4th Email from New York

Hello Everyone!

So I heard about the heat in Utah! I laugh at you. It isn't hot at all here! Right now it is about 65 or 70 degrees out and I hear summer is almost over. Maybe 2 more weeks :c) The rain here is CRAZY though!!! I have never seen so much rain in my life. I actually had to pull over to the side of the road the other day because it was raining so hard you couldn't see anything. And lightning struck like 50 feet in front of us. It was INSANE!!! I couldn't believe my eyes!

This week we had the Exchange Sisters. I now have a new love for exchanges. I was way nervous for them at first because that would be getting me out of my comfort zone even more than I am right now, and I also had to drive and know the area. I was way nervous, but it turned out great. Sister Stewart and Sister Livermore came up to Ogdensburg and did exchanges with us. I had the chance to work with both of them for half a day each. It was fun getting to know more sisters and seeing how they do things differently and then learning from them.

We also had zone conference this week. This was fun too! We met with all the missionaries in our zone and had a bunch of training. It is always fun getting together with other missionaries. It was one day full of learning!

New York doesn't celebrate the 24th of July, but.... Mormons do! We are having a big pioneer day cookout for the branch. So yes, we will be celebrating along with all ya'll in Utah :c) Sadly as missionaries, we can only stay for an hour. But that's okay, we gotta' get to work!

Missionary work out here is rough. People don't keep their commitments. We have been trying to get investigators to church since I got here and we haven't had one investigator come yet. All of our investigators who seem pretty solid randomly drop us and tell us not to come back. It's really rough. But we are doing our best. Everyone has their agency.

Ratz! Time is running out. Sorry the e-mail is short. I Don't have anymore time to write sadly. Hope all is well with everyone!

Love you,
Sister Ashleigh Simmons