Happy Easter/General Conference everyone!

This week was amazing.  Heavenly Father has so much confidence in this
little area of Brooklyn.  We had a lot of lows and highs, but the
miracles that we experienced are what made this week special.
Heavenly Father put 3 pure in heart people into our path and is
allowing us to begin teaching them.  We are so excited!

The first one is Kristina.  She has 3 kids (who are all over the age
of 8, yay!) and is the sweetest lady.  Her name was on the old
potential investigators list.  We were able to set up an appointment
with her and go meet her family last Wednesday.  She had never met
with missionaries before, and made us feel so welcomed in her home.
We showed her the Because He Lives video and talked about the
importance of relying on our Savior.  She has a good catholic
background and has been going back to her church recently.  I felt
like we were talking to a member, she is very spiritually in-tune.

Then after her lesson we went to the bus stop to head home.  This
Brooklyn-Italian man was there and was a little impatient for the bus
to come.  We talked to him a little bit about the weather and then he
asked us "are you two nuns or somethin?".  Haha we told him no and he
went on about the bus being late again.  Then a couple minutes later I
asked him if he had ever met any Mormons before.  He said he knew what
they were and that Joe Smith started the religion.  (Usually people
here don't even know that!)  Well I told him we teach people about
Jesus Christ and His Gospel and ask if we could come stop by and talk
to him sometime.  He said no he wasn't really interested.  But then my
companion asked if he wanted to watch an Easter video (Because He
Lives, we show that thing like crazy).  He said sure but he had to
make a phone call to his AA sponsor first.  We were thinking he was
calling him to complain about the bus and what not.  But when the
other end answers he says, "hey, guess who I'm talkin to here at the
bus stop?  Two young Mowmon girls....yeah, you know how I was tryin to
find God, well maybe he sent these two to my bus stop.  Maybe by the
end of this bus ride I'll be a mowmon. Hahaha"  We were not expecting
that.  Then we showed him the video and he opened up to us about
everything in his life and how he needed God.  He started crying and
told us he would definitely be in contact with us this next week.  How
cool was that!  Also, he asked us if we have any literature...I have
never had anyone ask me for a Book of Mormon like that before!  The
whole thing was such a blessing.  We have tried calling him a few
times since then, but we are going to give him some time to see if he
will call us back.

The last one we met on a bus coming home from an appointment.  Her
name is Dorain and she is the sweetest human.  She was from the Bronx
and told us she use to see the Elders riding their bikes there.  She
told us she was going home from her churches Easter program and
told us how cute the little kids were.  I asked her name and she said
dorain.  (Do-rain)  Then she asked for our number and we gave her a
card.  I got her number and she said she was so excited to meet with
us.  She said she has always wanted to be a part of something like
this and that this has been a long time waiting.  She was wonderful!
We told her we would call her and meet up with her this week.  She was
so excited and she texted us that night!  I have a good feeling about
her.

Good Friday was interesting.  In the morning, the ASL sisters (they
live right next to us) came and told us about a bonfire down the
block.  Apparently all the Jewish men and children were outside making
this bonfire right outside the park.  We went to check it out right as
the fire truck pulled up.  We have no idea what it was for, but it was
crazy to see a bonfire in the middle of the city.  Later on with the
Elders we did a street sweep on Broadway (the major road the trains
follow) to help promote Easter.  We showed the video and passed out
Easter eggs that we put Because He Lives pass along cards and a little
tootsie roll inside of them.  I showed the video to a lady outside of
a seafood restaurant.  The line for that place was going out he door!
She started telling me about Good Friday and how no eats meat on that
day except for fish.  That explains why everyone was hitting up that
restaurant even though it was 3 in the afternoon.  She also told me
she is a Catholic and her church had a march that morning carrying
crosses and a "pretend body" down the road.  We talked to the Elders
about it later and they showed us a video of that march.  I will
attach a small section of the video.

We were also able to meet many of the less active or part member
families in the branch this week.  It has been an amazing week that
Heavenly Father has definitely been guiding us through.
Then to end it with General Conference and Easter was just the icing
on top.  I loved having G.C. on Easter!  It felt like the apostles all
had extra strength behind their testimonies of the Savior.  How
blessed we are to have a Prophet of God and Apostles who lead and
guide this church.  I encourage everyone to re-read/watch those talks
again in a week.  I know that if we apply the teachings we learn in
conference to our lives and really strive to change, we will see the
blessings unfold.

I love you all!  Hope you had a great Easter :)
Sister Beecher

This picture isn't the best, but here is the firemen putting out the fire.