Elders of Waverly Place

Hi. K.

I think I'm still adjusting to East Coast time because I'm tired all the time.. Hopefully I get adjusted soon. IDK.

Last week for P-Day Elder Gleason and I took our babies (Elder Smith & Elder Burton) to the city. 

 Me at the Statue of Liberty! P.S.Kind of a cheeser.

We went to Times Square, Grand Central Station, and went by the temple. When we went to the temple I was able to see......wait for it....... My trainer, Elder Reynolds! He is a wonderful man. I've gained so much respect for him since I've been made a trainer and District Leader since that is the position he was in when he was training me. I am beginning to realize how tough it was. I love that guy. It was the highlight of the city trip.

 My trainer, Elder Reynolds and I at the Manhattan Temple Chapel, moments after bumping in to each other.

We had Zone Conference this last week at the good ole Kingsbridge Chapel in The Bronx aka my old area. It made me happy to go back there and smell the smells, dodge the dog poop, smell the smells, drive through some of the old streets I used to testify of Christ in, and smell the smells. We had a lunch break and guess who made it for us missionaries? The relief society of the English ward! I was able to see them again and they are better than ever.

We have this investigator named Doug. He is addicted to cigarettes and has been trying to quit for years. He has been doing pretty good recently, going a couple days in between every time he smokes. He was doing great. Almost went for a week without a puff. We were dropping by to see him and as we pulled up to his apartment building we saw him outside smoking a hot one! Our hearts dropped like a bass. He had puffed. The struggle continues. He has faith he will get off the death sticks. We do too. Please pray for this guy.

Elder Burton and I did our car fast on Saturday. We have to pick a day once a week and not use our car at all. It's difficult because we live outside of our area and all of our investigators live miles apart but "it's good for us". We were strolling through White Plains getting ready to cross the street when this guy (prolly the whitest person I've met while in New York) comes running up to us and asks us if we are Latter Day Saints. The way the conversation was headed, it seemed like he wanted to bash us. He was throwing out questions that he prolly thought were tough, but that we encounter all the time about polygamy, and the priesthood, and Christ's teaching, etc. trying to stump us but we were able to answer all of his questions without second thoughts. He got quiet so we started asking him what he thought about The Atonement and we were able to find middle ground! Once we found that out, we were able to have a great conversation for 30 or so minutes. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was excited to read it. We tried getting his address so we could meet with him again but he said he was moving to Israel soon to study Judaism... We don't know a ton with what's going on over there but that doesn't sound like the brightest idea at this time… Am I right? Or....The best was at the end of our conversation he wanted to pray with us which we are always down with. He offered an interesting prayer. He blessed me with the ability to "confound religious leaders in their fallacies"... I will let you know how that goes.

Elder Burton and I had the opportunity to go tracting this week on a street called Waverly Place. We knocked every door and saw no signs of Selena Gomez (aww man). 

 

 "Where are you Selena??"- Me

I want to share with you what I learned from the people on Waverly Place. You would think that the longer I'm out on my mission the less getting rejected would hurt. You would think that, but it doesn’t. Every door we knocked on Waverly Place we got rejected hardcore. People wouldn't even let us speak before they would shut the door. People were telling us everything that we were doing was wrong. My heart sunk. I didn't feel that anyone on that street cared about us (which they obvi didn't). Although it still stings, I realize that that is ok because if it didn't hurt that would mean I didn't love them. "If it don't hurt, you ain't lovin hard". It only stinks to still get rejected because I'm developing a love for these people. S/O to the people on Waverly Place for helping me realize that.

Loves and lollipops,

-Elder Jyler Tohanson