November 2, 2020 Happy November! It's weird to think we are almost done with 2020. What a crazy year it's been! It pretty much rained all week and got down into the 30's. I forgot how much I hate the cold! It's times like these that I am grateful we don't have to spend our nights knocking doors anymore. Everyone say "thank you corona." President Teuscher said that watching church online will no longer count as sacrament attendance for the people we teach, so we need to get them going in person. Well, our church starts at 9 AM, and Angie and Jeynaliz live an hour away from the chapel. Sooooo to make it easier on them, we had to refer them to an English ward in downtown Manhattan. We were so sad to say goodbye to our most solid people, but its for their own good, so its okay. We said our goodbyes to them and brought them brownies, and Jeynaliz wanted to make friendship bracelets together so she could remember us! Mine is pink and blue (her favorite color, an...

October 26, 2020 Hello!! Yes, the rumors are true! It is my half birthday today! Thanks everyone for all the half birthday wishes, you all are the best. Anyway, This week was no picnic! I saw a few cool miracles but there were lots of struggles this week. I will try to word things as nicely as possible because I don't want to be rude or anything, but my comp hasn't really been the most obedient guy in the world. He wakes up anytime between 10-12, and he doesn't like to work during the little time that he actually is awake. Theres a lot of other stuff but I won't expose him too hard. I still love him, he is a homie. Just pretty unmotivated. Not entirely sure how he is a zone leader with me but I'm just playing with the cards I've been dealt.  I have had a lot of time alone while he sleeps, which is super not good, but I am determined to continue working as hard as I can. I had some amazing personal studies, planned a HYPE initiative for the zone, and made a few f...

October 19, 2020 It was a good week! Elder Hale is my new companion which feels so weird because we were in the MTC together so I get flashbacks like every single day of memories I worked so hard to forget about, but nope they are all back now! Haha jk. Elder Hale has spent the past year in Long Island and Connecticut, so it is his first time in the actual city, which is funny because I have spent the past year in only city areas! I enjoyed seeing Elder Hale's reaction to normal city things, like rats in the subway, fights on the street, and loud music all night. It seems like we have had complete opposite experiences in our missions until this point haha. We are teaching a 9 year old, Jeynaliz, who is the most adorable little thing on the Earth! She is counting down the days until she can be baptized and is just so excited to be a member of the church! She might even love Jesus more than she loves her unicorn stuffed animal, which is saying something! Pray for her and her mom, An...

October 12, 2020 HOLY COW! This week was crazy! So on Tuesday night, we got a call from President Teuscher telling Elder Davis that he is going to be the next AP, and that he leaves THE NEXT MORNING! We were not expecting that because transfers were still a week away, and we were almost 100% positive that we would both stay here together. So Wednesday morning we had an emergency switch-a-roo with companions, and I stayed in Harlem with Elder Skinner as my temporary companion for the week! Elder Davis and I were SO SAD that we were getting separated. We only got to be companions for 5 weeks, and 2 of those weeks were spent on exchanges (we did the math). It was fun while it lasted, but it was also fun getting to be with Elder Skinner! This past week I was really stressed out because I had to be the only zone leader in the zone, and I was leading an area I don't know very well yet. It happened so soon and with almost 0 notice, so it was just really shocking. I also wasn't allowed...

October 5, 2020 1  YEAR IN! Thursday was a year from when I left home, I can't believe how the time has flown. I spent the day on ANOTHER exchange haha, surprise surprise. I was with Elder Skinner in Inwood! It was super fun! On the way home we were just walking on the sidewalk, trying to return in a timely manner, and some drunk guy got like 2 inches away from me and was screaming at me and got his spit all over my face. He looked like he was about to beat us up, and Elder Davis started to swing his arm to punch the guy, but the guy backed off before things got serious. We walked away quickly and we were fine. I'm gonna be honest, that kind of stuff doesn't even surprise me anymore haha, that's just another day in Harlem. When I got home, my parents ordered us each a carton of ice cream, cookies, and brownies! It was so good!!! Elder Davis also wrote a "happy 1 year" message on our bathroom mirror which was super nice!  We had MLC this week, which is just a m...

September 28, 2020 Hey everyone! How was your week? That wasn't a rhetorical question, please let me know because I am interested to hear! That means YOU! Luis got baptized this week! It was a great experience for everyone involved, but MAN was it stressful! Its a long story, but so many things went wrong haha. 2 days before the baptism, Luis got cold feet and thought he needed a little more time. We sat down and talked to him for like an hour and resolved his concerns, and by the end, he felt good about being baptized again. He was SO ready for baptism, I think he was just nervous. That gave us a mini heart attack. Then, 2 hours before his baptism, our bishop (who was supposed to be the one to baptize him) got Covid, and couldn't come anymore! So at the last minute we asked another member to perform the ordinance. There's like a million other things that went wrong with the font, the zoom link, and the baptism jumpsuits, but I don't want to ramble, I think you get the ...

September 21, 2020 This week was great! I love serving with Elder Davis because not a second goes to waste and we are always working hard. Also, a member of the quorum of the 70 and his wife, Elder Clayton and Sister Clayton, visited our mission this week. We had several meetings with him every day and it was really powerful! But it was also A LOT of time spent staring at a computer screen. One day we had 5 continuous hours of meetings with him and we felt so dead afterwards haha, but it was good. Elder and Sister Clayton, and President and Sister Teuscher all joined our District Council one day, and it was terrifying but it turned out pretty awesome! I went on an exchange this week into a Sign Language area, which was way fun and interesting! I couldn't really participate in the lessons but it was super cool to see how it works! I could still feel the spirit even when it was silent and I had no idea what was happening. I also got to go on an exchange with the AP's and they hel...