Have we been busy....not sure where all the time has gone, other than alot of it was spent in the Jeep! We have driven the length and width of the New York New York South Mission.
Every night we get a telephone call from the AP's (Assistants to the President) with new needs for housing. The AP's are two young missionary with exceptional leadership skills that assist the Mission President in administrating the work of the mission.
It's only 2 weeks before transfer day and we have to find 3 new apartments. Now, that might seen easy where you live, but in New York it is a major undertaking. Traffic and parking are always an issue. I use to say, "It's 10 miles away." Now, it's "That should take us at least an hour." New York drivers are actually very understanding. We left our apartment the other morning at 8:00 and drove to the corner to make a turn....a car was parked in the one and only lane while the driver ran into Dunkin Donuts to get a cup of coffee. No one honked their horn, we all just waited.
Another issue is that there are more people wanting to rent than there are apartments. So you have to make friends with realtors and be quick on your feet or maybe I should say tires. This last week we viewed a dozen apartments. The benefit is that we know some really good New York pizza places. When we see an apartment we would like to rent we then have to convince them to rent the apartment to the Church and two 20 year old boys or girls will be living there. The realtors are always apprehensive as to whether the landlord will rent to us. We know that Heavenly Father has intervened in guiding us to the right people and apartments. As an example, we were prompted to call a realtor in Brooklyn who as it turned out grew up in Arizona and has family members who are members of the Church. She became a strong advocate in convincing the landlord to rent to us. When the landlord asked her, "Who are the Mormons?" She told them to think of Mitt Romney.
As of a couple of hours ago, we still had one more apartment to secure. The realtor called us at 8:00pm on Saturday night and said he was amazed as the management company just called him and said they would accept our offer. He has never known the management company to works on the weekend.
We have been told by a realtor to not wear our missionary badge as it would be a "turn off" to potential landlords. We would not even consider that option. On that same day, wearing our missionary badges, we met with a realtor, and after reading the words "Jesus Christ" on our badges she said, "That's good enough for me." We got the apartment.
These little miracles confirm our faith that we are loved and being watched over by our Heavenly Father.
Take some time to ponder the tender mercies you receive each day and express in prayer your gratitude and your love to your Heavenly Father.
I love these stories!
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