Another Auld Lang Syne

Hey everybody!

Happy New Year!! Wow hard to believe it’s 2018. And it’s going to be
a good start to the year!

Last year in the Manhattan 1st ward there was a total of 3 baptisms.
But both us and the sisters have a baptism scheduled for this week! So
in the first week of the year we will almost match the number of
baptisms for last year!

So I didn’t write much about what happens around Christmas time. But
the members who invited us over for Christmas eve asked the military
base if there was any new arrivals who didn’t have anywhere to go for
Christmas. So when we showed up we were able to meet Anton! Anton is
an immigrant from the Ukraine and Russia, born in the Ukraine raised
in Russia. He hasn’t had much contact with the church in his life, but
he has heard of the church from when he was living in New York. We
were able to have a really good discussion with him and get him to
think a little about what we believe. We played some games with them.
It was a good time.

We went back over for Christmas and Anton was there again! But we were
able to watch a movie, we watched Home Alone :)

Then all the missionaries in the zone got together for a white
elephant! I got a toilet golf and basketball for it. It was pretty
cool, I would have taken it if nobody else did. But I ended up with a
full pound of a Hershey kiss. Then we played another game as a zone.
It was a good time.

Once again we went over the member's house for New Years Eve and was
able to teach Anton about the Plan of Salvation. It went really well.
The time before he had questions about the plan and things. It went
really well and he understood, even with the slight language barrier.
The spirit helped him understand!

Teaching Alex has been going really well and he is excited for his baptism!
His girlfriend has been in Texas with her family for the holidays. He
hasn’t told her yet that he’s getting baptized, he’s waiting till she
gets back to surprise her.

Things are going well and I love the mission!





- Elder Andrasko