Finally in NYC!

There are two letters here. This letter came in the mail today.  Megan wrote it on the day after she arrived. The next letter was written today and emailed home.

Hola Familia!                                                                          9/11/12

 

So I am here in NYC!  What an amazing place!  We got in at about 2 pm.  We flew into LaGuardia Airport (which we learned was the airport where that airplane ran into the birds and then landed in the Hudson).  We flew right past the skyline and my window view was PERFECT! I saw the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Queens, and the whole 9 yards.  Anyway, that isn’t the important part.

 

I have met my mission president and his family and they are WONDERFUL! Yesterday was a pretty low key day.  We just went to the mission home for interviews, had a wonderful dinner & fireside, and then stayed the night.  The house is in Port Washington on Long Island.  Wow is it green and beautiful here.  I have never seen so many trees!  We are now just about to go to the transfer meeting to meet our trainers.  My mission president says that the trainers  that he has chosen for us sisters are the best of the best and that the Lord has been clear that those are the sisters we need.  Yesterday, after he met with us, he prayed sincerely and I know my trainer is who I need to be with.  The amazing thing about a mission is that we have to work for the spirit and as we do, we meet the people God wants us too.  I guess that is true in real life too.  After the transfer meeting I’ll get moved in and then we go to work.  How exciting!

 

I love you all and it was wonderful to talk to each of you--even if it was really short, early in the morning, and hard to hear.

 

I miss you and feel so strongly and grateful that this is where I need to be.  It is an exciting time to be serving here in the NY,NY mission!

 

Love,

Hermana Chipman

Second letter

 

 

Hello Family!                                                                       September 17, 2012

 

It is so crazy, but I am finally here and writing you from NYC!! This place is incredible and I like it a lot. It is SO different than anyplace I have been and feels like a foreign country at times. I love it!

My trainer is amazing. Her name is Hermana Simplicio and she is from Forteleza, Brazil. She is probably going to "Die" with me as her "kid" (Which is mission language for she will go home after she is done training me haha). We have a lot of fun together and I know we will see a lot of miracles together.

We definitely have our work cut out for us. We are actually opening a new area here in the Rego Park II Barrio (Spanish for ward). We are 2 of the 8 missionaries working within the ward boundaries. One of the other Hermanas, is Hermana Gray and she was a study buddy of mine in my Geology class sophomore year, small world.

Our area is full of contrasts. Where our apartment is, there are a lot of trees, pretty red brick houses and apartments and nice cars. We walk A LOT, and even in just 45 min of walking, I feel like we pass through 3 different countries. We have a predominately English and every other language but Spanish area. It is all apart of Queens, which is supposed to be one of the most diverse cities in the world. I have talked to a lot of people so far and have only met about 5 from the states, it's pretty awesome. I feel like the whole world lives in my area. Claire Ewing wrote me and said something profound, she said the beauty of NYC is not the landscape like CO, but all the different people. I have to agree

There is a Spanish area called corona that we have done some work in and our district is doing something new and different. We are now having a "shared area." It requires communication so we don't run it dry, but there is a large area which is essentially all Hispanic that we will all be working in. I am excited.

 

The language is coming...boy is it tough, but my trainer is very encouraging and the members seem impressed with my Spanish for only being here for a week. Now the challenge is actually using it, I haven't had too many opportunities yet, but I am studying hard and praying it will come.

The work is hard. Seeing how we opened an area, it took a while to get going and gather all the records from the other missionaries to get an area book going. We have been doing a lot of walking and a lot of talking and a lot of praying. Right now it hasn't been fruitful, but I know we are here for a purpose and that we will find people to teach.

So far in doing our work I have made some interesting observations. Children love us, dogs HATE us, parents are either annoyed or offended by us and pretty much the only people who seem interested are the drunken Latino men on the side of the street who constantly cat call us. This is how the work has been for the majority of the time thus far. But there have been just a few moments where I stopped this certain Latino lady who was pushing her children in both a stroller and a wheelchair who seemed to almost recognize us and showed a sincere and humble interest in listening. We found just a few people like that and I hope we get a chance to teach them this week. This work is a lot of grunge work, but there are miracles that seem to happen each day that make it all worth it.

It has amazed me how the Lord has been able to use me this past week with my poor language skills and inexperience. This past Saturday, Sister Martinez invited all 4 of us Sister missionaries over for dinner. She is a recent convert and is getting ready to go to the temple in November. She used to be in the other sister's area, but with the area switch she is now in ours and so we all went as part of a "hand off" if that makes any sense. Anyway, Sister Martinez invited 4 of her work friends over as well and wanted us to share a message with them. Two of them were college students (or just graduated). They are business students, like me, and fit the "cliché" young New York business professional. We shared with them and introduced to them the Book of Mormon. It came for my time to speak in my broken Spanish, but they said they all understood English for the most part and so invited me to say it in English. I don't remember what I said exactly, I just bore my testimony of the Book and shared with them Moroni's promise. I do remember what I felt and what they felt. It was the first time that I have seen the Holy Ghost reach and change people. As I testified I could feel the Holy Ghost touching their hearts through me and their countenances almost changed. I am grateful to be where I am and know that in that moment, God used what I could give. The two students said they were definitely going to look into it further. It was neat.

Well, that's about all I have time to write. I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers. It's definitely a culture shock, but God is with me. Thank you so much for your package mom, it truly made my week :). As far as mail goes, I actually won't be in my apt for too much longer because they are looking for an apartment for just Hermana Simplicio and I. Just keep sending it all to the mission office. The office is in my ward building and we find ourselves there almost every other day and so I have actually been able to get some mail while we are there.

Keep running fast! Congrats Allie, that is awesome! And Stephen, this is from experience, you can never tell your "spot" on the team by how they treat you. It is pretty cut throat, and almost the whole time I was on the team I felt like I was bugging people, I later found out that that is kind of just part of being on the team. Just keep trying and being kind. It will work out, it always does!

Love you all and miss you! God Bless!

Hermana Chipman