Elder Long in New York: June 4, 2014

What's Good Folks!?

This week has consisted of a whole lot of stuff. It was a fantastic week!

So, last Thursday, we did a zone service project. We helped rip down a
barn. Yep. A Whole Barn. The barn was built in 1871 and the man who
owned it passed away, so a guy he knew wanted to use the wood for a
project he was doing. Man, was it hard work! We were there from 9am to
5pm. It was like a work day! It was also pretty fun too. The owner of
the bar who passed away (his wife is still alive) left a 1965 mustang
in the garage. It's in really good condition, just really dirty. She
hasn't touched it and I don't think she plans on it. She could sell it
for a pretty penny. I'm not a huge mustang fan...in fact I hate them.
But it was cool to see a classic.

Then on Friday, we were privileged to have a mission tour from Elder
Steven E. Snow from the first quorum of the seventy! We had a full day
of council and instruction from him. And he wanted to shake our hand
and personally greet all of us. I also got to have ouch with him.
That's pretty cool to think about. I had lunch with Elder Snow. He and
I sat next to each other at lunch and just talked. He asked if there
were any good places in Colorado to go hiking, lol. Funny question. Of
course!!! I named off my favorite. Maroon Bells in Aspen. So
beautiful! But, I'm grateful that he was able to motivate us. We all
needed it!

So, I have gathered a few stories from a few hostile people, lol. I
feel like I've told a few already, but we had another encounter this
week. (People up here are relentless) So, Elder Berube and myself were
tracting on Monday, and it was a normal tracting day. "I'm catholic,
thanks" or "Nope! Not interested!" *Slam* So, this next house was a
bit of a shock. As we were walking up to the door, they shut the door.
So we get up there and ring the doorbell like 3 times and knock like 3
times. Hello. We just saw you close the door. I know we are Mormons,
but we ain't dun diddly stoopid. Haha. So, a man comes out of the
garage door and asks what we want. We tell him who we are and he says:
"Nope. I'm atheist. Bye!" *Slam* That's somewhat normal, so we just
walk away. As we walk away, we hear him say: "It's all good. I took
care of the problem." That made me laugh pretty hard. We were "Taken
Care Of" like a cockroach infestation...ridiculous! People are so
rude. So we just walk to the next house and as we walk up to the next
house, the lady from the last house runs out yelling at us. Literally
yelling. And she just went on and on of how we are hypocrites. She
pointed to the sky and said: "You think you know him!? You think you
know who he is?! Well you don't! You can't just come on to our
property and disrespect our no trespassing sign. You frightened us! We
were just sitting at home and you frightened us!" As she was
destroying two 20 year old kids from the Rocky Mountains, her daughter
walks out and tries to protect us. Which was nice of her. As we
thanked the daughter, the older lady yells: "Do NOT speak to my
daughter. She is WAY too good for you!" We had no idea what was going
on. We just sat there blankly staring at her. She wouldn't even let us
talk cause if we tried to calm her down, she just got worse. So yeah,
haha. Needless to say. It made my night. The same neighborhood that we
were tracting, we knock on this door and this buff black dude answers.
I'm use to Aurora, so I'm wasn't too intimidated. And asks what we
want. So I take the good ol Book of Mormon approach. As I was trying
to explain what it was, I told him that it's another testament as is
the bible. So I asked if he was religious and he said that he read the
Curran. I was like "Cool! That's definitely something that I would
like to read sometime...What do you believe in?" And he responded: "I
believe in my pistol...and I believe in using it..." I just looked at
him and said: "Nice! Guns are pretty cool" haha. Then he said he want
interested and closed the door. That was a pretty fun experience.

So, I'm not entirely sure why John (Our investigator) postponed. He
won't tell us. But I honestly think that meeting with us was just so
he can say he knows what Mormons believe. I don't think he really
wants to get baptized, but I'm trying to have hope that he does.
Especially since his parents sent us some really anti Mormon
questions. But, we will see. We also got 2 new investigators this
week! Yesterday, we met with a lady named Lorraine. Elder Berube and I
tracted her house and she said we could come back. She told us that
she was interested in family history work which is sooooo cool! Well,
we came back yesterday and she invited us in. We sat down and she
stared at my name badge and mouthed my last name. "L...O...N...G" and
then she belted out: "Long!?!? As in L, O, N, G?! I sat there in
confusion. "Yes. I'm Elder Long" I said. She replied: "My maiden name
is Long!! Wow!" So, we sat there just talking about our genealogy and
where our long name comes from. Her "Long" comes from Ohio and ours
comes from Oregon. But further back we both come from England (I think
ours does) so that was awesome. Then we got to talking about the
church and we asked her to read the Book of Mormon and she said she
would and she also said she would pray about it. I'm so stoked for
Lorraine! She is ridiculously awesome!

Transfers and next Wednesday. An I think I'm leaving. It all makes
sense for me to go. Which is a bummer because so much is happening
right now. We are officially moving a week after transfers to what one
of our senior couples says "The nicest apartment in the entire
mission" so I'm probably gonna miss out on that :( AND we are getting
sisters in our ward! That's 6 missionaries in our ward! Crazy! And
then of course, we have new investigators. So right as things get
super awesome, I think I'm leaving. Oh well I guess, haha. Gotta do
The Lord work somewhere else.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention. We are going to a Yankees game on July
2nd. I'm so stoked!!!! Our entire mission is going. They said last
year it was like a sea of white shirts, haha. So rub that into the
Hicks face! Let them know where I'll be on that day. Haha just
kidding. But I'm really excited. It's going to be really fun. They
play Tampa Bay that day too.

Well, I love y'all! I am so grateful for your support. I have felt it
this past week.

Love Elder a Branndin Brian Long

The Mustang that was sitting in the garage for several years. Pretty

great condition, huh?!