I LOVE BOSTON!!

Bonswa everyone! I hope I didn't scare anyone too much by not writing yesterday. It was Veterans day and everything was basically shut down here in Boston. But let me tell you, Boston is such a patriotic city it's not even funny! EVERYONE here was wearing some kind of military uniform yesterday. There are literally American flags everywhere that you go, there was even some dude dressed up as Ben Franklin while we were downtown yesterday. It was awesome!

So now I guess I had better tell you about exploring Boston! Sorry I didn't write what buildings I took pictures of last week, but that's because I really don't know what they are. I just think they're cool. The one with the American flags hanging from it is actually the Library, so that's pretty incredible. But here we go, after emailing last P day we just walked all over downtown Boston. It's literally THE COOLEST place I've ever been! Everything is so old and classic on the outside, but then completely remodeled and restored on the inside. It's amazing. And whoever told me that there is literally history on every corner wasn't lying. There are literally statues, monuments, flags and cobblestone streets all over the city. Last week while walking around, I ran into a vendor cart selling the World Series champs shirts for only $10! I totally bought one, most I have seen are anywhere from $35-$50 for a T Shirt! That's insane, no way I was going to pay that. I'm just a poor missionary. I also found a warm hat for this winter, so that's good. It's getting really cold here. Afterwards, we went to this hole in the wall Bostonian sub sandwich shop. They're famous for their 20" Cheesesteaks. I'll attach a picture. Not only was it big, but it tasted SO GOOD. And then yesterday, since it was veterans day there was a famous war ship from the revolutionary war that had a tour going on. So we went there, it was awesome! It is called the USS Constitution, there were like over 100 cannons on it. It's the oldest ship that is still afloat in our naval fleet, pretty awesome stuff. 

What a crew!!

So I want to talk a bit about the awesome Haitians that we work with, but before I do that I want to talk about how difficult it is to get an appointment. So here's the thing, unless we either have another male with us or the other companionship, we can't meet with a single woman investigator/member. Here's the other thing, almost all of the Haitian investigators and members we're currently working with are single moms or the dad is working 14 hour shifts. It's quite sad really. But due to that fact, we are always needing to call a member from the ward to come with us or roll up with the 5 man missionary mafia with the other companionship in our district. So we have a lot of opportunities for appointments, but it's difficult to get a chaperone to come with us.

So let me talk a bit about our current investigators:

Daniela:
She has lived here for a couple of years I believe. The guys i'm working with found her, well actually she found them! She called them up a month or two ago and said hey are you missionaries? Come teach me! So crazy. But she's awesome, so funny and really receptive to our message. A lot of the times were over there we just talk for a while and then tie it into a lesson. She's interested in baptism, but she said she'd like to get all of the lessons first before she decides. Which is completely understandable! Sadly, she lives alone in a very big house. She used to be married but her husband left her, we try to get over there when we can just to give her some company. She's also an INCREDIBLE cook, best Haitian food I have ever had by far.

Johnny:

He has lived here for 2 years, and in that two years he has had a little baby girl, gone to school, gotten a job in a nursing home and now is working at becoming fluent in English. Sadly, his wife recently left him and that's when he decided he would try a different path in life and started investigating various religions! That's when the missionaries found him! He is GOLDEN. He tells us that he just needs this change in his life, that he has a huge desire to grow closer to god. He willingly does everything we ask of him and more. He has a baptismal date for December 21, and we're just working on getting him to consistently come to church (that's hard with Haitians, they find jobs and then they work every Sunday) But he said that he's going to ask for Sundays off from his boss.

Babout/Selann:

Two of these little old Haitian ladies that are in our area. I believe that they're sisters. They are super cool! I've only met them once but anybody who is understanding with my broken Creole is my friend, haha. So last time we went we taught about the restoration and then we challenged them to read and pray about what they've read and they accepted! Exciting stuff.

So needless to say, I just love the people here. I'll have to talk about all of the members next week, this letter would just be too long! The Haitian ward is my favorite thing on the planet. So every Sunday after church we go to the ward choir. It is awesome. It's 90% Haitian women and 100% people who don't know how to sing whatsoever. So we have some good times without a doubt haha.

So as far as the language goes, I am finally understanding more and more everyday. I think it took me a while to hear how Haitians actually speak Creole. But I can actually hold a decent conversation now, so I participate when I can! I have a long way to go, but like the Haitians all tell me "L'ap vini, taler w'ap palé tankou rat." It'll come, soon you'll speak like a rat. I guess that is a good thing or something? I dunno. Haha.

This week we got attacked by the roaches in our apartment. They were EVERYWHERE in the kitchen. It's really quite gross. So we did a deep clean in our apartment last week, wiped the entire place clean hoping it would help with the roach problem. We also sprayed roach killer all over, thinking it would solve our problems. Well, spoiler it didn't do anything. We still have roaches in our kitchen every night when we get home. I don't know what we're going to do.

So we go out to eat every once and a while here, and I think the best food I've had yet has to be Forest Hills pizza. Now it's awesome because Boston is just a culture melting pot. There is every kind of food here and it's all authentic. So this forest hills pizza place is just a little restaurant by our bus stop owned by this Italian guy and his wife. Now here is the kicker, they have the option to put buffalo sauce on your pizza. Sounds weird right? I sure thought so. But after I tried it, I'm in love. There's a lot of good looking restaurants around here that I need to try though.

So here's the low down on our area: there is not a single Walmart or anything similar to it. The closest thing we have is a Target that is about an hour and a half away by taking the subway. So we decided to go to the Target yesterday for our P day, it was so hard being in that store! They had football playing on all of the TVs, all of the new Xbox games sitting out, the new XBOX One and PS4 out, all of the new music that has come out. Everything! It just made me a little homesick. Reminded me of everything that I liked to do back home. But it's okay, I bought myself a super comfortable pillow! I had been using some pillow that has been in the apartment for I'm sure well over 5 years. So now I have my own pillow, it's awesome! I also bought a card game to play after the day is over and we have a few minutes to just chill, pretty fun stuff!

So I think that about wraps up my email! Sorry about it being so long this week, but I just love it here so much. Love everyone back home! Please send me some letters, I've only gotten one from my mom while I've been here! I want to hear how everyone is doing, email is great but I don't have enough time to respond to emails because we're limited on computer time here.

Love you all so much! N'ap we semen pwochen!

Eldé Halling.