Olmstead #4

Hello lovely family! 

It was another great week here in the Bronx :) I had my last split as a missionary! I went with sister Westlund in my old area...it felt really weird...like I have never left at all. We taught sister smalls and all other appointments fell through. We ended up contacting a media referral and teachi him about the Book of Mormon. He talked to us as if he was a member. He is super prepared for the gospel. He works so hard to provide for his family. He studies from the bible and prays. Ephesians wants to be a good husband and father. I am amazed sometimes by the people we are led to. So many of them are so, so ready for the gospel! We will give him over to the Spanish elders to teach

So sister Rasmussen and I were on a fairly empty subway cart, caught up in conversation. I was asking her the date she enter the mission field. We realized her 4 month mark would be in a few day. I start chanting "4 months, 4 months, oh yeah" while doing a little dance with my arms. We hear laughing coming from the corner and see an old man who was missing a few teeth say "that is real cute! No I'm not making fun of you! That was like right off a tv show!" He then says "you aren't from around here are you?" We tell him no, that we are missionaries and that we are from the west coast. Then he felt the need to give us advice on how to survive in Ny. So he came from his corner and sat down next to us. His advice was 1. Trust no one. 2. To not talk to each other or others or "they" will recognize you as someone from out of town. 3. To take off our name tag because it makes us a target. Haha we thanked him for being concerned about our safety but we told him we weren't going to take off the tag. We reminded him of his daughters and so we started talking about our family. Some other guy across from us who was listening in and laughing at our conversation also came over and starting. It was a fun interaction and we left them both with our card. I was reminded again of how much we really do stand out and how people are always watching.   

STORY: the other day we were walking down the road near a busy intersection. We hear a man on a blow horn preaching on the street corner saying things like "Turn your life to God. He is the only way" then as we come within eye shot his message starts changing..."Beware of false prophets! Joseph Smith will burn in hell! The church of Jesus Christ of later day saint is not Christian! The Mormon religion is a cult! Only born again Christians will go to heaven!" 

Sister Rasmussen and I just look at each other with gaping mouths and laugh. It wasn't really funny but I guess it was so awful and blunt that it was a little humorous. We brushed it off and continued on our way to go teach those who were prepared for the gospel. :) 

So this week Jessica brown, our investigator is getting baptized!! He boyfriend is a member. She is flying to Minnesota to have him baptize her. She is super knowledgeable because she already learned just about everything about the church from her boyfriend already. So receiving the lessons from the missionaries was more of a review. It is sister Rasmussen first baptism and we are super excited for it :) 

Oh! One last funny story! So there is missionary lingo that goes on the mission. 

Ex. "Where were you born?" Means, where was your first area.

We got juked means, our appointment cancelled on us. 

Trunky is a word to describe a missionary who is always thinking and talking about home. 

A dying missionary is a missionary who is going home in 1 or 2 cycles. 

So, this leads into my story. So sister Rasmussen was emailing her family about me. She had said: "my companion Sister Lounsbury is dying in 5 weeks, I am really sad about it, but she is working really hard" 

So her family, not understanding missionary lingo replied: 

"Carlee was also wondering why, if your companion is dying in five weeks, is she still there and what is she dying from?" Hahah we got a really good laugh over the whole misunderstanding!  

Well that is all for now! I love you all so much! I am excited to see you soon!