Siter Wadsworth, Hermana Passantino, Elder Mauseth, Elder Jessen

Fun Day at Yankee's Game

Time for Change

Well, it has happened, they have taken my "momma" away from me. Ha ha! In the mission, your trainer (for a sister) is your mom. Sister Walker got transferred. I know that it was time for change but last night was hard for me. Taking over an area scares me because everyone loved Sister Walker so much. Yesterday was a day of a lot of goodbyes and it was so sad but we made it through. Sister Walker will be very missed.

Last night as we were trying to get everything ready for Sister Walker to leave (we also had to switch rooms because the English sisters we live with are now in a trio) we got a call from Marlon's mom. Marlon is our 14 year old recent convert and he is like a little brother. We love him so much. His mom called around 11:30 telling us that Marlon was missing. It tore us up inside. It was so hard to just sit there not being able to do anything. I prayed so hard to make sure he was ok. He is a great kid and doesn't just not come home. I felt so helpless but I was reassured that our Heavenly Father would make sure everything was ok. We talked to his mom this morning and he is back safe. We didn't really get the story as to where he was but everything is ok now. I am so happy. Needless to say, Sister Walker and I have had no sleep the last couple of nights, not the best for missionary work!

I am so excited about my new companion. Her name is Hermana Child and she is from Utah. I have met her a couple different times and we just really got a long. We were hoping one day we would be companions and WE ARE! I am so excited to work with her. She is so sweet and fun! We are going to have a blast. I am still SO nervous about being in charge of this area but it will be fine. Good thing this is Heavenly Fathers work and not mine!

I am trying to think of what to talk about because this last week has kind of been a blur and I am just so tired! Oh, we met the coolest guy, Fermin. He is from Peru and he is so interested in the church! We went to his house and he made us a full meal and then he had so many questions we taught the first two lessons. He is so cool and I am excited to continue teaching him.

Antonio still has some things we need to work out but he is going to be baptized, I just know it. We have a lot of things to look forward to in these next 6 weeks. I'm excited, nervous and everything in between.

I love you all and hope you are doing well! Write soon!

Con Amor- Hermana Passantino

I Heart Cupcakes!

Hello, Hola, Bonjour- Yeah, that's about all I can say in different languages. Ha ha. Yet another week has passed me by in the Bronx. Time really is flying. Today is my 6 month mark on my mission. Can you even believe it? Sometimes when I think about when I first got here it seems a million years away. So crazy! This last week has been what Sister Walker and I like to call "a real missionary week". We did A LOT of walking around and had A LOT of appointments fall through which is so frustrating. Sometimes we just wonder what we are doing wrong but it's ok. This week has started out good and hopefully will continue to do so. Last P-day was so fun! We very much enjoyed the Yankee Game even though they lost! A-Rod did NOTHING and that was very sad. We sat in the bleachers which was interesting... the elders got hassled a lot but it's ok. We enjoyed ourselves. I'll try to send some pictures soon. That night as we were going out to work at 6pm we walk by the church and President Smith is there, he invited us to dinner. So we got to go out to dinner with President and Sister Smith and everyone else in our district. It was really fun!

Everyone here in the Bronx is doing great. So far, everyone that I've seen baptized is still active and most of them hold callings. It makes me so happy! I love seeing the Lord bless them. Antonio was supposed to get baptized on Saturday but we have some things we need to work on with him. It's been on our minds a lot and we've been praying so hard to know how to help him. Last night we had an awesome lesson and we feel that as long as he is faithful he will be blessed! He should be getting baptized in the next couple of weeks.

Speaking of next couple of weeks, next week is yet another transfer! We had interviews and we're not sure if either of us are leaving or not. They really want to keep people in their areas for a long time so I guess we'll see. If Sister Walker and I stay together for one more cycle we will have been together for 1/3 of our missions. I would be ok with that!

Today was a wonderful P-day because we got to go to the temple! I love being there and getting spiritually recharged. We then went on a "Bakery Tour" and went to three different famous bakeries in Manhattan. It was a BLAST and I am pretty sure I will gain 50 pounds from all the sweets I bought. Don't worry Mom and Dad, we will be doing the same bakery tour when you come :)

I have been loving reading the Book of Mormon again with the mission. I have learned so much and can really feel of the spirit of those sacred scriptures. I am so grateful we have those! I have also been reading "Our Search For Happiness" by Elder M. Russell Ballard and there is a quote I really like, "The best thing about living a Christ centered life; however, is how it makes you feel. It's hard to have a negative attitude about things if and when your life is focused on the Prince of Peace. There will still be problems. Everyone has them. But faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a power to be reckoned with in the universe and in individual lives"

This gospel is such a blessing to us all! I am so grateful for it in my life. Thank you for all the examples of faith and diligence I have had. I hope everyone has a wonderful week. I can't wait to hear from you all!

Con Amor- Hermana Passantino

PS: GO LAKERS!!! People in the ward and trying to keep me updated :)

Manhattan

Sisters at the Manhattan Temple

Breakfast after Maribel's first time at the temple for baptisms!

Luz's Baptism

An investigator, Wonda, surprises Melissa with a birthday cake!

Sisters Adjei, Walker, Wadsworth and Passantino on Easter

Zone Easter Egg Hunt

Cleaning our new apartment

Melissa and Joaow

"Root Root Root for the Home Team!!"

Yes, I will be rooting for the home team today because I am going to the YANKEES GAME! I am SO excited! It is their second home game (yesterday was the first) and we got some pretty cheap tickets. I am sure it's going to be about 20 dollars for a hot dog but I am still way pumped. You don't get to go to a Yankees game very often. Everyone here are such HUGE fans and they are all so excited for us missionaries to go!

This week has been a good one of course. We have been able to have a wonderful week full of blessings from our Heavenly Father. Luz was baptized on Sunday and it was awesome (Pictures were sent today). She is so funny and it was once again so cool to see someone enter into the waters of baptism. Soledad's (luz's mom who was baptized a couple weeks ago) boyfriend was also baptized and they will be getting married next month. So cool! I love it all!

Mission conference was amazing. I love getting together with the other missionaries and feeling of the spirit there. We went over a lot of the things that we did at the special mission counsel I got to go to but it was still so cool. I learned new things that will once again help me so much in my missionary work. It was fun because we did some role plays with other missionaries. Sister Baxter and I did one together in Spanish. Afterwords we looked at each other and were thinking about how this time last year we would have never thought we would be sitting in a chapel in New York speaking Spanish to each other. Isn't it funny how the Lord puts us where we need to be, usually it is not where we would have guessed but it is always where we need to be. I am hoping next transfer she gets transferred here to the Bronx and we will have a chance to be companions. I just love her!

Not a whole lot to update on this week. We have just been keeping busy. Last week was weird because P-day was changed but it's cool. We are loving our new apartment and I still LOVE the sisters I live with. They are amazing. We wake up every morning and play Frisbee or basketball. It is nice to get outside to get some exercise. Sadly my basketball skills are going down the drain again but it's ok. Sister Wadsworth and I painted our nails Lakers colors in honor of the playoffs starting. I hope someone keeps me updated!

Well, I am loving being a missionary. What a blessing it is. I love serving the Lord and getting to know so many people here. I love this gospel and the joy and hope that it brings into our lives. I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ and for his sacrifice for us. The Plan of Salvation is so real and perfect! I LOVE IT! I love you all! Thanks for all you do!

Con Amor- Hermana Passantino
PS: I sent lots of pictures today :)

Skirts + Knee Highs + Wind= Bad Idea

Hello Hello Hello!
What an AMAZING week it has been. I can even begin to explain what a fantastic week I have had. I guess I will start going through the days because really it was just a great week. So Thursday I had my first coco helado (coconut ice cream). They sell them all over the streets here and it is AWESOME! Oh man, it was so good and well, I just loved it. If I could live off of it I totally would. But anywho.... Firday was my birthday and I am pretty sure that it is one of the best birthdays I have ever had. I felt so loved! I got a jabawockez (however you spell it) shirt from Elder Hellberg. And Elder Jessen gave me a shirt that says "I Heart 'I heart shirts'" It is so funny and I love both of them! The sisters all got me something fun and it was awesome. We went to the Lopez Families house for lunch and it was wonderful. They are so sweet. Then we had a Zone Blitz. Pretty much everyone in our Zone went to a street corner and walked around contacting people, singing, and handing out different things. It was SO much fun. I haven't done anything like that before and I was able to do a lot of contacts in Spanish. I even got some potentials so it was awesome! We went to one of our investigators house after and when we got to the door she was like, "Hold on, I'm changing a diaper" so we waited a bit and when she opened the door she had this big cake with candles for me. It was SO nice and yummy too! We also had a couple really good lessons! Our recent convert Marlon came with us and got me a present too. Everyone is so generous and kind. It is cool because I have my real family, my mission family (like the other missionaries), my member family and my investigator family. That night I got a whole bunch of mail and packages and I was just overwhelmed with love. It was so nice. Thank you to all!

So then we had conference weekend! Who doesn't love conference???? Man, it was so uplifting and insightful. I loved how the theme really was strengthening families. I am so grateful for my family and the way I was raised. I love how the Prophet and Apostles are inspired to teach us what they are! I know that Thomas S. Monson is a Prophet of God! I am so grateful that we have a Prophet today!

Easter was so fun as well. We woke up and put together Easter baskets for the elders. We put pictures of Christ in them and then delivered them while wearing the bunny ears that mom sent! They got a kick out of it when they saw all four of us sisters standing there with an Easter basket for them, it was a blast! The Whilites made all of us a wonderful Easter breakfast and they even had an Easter egg hunt! It was fantastic. Conference was of course amazing, (I think my favorite talk was Elder oh man, now I forget who it was, he talked about the youth... it was so good. I will write more about conference next week) My Easter dinner consisted of some strawberries and I made some deviled eggs. Ha ha, I had to get something eastery in there. Amazing.

So, then yesterday, the reason P-day was changed was because there was a special mission counsel because the head of the missionary department was visiting and so they had a special meeting. This meeting is for Zone leaders and District leaders but guess what? Sister Walker and I were invited to go! It was so cool! We got to sit in on this like 5 hour meeting with Bro. Allen, the head of the missionary department. I learned so much and felt the spirit so strong. What I learned will change the way I do missionary work and I am so excited about it. I can't even begin to explain how wonderful it was. I feel so blessed to have been invited to this special meeting. I am going to type up my notes and send it to friends on a mission because it was "mission changing!" I got to eat lunch with Brother Allen and talked to him about Brian turning in his papers. He assured me that just because of conference, the process isn't slowed down... I put in a shot out for ya B so hopefully Spanish speaking here you come! Ha ha

The spirit is so strong among missionaries. I am so grateful to be a part of this wonderful work. We are once again seeing the work pick up here in the Bronx. We have Luz who is getting baptized this Sunday and Antonio, a cousin of our member getting baptized on the 25th. We also have a lady Naty, who we are praying for a miracle because she has a date for the 9th of May. So many things happening here! Oh we also found Peter Pan and the lost boys, they are from Guatemala, who knew? More about them later. They will be baptized to!

Oh I almost forgot! Today we got to go to the temple with Maribel! IT WAS THE MOST WONDERFUL THING EVER! I can't even begin to explain the joy I felt to see her in the temple. She is so rock solid and I'll be here when she goes through in a year which I am SO pumped about. Wow, I love this work!

I love you all so much! Thanks for loving me! I can't wait to hear from you all!!!

Lover, Hermana Passantino

PS: The weather has been SO nice but the humidity does NOT agree with my hair.
PPS: Don't let crazy Dominican ladies you teach cut your hair... I made that mistake ;) Woops.

Starting with me and going to the right...S. Sturm, E. Bayard, E. Parka, E. Fox, E. Rimasch, E. Hellberg. Jessen, S. Wilhite, S. Walker

Everyone from CA doing the LA Lakers sign!

3 "generation" mission photo!