One night we went to the church and found a guy in the church who was begging for some food. The bishop asked us to go take him and get him some food. So we did. Turns out the guy was pretty wrecked. He was living from day-to-day and had HIV, which caused a lot of problems in his body. So, we got him food, sat him down outside and told him to listen...that it was God who bought him this meal this night. We said that we weren't even planning on going to the church that night but then something fell through, so we went for five minutes to print something off. To our surprise, there was this guy. God knew we needed to meet him. We talked about how no matter how lost and lonely he feels in life, no matter how much of a failure he may have felt he was, God sees hope in him. It was so amazing to put both our arms around the guy, someone who has been forsaken by everyone, and tell him that God loves him and to talk about the divine potential he has, and that he has the ability to turn his life around. It was very powerful for him. He ended up showing up to church and we talked to him again and taught him about who God is, the kind of being He is. It was a little miracle to meet him.
- Old man Argentina. Yesterday we
were walking by the Harlem wings, and we saw this older gentleman who looked
very classy. He had a nice striped bottom-up shirt on with a nice hat with a feather
in it. We found him on a busy street, and we started just talking to him about
what he was doing outside. He told us he was from Argentina, so we started
speaking Spanish to him. We showed him our tags (how they are in Spanish), and
then he got super excited when he saw "Jesucristo" written on the
tag. He started saying "JESUCRISTO! JESUCRISTO!" He then pulled out a
necklace with Jesus Christ on it. We asked him if we could show him a video
about Jesus Christ. He was sitting in his little walker chair and so I kneeled
down and turned on the video and started reading it for him, and he would copy
everything I would say. Everyone walked by us looking at us very weirdly as we
were reading this video out loud enthusiastically, but I felt the joy and love
of God's spirit so strongly. The man got so excited, and after we told him we
would come back, he stood up out of his walker and gave us each this big hug,
and kissed our collar. Poor guy, right? I just wonder if anyone ever talks to
him. It will be fun because we will be going back over to his house soon.
- There are so many high class
French people here in the upper east side...I really like that culture. I'm
going to try and learn some French so we can communicate with them.
- Allen Russ. Well, guess who came
and visited us in Harlem?! Good old Allen Russ! Wow, was that such a treat. It
felt very weird seeing him again. It felt fake like a dream to some degree. I
don't even feel like the life I had existed at all, and to have him come visit
felt like I went back to earth! It was great to catch up and talk. He took us
to the "Red Rooster," a down south famous restaurant in Harlem. It
was amazing to feel my heart be so full of joy to see him again. I have really
learned on some level the beginning of love. I felt like that was just a
little bit like what it will be like when we are reunited with our loved ones
on the other side and we see that they made it! I will attach pictures of his
visit. Thanks again Allen! That was SUCH a treat to spend time with you. I
never realized how lucky I was to have such role models for me to follow back
home. I feel ashamed that I didn't take advantage of it more before, but hey,
at least I'm seeing that now rather than later. Great visit!
Well, that seems to be about it.
It's been super fun to talk to a lot of these crazies all over the good old
Harlem streets. We will continue to do just that this week.
- Change is possible. No matter how
far deep down we may be, God can save us if we let Him. He made us to become
like Him and for no other purpose. Just see this young man’s example:
- Elder Celaya
Harlem Days - "Jimmy, we got a world to save our there!"
Transfer Meeting (17 Sept 2015)
Saying goodbye to my trainer, Elder Paize!
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