Sept 7

DEAR HOME!
It's my BIRTHDAY month! Happy almost birthday to ME!! I LOVE September- I think it's the BEST month to have a birthday. It adds an extra CHARGE to the end of the year- Sep- BIRTHDAY, Oct- HALLOWEEN, Nov- THANKSGIVING, Dec- CHRISTMAS!!! It's 4 nonstop months of Celebration. :)

Yesterday we went up to Newburgh for an exchange with the Zone Leaders up there. Newburgh is one of the regions of our Mission that got hit HARD by flooding during the Hurricane. There are entire towns that had several feet of water- and a few with more than that. We went to a trailer park to help the Bishop check on some families and assess damage- in that area the river rose so much that these mobile homes had 4-5 feet of water INSIDE them. There had to be people recued by BOATS out of their homes! We helped a few families with things, we tore out destroyed carpet and bleached basements so mold wouldn't build up. There were hundreds volunteers on Monday with the yellow Mormon Helping Hands vests on helping out smaller towns all over the east coast. It feels good to be part of something that can help and bless the lives of many people who have lost so much due to the storm.

Last week Elder McMullin and I went on a split down in south Manhattan. I went with Elders Pearson and Lima- it was such a good day. We walked around Union Square and just talked to people- it was such an interesting experience. The enrgy down in lower Manhattan is so very different from anything I have experienced before! It's very, well, BUSY! Everyone is walking very deliberately and in a rush to get wherever they are going. Out of the hundreds we try and talk to, only a handful stop and talk to us- but the ones that DO talk to us usually accept a Book of Mormon and seem fairly interested! We taught a man named Alberto in the park. He was just recently baptized in May of this year and already knows SO much. He asked us very deep questions about the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Convanent- equally interesting were his own thoughts and ideas about the things he studied. He is a very smart guy! We walked down to Wall St and Battery Park, walked right by Ground Zero and saw the ever-climbing Freedom Tower and the memorials from 9/11. As we were talking to people down in that area, a family ran up to us yelling "ELDERS!!"- they were members from Salt Lake City! I always love talking to members that we meet in the city- they are always so excited to talk to us and ask us where we are from and how long we have been on our Missions. They usually are just shining and encourage us and it always feels like a little pep talk! haha!

We are teaching so many wonderful people! One of our investigators, Rich, officially has a baptismal date for the 25th of September! We are also working with Carol right now and we think she will be baptized very soon! I love being a Missionary- it's the greatest thing in the world. :)

The Church is TRUE!
B celebrating!
All my Love!
Elder Hellberg