Happy Thanksgeeving🌽

November 20th

Well, it was snowing lightly when we woke up, so I was quite happy. :) Which means that the weather app, which says it is over 40°, is clearly teaching false doctrine.

We got matching Brooklyn Bridge umbrellas!

Thanksgiving lame joke:

"You know what Thanksgiving is in Spanish?" -Hermano Aguilar

"Día de acción de gracias!" -me

"Really? I thought it was just Thanksgeeving." -Kathy, the member's daughter.

*table bursts out laughing at her pretended Hispanic accent*

Transfer news:

Here in Richmond Hill still with the lovely Hermana Gillespie. Elder Carlson from back in Rego joined us! Elder Stoker is out and Elders Budge, Gover, and Sanz stayed. It's going to be a sweet transfer.

Action-movie moment:

So, you know those cool action movies where the bomb is ticking in the pipe under the major street and no one knows and then all of the sudden it goes off and the cover of the pipes/ manholes in the road shoots into the air like 15 feet and lands on a car's windshield while it is driving whilst fire and smoke are pouring out of the manhole?

That happened! Right next to our apartment. The lights were flickering in our apartment crazily, and we went outside our door to discover that some poor lady was trapped in the elevator with her dog. We went inside our apartment to continue eating dinner, and the lights continued to go crazy. So, naturally we peeked outside on our balcony. And there was hoards of firemen and people filming something that was blocked to our view and we saw a huge pillar of smoke rising far above the buildings. So, we were naturally outside viewing the event in approximately three seconds flat.

Cute Companions

Still Cute!

Book of Mormon Long Grass Picture

It was crazy. It was like there was a box of fireworks going off under the ground. There were sparks and fires and smoke emanating from this manhole and the firefighters were standing far away with absolutely nothing to do, because electrical fires are apparently quite dangerous.

After a few minutes we looked around to see a very grumpy man, we drew near and he immediately spilled all his problems at us. "Look what happened to my car! I'm so mad. It's brand new," he grumbled. The windshield got wrecked! It was literally all shattered glass. He had been driving on top of the grate the moment it exploded and the huge, probably 100-pound metal cap had landed flat on his windshield and he walked away without a cut, bruise, or broken limb. Talk about miracles! The man driving behind him only had a flat tire.

Overall, it was quite exciting and the street was flooded with people watching the holiday event. You can probably read about it on google. Type in "electrical fire in Kew Gardens, New York" and it should come up.

Sink explosion:

If the fire wasn't enough, one day early this last week I was saying my nightly prayers and I heard a strangled-sounding, "Hermana!" It came from the bathroom. I hopped up to see that our sink handle had flown off and the sink was shooting water in every direction! Luckily I had learn how to shut the water off just days earlier so I got under the sink and walked away only mildly soaked to the bone. But it was definitely an interesting experience.

Funny conversation:

"I'm going to marry Nicole." -7yo boy

"You can't marry her, Jared, she's already married." -mom

"Also, you can't marry her if I marry her first!" -6yo brother of Jared

*Jared gets a purely devastated look on his face*

"Noah! Don't do that to your brother!" -mom

*Noah maniacally laughs*

Children these days....

Okay, but the spiritual stuff. Quote of the week, "if you want a specific answer, you have to pray specifically," -Sharki (our Elders Quorum President). I swear all of our miracles happen on Sundays, but yesterday we were four new investigators short of hitting our goal, so we prayed to find a family of four. On our way to where we were planning on knocking, we came across a cute Mexican family walking home and taught them a few principles and set up a return appointment. How many were in the family? Four people. You'd best believe the Lord answers our prayers when we pray in faith!

The Elder's investigator got baptized! Yay for Gilberto!

That has happened more than once to us this week. Specific prayers are amazing. I think I have prayed specifically with less faith in the past, and that is always what makes the difference. Praying with faith is so important. Knowing that the Lord will answer me, and that I need to act on the answer is quintessential. For example, if I didn't talk to every person I saw, there's no way the Lord would have placed people into my path. But I did, so he did. I am grateful to see the blessings of obedience on my mission. :) Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles and living the Higher Law brings spiritual power.

Far Rockaway beaches are not gorgeous, but we'll take it.

Voss+Gillespie

Ten things (out of thousands) that I am grateful for: The Restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith, my nuclear family (Mom, Dad, McKinney, Nicholas, Audrey, Will, Scout), my Hispanic mission family, my mission, music, the Book of Mormon, kind and gracious people, my companion Sister Gillespie, President and Sister Reynolds, and my Savior, Jesus Christ.

My love and hugs this Thansgiving season,

Hermana Ally Voss