November 17, 2019
My new companion is named Elder Stanford! He is from San Francisco California, and is one heck of a guy! He is the best trainer I could ask for, and I love him so much. Seriously, no complaints. The area I was assigned to serve in is called Richmond Hill! Its in Queens (and a little bit of Brooklyn), and I love it so much! Its literally where Spiderman lives! The high school that they filmed Spiderman at is really close to my apartment, and I see it daily! Seriously, just watch one of those movies and you'll see where I live. My mission president told me that my companion and I are the ONLY PEOPLE in the world who are authorized to bring the gospel to this area, so if anyone is going to do it, its up to us. That got me really excited. I get to ride subways probably more than 6 times a day, and am always going up and down the streets and seeing all parts of this area. I love it. Bagels are also a daily occurrence here. I don't think a day has gone by where I don't have a New York bagel. They are the best. We got some fresh from the bakery and they had garlic and seeds and all sorts of delicious stuff on them. Muy bueno. Good food is not hard to find here. My apartment is on the 8th floor of our building, and we have a view of the Manhattan skyline! I have plenty of pictures that I will attach in this email.
Our teaching tactics here are very unique! We are teaching people who live all over the world! Because of our technology, we teach people via Skype every day who live in Peru, India, Africa, and even other places in New York that aren't in my area, like Manhattan. We teach them because they were originally found here, but then moved or something and we just haven't transferred their data to other missionaries yet. But we mainly do lessons at peoples homes, who live in my assigned area. Anyway, most people are at work during the day, so we don't go knocking door to door. We actually meet new people on the subway! Its so much fun and a lot less awkward and scary than knocking doors. My companion and I usually walk on the subway and split up, and sit/stand next to different people. Its a little scary because most people on the subway don't talk to each other, and everyone has tattoos or smells like drugs or just looks mean. But we have been working together to both get better at talking to strangers, and I am definitely improving! I have already found 2 interested people by doing this. But as far as LESSONS go, we are the only missionaries in this area, so we are kind of like spanglish missionaries. Half our lessons are english, half are spanish. Both languages go really well, and we honestly are doing pretty dang good when it comes to teaching.
Okay, story time. I have a few crazy stories already, but I want to share 1 in particular because it was probably the most memorable part of my week, especially considering how new I am at missionary work. We are currently teaching 23 investigators, which is a lot, and I love them all. One of them is named Vidiana. She is going through a really really hard time! She is in a very abusive relationship, she is an alcoholic, and her family AND her boyfriend all told her that she should "jump off the train" because her life is so messed up. Vidiana started to think that was a good idea :( My 2nd day into my mission, we got a call from her telling us that she is planning on killing herself. My heart DROPPED. She told us that the missionaries were the only hope she has to be happy again. We told her to hold on a little longer because we wanted to set up an appointment with her. I was really stressed out. At this point, her life is in the hands of a missionary who has only been out for 2 days, and I need to share with her a message that will save her life. Needless to say, I didn't sleep at all the night before the lesson. But the lesson went amazing! She was crying almost the whole time and she made some amazing commitments to get herself into a better situation. I hope she keeps those commitments, and I look forward to seeing how she progresses. We provided her the resources she needs to get her life back on track, we just hope she actually uses them. She seemed to be doing a lot better after our lesson with her. So anyway, I'm out here saving lives and stuff. Keep Vidiana in your prayers please. So much more has happened and I cant express enough how crazy missionary life is. But I have seriously loved every second. Not a day goes by where I am not grateful for the opportunity I have to help others become better people through the gospel.
Last thing I want to talk about! My ward is awesome! Its the Richmond Hill Third Ward. Except there isn't a first or second ward... no one knows what happened to those. So yeah, third ward. The members are so nice, and yesterday was the primary program, so all the kids in the ward sang and bore their testimonies. It was awesome seeing that in spanish! The church building looks exactly like what you would expect in New York. Its on the side of a busy street, squished between other buildings, and its 3 stories tall. It even has an elevator! Its way different than I am used to, but I think it is awesome.
Anyways, that's all for this week. Good job to everyone that actually read this far. Wow it has been so eventful. AND SO COLD! I probably wear 4 layers every day, and its not even winter yet. It snowed my first day here, and has been below freezing almost every day since then. I've never experienced cold before, so its awesome... for now. Adios! Love you all!
Elder Webster
PS. The address to my apartment, in case anyone wants to send me anything, is:
116-24 Grosvenor Lane
Kew Gardens, NY, 11418
Apartment 8B
Kew Gardens, NY, 11418
Apartment 8B
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