Homeless and you gave me room

This week was incredibly busy. The mission forgot we were a walking area apparently and they got rid of the sisters in the buffalo ward and gave us their area and moved us to their apartment... but they thought we were going to move ourselves. And second of all the sisters took the keys to the apartment all the way to Rochester so we had to wait until those got back. They cut the lease with Bishop like I think I said earlier and I'm really glad that it was with our bishop because we technically didn't have a place to live for three days. Bishop let us stay of course. It was really warm though so if we did need to sleep outside we probably would have lived. It was so warm all the snow melted and it was like 40 degrees.

Since we now have two areas merged we had appointments all day everyday so we got stuck moving our apartment one night. We were cleaning our old apartment until 11 and then we were moving into the sisters old apartment until 12:15. We then had zone conference the next day.

We were able to have a return lesson with a woman named Jonita that is now not in our area because Elder Bouck was gone to pick up his new companion. She had started reading the book of Mormon and didn't understand it so we read it with her. We asked her about a date for baptism and I brought up two dates. January 21st and Jan 28th. She paused and asked how I came up with those two dates. Her son had apparently told her that it would be awesome if she got baptized on his birthday, which was the 28th. Her uncle's birthday was also on the 21st. She asked if she could pray about it and we said that would be an awesome option. 

We had dinner today with the derosiers and that's about it. I hope everyone had a wonderful uplifting Christmas. Always look for the little things you can do. Exaltation is just a bunch of little right choices built up for an eternity.

My new address is 48 Raintree Island Apt #8 Tonawanda, NY 14150

Serenity in Saliency

Greetings

It's the end of the transfer here in the New York Rochester Mission. Elder Harvey and I are staying together but a lot of things are changing here in buffalo. The sisters are leaving Kenmore and we are moving into their apartment. Our area is going to be huge now and we still use public transport but we have a car to get to the metro station. We still have no idea when we are moving or what is going on but it's going to be good. 

I am always pretty tired after we get home from the day but this week was something else. We found ourselves in one of the worst parts of our areas at 9 at night in 15 degree quiet snowfall one night about two hours away from home...

Another night there was a huge lightning blizzard that went over all of Buffalo and we happened to be walking around at the bottom of our area that evening. So we were in the rim of where the snow hits the hardest because of the lake. 

We had exchanges this weekend too and I got to go with Elder Hershey for one last time. He is going down to cattaraugus branch now.

The woman, Angel, was able to come to church finally. We walked with her to church from the train and I sat with her in sacrament. After church she literally asked us to baptize her so she is on date for baptism in January now. :(

Anaklet also finally made it to church on time. My companion taught him on exchanges and he is still so stalwart with his questions.

The Cotto family is still sick.

This area is completely different then when I first got put in here. The area book was pretty trashed when Elder Vizcaino and I first started. This is big area for walking, and it has more people in it then my two past areas combined. As we have worked and striven to be obedient to all The commands given to us from The Spirit of God we have been led to the people that God wanted to teach. The best way to forget yourself is to never remember yourself in the first place.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas.

Our Christmas tree is still in the box because no way I'm doing extra work.

Snow - the lubricant for schedules

The world has shifted enough for winter to begin here in buffalo. Along with the snow has come a change in planning. Our plans for each day are much for flexible because we never know when things will change. Traffic becomes slightly more erratic. So the people we schedule more frequently fall through. Several times people have said they aren't interested but they will let us in their home to get warm.

We were fed this Sunday by someone we met when we knocked on their door. Her name was Charlotte and her husband's name is Phillip. They have three kids and they were a really normal family which is weird here in new York. She had some questions about our faith and what we do as missionaries and then she invited us over for dinner that Sunday. They weren't interested in a message but we went. They are going on a trip out west this summer so they wanted to know any places they should visit in Utah. They were already planning on visiting zions, the grand canyon, Bryce, and Moab. I wish we could have shared the gospel with them then but it didn't feel right just then. I know they'll find their way.

The boy Anaklet came to a ward Christmas party last second. We showed up at his house for a lesson but invited him to the party instead. He came without questions. We later found out he thought he was going to have to stay over night for church and he was completely ready to do so with a little apprehension. It made me chuckle. He is so trusting it surprises me every time. He came to church the next day late again and without a coat even though he had to take the train. He walked a mile in 30 degree weather to get to church with only a jacket... 

The Cotto family is struggling with sickness right now so we haven't met with them. Gabriella will have to wait for baptism a little bit longer.

The quiet Glow

The relationship of light and dark and the symbolism of it has always intrigued me. 

Light represents many things. Knowledge, truth, joy, spirit, good, among other things. 

Dark however represents an absence of things. Take the "baseness" of the lamanites for example. Baseness is the lacking of higher morals or values. They were known as a dark and loathsome people. They didn't possess something dark, or they didn't have something negative. They just lacked something that we call light. Dark can represent evil, or bad, but it's simply a lack of something. It's kind of like binary with 1's and 0's.

There would be no change in our lives without the dance of light and dark. 

What would the starlight be without the dark of the night sky.

In this sense dark is not always bad. There is only the growth or loss of light. So the only evil is the loss of light or the retrocession of our light.

The only difference between good and evil is the presence of an anchor or a foundation. Hope. Without it light will decrease. It's only a small change from no hope, to know hope.

In comparison to God we are but a glow. If you feel you don't have the strength to increase your light, hold on to your glow. Remember even the smallest stars can lead a sailor home.

Just a short poem I wrote in the MTC.

The Glow

Sometimes we're in the spotlight
Or maybe in the dark
But no matter what we're placed in
We should always be the spark

Don't worry about the cracks
in your glass or in your wall
Just show them your foundation
And what makes you stand tall

He knows that you can do it
I know He loves you so
No matter where he puts you
Never hide your glow

That's about as much light the world as you're getting from me.

Anaklet, the kid from Tanzania came to church. He didn't come on the train so we thought he wasn't going to come so we walked to church and during sacrament meeting he walked in. He set his alarm for pm haha. It would be pretty easy just to stay home since he was already late but he showed up anyways. He just turned 18 a week or two ago. He wanted to go up and share his testimony by the end of the meeting. The downtown Elders gave him the Christmas tree we brought to church for them.

We had a lesson with a woman named Angel and the sisters in Clarence. She has two kids and is in her 30's so she is going to start going to our church instead of meeting with the Buff YSA. She is super prepared but she got sick from some Thai food on Saturday night. We are actually going to give her a blessing today.