Why does New York break all of my umbrellas?

Hello from the VERY rainy and windy day in New York City. As you can tell from my subject line, the NY weather has broken yet another umbrella of dear old Hna. Passantino... what gives? The umbrella that I was using today was a really nice expensive one that a member in the Bronx gave me... why does the weather hate missionaries? But it's ok... today is just a chill P-day so I am taking my time in everything I do, which usually doesn't happen here. This last week has been just great in so many different ways.
It has been so fun working with Sis. Anderson. She is an amazing missionary. She works hard and her Spanish rocks. She is so fun, happy and positive. It for sure makes my job a lot less stressful. We pretty much think the same and act the same so we are just two peas in a pod. I love her. I have no clue why I have been so blessed with companions. But I don't want to speak too soon. I still have a while left so I will just continue to be grateful for what I have because trust me, she is AMAZING! Our favorite past time together is rating doorbells as we tract (something I learned from my mommy in the mission) We rate it with the following criteria: 1) Can it be pushed easily? 2) What is the appearance like? Shiny, painted over, etc? 3) What kind of sound does it make? 4) Do the owners match their doorbell
It is a fun time and keeps us upbeat as we get doors slammed in our faces.
So I had my first thanksgiving in New York City. I reflected a lot on the Thanksgiving before and how different it is now. I was in the MTC last thanksgiving and had a ham sandwich in my bedroom, for sure different than now. This thanksgiving was great and full of surprises. The first meal we had was with a lady in the ward who is from Spain. She has lived here forever so she is pretty Americanized. She made everything WITHOUT butter... like, it was the healthiest meal I've ever eaten. We started with some sort of celery soup and then continued to eat brussell sprouts, mushrooms, green beans, and "mashed potatoes" and to top it all off we had some sort of tofu turkey... very interesting indeed. But it was nice to be in with some members and enjoy of their company. Our second dinner was with some investigators and was a big Dominican meal. It was Hna. Andrsons first Dominican meal so that was some good times for sure. Hilda, the grandma of the house was showing us what we could drink and brought out this stuff saying (in Spanish of course) "This is lemonade, you get me? Lemonade" She had a big grin and a twinkle in her eye. All of us "seasoned" missionaries took it to mean that there was alcohol in it so we left it alone. I didn't see my poor Hna. Anderson go for a big swig of it... soon to find out what we all had figured out a little bit before her. She is such a trooper let me tell you. She leaned over to me and said, "Hermana, I think this is spiked lemonade" Ha ha, yes, it was hija! Ha ha. She is a trooper and we just drank egg nog (with NO alcohol). It was a great thanksgiving and we enjoyed ourselves very much. I do look forward to next year when I can have my families food again, oh how I miss it!
The day after thanksgiving we had interviews with President. We only have them every other cycle now so we realized that it was my second to last interview with him. SO WEIRD! But interviews with him are always so great. He asked me to speak to the missionaries at the mission training we are having next week. I am a little nervous but it's only about 5 minutes long. I'm going to be sharing some thoughts that I shared with President in our interview about obedience. It should be good! I love having interviews with him, he is an amazing man and leader.
Sunday I gave my first talk in Spanish! Ha ha, I like how my brother gave HIS first talk in Spanish and he's only been out a month, I've been out over a year. But hey, I guess that just shows the difference in missions. I spoke on the gift of the holy ghost. I was only supposed to take about 5 minutes but I think I went for ten... woops. It's ok, I actually enjoyed realizing that I can give a talk in Spanish. Before I went up I leaned over to the Bishop and told him I was going to vomit... he laughed at me and said "good luck!" Little did he know I was not kidding! But it went well, I'm just glad to have it over with :)
Monday was an interesting day as well. I gave a training on Miracles and how we can qualify ourselves for miracles. I used dads story about his eye as an example and then had a bunch of quotes and stuff put together. I discussed how there are certain things that we need to have to prepare us for miracles. 1. Faith 2. Desire 3. Obedience 4. Concentrated Thoughts 5. Prayer and 6. Realizing your faith will be tried. It went really well and our district is pumped to see miracles. We are each fasting a different day this week and then all together on Sunday. We have already seen some of the miracles come. And not just little ones, very specific ones. For example, we are all fasting that Mildred would set a baptismal date for December 18. As we went to tech her yesterday we wanted HER to choose the date so that she didn't feel stressed out. She started out with a date in January but then went over again and she picked the 18th! Woo hoo! The elders have also been looking for someone who is prepared for the gospel and they not only found someone... they found a family! This stuff works and I know that it can work in our every day lives as well, not just with missionary work. Heavenly Father is ready and willing to bless us, we just need to be prepared first! What an amazing concept to learn!
On Monday night we were doing some tracting after having some appointments fall through and we get a phone call from one of the sisters in our zone. She asked where we were and that President was looking for us. I said, "What in the world are you talking about? We are in our area, where is President?" She continued to tell me that they were down at the temple handing out hot chocolate and that I was supposed to be there (nice of someone to tell me!) So, Hna. Anderson and I went into a sprint to the subway and made it down to the temple. There is an event down by the temple every winter called "Winters Eve" where businesses there hand out free stuff and there are Christmas lights everywhere. So we go outside the temple and hand out church material and free hot chocolate. It was a blast! It was so fun to talk to so many people! There were a good amount of missionaries invited to go and I just loved it! I have come to LOVE talking to anyone and everyone about the gospel, it has become second nature to me. Sure, we get rejected A LOT but everyone needs the chance to hear!
I hope all is going well back in the real world :) Hna. Anderson and I talk about how wierd it is that we live in world but we are just not concerned with what is going on. We are more concerned about others. It is an awesome thing. I love this work, I love these people, I love New York! Ha Ha!
Con Amor- Hermana Passantino