Four Minutes in Manhattan

"In a sense, your four minutes have already begun. The clock is ticking. The words of the Apostle Paul seem so fitting: to run the race, that you may obtain the prize." -Gary R. Stevenson

Many of you (dearly beloved) will look at the title of this post and think "wait, I am 99.9% sure Manhattan isn't in Hermana Voss' mission boundaries, and can only go there every six months for temple trips, why was she in Manhattan for four minutes?" That would be a very good question (and one I will answer).

Rascacielos

Hermana Gourley and I were on the way to a trainer-trainee meeting at the mission office in Queens, coming from Brooklyn. If you know New York City well, then you would know Subways don't run from Brooklyn to Queens, so one has to go under Manhattan. This wasn't the problem, going under Manhattan was pre-authorized by the mission president, plus one is never actually above ground in Manhattan. The problem comes when you hear a voice in the Lexington Station stating that, "due to a stolen train car, all queens-bound N, Q, and R trains are not running in this station." My first thought was "someone stole a train car? How odd." In the following *train* (ba dum tsh) of thought I realized how this foiled our plans. We had to figure out a new way to get to Queens. Now, there was a station six blocks down with different trains running to Queens, so we figured we should go to that station, but the only way to get to that station was either an hour and some detour under Manhattan going through heaven knows how many stations to make a loop (and we were pressed for time to make the 10:00 meeting, despite leaving at 7:30am) or to go above ground and walk the couple of blocks. 

We called our zone leaders, who laughed at our situation and told us to get back underground as very quickly as we possibly could. And then we walked the six very short blocks along Lexington from 59th to 53rd. Spanish word for skyscraper? Rascacielos (scrape the heavens) which I think is darling. It was very applicable, given in those short six blocks we saw around twenty. It was absolutely awe-inspiring - I LOVE NEW YORK CITY. We were very focused on getting to the train station quickly so we didn't see much, but what we did see reminded me of how beautiful cities are. Brooklyn is
amazing and Atlantic Avenue is pretty gosh-darn cool, but Manhattan truly does have a different feel. 

Our moments of freedom in Manhattan!

After our four minutes we went underground and luckily all the trains were in working order there and we got to Queens safely, soundly, and only ten minutes late. Trainer-trainee meeting held a lot of gems of wisdom as well. One thing I love that one of our Assistants said was, "If we want to have
power, we must work within the keys." The keys of baptizing in our mission are held by our president - if we want to have the power necessary to convert and baptize, we need to work under those keys,
and obey the mission rules. At the MTC I learned that "obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles, but living the higher law brings power." My goal is to not only exactly obey, but to go above and beyond to obtain the spiritual strength and power I need to find, teach, and see others through to baptism.

After we successfully went back to Brooklyn entirely underground, we visited the church for a dinner appointment that involved pupusas. I don't really know how to describe the flavor of a pupusa, but I think it's probably a little like heaven. Nevertheless, there can certainly be too much of a good thing. We were given very petite, small plates "so that you can be skinny and go home and get married". In the Hispanic culture, we heartily approve of this mentality, given one is often very over-fed (note: the guest is always given more than the host eats. And they serve you to ensure you eat enough). Our goal is certainly not to be "gordita", and at all our dinner appointments thus far, they have alluded to making us skinny, so hopefully we are already too gordita and their goal is to get us in shape! After two pupusas we were pleasantly full and happy, but she misunderstood our satisfied smiles for, "oh they want more, I'll go give them more." She got up to retrieve more, as my compañera and I looked at each other in dismay. Hermana Gourley in haste asked, "wait - but what about being skinny?" "Oh honey," she replied, "you can be skinny tomorrow. There's always tomorrow." Needless to say, we ran a total of four times this week to perhaps fend off the averse effects of eating more than necessary for two not terribly large 19-year-old girls.

What the member said afterward, though, touched me. She said, "also, your mom is praying for you to have a good dinner tonight." My mom expressed in her email to me how she prayed for me to have good meals this week, and I testify the spirit speaks through others all too often. Thinking of home is always wonderful (sometimes I fondly look back on having Frosted Flakes and watermelon for every meal and cry silent tears of nostalgia). But being here is such a blessing as well, and I'm glad I'm in the hands of members and missionaries who only wish for my happiness.

The last couple of nights my sleeping habits have been very consecrated. I've been waking up approximately two or three times a night thinking it was 6:30am, praying, and brushing my teeth. Each time my companion followed, then suspiciously looked at her watch after I went through the motions, and told me to go back to bed. However, my prayers are more frequent than ever, and I'm glad that even when I'm hardly awake, I try to be exactly obedient to the missionary schedule. Oh, and for my first time ever, I saw a nun. Naturally I burst out into "how do you solve a problem like Maria?" the moment she stepped out of sight. Actually, I burst into song fairly often. That's not too
uncommon. But it was still cool. :)

We also are working with a darling little Hispanic family right now that we found last week. We love them! They have a 5-year-old and 7-month old that are the cutest things. Since they are currently
rooted in Catholicism, we are trying to help them see for themselves the truth of which we testify. We are doing a lot of finding, given our pool is very very small, we talk to hundreds of people each week,
but finding people who are willing to listen makes it all worth it.

And finally a happily ever after story to give you old maids (*cough* McKinney *cough*) some hope and also for my personal felicity and inner romantic. Elder Weisler, one of our Spanish-Speaking Elders (whose birthday is today), told us how his parents met and it was super cute so I'm relaying it here. His mom came from Britain for a church history tour, and met his dad in Utah where she stayed for nine days, and they went on a couple of dates and such. She asked him to drive her to the airport so she could fly home to Britain, and he turned to her when they got to the airport parking lot and said, not un-awkwardly I'm sure , "so.... Will you stay? I guess what I'm asking is... Will you marry me?" And she said yes. :) I just think that is so darling. Disclaimer: Don't worry mom and dad I have absolutely zero plans to do anything of the sort in my life.

Rainy day without an umbrella in Bayridge

Thank you for all of your support! I love getting your letters, emails, and the little things you send that make me smile. You are all wonderful!

"Dear friends, you are in the midst of an exhilarating journey. In some ways, you are racing down the half-pipe or sled track, and it can be challenging to perform each element or navigate each turn along the way. But remember, you’ve prepared for this for millennia. This is your moment to perform. This is your four minutes! The time is now!" -Gary R. Stevenson

-Hermana Voss, "La Jefa"
(what pretty much everyone calls me. It's a decent little joke since everyone knows at least a little English, and given "V's" are pronounced as "B's" by Spanish-Speakers.)

A few pictures of my apartment