Johnson City 12/18/2017

    New area, new comp, new apartment, new everything. Pretty crazy week around here. My new companion is Elder Richardson. He has severe dyslexia, so he can't really read or write. This poses a fairly significant problem, because reading and writing is incredibly vital to locating investigators, planning lessons, navigating an area, etc. So, I'm trying to learn the area and meet all the investigators while "flying blind" in a sense. It's a unique challenge. But the area is really awesome, and the WARD, yes it's a WARD, is full of awesome people. We have a super solid investigator on date for January 20th, she's been an investigator for nearly two years, and has been coming to church pretty much the whole time, but was worried about leaving the Catholic Church, because of what her family would think. But just last Friday she received her answer, and is very excited to be baptized on the 20th! So that's cool, walking into a baptism right when you get to an area is a cool thing. 
     My new apartment is way cool. We basically have the upstairs of a house, and the downstairs is empty. Our Landlord is the First Counselor in the Bishopric, and he's over at the house pretty often, as he works on remodeling the downstairs. He's a super nice guy. Compared to Massena, this apartment is a mansion. It's got a living room, a full kitchen, a huge bedroom, the study room is huge, and the upstairs loft/attic is a sweet workout area. The bathroom is only about 3 feet wide though. You win some, you lose some I guess. 
     My second day in the new area was spent out of our area. Elder Richardson has apparently been sick for a few weeks now, and isn't sure what it is, possibly lyme disease, possibly an ulcer, could be that he's lactose intolerant. So, Sister Rogers (MP's wife) set him up an appointment in Oneonta, about an hour and a half away, with a member-doctor who is up there. So we drove up there at 10 am, and were there the better part of the day. After Dr.Jones examined him, he ordered some blood work to be done. Elder Richardson had to register at the hospital first, so we spent about 45 minutes getting him registered, and luckily the Spirit helped a brotha out. Because after having been in the area for less than 24 hours, I had the apartment's address, our phone number, the mission home's address, and a couple other random facts memorized. As Elder Richardson greatly struggles reading and writing, it was a good thing I got some help there. After he was registered, we went and he got some blood drawn. The doctor who drew his blood also informed him that Dr.Jones had ordered a stool sample... So, we went to Wendy's to get some food, and I had the most awkward and lonely 45 minutes of my mission. As I sat in the booth, perusing my white handbook, my comp was in the public restroom.... gathering data... Lemme tell ya, 6 months ago, I would not have guessed I would ever be in a scenario anything like this, but now, nothing would really surprise me. Anyways, after that adventure, we cruised back to Johnson City, and had a few appointments. 
     My third day (Saturday), we had an AWESOME lesson with Sister Torres. The Torres family has 4 kids, 3 of which are baptismal age or older. She is incredibly interested in learning, her mom is a member in NYC, and she's always known of the Church, but one day she heard about missionaries, and invited them over. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and reviewed the Plan of Salvation. They are such an awesome family, and I'm praying they get baptized rather soon. 
     Sunday was great. We had a meeting at the Church at 8:00, however, the three missionaries I'm driving all forgot this meeting was a thing. Even though it happens literally every Sunday. Soooo we rolled in slightly late, luckily the Ward Mission Leader was also late. So we were safe, but wow. They kinda just forgot about this meeting that is an extremely regular thing.
     Long story short, the area is awesome. The Elders I'm around are different... We also have to use a laundrymat, so that's kinda a bummer. But it's going to be interesting this transfer. I'm excited to see how much I can learn and grow, because I see plenty of opportunity to do so.

     I'LL TALK TO SOME OF YOU FOLKS IN A WEEK. THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO TO SUPPORT ME. BTW MY NEW ADDRESS IS 


LOVE YOU ALL.


ps the Scranton Pennsylvania Stake touches the border of our ward. So I'll keep an eye out for Jim and Pam, and I think Michael is probably in the stake presidency. So that's cool

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