lot of the people just stand at the street and try to get you to come into their store. After that we went and got mochi donuts which were kind of weird but good! 

This week we got to meet with Megan which went well. We have started to teach the commandments and so far she has been good with things, but this week we are planning to teach the word of wisdom and law of tithing so we're hoping that goes well. She also came to a baptism on Sunday! Sadly we didn't get her to church, but she did come to the baptism and she loved it. We had a member come and watch it with us and then had a talk with her and the member afterwards. She asked if she decided to get baptized if it would have to be on a Saturday or Sunday and we told her no, and asked if she had a day in mind since she asked that question. She then said if she were were get baptized she would want to get baptized on November 19th. Her golden birthday! So she put herself on date right then and we are so excited to keep helping her prepare for that! Thank you for all of your prayers for her, please keep praying for her to have strength to overcome her concerns🙏

We also got to do some family history this week so that's always a good time! The older man we randomly met on the street came in and it was pretty cool because we found out his wife was Japanese American and Sister Rasband was able to see all of the Japanese names and help find these people. I thought it was a pretty cool experience for her to be able to do that as she isn't able to be in Japan right now. He sadly was kind of offended when we asked if we could pray at the start though because he's Jewish, so sadly after meeting with him he didn't seem to want to set something up again, but we're still so glad we were able to help him start building his family tree! 

After we were done with family history one day this week, one of the security guards at the temple who has a very cool story but has had some struggles with people in the church talked to us about family history! He recently lost his father and is planning to go to Africa to see family and remember his father and he said he wants to talk to his family members over there and get all the information he needs to be able to do their work. And he mentioned that he is like 85% there with baptism and thinks within the next year he will be ready to be baptized! It was some of the best news because he is a better missionary than all of us and literally hands out pass along cards and Book of Mormons on the subway and now it's his turn to be able to make these covenants and receive the blessing that he can receive! 

I also started reading The Book of Mormon again this week and I loved the first verse so much, it hit me in a different way than ever before. 

1 Nephi 1:1 

"1. I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days." 

Nephi was highly favored of the Lord and he still had trials and afflictions come in his life. It made me think that when we have trials and afflictions, it is not the Lord punishing us or trying to make our lives horrible but we are favored of the Lord and these trials and afflictions, just like they did for Nephi, can shape us into the people the Lord knows we can become and help us become stronger. ❤

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all!

**Pictures!:

1. Chinatown! 

Conference! It's October!

This week was a good week! On Monday we played kickball with our whole zone and it was a super fun time! 

Tuesday and Wednesday were very busy for us! We were able to meet someone named Greg who was previously in contact with missionaries for a short time and he is so cool! We're excited to keep meeting with him! We also were able to meet with some more members which is always a good time! And we met with Megan! Megan is doing well. We had a very spirit filled lesson on Wednesday and invited her to be baptized on the 23d of this month. There has always seemed like there was something holding her back and this lesson she finally started expressing her concerns about baptism and now we know her needs so we can start helping resolve her concerns to help her prepare to get baptized! If you could include her in your prayers it would be greatly appreciated! 

On Wednesday we also were standing outside of the church deciding if we were going to take the train or the bus home and this older man started talking to us and asked where we were going. He then told us he knew a member of the church once and that he used to do family history at our church. We right then set up a lesson to meet with him the next day and we were able to find the documents he was looking for. He was the cutest old man! 

Thursday night we had 4 friends planning to attend ysa volleyball and 2 of them ended up coming! There also were 2 others there that a member invited who were not members and we were able to talk with them so that was awesome! The Lord truly is placing people in our path. 

Conference was the best as always! SOOO many good talks!! We had quite a few friends watch so that was awesome! By far the best church week on the mission haha. One of my favorite talks was the one by President Oaks. He focused on the importance of sabbath day observance. I love the opportunity we have to have a personal relationship with God and feel that it is very important to study and ponder on our own, but how important is it that we also worship with others! And that we go to church to be able to partake of the sacrament and become better through our Savior, Jesus Christ! I testify that we need each other and we need our Savior, just as much as we need that personal relationship. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

**Pictures:

1. The Zone! 

2. Random public transportation pictures! 

3.I have the best family!