Unfinished

Hola todos! 

So the Jews here have a pretty strict dress code. The girls have to wear shirts that cover their elbows and their collarbones, and skirts have to go 4 inches below the knee. One day, we inadvertently wore shirts that were almost Jew-appropriate. From the back we definitely looked like Jewish girls. We were knocking the door of a referral in what we like to call "deep Lakewood" (the part of Lakewood where everyone is either Jewish or Hispanic) and a few Jewish guys about our age were walking down the street behind us. We could hear them whispering "Are they Jewish?" "No, they're Christians!" It was pretty funny. Most of them crossed the street and walked away. But one of them (who appeared to be very drunk) stood there behind us and yelled "Hey! What's up!?" We then proceeded to explain to him that we aren't Jews. He just stood there disappointed for a bit, mumbled a few other random things, and staggered off in a drunken stupor. It was pretty great. I can check "Be hit on by Jews" of my bucket list! Success.

This week we spent a long time inputting teaching records into the Area Book Planner app on our iPads. In the process of doing so, we came across the records of some pretty cool people that I hadn't read about before. We called a ton of the phone numbers in our area book and we actually got some 8appointments and found some cool people that way. We got 3 new investigators on Saturday and 2 of them were people we found in our area book. We have been pretty focused on finding new people because the current people we have just aren't progressing and aren't putting in the effort they need to. 

One night this week we were walking contacting people on the street and I see a some people in a car that is stopped at a stoplight motioning for me to come over. I walk to the car and one of them asks "How much for one of your books?" I say they're free but I only had Spanish ones with me at the moment. He said he needed an English one, so I told him to give me his phone number and we would make sure he got an English copy. By this point the light had turned green but this guy was still telling me his phone number and holding up traffic. Everyone was honking at him to get going so I whipped out a pen and my planner and wrote the phone number down super fast and said "We'll call you" before he sped off. That whole exchange lasted about 10 seconds. This morning we called him and he said he lives in Jersey City and wants a Book of Mormon. We got his address and sent it to the missionaries there and told them to go bring him a BoM! I'm so glad we were in the right place at the right time for him to see us on the street. 

Other than that, everything is pretty much the same here. One big step forward we are seeing is that the Saavedra parents (the ones whose oldest 3 kids got baptized recently) got their passports a couple months ago and they can get married now! They put off getting a marriage license for a bit because she had a baby last month, but now they finally have their appointment to go get their marriage license this week! They will get married in August or September and will hopefully be able to be baptized pretty soon afterwards! Unfortunately I probably won't still be here in this area to see it happen... but as long as it happens I will be happy whether or not I get to be there. 

I have 3 weeks before I should be getting transferred. I am working hard to leave this area better than I found it. I know a lot of the fruits of my labors won't be seen until after I leave this area, but I feel good in knowing that I am doing the best I can. My work here in Toms River isn't quite finished yet so I am giving it my all. And enjoying the beautiful Jersey Shore while I can ;)

<3 Hermana Harris

 

This was written on a wall next to the front door a big run-down house with a lot of people in it. I thought it was hilarious. It  means "Please don't leave glasses of beer here. Don't urinate. Don't vomit. Thanks. Try to take out the big trash okay"