I learned about the NYC commute

Hola Familia!                                                                                      September 9, 2013

It's been another week of miracles to say the least. It also is crazy but tomorrow is my year mark in NYC!! So amazing and weird to think I haven't left this place in a year. I have also heard that once you are here for a year, you are considered a New Yorker. Since I can't be a Colorado Native, at least New York will take me ;)

I learned that I NEVER want to commute into NYC--- however much I love the place. Sister Mortensen and I decided to change the times of our sister exchanges (when we switch companions for the day). We usually exchanged at 9pm the night before to 9pm the next night. We wanted to change it though, because it was just too hard to plan for the next day, and made us EXHAUSTED after back to back exchanges. We thought we would change it to 5pm to 5pm instead, just to avoid the craziness at the end of the day, also to preserve our "prime time" as missionaries (6pm-9pm when people are usually home). Problem is that we forgot to plan for traffic...and we ended up needing to travel to and from Queens almost everyday this week in the dead of traffic.....so we had a lot of time to talk in the car haha. Not the best planning on our part....but now we know, and are that much more grateful for a clear highway!

This week has again been a humbling week, and I have been grateful for the ways the Lord is prompting me to grow. Throughout my mission, He has taught me to serve. How to serve like Him, and to serve everyone. And I have been grateful for all the opportunities, from sharing the gospel on a subway, to cleaning out a flooded hurricane basement, to helping serve a struggling companion or other missionary. This week, He has been teaching me to let myself be served. How to receive that service, and who to let serve me. It’s been a goal this week, and I have been so grateful for the everyday angels around me who have stepped in, in the past week and helped me. My natural self is that with the Lord’s help I can take care of myself, and then I will go and take care others. (Ashley and Michelle (my college roommates) are probably laughing as they remember me trying to serve myself a bowl of cereal when I was on crutches.) But this week I have been reminded again of the importance of not resisting the angels God sends to us to help us in our time of need. He has sent me many this week. There have been sister missionaries who pray for exactly what I need for me while I am on an exchange with them, or who will stay up and watch "Finding Faith in Christ" with me while I try to calm my asthma down, or even a companion who is kind enough to go for a midnight stroll around the neighborhood so I can calm my breathing and go to sleep.

At the beginning of the week, I was getting to the end of my rope--especially with other missionaries beginning to point out how tired and awful I looked (I just say” Thank you Elder" haha) Its out of loving concern of course, just not what I want to hear! Especially when I only have 3 months to look cute again before I come home! haha. But in all seriousness its amazing how the Savior always reaches out his arm of mercy, and how it usually is through someone else. My favorite part of being a missionary, is that I can be a light of hope to someone, especially those who feel they are in the dark. What I often forget is that while we are bearing God's children up, God is bearing us up through His children also.  It comes full circle. However much I love to be self-reliant and independent, I am so grateful to know that I don't need to suffer through my everyday challenges alone, and neither does anyone else. That is what having a Savior is all about.

As far as the work goes, we are still teaching a lot and having a lot of fun. Our investigator from Austria got back into town yesterday! We tried to send missionaries to her home in Austria, and they showed up, but I guess her parents flipped out.....so we will have to see more of what happened (bummer!). But I know it will all be okay. I get to teach and work with the coolest people in the whole world, and meet amazing people everyday. We have 3 weeks left to reach our three month goal of 1 baptism, and we know we can do it. We are working really hard, and the Lord is incredibly blessing us. Last week, between the 2 of us, we seriously were either in a Dr. Appointments, member present lessons, or on exchanges. This week has been either Dr. Appointments, member present lessons, traffic or on exchanges. He truly is aware of each of His children!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!