#GodLovesHarlem #HarlemHype #HappyHarlem #hashtag #k #lol
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| Shakas, Harlem, and our chapel. Love it. |
Aloha family a me friends,
For some reason the missionaries in my district really like hashtags. And thus my subject line reflects our group messagaes lol. But hey whatever gets them hyped! Speaking of which, my new district leader is my good ole friend from the MTC, Elder Tupou! Man has he grown to be a leader.
Needless to say, I truly am #hyped (lol) to be here in Harlem! It is a little mix between the Bronx and Manhattan. So much culture, so much crazies, so much continual miracles (and counting). I love it so much and love tracting and finding in the city and I know in my heart that this is where I need to be at this time in my life. How grateful am I to know that God is aware of me and my strengths and weaknesses and that everything happens for a reason.
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| Small small world! JodiAnn from BYU :) |
There are thousands, millions, probably even billions of people who wake up every day in pain. Waking up in pain and not knowing who or what to turn to. And that's exactly why God has servants, why He allows us this time to devote everything to him, and why He helps us to be bold.
Alma 38:12 exhorts to each of us: "Use boldness, but not overbearance; and also see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love; see that ye refrain from idleness".
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| Harlem Grown was giving out free tomato plants. Meet Tom. |
When we are bold and loving, the Lord will soften the hearts of those we come in contact with. When we are dilligent, our Savior will never leave our side. No effort, whether small or large, will go unnoticed. Because I know that my Savior is by me I can be bold. Because Sister Dunne and I were bold we were able to tract into a mother who lost a daughter 14 years ago and was just praying to God for help, able to find a woman on the street who was almost baptized into Christ's church in 2006, able to meet a girl on the bus who is hurting because her father has cancer and needed extra prayers, able to meet a woman who goes to the hospital everyday to visit her son who has been in a coma for six months.
May we each strive to be bold and dilligent and find that ONE who is in need of healing. Even if that ONE is ourselves. May we be bold enough to do what is right and needful to heal ourselves.
Randoms:
1) Our Ward Mission Leader uses a lot of big words. I, like Nephi, "delight in plainness". He told me, "Harlem has the most churches per capita per square foot than any other city" (or something like that). Got confused but pretty much got the gist. hahaha
2) Met our new mission president on Saturday. President Teuscher. He reminds me a lot of President Smith: hes young and seems like he would run a marathon every morning before starting his day. Not surprised haha
3) We live a block away from a track. We run in the morning. I am so happy.
4) We cover two wards. The Harlem 1st Ward and the Harlem YSA (Young Single Adults) Ward. Sundays are busy busy busy. Six hours of church weehaw.
5) Serving in the YSA ward reminds me a lot of the congregations back in Provo, Utah. Except everyone here is like interns in NYC and during the school year it is mostly students from Columbia University. So..pretty sick I must say.
6) A woman in the Harlem Ward was convinced that English was my second language and I learned that in the MTC...tried to explain to her that I only speak English but she didn't buy it lol.
7) There are choke visitors in NYC. So I knew I was bound to run into someone I knew one day. One of my SOAR counselors and friend from BYU was visiting her friend in Harlem and came to the YSA Ward. What a small world!
8) My new companion is Sister Dunne! She's from American Fork, Utah and we actually came out together from the MTC. So that means we both don't know what we're doing. Pray for us please and thank you :)
9) Went to whole foods. Said hi to a guy next to us. He asks "where are you from?" and I say "We're from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". And he says again "No where are you from originally? People from New York don't usually start talking to random people". lololol
Me ke aloha,
Sister Ellis
Believe Believe Believe
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| Got Thai food. Attempted to speak to the woman in Thai. |
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| @KB Station aka home |