Manhattan North Zone ALWAYS REPRESENTS!

Hello from yet another BEAUTIFUL day in New York City! I am getting excited for our P-day today because we are playing a football game against the Manhattan South Zone... it is obvious we are going to win :) Ha ha... it should be fun! I really like my zone here. It is totally different than when I was in the Bronx but it is still a blast. We don't see everyone as much so when we get to get together and have fun it is always enjoyable!

It has been a good week for Sis. McMillan and I! We have been doing A LOT of tracting! We did this thing called a "Zone Blitz" in the elders area and Sis. McMillan and I felt like we should tract in their area for them. So we said a prayer and I picked a building and a floor to tract. Out of 6 doors we got into 3 of them and taught 3 lessons! Let me tell you, that never happens. It was really cool and hopefully it will help the elders out with some investigators (now if only that would happen in our area). We are kind of revamping our area right now trying to find some solid people. It has been difficult but we are working hard. It seems that with every area and every companion, you kind of have to find your nitch and figure out what you are meant to do together in that area. Sis. McMillan and I are in the process of doing that right now. So we will continue to press forward and do our best! The good news... we have a baptism this Saturday! Woo hoo! Mildred (the Mom of Marible, my recent convert in the Bronx) is getting baptized. It is so exciting! Saturday will be a great day. We also have the Relief Society broadcast which I couldn't be more excited for. Speaking of conference...

Sis. McMillan and I are doing what we like to call "Conference Prep". We are writing down a couple questions/thoughts that we would love to have answered or gain some insight on during conference. We pray about them every night and we are also going to fast about them. I am looking forward to this and encourage all of you to do it as well. I know that each speaker is inspired and called of God and that we really will get all that we need to out of conference! Hello!!! It's a living prophet for our day speaking to us, how could you not learn something from it! (Ok, sorry, I get a little excited about conference :)

So fun story of the week. We have a district lunch every Thursday after extended weekly planning. This last week we decided to have a picnic in the park by our apartment. It was so fun! We sat next to the water and just chatted but then this nasty giant goose kept coming over to us. I believe I have gotten my very strong dislike for birds from my father so I was freaking out. I made the elders chase the goose away every time it got too close. Then all these pigeons came out of no where and were like swarming us! I couldn't take it! It reminded me of one time when Brian was little and he wouldn't eat his lunch because there were pigeons everywhere and he kept saying "I feel like I am eating them!" Ha ha, I hope my fam remembers that one! Anyway, I strongly dislike birds around me while I am eating and the elders got a nice workout chasing them away for me.... they are so kind. Ha ha!

This morning I was listening to some CD's that my fam just sent me and that one EFY song came on "Shine the Light" I couldn't help but giggle as I thought of some of my favorite women doing a girls camp music video to that song :) I was just laughing the whole time! I miss you guys! That song will never be the same!

I hope everyone is doing good! I am doing great and moving right along. Sometimes I think time is going WAY too fast for me! It needs to slow down so I can get more stuff done. Thanks for all the love you send me!

Con Amor- Hermana Passantino

Greetings from New York City

Hello to all from a BEAUTIFUL day in New York City! I just got done sipping some hot chocolate in central park and it occurred to me, I live in this city, how cool is that? I just love it here. I am in downtown Manhattan right now because my companion is going to a Broadway play with some other sisters and I am going to be hanging out with Sis. Child! I am so excited! Last p-day was great because I had the chance to go to yet another Yankees game! It was a blast and a home run at the bottom of the 9th made it so the Yankees won so we had some excitement as well! It was wonderful! Thanks to Elder Hellbergs birthday, his mom got some tickets for us so we had great seats too! It was a blast!

It has been a really good week for Sis. McMillan and I. We are enjoying our small area and trying to find new things to do to keep it interesting. Luckily, we both are kind of crazy and we keep ourselves laughing a lot. For example, the other day I was walking down some hard marble stairs and I fell down a flight of stairs. Ha ha! It hurt really bad and I think my bottom is bruised pretty bad ( I can't sit for long periods of time now) and I also pulled a muscle in my arm. But we had a very good and long laugh about it and now every time I sit, we just laugh... it makes it not hurt so bad. I looked SO funny when I fell. Luckily, no one else saw. And don't worry, I'm not the only one that has moments to laugh at... the other day we walk into a lesson with Lewis (who is so cool and told us he knows Joseph Smith is a prophet and the Book of Mormon is true! Woo Hoo) Anyway, we walk in and right before we sing, Sis. McMillan gets a horrible bloody nose. She just puts some napkins in her nose while I sing the opening song by myself (awkward!) So we continue to teach the lesson while poor Sis. McMillans nose is just leaking blood.... Lewis gave her some ice and she just taught along with ice and napkins holding the blood... yummy! Ha ha, it was a great adventure.

Mildred (Maribles mom) is getting baptized on the 25th and we are SO excited! We also have Lewis lined up for a date and a man named Ramon. He is bedridden (paralyzed from the head down) but we found out we can have him baptized. It will be a challenge but I am excited for him!

I thought September 11th would be a lot cooler but since I live in the Little DR no one really cared. But don't worry, I showed my American Pride and wore Red, White and Blue! We got to see the big spot lights they put in place of the towers from where we were so that was cool!

Yesterday we had yet another amazing Multi-Zone conference! It was so good! I wish everyone could feel what it is like to be in a room full of missionaries! The spirit is SO strong. It just makes me so happy to be a missionary and to be part of this work. Every zone conference the missionaries that are leaving give their testimonies. It was so weird to have Sis. Walker and Sis. McMillan up there. So many missionaries that I know will be going home soon. It is weird growing up in the mission. Our time here is SO short and I want to use every minute I can! Sometimes the days get long and things are frustrating but it is so great to get together with other missionaries and our Mission President and talk about how we can be better. Being a missionary is something I would never trade. I love this work! I am so grateful I can be out here.

I hope everyone is doing fantastic! I miss you all and can't wait to hear from you!

Love, Hermana Passantino

Oh the Joys of New York City!

Hello to all from the Island of Manhattan!
It is so weird to be in a different place emailing this week. I just got so used to the Bronx. Ha ha, it really did become like home to me. It feels so strange to be in a different place with all new missionaries to work with. In the Bronx, all the missionaries worked very close together but here we are all pretty spread out which makes things interesting. I am living in a two man pad so it is just me and Sis. McMillian. Luckily she is AMAZING and we have so much fun together. She is a blast! She only has this cycle left and then one more.... which is so sad! She goes home with Sis. Walker (my trainer). Sis. Walker is in my zone which is also fun, I get to hang out with her on P-days and stuff.

So, Inwood is similar to the Bronx in many ways. For example: It smells funny here, we have learned to "not inhale" and also to "look before you step" because of all the dog poo. Of course, I learned these things in the Bronx but it's nice to know I can use my previous education to help me out here. Ha ha. We continue to get hit on ALL the time. But here it's a little different because there are SO many spanish people, we get cat called at in spanish more than in the Bronx. The same "Bronx Juice" hangs out in the streets which makes for fun puddle jumping in the rain. The aroma of weed is everywhere, especially in the the projects.... good times.

Here's a fun story: On Saturday we were sitting in McDonald's waiting for a member to come meet us. We were sitting there for about 10 minutes and in that time I saw THREE that's right, THREE drug deals... ha ha. It was a shock for me let me tell ya. I never knew McDonald's was the place to buy drugs.... interesting.

The people we teach here are wonderful. Our area is really small so we walk everywhere but our teaching pool is huge! We have a lot of people to teach and they are all so great. I feel like my spanish is already improving because we speak it so much here. It's great! Oh guess what? We are teaching Maribles mom! Isn't that cool! Maribel is one of my converts in the Bronx who is AMAZING and her mom is getting baptized in September! Small world right? She is great and so fun to be around! We also are teaching this family who have been taught for a long time and they FINALLY came to church this last week! So cool! I love it! The work here is going strong! We keep VERY busy and have about 10 to 15 more lessons a week here than I did in the Bronx which is nuts. Sis. McMillian and I come home exhausted every night.

Oh one more funny story: On Sunday we went to this members house to eat. She is really nice but then she started kind of digging into the elders because they forgot an appointment they had with her the night before. Then she starts going off on a rant about how the missionaries can't speak spanish.... literally she went on FOREVER! She was like, "You don't even understand what I'm saying" when in reality we ALL understood her. We all left frustrated because she dug into us, the funny thing is that we understood her and answered her questions and everything. Usually people area really patient with us because we are learning spanish but I guess it wasn't good enough for her... Oh goodness, just when you think your spanish is getting better, someone shoves it in your face that you are still a "gringa" and have a horrible accent and can't express yourself. There are always challenges but it's ok!

Oh guess what? Sis. McMillians brother is going to be in the MTC with Brian! (Speaking of, will someone please forward Brian my emails until I get his email address? Gracias!) Her brother is going to Peru and will enter the MTC next week! They have to be friends! I am so excited for Brian and for him to be in the mission field with me! Woo hoo!!!!

All in all I am doing wonderful. The letters have been getting a lot fewer people! Ha ha!!! But really... here's my new address so feel free to write :)

678 Academy St #A5
New York, New York
10034

I love you all! I am so grateful for the blessings I have in my life. Being a missionary is the best thing ever. It is hard, almost every day, but the blessings I see in peoples lives amaze me. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything!

Con Amor- Hermana Passantino

Manhattan