July 11, 2011: New York Utica Mission

Hey Family!

So I am in New York! More specifically a city called Binghamton. It is in the southern part of the state for those of you who said, "Where's a map?!?" I left Temple Square for the airport around 5 a.m. and my plane took off for Chicago around 7 a.m. I was terrified to be all by myself in the real world but all pumped to share the gospel with people. So the girl I sat next to on my first plane ride - returned missionary from the Palmyra Visitor Center. So we just talked about missions the entire 2 1/2 hours. Got off the plane and attempted to call Mom and Dad collect (sorry if it cost you a $100 but I am worth it? Right?!?) Then my next plane left, again all excited to share the gospel... totally fell asleep. Oh well, nobody was sitting next to me anyway. But I arrived and was greeted by my new mission president and my new companion, Sister Duncan, from Centerville, Utah. We had a few hours to kill in Syracuse so we went street contacting for a bit before my first ever dinner appointment. We found a potential but we can't teach her since we live two hours south of Syracuse.

First dinner appointment - awesome! I ate so much food because it wasn't tortillas and peanut butter, which isn't bad by the way. I gave a spiritual thought then headed south to Endicott/Binghamton.

We work in a walking area so it feels huge. We split half the city with Elders but we never see them. It is very different to only be with and see my companion everyday and not 170 other Sister Missionaries. This mission has less than 100 missionaries and only 14 Sisters! As for our area it was opened 2 transfers ago after being closed for a few years, and despite the work that the previous missionaries have put in we hardly have any investigators. But that will change as we talk with everyone! Hard part is that we walked for 4 hours and talked to two people - slight change of pace from Temple Square.

The skills that I learned as a missionary on Temple Square are the same that we use out here. Everything: knocking on doors = RC, street contacting = contacting people on the Square, teaching lessons = phone lessons. It is all the same, just applied in a different way.

Working with the ward is neat, too.
1) They feed us.
2) They offer to drive us places and teach with us.
3) They try out missionary work themselves which helps. Because where we are at, the only way we will find people to teach is through members because street contacting and tracting is 95% ineffective. So if I haven't stressed it enough my whole mission - GO SHARE THE GOSPEL. It would make our lives easier. Thanks.

Anyway life is good! We are working with a young mother named Norma who really wants to go back to a church and have a relationship with God again. We found a man named Alex who doesn't like his church but is interested in checking ours out. And we are working with a part-member family. The 11-year-old son isn't baptized so we are working to get him ready. We will see what adventures pop up this week!