Dear all!

I hope you know that I am still happy!

So we went to church on Sunday at this ward in Lynbrook because the Stake Center doesn't have power and has a few broken windows from a fallen tree. It was really cool because there are 3 languages there... Creole, English, and Spanish! So the hymns are sang in English, Spanish, and French(because Haitians only know how to read french not creole because that is how they are taught in school in Haiti) then we went to do a mission-wide service project at Far Rockaway... Man that place was destroyed so much as well! Basements and such were FILLED COMPLETELY with nasty water and do you wanna hear something weird? One of the most slippery things during the cleanup in the basements and flooded floors is when there are soaked books on the ground... Thank Goodness I haven't fallen yet... But it is so much fun doing all of this work and seeing the light and excitement in peoples faces when we work hard and get a lot of things done for them in an hour that would have taken them a few days... I LOVE THIS SERVICE SOOOOOO MUCH!!! It is the most efficient type of missionary work that we can do also. These peoples hearts are opened. We helped a Jewish household yesterday which, nothing against the faith, is very very very very rare. We were also able to impress the family by how much we respected their religion. Just wonders are being done here. President Calderwood had spoken of something big that was going to happen with the missionary work this transfer, but he did not know what. I love Priesthood Authority! It is so comforting to people to see our yellow army(yellow Mormon helping hands shirts and jerseys) come to serve. Sooooo many people have asked us about our religion and about who we are and expressed their appreciation for our work and kindness! Probably so many people that would have rejected us on the spot or slammed their door in our face under normal conditions! This may or may not help Elder J and my pool too much seeing that our area didn't get that destroyed but the other English Elders in Plainview have Massapequa and down by the bay which was destroyed so we already have been able to serve some very solid potential investigators there. But golly the work is hard physically... working from morning til dark ripping out walls and carpet and carrying furniture and garbage cans full of wet drywall and such out! I am excited to be buff! hahaha just kidding but seriously. ha

So President Calderwood mentioned that we would probably be doing this service from morning until 5 or 6 then we will go proselyte everyday Tuesday-Sunday possibly for the next few months! So this will be such a great amazing and exciting opportunity for me to serve. So many missionaries are soooo excited because they know how to work and they see the joy in it. It will be a growing experience for all those who are not so used to heavy-labor. Elder L and I are very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very excited. To say the least. This is like a dream come true because we get to serve people and then teach them the Gospel! AWWWWW its so great! So I think this is going to be really hard for some other missionaries though because a lot of missionaries have been thrown off their missionary feeling and schedule and they are becoming lazy. Eees not good! This will be hard for them! But as for me! Naaaah Playa I'm chill as the still will of Jill's fill. That doesn't make any sense so don't read it.

I love how organized the church is though. It truly is amazing what we can do as a Community of Charitable people! Like a quarter of those who were doing service on Sunday were not missionaries(out of around 200!) Which is crazy because that was a missionary gathering but members wanted to join in! Then this person who is on like some emergency preparedness calling in the church brought soooooo many missionaries (including us) enough gas to fill our tanks! Cool because there is still a major shortage of gas in Long Island....... I guess he went to Pennsylvania to fill up all the tanks that he could rally up and put them in his truck bed!

So it is starting to get cold here! Mwen ap santi fret!(I am feeling cold) Konsenan Kreyol... Mwen ap aprann senp la bagay yo tre dousmann men seten. (About Creole... I am learning the simple things very slowly but surely) I am sooo excited to learn more! I now have my creole name tag... I hope I actually learn the language(like to understand what they are saying) so that I can feel semi comfortable wearing it instead of when people call and I have to say "Padon mwen paske mwen pa pale kreyol. men mwen ap eseye aprann." (forgive me because I do not speak creole. but I am trying to learn) or I just give the phone to elder j... haha either way I can't understand people because they slur their words and put them together as much as the ghetto fellow's in the city do for english. So that makes learning difficult! Se Difiklite! (It's a trial!)

But let me tell you. God is so close to us. We may not see because our eyes aren't open. When we choose to open our eyes we will see. Look for the tender mercies in your life and I promise no matter how hard life gets we can be happy because we can know that Eternity in Joy is worth this blink of an eye on earth. Keep up the good work please and I promise you will see that to be true!!!

Love you!!!
Love,
Lanmou,
Elder Clark