March 9, 2011!

HELLO!!!
ANOTHER week from the DEATHLY HALLOWS!!

Today for p-day we went to MANHATTAN again- a Member took us down from Westchester and we went to the Manhattan Temple!! It was wonderful! There, I saw dear Hermano Cerda from the Olmstead Ward where I first served in the Bronx- he works there at the Temple! He was ACTUALLY my proxy companion for a day when I was companionless for those LONG 2 weeks. He asked me how I was doing- and told me he though for SURE I was already home, married, with 2 kids!! We laughed and I said "NO! I still have 9 months left!!" He told me I'd better come finish my Mission in Olmstead so we can be companions again. :) After the Temple, we went to CRUMBS (best CUPCAKE house in Manhattan, if you'll remember...) and I bought a bunch of WONDERFUL FATTY FOOD!! After that, we drove to a little mini-restaurant-style place thing called "Crepes on Colombia." OH MY WORD it was so GOOD!! I got a "Turkey Breast with White Peach Creame Sauce!" THEN we ate nutella crepes that gave me CRAZY flashbacks of FRANCE! Gabrielli Machiavelli who lives in a DELI!! Bahaha last P-Day we went to a PARK and swung on a donut swing and ate fruit sorbet until we were sick. Success.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I BOUGHT SOME GIRL SCOUT COOKIES FROM A GIRL IN OUR WARD AND THEY ARE COMING ON THE 27th OF MARCH! HOORAY!

This past week Elder Fotu and I taught an INCREDIBLE man from the Dominican Republic. He lives in Elmsford, the part of our area that is closer to White Plains- and has lived here for almost 20 years. Turns out he know one of the Members from the Branch back in the DR- they lived in the same neighborhood in Santo Domingo and knew each other pretty well. His name is Rudy- and the Spirit around him is SO strong. Yesterday we went to visit him at his house- and turns out he lives with 2 other small Mexican Families (WHO, btw, he has invited to church with him and say they are coming) and already had a copy of the Book of Mormon; a member in Manhattan gave it to him years ago when he was having some family struggles. He told us that he used to read the Book of Mormon before and it brought him peace during those hard times- he just didn't know we were an actual organized religion. We taught him the Restoration. He cried and told us how special it felt to hear what we were talking about and how it felt familiar. When I extended a commitment to read the Book of Mormon and pray to Heavenly Father to know if it is true or not, he looked at me hard in the eyes and said quietly "Elder, te prometo que yo lo hare." Which means directly translated "Elder, I promise you that I will do it." It was such a powerful moment for me to see his new-found dedication to truly study and pray about the Book of Mormon!

We had a GREAT stake-conference down in Kingsbridge on Sunday! It was so good. We attended the Spanish session at noon (along with the other 30 Spanish missionaries in the stake) and President Rasband of the Presidency of the 70 came! It was such a touching experience. Right before the second hymn, President Bench (stake president) stood up and asked the Missionaries to come sit on the stand behind him and the other speakers becuase the chapel was SO full that there were many people without seats! We set a new record of attendance in the stake too! :) So all us Missionaries sat behind President Rasband and President Bench and their wives and the other speakers and the congregation stood and sang together- and tears welled up in my eyes at the intense feeling of Love that filled the Chapel. President Rasband stood and tearfully told the Missionaries how much he loved us (He said was a little biased towards US specifically, because he served here in NY NY North as Mission President a few years back..) and spoke powerfully about Jesus Christ's Atonement.

~~This coming week we are having an ePic zone confERence to discuss with ours and the StaMford and Yorktown Zones about what we as mISSionarIes learned frOm and what we are Now goinG to tRy to do About the thiNgs thaT Elder Bednar camE and discusseD with us. aH yEs, a veRy wisE friend of mIne reCently underscOred Mostly how I fEel about Elder Bednar- speaking Basically for the Young adults my friend said "he just gets Us." ~~ Sister Dunagan and I are going to sing a rather "Gospelesque" style version of the song All Creatures of Our God and King! We are excited!
I love you all very much. Wishing you a WARM week full of SUN and SPRING!
All My Love!
Elder Hellberg