The Kiss Heard Round the Mission

Hello! Last week for P-day our district went to the city (Manhattan)! We visited the Metropolitan Museum. It was cool. There was really old stuff in there. After we went to Orange Leaf! Apparently they have one here. It's not nearly as good as the one in Utah but it sufficed. I also ate a hot dog off the street so I guess I can cross that one off the ole bucket list.

I had my first haircut on the mission this last week. It's been almost 2 months since I cut those bad boys on my head. They were flowing that's for sure. My roomie Elder Kiyama has hair clippers so he cut it.... It's not necessarily bad. All I'm going to say is on a scale from Anne Hathaway in Les Mis to Fabio I'm about a Napolean Dynamite.

I had the opportunity to go out and do home teaching with Brother Antwine, the WWE wrestler. He may be short but he is super strong, just like his testimony. He was talking about how he is starting up training again so he can get back into the tour. His wrestling name is Phoenix. Swag.

I survived my first fast and testimony meeting in the Bronx. Wow. Without a doubt the most... interesting... testimony meeting I've ever been to. 

Lately we have had problems with a certain man coming by the chapel drunk. He likes to come inside the church and talk with the missionaries. Once he comes in he NEVER leaves. We literally have to grab his arm and walk him out of the church. We are nice to him and all because he provides entertainment but at the same time it's no bueno. Plus he gets a little... fruity when he is drunk and likes to flirt with the Elders. Last week when one of the missionaries escorted him out of the church he turned around and kissed him on the cheek! "The kiss heard round the mission" will be forever burned in my mind.

In our Zone Conference last week President Morgan talked about how us missionaries in the New York New York North mission have the wonderful opportunity to serve in the very first mission created in the LDS church. The places that we teach the gospel in this mission are the same exact areas that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and many others first went to preach when the church was first restored. I am so blessed that I have the privilege of serving in the same area as Joseph Smith did. I serve in the best mission in the whole world.

This last week I have been trying to make my prayers more sincere. A lot of the time I don't really think about what I'm saying when I pray. I am trying to keep in mind that when I pray I am literally talking to my Creator, my Heavenly Father. When we pray with more sincerity the answers/guidance we receive will be more sincere. As I try to make my prayers more genuine I encourage all of you to do the same!

Love you all. Thanks for being wonderful people and supporting me as a
missionary.

-Elder Tyler J Johanson