We did a "Flash Mob" in Jamaica Queens

Hola Familia!

How are you all? You will have to forgive me for that card not getting into the mail until Saturday. But I dropped it off in a mailbox in Richmond Hill, so it should be there soon :)

It is so strange, another transfer has flown by, but then again Flushing seems so long ago. We had another crazy week in terms of apartments. Just as Sister Neilsen unpacked and set up the last of her things, our District Leader called us and said that we were moving again because our current landlord was uncomfortable having women as his tenets (understandable). So we did an exchange with the sisters in the Bayshore ward, came back, moved on Thursday afternoon, and then did an exchange in Riverhead (eastern edge of Long Island) and Richmond Hill (western queens). All the while I caught a really bad cold and my companion rolled her ankle badly. We got back "late" Saturday night (9:30 is now late for me haha) and had meetings all day on Sunday with our branch's branch conference. Our apartment is still a disaster because on Thursday we only had time to drop off our bags before driving out to riverhead.....and on top of all the craziness, we reported another week of zeros...blah.

BUT...I have experienced again for myself  the words of Nephi in the very first chapter of the Book of Mormon. "But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender ^cmercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of ^ddeliverance." ( 1 Nephi 1) And that is exactly what He did. He carried us through. Through priesthood blessings, and a little faith, and a lot of prayer, we were "made mighty even unto the power of deliverance." We were still sick (me) and crippled (my companion), but we were given the strength to carry on the work of the Lord. Sometimes I wonder why God allows there to be so much opposition to the work, or how the opposition in my mission just doesn't seem to quit. He reminds me that without such opposition, he would not be able to make me strong. I know that the Savior's Atoning Sacrifice was infinite SO THAT we may be strengthened and come out victorious to whatever force is opposing us. There is a quote in our new apartment that I really like, it says, "God does not pamper those he would make strong." I could just be being a  big baby haha, but I decided I am going to start taking this opposition as a compliment :)

Also, the exchanges I had this week were incredible. I ended up being the one who needed to drive to Riverhead (it was Sis Neilsen's Right ankle) , and despite my head feeling like a balloon, we got there safely. I got to be on an exchange with Sister Hale and Sister Sandberg. Sister Hale and I were in the same ward at BYU and served together in FHE. Sister Neilsen worked with their companion Sister Peacock (who is one of My MTC teacher's cousins :) ) and focused on their area. I took Sister Sandberg and Hale to do look-ups for the Young Single Adult Branch (crazy how we drove for over and hour to Riverhead and were still in our proselyting area!) I felt inspired to park the car so that we could also work to find investigators for the sisters. We had a really fun time and talked to everyone and met a lot of really neat people and quite a few were curious and wanted to learn more. I was very grateful that I was healthy enough to walk around and it was fun to do "city-like" missionary work again, even if we were on the island (there are only so many people you can find when you are in the car). Also Riverhead is beautiful and almost looks like a mountain town, without the mountains of course. I also made a goal this week to be bolder in my contacting, and the Lord helped us all do that. Amazing how even as missionaries we get scared to be bold, when that is our very commission!

The last exchange was in Richmond Hill and I got to serve with Sister Mortensen, my MTC companion! It was another day with a lot of walking, but this time both Sister Neilsen and I were able to walk around a lot! (Sister Neilsen was with Sister Price, but we just "split-the-pool" (or both worked in Richmond Hill).  We ended up doing a "Flash Mob" in Jamaica with their zone. Jamaica, Queens is one of the more colorful and "Rasta-fied" cities in Queens...also one of the crazier places around here (it was so good to be back in Queens, I have missed the craziness!). Actually, did you know? Jamaica the Island was named after Jamaica Queens. Cool right? Anyway. I love Jamaica, there really is no place like it. Sadly,  it also is one of the "harder" areas of NYC. Sister Missionaries just barely returned to the area after a few years of not being allowed for safety reasons. In the subway station, there are all sorts of preachers calling people to repentance and "Black Jews" shouting and chanting in their long purple robes. We decided to practice it once in the subway station. We sang, "A child's prayer." While one of the Elders played the guitar. There were at least 26 missionaries all singing, and you could feel the spirit fill the station. Many people walked by, some people stopped, but you could tell that they were all listening. It was powerful. We then got on to the subway. Some of the Elders dressed in their normal clothes to try to "blend in", but a bunch of bright eyed kids, most of which are white, kind of stand out on their own in queens, especially in Jamaica haha. Anyway, as the train moved, 4 elders started singing with the guitar while kneeling in the middle of the car, then us sisters stood up to sing, then more and more elders came into sing. The spirit filled the car, and many people took out their ear-buds to listen, and even were taking pictures and video. Angels must have been singing with us too, because we sounded really good. After we were done we would all hand out mormon.org cards and invite people to church. Some of course didn't want anything to do with it, but you could tell many people felt something and wanted to come. Our mission president is trying to get us away from knocking doors and out trying new things. The truth has been restored, and so it is fun to seek the Lord and let him inspire us to know of fun and effective and new ways to share our testimonies.

I love you all and it was really neat to think that we were all apart of that meeting last night (I was looking for Chipper too! But I am astounded and happy to hear that he really was in the choir :) ). It was a powerful broadcast and I know an answer too many prayers. This is His work, and the longer I am out here, the more and more I realize that it is all about learning how to do it His way and that is through love. 

I love and miss you!!  I am praying for you too...a lot!

Here is onto transfer 8!

Hna Chipman