Big Changes in Far Rock...
Hey Mom and Dad!
Last week we had our second transfer meeting. It was largely
uneventful because we're mostly staying here, but there was a new
addition to Far Rock because the AP's are now stationed in Far Rock. We
thought that was a little odd. But we later found out why. We are done
doing service as a mission. Since we're in Far Rock, the elders there
can go out and do service still, but it's not our main focus anymore.
We're headed back to proselyting, but with a new plan in mind. They're
trying new and exciting ways to do missionary work in New York.
President Calderwood wants to try new ways to find people because the
traditional ways just aren't working. And we aren't looking for just
anybody. We're specifically looking for what he calls "anchor families."
These are just good families that will be around for a while and can
serve as branch president or elder's quorum president. Essentially
families that will really help strengthen the branch. We had a meeting
with the AP's the next day to discuss.
The idea is pretty simple. Pretty much, we pick a small area near
or around a chapel and we focus all of our efforts there. It becomes an
open pool, so any elders in Far Rockaway can go tract and work there.
Then we plan all sorts of finding activities and fun activities to help
get the church known in the community. All of the elders will work
there, so people will see us all over the neighborhood. As we become
more well known, people will be more willing to talk to us and hear our
message. And since we now have 8 elders in Far Rock, they will see us a
lot. The small area is called an "elliptical." I don't know why. I
personally am not a big fan of the name. It sounds kind of boring. We
like to change the name when we discuss it. Sometimes it's called the
vortex, sometimes it's the eclipse, other times it's the cyclone. We'll
find a better name at some point.
But anyways, the two problems with Far Rock are that it got hit so
hard by the hurricane that we can't tract in most areas right now and
that the church is pretty far away and in kind of a sketchy area. And
it's not a full chapel, it's the fourth floor in a building. So that's
kind of difficult. But they're planning to move the church further down
the peninsula to be more accessible to the areas around there.
The miracle of Far Rockaway though is that there is an area that
was untouched by the storm. All of this destruction all over Long Island
and there is an entire housing development that was pretty much
untouched. That's absolutely incredible. It's not super big, but it's
the perfect size for the elliptical. The development is called Arverne
by the Sea. It's a nicer area than most of Far Rock and lots of families
live there. That's what we're looking for. So the plan is to tract
these areas a lot and then put on a lot of family-oriented activities
through the church to get people involved.
Our ideal elliptical placement would be around all the houses that
we helped clean up after the storm. But they're still so devastated, we
can't start working out there yet. And we don't want people to think
that we only helped them so that they'd join our church. That was not
our intentions at all. But our elliptical is close to this area and so
once the devastation has passed, we'll be able to go start working that
area. And then things will really catch fire in Rockaway.
Elder Wolfe and I started tracting last week and on the first
street we started on, we found a woman who asked us to come back the
next day when her husband was home. That's exactly what we're looking
for. So we came back the next day and they welcomed us in. It's a very
nice family, they have a 4 year old son and a 21 month old daughter. We
sat down with the husband and discussed life with him and kind of our
purpose as missionaries. On the first visit with people, you generally
don't get into lessons. You explain your purpose and answer any
questions, but you don't go into too much depth. You explain that you
will need to visit again to continue discussing all the doctrine in
detail, because there's way too much for one visit.
But at first the mother was busy with the children, so we just
talked with the father. He seemed pretty interested. After about 15
minutes, the mother came in too. We started discussing all the service
that we gave and why we did it. Then she mentioned that that's why she
loves the Mormon church; because they are such kind and genuine people.
After which, she tells us that she was actually baptized into the Mormon
church when she was a kid.
Well that was a surprise. We did not see that one coming. She told
us that she remembered the church with fondness and having the
missionaries over to dinner all the time. That's why she wanted to find
us and have us talk to her husband because she's interested in the
church still. He told us that he's a very open-minded person and that
he's ready to listen to what we have to say. Then they invited us over
for dinner next week. That was our first experience with the elliptical
vortex. We are loving it so far.
We did some more tracting there last night with the other elders in
the area too. Nothing quite as incredible as that first family, but
things definitely look promising there. My favorite was one guy would
only talk to us through the window. When we said that we were Mormon
missionaries, he told us that he is really sick and that we shouldn't
talk to him. In fact, we better leave now before we get sick too. Then
he shut the blinds. It was pretty funny.
One of the big activities that they're doing this Christmas season
is to hold free Christmas concerts around the areas that got hit the
worst by the storm. There are 5 of them altogether and one of them is in
Rockaway. We found out about those on Friday, then on Saturday I got a
call being asked to play the piano for two numbers at the concerts. Of
course I was excited about that. One is accompanying for a Sister
Missionary who is singing O Holy Night, and the other is accompanying
for a cello player on O Come O Come Emmanuel. And I just got word today
that they need me to do a third number. I'm not sure what it is yet, but
the first concert is this Saturday. Now that I'm playing all this
Christmas music, it finally feels like the Christmas season. These
concerts should be a lot of fun.
So that's about it for the time being. Things are a little
different, although I never really had any sense of normalcy since I got
to the mission field. It should be fun to work with all these other
elders and start meeting all these people in the elliptical. We're
thinking about going Christmas caroling and setting up a hot chocolate
stand and running all sorts of family activities for the area. I think
it will turn out really well. The work may be slow at the moment, but I
know that my efforts here will lay the groundwork for the next few years
when the work will really get going in Far Rockaway.
Small sidenote, I bought a harmonica last week for $5. Best
investment ever. I'm getting pretty good at it and I've been picking up
some Christmas songs to play for kids to entertain them. It's a lot of
fun.
But in closing, I'm excited to get back to teaching the Gospel and
I'm looking forward to helping bring the joy of the Gospel to families
in Far Rockaway. I know this church is true and that I'm doing the
Lord's work. Thanks for all your love and support.
Love,
Elder Erickson
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