July 25, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

The weeks are going by fast. The only way that I can describe it is that the weeks are blurs and all of the sudden it's Sunday again. Everything has been going as usual. Tracting almost everyday. Contacting people in Union Square everyday. It's crazy stuff. Everyday I am surprised at the kind of people that I meet. Last Wednesday after I wrote that last blog post, our entire district went to the Two Towers Memorial. It was a really experience except for the fact that it was about 100 degrees outside. I almost got dehydrated. All I can say is thank goodness for the random free drinking fountains on the side of the road. After that we went and taught Yanilsa again and have started helping her become more integrated into the ward. I am amazed. She has come to church every time she gets. It's fantastic to see the improvement. The rest of the week was normal. We got to visit this one lady named Norka and her son Alex. They are hilarious. We are her 'little buddies' It's also funny because we were just dropping by as a surprise visit and as soon as we walked in she gave us each two hot dogs and a giant glass of Koolaid. Not many like the missionaries...but when they like us....they really like us.

We also spoke to another lady named Elsa who is the very definition of a golden investigator. Only downside is that she has never been to church because she works on Sundays. However, she says that as soon as she goes and sees what it's like, she wants to be baptized.

Here's another heartwarming story. It was pouring down on us and being the missionary I am, I had an Umbrella handy. My comp however...did not. So we had to rush back to the apartment to get our giant Mr. Mac jackets. While on the way back however, we met this lady who randomly asked us for a Bible. We told her that unfortunately we didn't have any. She looked disappointed then asked if she could get a card with our number. We said 'of course' and gave her one. Now as a side note...this actually happens a lot....we have people ask us to pray for them in the street and everything. We didn't think that anything was really going to come of it......until she called us the next day.

On Sunday we meet her and her Fiance and taught them about the Restoration, gave her a book of Mormon, and then set a date to meet her on the following Sunday. The craziest thing was that her grandmother was LDS. That is the reason she wanted to talk to us. Because she wants religion and decided to follow her wise grandma! It was incredible and really humbling for me.

Our zone decided to have a pot luck thing going on for our district meetings. That meant that all the companionship's had to make something. My companionship did what any other Spanish Companionship would do....we made rice and beans. They turned out really good. We didn't have any leftovers. We were lucky because we are in the same zone with the Chinatown missionaries, which means that we got awesome Chinese food (including this weird fruit that was black and white and reminded me of a Zebra. I think it was Dragon Fruit) Anyway, the Elder from Texas decided to show his Texan pride and made Steak for everyone. It was really good. Except for the part when he set off the Fire alarm in the church.....Nothing bad happened though. The church is still standing.

Alright, Crazy story time. You meet a lot of interesting people contacting. I met a Government Conspiracy theorist the other day and another man that was Russian. I say that only because what he said to me was probably unique to him. He told me that in order to create balance in the world and to think clearly and have complete control of your body....you need to drink Vodka.....ya......

I love you all. Thanks for the letters and keep sending them. Crazy things happen everyday.

Again, love you all

Elder Jeremy Sherman.