"No, We're Mormon!"

Lame joke of the week to break the ice:

After 10 minutes of trying to open a jar of salsa for Hermana Gourley's quesadilla.
Hermana Gourley: "How many sisters does it take to open a glass of salsa?"
Me: "One Elder."

Good morning!

Well, I am now one week away from finishing the new missionary 12-week program! Week 11! How crazy is that? I'm excited to see what transfers will bring next week (if I haven't explained before, changes in companions and areas happen every six weeks at 'transfers' in Rego Park in Queens which is why I moved to a different apartment five weeks ago). All things considered, Hermana Gourley will probably leave me and I will likely stay here in Brooklyn with a new companion and zero idea what I'm doing, but anything can happen!

Hermana Gourley and I - Selfies in the City

October is a very exciting month here in Brooklyn. One of the reasons it is so exciting is because we live down the street from a Jewish synagogue and Brooklyn has the second largest Jewish population in the world (behind Israel). They've been out on the streets wearing their pinecone hats (these huge brown pine-needle looking fuzzy hats that are hollow in the middle. I am told that when it rains they put plastic bags over them, though I've yet to see it) and top hats, blasting Fiddler on the Roof-esque music at 10:30 at night whilst the missionaries down the street are trying to pray. It was also interesting because one day as we were walking past their worship center to grab umbrellas from the house several young Jews got pretty close and talked to us in Hebrew as we walked. We evaded them but had to walk past them on the way back at which point they still came alarmingly close and (rather flirtatiously) asked, "hey, are you Jewish?" *hint hint, nudge nudge* Looking back over my shoulder as we walked on by I replied, "no, we're Mormon!" They jumped back with all due haste though I'm afraid I wasn't able to see the extent of their reaction given I was trying to be an "urgent, consecrated missionary" (AKA Hermana Gourley and I basically speed walk/run everywhere. It's good exercise, in the very least) but I wish I had! Jews don't normally flirt with us, but they do give us a good number of odd looks. It's quite entertaining.

Also, I had a sour cream experience this week. My compañera says it's 'Mexican Cheese' when people feed it to us, but whatever this stuff is (and for the record I'm 99% sure it's sour cream) it is just as awful.* We went over and a member had just about a thousand taquitos covered in it. Given they were messy and we couldn't eat with forks I was able to pick each up in a paper towel to slightly wipe it off and eat all but one served to me! After we got out of the apartment I looked to heaven and said a million silent 'thank yous' to a Heavenly Father who must have given me more strength than I've ever had before! I guarantee before my mission there would be no way I could have eaten such! The food was quite delicious, by the way, this is in no way any disgrace to the cook, it was simply the item on top that so dissuaded me. Also, this family knows how to cook dang well. I'd lie if I said I haven't eaten too many of their products far too often.

We had a rather awkward missionary activity on Friday. Ten people came.... We were going to do rotations but kept everyone together given the light crowd. In the very least there were darling Hispanic twins at the end, and Elder-made brownies!

Hermana Gourley and I went to go get Costco pizza! :-)

Autumn is upon us and I finally get to wear tights and boots!

Also, a truck got stuck underneath the train tracks. I've never seen that before...

Saturday we ate donuts bought by kind Elders coincidentally on the one day I hadn't eaten dinner since I had zero cash and one can't buy hardly any food with a card here in Brooklyn. Because, you know, all the food places probably aren't legal.... It used to concern me, and I'm still a little bit skeptical, but I've mostly accepted it. The point is, the elders (and the Holy Ghost's promptings) knew just what I needed that day! Which was food. Side note: Here in the city, we are always hungry. Walking everywhere works up one's appetite (and metabolism too, I pray).

This week had excellent missionary work! We were able to contact several referrals, have plentiful lessons, get three new investigators, and we had tons of less actives come to church! Esmeralda came even though she didn't know how to get there on the train, and it took her an hour and a half, but she came! With two of her kids! One wants to be baptized, so we passed him over to the elders so they could teach him the lessons. It made me so happy to see her and several other less active members come to church. It is a huge step in so many of their lives. Esmeralda hasn't come to church the whole time I have been here, and some menos activos have been inactive for years upon years. To see them come back is wonderful. We are called to find new people to come to church, yes, and to spread Zion; but we are also here to strengthen our ward and to bring the lost and wandering sheep back to the fold. Every time one of those sheep comes into my care, every time I meet a less active, they are every bit as much of a priority for me. I wish I could convert the whole of Brooklyn, but the members need to be converted as well! I have so much love for everyone here, be they member or less active or investigator or referral or random Jew or Russian I can't speak with. Brooklyn contains more diversity than I've seen anywhere, and every one of the sheep here in this pasture are so important to me and my Father in Heaven. New York, a melting pot? Well, maybe more like a stew, but at least all the flavors manage to work together! :)

Spiritual Thought:

2 Nephi 26:25 "Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price."

The gospel is a priceless, omnipresent, beautiful gift from a loving Heavenly Father to us. As I learn to follow Christ in every way possible, I have seen how easy it is for me to be grateful for every aspect of my life and to want the gospel more and more to improve those areas in which I am lacking. I am truly learning how "thirsting after righteousness" feels. I tried to make a list of all the things in my life I am grateful for a few days ago, and I continually noticed I was writing down even those things which irked me. All the same, I was grateful for them. I'm grateful for them because they help me to improve, to learn, and to grow.

The mission with Elder Jeffrey R Holland!

Close up of where I am...

I would invite any who feel their life is difficult or feel they are carrying heavy burdens or are just having a rough time to write down those things for which they are grateful. There are, for me, an endless supply of items to write. After three quarters of a page, I realized it was impossible for me to write down every moment of my life - and honestly that's what I would have had to write. Because I am grateful for each and every moment of my life.

All my love from Brooklyn, New York!

Hermana Ally Voss

*oh, to those who aren't aware, I despise sour cream. It's texture, it's flavor, the very essence of the substance. In eighth grade I even wrote an anti-ode to sour cream:

"Sour cream, oh sour cream. I hate you, don't you know? You really aren't my closest friend, I might call you my foe.

You are too gross to gaze upon, your smell makes me quite sick. And you, my little enemy, I would not want to lick.

Sour cream, oh sour cream you really are disgusting. With a creamy surface, too-smooth texture and a taste I am not trusting.

Sour cream, oh sour cream if you were as I saw fit you would not be in the world, and I would throw you in a pit."

-Ally Voss at age 13