Como Tamo Dominican Style

Hey! Sup?

First, here’s a little Spanish lesson; "Como tamo" is Dominican Spanish for what really should be "Como estamos" which means; "How are we doing or how is everything?"

So two and a half weeks ago we were walking in the street and we heard someone say "Como tamo?" As soon as we heard it we naturally repeated the same phrase out loud with a thick Dominican accent as well and we turned around to see 2 men behind us laughing along with us. That is how we met Carlos Reyes. He went to church in Honduras for 5 months before he came here to New York and one of his best friends is serving a mission in Argentina. (it's funny because he's not even Dominican but people just like to talk like Dominicans) We met with him a week later, taught the restoration and invited him to be baptized and he accepted!!! All he wants is to come to church more before he makes the covenant to make sure he is ready. The coolest part is that this last Sunday he went to stake conference and brought a friend with him! Tonight we will meeting with his friend and hoping to set a baptismal date. All because of "Como tamo"!

Another cool experience happened yesterday when we were walking towards the church. We were like 20 yards away from the door when 2 people walked passed and we just stopped in our tracks because we felt we should talk to them, it took us a few seconds to follow the prompting so as usual we had to go running back to catch up with them. We asked them if they knew anyone that had lost a loved one recently and they didn't want to talk to us, I mean they really didn't want to talk to us. So after 2 minutes of walking and trying to figure out why we had felt so strongly to go talk to them,  we decided to stop trying to start a conversation and leave. We were so confused because we were sure we had followed a spiritual prompting. After talking to one more person that wasn't really interested we decided to head back to the church a little discouraged and confused. As soon as we had hit the same square of concrete at which we turned around the first time we heard "Dámelo" from a man as he pointed to the Book of Mormon in our hands, which means "give it to me!".  His name is Manuel and he is from Guatemala. We gave him the Book of Mormon of course and we added him on Facebook and set an appointment for this Thursday. He called us through Facebook video call later that day and we talked for a little longer. So cool how if we wouldn't have followed the first prompting there would be no way we could have met Manuel because the timing just wouldn't have worked out.  Secondly I reaffirmed the reason why it is essential to always  carry a Book of Mormon our hands at all times. You never know who will say "Give it to me!"  jaja.

So yeah. Life is great here in the Bronx. We are receiving sooooo many blessings.

Hope you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Mackintosh

We saw Jermaine and the family at stake conference! Sure love them.

I got to go to my last area to see Ben get baptized! He was so happy

and it was just amazing.

With our investigator Ricardo

We decorated our investigator and a members door with some stuff to

help them remember the goals we set together! Woot! Woot!

EL BRONX

May 10, 2017

Hey y'all!

It was another fantastic week as a missionary! We saw so many miracles this last week... so many. Definitely grateful to be serving here in the Bronx. Life is great. 

I've been asked a lot of questions about the Bronx so I figured I would take the time in this email to answer those questions. 

"What is it like when transferred and having to leave an area you're attached to and love the people?"

-It is really hard. Honestly it is similar to leaving your house again every couple months. I have definitely shed some tears saying goodbye to some members. #GratefulForSocialMedia

"Describe The Bronx; what does it look like, what are the people like. Where do you live? Do you eat with members everyday or where and what do you eat? Describe a typical day."

- What does the Bronx look like... Exactly what you think the brinx looks like (jaja) it really is awesome, there's so many different types of people here. And so many different backgrounds. It definitely is interesting every day to talk to people and hear new things and new perspectives! We don't have scheduled food appointments with members every day but we definitely eat something for members every day. Normally it's ice cream (jaja) hispanics are awesome. 

"What is the most difficult part of being a missionary and the BESTest part?"

- I would say that at this point in my mission the most difficult part about being a missionary is staying focused. I definitely wouldn't say that I'm homesick but I also can't say that things don't distract me sometimes because we live in a pretty worldly place. And to answer about "the best part of the mission", I would say that it is definitely the relationships that you're able to build out here. One, serving people you just grow so close to them - that is something that I hope to never forget.

And to answer "Describe what a day in the life of a missionary in the Bronx looks like"... that is really difficult because every day is so different. One person screaming at you here, hugging another person on the street corner there, and saying prayers with random people everywhere. (Jaja) Life is good. 

I love you all! Byeeeee

Elder Mackintosh 

1. 5 de mayo so we are tortillas jaja

2. Went to the Bronx zoo today 

3. A guy on the street gave this to Elder Aurich because his birthday is this Saturday! 

Today we went to The Bronx Zoo, just before I wrote this email. :) 

 A guy on the street gave this to Elder Aurich because his birthday is this Saturday! 

(Crazy story how it all came about)

5 de mayo so we are tortillas (jaja)

Transfered! Now Serving in....

May 3, 2017

2 Nephi 2: 21

Time keeps flying by! I got transferred and I am now serving in...

THE BRONX! 

.... I will be able to use my Spanish again after 10 months of serving in an English area! :) 

My new companion's name is Elder Aurich and he is a super cool kid from Arizona. Funny thing is that he went to high school with Elder McBride so at the end of this cycle I will have spent literally half of my mission with someone from Red Mountain High Schoo.  jaja. Random.

Also Elder McBride is flying home right now. ):

So the reason for the title of this email, 2 Nephi 2: 21,  is that the purpose of life has been on my mind a lot. Basically from my studies and prayers and why not I have come to feel like that for the purpose of life really is to repent and serve others. If at the end of the day we can say that we did that, it was a successful day.

Something funny that happened this last week: We were walking down the street and this guy stopped us and started talking about how he used to run a gang and stuff in Chicago but he got out and move to New York. While talking to him, this other guy walked up and asked,  "What's this meeting?"  We responded and said we are missionaries. Then he told us how he just barely robbed a Coke from the gas station.  Then the first guy went on with this story about how he used to shake soda cans and then chuck them in the air and tell God to hold it for a couple of minutes and then it wouldn't come back down until he told him to drop it. Jaja i didn't know what the heck was going on but it was awesome! jaja 

Life is good here in NYC!  Have a great week!

Love you!
Elder Mackintosh

My new companion Elder Aurich

                                            After doing Yoga on top of Ben Pelos' Roof. Twas Awesome!  

Meet Constant, the nicest guy ever. We walked passed him every day and would stop and give

him a hug and pray with him.  I am going to really miss him. 

He recently started coming to church! Awesome.