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

NYC Can't Breathe

Monday, November 13th

I want to start out by adding my continued sympathies to my family members. 

I love you all and pray for you.

I don't support graffiti but sometimes we find really cool ones. :)

This week I begun MyPlan (the six-week program missionaries take before they go home). That was crazy. These last six weeks will probably cold, rainy, and full of Christmas spirit. NYC dropped into the twenties, which is when one knows that winter has truly begun,

I made a lovely coloring page. It was really sweet of Genesys to give it to me, and I colored every single night, so clearly it was a good gift!

We also found eight new investigators (several by knocking and being let in on the spot, others by street contacting and member work), put two more investigators on date, had three investigators to church, and worked hard.

Someone needs to tell the grocery stores to stop putting the ice cream on sale, because *of course* if they are two for five we will each get a carton. No questions asked.

Service at Forest park is easily one of my favorite parts of the week, who doesn't enjoy getting down and dirty planting tulips (last week) and (this week) chopping down flower bushes?

We saw the people when they were making this mural. Cypress Hills is an area near Brooklyn.

People go all-out for Halloween.

The primary presentation is one of my favorite days of the year! The children are hilarious.

Also, Christmas is nearing, and it is just about time to #lighttheworld in 25 ways over 25 days! Prepare yourselves by looking at the calendar when it comes out after Thanksgiving and serving in every way you can. :)

I was just reading a talk by President Monson that I love. It states:

"I recall reading some time ago the counsel a father gave to his son when he went away to school: “If you ever find yourself where you shouldn’t ought to be, get out!” I offer to each of you the same advice: “If you ever find yourself where you shouldn’t ought to be, get out!”

The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. Every day of our lives courage is needed--not just for the momentous events but more often as we make decisions or respond to circumstances around us. Said Scottish poet and novelist Robert Louis Stevenson: “Everyday courage has few witnesses. But yours is no less noble because no drum beats for you and no crowds shout your name.”

Courage comes in many forms. Wrote the Christian author Charles Swindoll: “Courage is not limited to the battlefield … or bravely catching a thief in your house. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are inner tests, like remaining faithful when no one’s looking, … like standing alone when you’re misunderstood.” I would add that this inner courage also includes doing the right thing even though we may be afraid, defending our beliefs at the risk of being ridiculed, and maintaining those beliefs even when threatened with a loss of friends or of social status. He who stands steadfastly for that which is right must risk becoming at times disapproved and unpopular."

This precious girl got her call to Vancouver, Washington! How fun.

Zone activity in Rego! :-)

I know that courage in its many forms is often a battle, but it is so important that we are courageous.

"Courage, dear heart." -C.S. Lewis

I love you all. <3

-Hermana Ally Voss

Jehová, Sé Nuestro Guía

10/31

Happy Halloween!

I always like to keep you on your toes as to when I will email, which is why I never say which day it is. :) Elder Sitati of the Seventy actually visited us yesterday at our Zone conference which is why I didn't email. I'm not sure I mentioned anything about it, but I have actually known for about two and a half months that he was coming, so it was anticipated. It was amazing.

A ghetto pumpkin and honeydew to carve!

Moreover, this week we have seen a lot of tender mercies so I want to write a list of these moments:

-I think the Lice is gone!

-Luis and Leo got baptized. I will include pictures even though I wasn't there for either. :)

-Last night we talked about baptism to a part-member family and, emotional after reading 2 Nephi 31, the non-member wife said to her husband, "you know I feel something when the missionaries come over. I always have. I've prayed sincerely about baptism before and I've wanted to do it." She proceeded to mention how it was very hard for her because she saw her husband, and he didn't go to church ever so she didn't feel like it would be her family making the step together if she got baptized. The husband got emotional and it was a moment of true repentance, I think, on part of the whole family. The spirit was so tangible. So, so tangible.

Today at the pupusería we got this note in place of our check, "check is paid by the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your service". ❤️ It made me want to cry. Good people are out there!

The pupusería. It's called Nurias for anyone who is visiting New

York and wants to try it. Get the revuelta pupusas.

-On Sunday it rained all day. So what did we do? Why, we knocked, of course! But, this wasn't just rain. This was drenching rain. And I don't quite have a raincoat. So, I was just soaking as I talked to people on their doorsteps and pulled cards out of my bag as my fingers were dripping water (umbrellas are for the weak). Then, we met a lady who suspiciously said, "are you the Jehovah's Witness?"

"No, we're the Mormons!" We replied.

"Well then, come in!" (This conversation was in Spanish). I apologized many times for my dripping wet everything and she just kept saying, "well, that's why I have a mop." We taught Rosa most of the Restoration and are planning on teaching her the rest on our next visit on Friday!

-We met a deaf man on the subway who just lit up my life. He was so sweet! I did my best to move my hands in a game of charades in which I pulled out a couple of my ASL skills and called up the ASL sisters to communicate for me, and he is way interested! He was so sweet and I had a smile plastered over my face the rest of the night. We got McDonalds ice cream to celebrate.

-We sang every Spanish hymn that isn't in English during language study and it was so awesome. There are so many good hymns out there!

-We (kinda) got Cristian on date! It's complicated, but it doesn't have to be. Some investigators just feel like they have to know everything before they get baptized and they don't believe us when we say they don't! It's so irritating!

Pumpkin-headed picture!

Oh no! Lady liberty is falling.

She survived it! Whew.

NYC and the Statue of Liberty

-Elder Sitati Mission Tour/ Zone Conference (mega-mega-Zone since it was zones 1-5):

Question President Reynolds asked: what is your favorite BOM scripture on missionary work?

Answers: Alma 12, Mosiah 28:3, Jacob 5:71-72, Alma 30:33-34, Alma 27:17, Alma 31:35, Alma 29, WOM 1:7, Alma 26:22, Alma 37:33-34, 2 Nephi 26:27-28, Alma 26:11-13, Alma 13:24, 3 Nephi 5:13, Alma 26:27.

Mine: 3 Nephi 5:13. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Alma 37:7. Small and simple means.

President's: Helaman and the stripling warriors. Obedience with exactness.

When we shared these I felt joy. Excited. Comforted. Psyched. I felt the spirit. "It's not two years it's your whole life."

Of course it is hard ("Some people struggle with just air some days." -PR), but isn't is great? Isn't the work of Salvation awesome?

Conference companion picture at the Elder Sitate conference

Everyone already knows that I love and admire President and Sister Reynolds, but Elder Sitati started talking about how very carefully Mission Presidents are chosen and narrowed down from over 5,000 names to about 130 each year and how very good of men they are. And their wives, as well. He talked about how their interest in their missionaries isn't just for the mission but extends long after. And, naturally, proceeded with, "President, are you a sealer yet?" (Someone who marries people in temples). *shakes head* "well, by the time all of you get married he will probably be a sealer and there will be nothing that makes him happier than seeing your eternal happiness." Mission Presidents are so great, aren't they? I'm so grateful to have the Reynolds.

Some other great things Elder Sitati said:

"We will have challenges. It is better for us to have those challenges when we have all our feet inside the gospel." (Talking about families raised inside the gospel).

"When they have expressed the deep feelings of their heart, the spirit will prompt you to say what will be helpful to them." Elder Sitati encouraged us to stay as long in the appointment as we need to have them open up and share the desires of their heart.

"No, you don't have to trust yourself, you only have to trust the Lord."

Have the determination to do whatever the Lord will tell you in prayer, even if it is hard.

Forget yourself and focus on the work. Stop thinking "am I able to do this?" "Of course you are not! But with him you are."

It was a blessing to meet Elder Sitati and his wife. Like I said earlier, being on a mission is just the best!

Love you all,

Hermana Ally Voss

A Tribute to Grandpa

November 6th, 2017

About a year ago at this time, I received a call at about 9:30pm at night from President Reynolds informing me that my grandmother had passed away.

G'pa's interment - full military honors

At 9:41pm this last Friday night (November 3rd) , I received yet another call from President Reynolds. He informed me that my Grandpa Wright had passed away. I have no other words to describe how I felt than heartbroken. It was hard enough to lose my Grandma last year, though at least my family had informed me it might happen. The unexpected death of my Grandpa was very hard for me.

I remember seeing him just last April in my skype call home. He did his little smile every time someone said something funny, and he told me to keep working hard. In the call I made on October 11th last year after the passing of grandma he said, "we... love you. We appreciate the work you do. She... still... loves... you." I know that even though he may not be here right now that his love and legacy lives on.

President Reynolds tried to help me remember to think of the Plan of Happiness that I all-so-frequently teach. I've been scared to teach it the last few days because of my tender feelings, but we are going to share it with a family tonight. I am scared, but I know that my Heavenly Father is always helping me to stay strong through such times as these.

I am so grateful for the influence of my Grandpa in my life. If not for him, I would not probably have been able to play cello - he provided the funds for my lessons. And as you all know, just thinking of a cello brings tears to my eyes. It is such a huge part of my life. Without Grandpa I wouldn't have been able to come on a mission - I didn't have the funds at my disposal to do so, and I wouldn't have wanted to be such a burden on my family or the church. And my mission has 100% changed my life. Without my Grandpa, I never would have seen so many beautiful places in Oregon and Washington. I wouldn't have visited Alaska with my beautiful extended family. And without Grandpa and Grandma having raised my mother to be a faithful member of the church, I wouldn't have an eternal family. The influence of these two angels in my life is incredible. I only hope that I am working hard enough in my life, in my mission, on my testimony, that it will in some way pay back a small part of what they have done for me.

It reminds me of a primary song, "I have a family here on earth, they are so good to me. I want to share my life with them through all eternity. Families can be together forever, through Heavenly Father's plan. I always want to be with my own family, and the Lord has shown me how I can. The Lord has shown me how I can."

I am heartbroken and grieved at my Grandpapa's passing, but I look forward to getting to see my Grandpa and Grandma together one day in celestial courts on high. I love them, I cherish them, I am beyond grateful for all they have done for me. ❤️

Preparing the flag

Taps

--------------------

Sometimes, everything seems to go downhill, or to not be looking up. One thing that Elder Sinclair said to us at Stake Conference on Sunday was, "I got an email from my daughter the other day who loves natural remedies. We call her a bit crunchy. Her scalp was apparently flaking so the Internet solutions told her to make a sugar and olive oil scrub. It sounded delightful to her, so she did it. Then she tried to figure out how to get the oil out. Apparently it is almost impossible to get olive oil out of one's hair. One of the Internet suggestions was to use dry shampoo. So she used her normal baking powder dry shampoo. It didn't soak up enough, so she used an egg wash with cocoa powder to try to soak up more oil. After more tries with powdered baking ingredients, Nothing was working! So she thought about it and listed off everything she had used, 'sugar, oil, baking powder, eggs, cocoa.... dad,' she said, 'I figured it out! I made brownies in my hair!'" His point was to tell us that when everything goes crazily wrong sometimes we need to look outside the box (or brownie box jaja) and find the joy in life.

Some joyful moments for me were seeing all of my beloved Rego Park friends in Stake Conference. The Grandma of Leo, a boy who got baptized, saw me and burst into tears and thanked me for doing my little part in helping him towards the waters of baptism. I thought Leo was already pretty great, but she shared how much he has changed for the better since baptism! Sitting next to her was an investigator who began to cry as well for the story she was relating. It was a tender moment for all of us.

Also, a daughter of a beloved Rego family, let's call her Ariel (she's probably four or five), went into the aisle during Stake Conference for some reason and tried to go back to find her family but kept walking right past the aisle. I could see her, but to get past the six people on my left would have been very awkward. I watched her wander into the next aisle, confused and searching for her seres queridos (loved ones). A member from Rego Park saw her wandering and guided her back to her family. I saw the reunion as she saw her family, then burst into tears as her family consoled her. Her sister, mom, and dad were all hugging her. And I thought of the member who guided her back, and imagined her as the Good Shepherd. Always out searching for his lost sheep to bring them back to the fold. May we ever follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Exchanges are fun!

Last joyful comment from a youth speaker in Stake Conference: "If the Book of Mormon had never been written, Joseph Smith probably never would have translated it." Probably not! ;)

I love you all and my heart goes out to my mourning family. May each of you feel of God's love in this difficult time.

Love,

Hermana Ally Voss

"But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ." Mosiah 16:8

Of Lice and Men

October 24th, 2017

Shoutout to my mom who is officially Doctor Voss! Yay, how exciting.

This week many fun things happened. Like interviews, and trainer-trainee meeting, and a bishopric activity, and me getting lice.

A Joyous Reunion!

I have been a bit suspicious since my head has been itchy lately and I didn't want to jump to any irrational conclusions, yet I decided to have Sister Postma check me out at Trainer-trainee meeting just to be sure. She looked at me and didn't see anything, but I was still skeptical. And with good reason!

The next morning my head was quite itchy and to relieve it I moved my brush rather roughly against my scalp. I looked down, and was horrified when I saw insects filled with my blood crawling on it. It was positively awful.

Then, after I got the lice-killing shampoo from Rite Aid I discovered that one can never actually trust Rite Aid because it didn't kill any of the lice. And then I combed through my hair with the nit comb, and combed out hundreds upon hundreds of LIVE lice. Like, they were crawling around on the paper towel where I was depositing them. It was nasty. And they were big. And had my blood in them. Basically, I had blood-sucking parasites on my head (shoutout to Sister Reeve for the parting gift). I would include a picture, but I don't want to scare any children. Also, I was nauseous when I was picking them out, so I didn't actually take a picture.

And then every day since I have been brushing more live lice out of my hair. And washing clothes regularly. It isn't the end of the world, yet it is not quite what I expected to be doing this week!

Cristian came to church again, though! :) And everything else. Basically, he is golden. We love him. The Ward was talking all about him during Ward council and we felt like proud mothers.

I saw Sister Gourley yesterday! Her mom saw me on the street and the Sister Gourley chased after me and gave me a hug. :) I was very grateful to see her and meet her wonderful parents.

Luis and Leo are getting baptized next week in Rego Park!!!! I am so psyched for them!

¡Funnies!

***At trainer-trainee meeting the Assistants came up to me and, laughing, looked slyly at each other and back to me and said, "so... we heard that your first day in Richmond Hill you went knocking in Jew Gardens." And they burst out laughing. 'Jew Gardens' is apparently what all the missionaries term Kew Gardens. The shoe definitely fits, though!

***Also, at trainer-trainee meeting I was scandalized by one of our senior missionaries. I started talking to him about how our Elders needed a new metro card because of really weird circumstances and I began with, "Well, you know Elders. They're pretty irresponsible sometimes. What are you going to do?"

He responded: "well, hopefully you're going to go home and marry one of them!"

"Oh my goodness! Elder_____!" I exclaimed. It was really quite shocking. And then he just started chuckling like a naughty little boy. Elders. *exasperated sigh*. But y'all never fear. My heart is quite locked.

***We spent quite a sum on getting rid of lice and in the process had little money left. Yet, we had an abundant amount of Oreos. Sister Gillespie turned to me and said, "why buy groceries when you have Oreos?" I agreed. One could live on oreos and water, right?

***The nine-year-old we are teaching talking to her friend to invite her to be taught by us:

"Hey you know how I've been talking to the girls who talk about God?"

"Yeah."

"You know how you have anger problems?"

"... yeah."

"You wanna meet with me and them?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Bye."

"Bye."

It was quite a deep conversation, as one could tell.

Spiritual Thought:

D&C 28:16 "And thou must open thy mouth at all times, declaring my gospel with the sound of rejoicing. Amen."

On Sunday I sat next to a Hispanic couple on the bus who were involved in a serious conversation. I hate to be socially inappropriate but I always think about the phrase, "some missionaries are so worried about offending people that in the process they don't save any." So, I opened my mouth! Maravelli was from Ecuador and used to investigate and even had a baptismal date it sounded like. She described the Elders as having been like sons to her. She wanted to have us over and when I gave her the Book of Mormon she looked at it like the priceless book it is and said, "I have missed this book so much."

The Book of Mormon is true! And we need to open our mouths. :)

Love,

Hermana Ally Voss