Happy New Year !! 2010

Elder Gaston, Roberts, Lyman, Dandridge
Missionary Quilt mom made for Christmas

Hello everyone!
Another great week in NY! It was a little funny on the weather side it was deep snow until Christmas night it all turned in to freezing rain and the snow was all melted. Then this morning there was like 3 inches over night its snowing crazy hard right now!
Christmas dinner was good... both of them! But the next day was pretty sad. We went to lunch at the Kirklands after we cleaned and started filling the font. Then Chris called and said that he wasn't ready to make the commitment. We tried everything we could but he still thought about it and he just wasn't ready (we both think he was WAY ready). So we called everyone we could and told them the baptism was off but we stuck around to tell others. So to sooth our sadness Dave Kribbs (a guy from the singles branch I serve in) took us to Tully's (that's like a sports oriented applebee's except bigger portions of everything and their chicken tenders are amazing)but besides that it was a great week and a lot of fun. I didn't build the snowman like I said because it was starting to melt... and it wouldn't have been any good.thanks for the amazing conversation on Christmas sounds like you are all doing really good.

I love you all and have a happy new year (I'm going to bed at 10:30)
LOVE
Elder Dandridge

Merry Christmas

I'll be calling home at 10:30 AZ time -- I found Rudolph --- Syracuse Dec 2009

Syracuse Dist

Syracuse District Nov 09 - Dec 09

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

HELLO EVERYONE!
How was your week?... That's good!
Well this week Elder Gaston and I were able to set a Baptismal Date for Dec.26 Chris is his name! After we taught him the Plan of Salvation he asked us how long we were going to meet with him. And we said "Either until you tell us to stop... or 2 years after your baptized" then he asked when do I get to be baptized? "When do you want to be baptized?!" so we picked the 26th and he said this right after "I'm ready to show God that I am willing to keep his commandments!" THERE ISN'T A BETTER REASON TO BE BAPTIZED!
He is such a good man. He got a hold of us through a member that he knew that was doing her missionary work :) He works at the 911 Call Center here in Syracuse... so if we loose our phone again... at least we can remember his work phone... haha!
ALSO! I love these people! I didn"t understand what missionaries meant when they said that but now I understand. We were on the bus and there where a lot of people on and then came on a girl that sat by us and she was crying. I wanted so bad to talk to her but we're not allowed to on the busses... All I could do was feel her pain and it made me want to cry. It was then when I could really feel how much love I feel for all these people here. Also I learned somthing much bigger than that. There are the motive of our actions Fear, Duty, & Love which = Telestial, Terrestial, & CELESTIAL. I hope we can all learn to love one another and everyone and be the kind of person Heavenly Father wants us to be.
LOVE,Elder Dandridge

Enjoy the Season

Elder Gaston

/ Elder Dandridge

It's SNOWY

Hello Everybody!
It has been so much fun in Syracuse! This weeks highlights... SNOW, stolen cellphone, and Christmas Devotional!
First on the list is snow. Well it snowed and it stuck to the ground for a little while then it melts. But yesterday it snowed HARD but it wasn't sticking to the ground although it was like 25 degrees out side! so that's it for snow... kinda...
Second! Our phone was stolen! Last time I talked on it was When i was in downtown Syracuse, and i think i was pick pocketed... good thing my wallet was in my inside coat pocket! we got a new phone and no ones numbers.
Last but not least The First Presidency's Message was AMAZING! I love those men and their testimonies of our Savior. I love this time of year and seeing more people with that light in their eyes.WELL I left my camera at home so you'll have to wait for next weeks pictures SORRY!love you all!Elder Dandridge

Happy Thanksgiving 1st in NY

Hey Everybodys!
This last Thanksgiving was AWESOME! I GOT TO EAT THIS YEAR! It was so good our day consisted of planning, cleaning, playing a turkey bowl with some kids in our apartment complex. Then we ate at 2 different houses!!! 1 at the Nelsons he is finishing up his residency here and then he will be a surgeon in Salt Lake. And then we ate at the Ruckers... Sam "doesn't turn off the TV on thanksgiving" so we did all we could not to watch the Cowboys/Raiders Game. It wasn't easy for Elder Gaston since he's from Decator, TX which is like 1hr away from Dallas! But we had fun all in all. Elder Gaston is a really jolly guy. An absolute goofball! But its a good thing! Sounds like you all had an enjoyable thanksgiving and I bet the food was great! Oh yes, I think that its a general rule here that all thanksgiving left overs go to the Elders... so we have like 2 thanksgivings in our fridge right now!ha ha anyways I hope all is well and that you guys are having fun in the sun! :)Love ya Elder Dandridge
Q&A: How are the lessons with Scott?A: They are going great! It all is something he is conserned about and he loved the plan of salvation (so do I) and he is shaping up his life... its great stuff!
PS How to say goodbye in "the cuse!" You put up two fingers (like peace out) and say "DUCES"

SOOO DUCES!

Elder Dandridge

Christmas Quilt

Made a quilt for Ray so he can have all his companion's and missionaries sign or leave words of wisdom on it. Made with love and lots of time thinking about our missionary in NY Love him

First Transfers - Still in Syracuse Yeah!

Favorite Street in Town!












Syracuse District Oct-Nov 09

Hello Everyone!

Im writing on Tuesday because.... Its Transfer Week! And the results are....
I'm STAYING in SYRACUSE! YYYAAAA!
Elder Warr on the other hand is going all the way up to Potsdam as a Zone Leader.
So today he packed all his things and handed down the "leniage tie" Its been going since 1998! When I train some one I can sign it and pass it down to my "son." I'll describe it to you... its wooden.... it has a bowlo tie on the back so you can wear it. Its really wood! weird, but cool!
Oh YEAH my NEW COMPANION iiiiissssss.... Elder Gaston (gast-in)
Thats pretty much all the exciting news around here...

How's life in the desert? send me some pics. especially the ones of Nathans shaved head.

Today's a GOOD DAY :) 11/16/09

Hi everyone!
This is a great day wouldn't you agree? Auburn and Fayetteville Elders are going to come play some Basketball today so I'm all HYPED up! So this week was fun I'm trying to remember everything that happened though. OH SCOTT!We found a guy named Scott (he looks exactly like Shaq!) He loves everything we taught him so far and I look forward to sharing the plan of Salvation with him because he has a daughter that has a virus and she's one years old and she can't even hold up her head. I remember Shaely being able to do more than this 1yr old little girl its sad. But he broke down in front of us and told us everything he's going through and we shared with him some scriptures that have help us out in time of need and he just loves all of it. I'm excited to see what he dose with this knowledge he's great! He Played S.U. football he's a big guy!Anyways hows home? Whats going on? How are my girls?
Q&AQ: When do I call home?A: I probably won't... Just kidding all I know is that I have the whole day off and that I'll have to work it out with my companion. But ill probably be getting a new one next Wednesday so I'll have to get back to you on that.
Well that's all folks hope to hear from you all
Love,Elder N.R. Dandridge

Eric Canal NY 11/09

Taken on Erie Canal just for Nathan 11/09

YoYo guess what it SNOWED

Hey everyone!
Its like 65 degrees out and I think we are going to go play some catch after we email its a nice day! That is kind of a weird thought if you knew that it snowed on Friday! All the trees leaves are gone and this place went from gorgeous to wasteland in about 3 days haha! I'm loving it though I enjoyed throwing a snowball at one of the Zone Leaders haha!
Anyways great news 2 baptisms coming up Tiffany and Nikki. There going to be baptized on Nikki's Birthday Nov. 21st hopefully it will be approved because they haven't come to church yet and they need to at least 3 time just as a general rule.I did an exchange this week with Elder Thomas and we committed someone else to be baptized as well. His mom is less active well actually she doesn't know yet but she is a Investigator again... She got baptized 10 years ago but she was never confirmed.... so.... she needs to be baptized again to make a long story short. She wanted the person that baptized her to baptize her son. She'll probably want him to baptize her too once she finds out she needs to do it again.
Anyways that's the news here hows it going in Az? hot?
I don't have any questions to answer so I'll just finish with a quote for the week.
"You can count how many seeds are in an apple but, you can't count how many apples are in a seed." -Pres. James E. Faust
"When life is more than you can stand... kneel." -Bishop Fairbanks of the Syracuse Ward.
well love ya!-Elder Dandridge

HAPPY NOVEMBER 09

Halloween Missionary STYLE!
Hey Everyone!

I have been having so much fun the last couple of days! Even though it was raining we still got out there and found some people! This week I had my 2nd Transfer Training. What is that? Well basically I got to work with one of the assistance and one of my zone leaders. As we were out working it started to rain and some construction workers asked us "are you guys heading in soon?" Elder Brandon quickly said "NOT A CHANCE!" I don't know why but the 3 of us busted up laughing for along time. Then down the street we found this drunk guy that kept trying to tell us that God is black.... hahaha.... so he was asking us if he was and Elder Bench said, "if some one gave you tickets to the super bowl in California would you try to figure out how to get there or what color the seats were?" haha man I probably didn't get any sleep because it was hysterical!

ON a more spiritual note though I found a new quote by Joseph Smith that is really cool! Some one asked me what the word Mormon meant, I explained that it was a name of a prophet... but he still wanted to know what it meant so I found the answer.
here it is:
"I may safely say that the word Mormon stands independent of the learning and wisdom of this generation. Before I give a definition, however, to the word let me say that The Bible in its widest sense means GOOD; for the Savior says according to the Gospel of John, "I am the good shepard;" and it will not be beyond the common use of terms to say that GOOD is among the most important in use, and though known by various names in different languages, still its meaning is the same, and ever in opposition to "bad." We say from the Saxon, "good"; the Dane, "god"; the Goth, "goda"; the German, "gut"; the Dutch, "goed"; the Latin "bonus"; the Greek, "kalos"; the Hebrew "tob"; and the Egyptian "MON." Hence with the addition of "MORE," or the contraction "MOR" we have the word "MOR-MON" which means literally, "MORE GOOD"
Yours,
Joseph Smith"

I thought that was so cool that the book of mormon really means "The Book of MORE GOOD"
Share it with some one today :)
Well thank you all for everything and especially for those packages :)
-Elder R. Dandridge

RIBS

Eatin' Bro Kirkland's ribs

Elders

Elder Warr, Elder Dandridge, Elder Fowler, Elder Brandon, Elder Bench
(Elder Bench trained Elder Warr) in missionary lineage
he is my grandpa so I call him papa bench

Hoo Ray for Upstate NY

Our Favorite short cut through the woods
Hello every one this week was quite the adventure!
Let me just start off by saying that Elder Warr and I have calculated approx. how many miles we've put on the bikes since I've been here and I'm at 420 miles! It dosn't even hurt anymore haha!
Speaking of bikes I finally got mine back from the shop! but that was the day after the one we were borrowing was stolen. From what I've heard Syracuse is the "bike stealing capital of the nation!" But besides that we have had many miracles.
Let me "count my blessings:"
1.Denise FINALLY came to church.
2. Shannon is allowed to be baptized.
3. She is being baptized Nov. 7th.
4. Admiria wants her daughter Gigi to be baptized.
5. Mark (sisters investigator) wants to be baptized.....
look if I had time I'd go on.
The thing is we need to just look for the blessings in our lives rather then the.... not blessings... I started saying this new ... uh RAYism since I've been here. People don't see MIRACLES because someone invented the word COINCIDENCE. The work is going good and I can definitely feel your prayers on my behalf. Thank you!
drum roll please......
Q&A!!!!Q: Do you have a microwave.A: Thank goodness! I love my microwave! I eat tons of frozen burritos and wings... I wouldn't know what to do with out it!
Q:Is it Freezing?A: ALMOST no snow yet though. I guess Cuse gets the Snowball award all the time. Snowball award is given to Metro areas with the most snowfall... so... I'll make a BIG snow man!
Q: Do you want me to send you anything.A: well... I wont tell you no... but I cant think of anything that I need at the moment!

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad

1. Most Holy Rosery Catholic Church! aren't you glad they got sealed in a temple rather than a cathedral?

2. Some people get married in beautiful spots like this... but nothing like the temple
THANKS MOM AND DAD FOR MAKEING RIGHT CHOICES

Waiting....

So we got bored waiting for the rain to stop...

we couldn't ride in our suits and we were waiting for a ride to district meeting.

Elder N. Ray Dandridge walking up the path .... Oct 09

Syracuse is SO FUN

What up Ya'lls? How you all doin?
SO! this week was AWESOME! Elder Warr and I were having a hard time with the area and no one was progressing so we FASTED! It was the Thursday of Transfer week SO! that means you take time to clean out the apartment AND Plan so you don"t leave until about 5 O'Clock. So we were around food all day long. So, it was an even greater sacrifice! The next day was our WHOLE MISSION CONFRENCE! We got to hear from Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the 70 and his wife,and Elder Cook of the 70 and his wife also! We were edified! Our faith was strengthend and we knew that we could find some more people to teach!
The next day (Saturday) we got to do some sevice :) we cleaned out a basement of a house that was a rental. The lady DEFINATLY NEED HELP! There was trash up to the waist. The person that lived down there was NASTY! He would pee in bottles and just leave them sitting around, and then he had just TRASH! It took 6 ELDERS and 4 HOURS to clean dat up! thats just cleaning up the junk! There is so much more to do, then later in the day Elder Warr and I went over to Admirias house with Brother Kirkland, and she wants to be baptized! and she wants her daughter to be baptized too! Sacrifice brings forth blessings.
Thank you every one for all you do!
I"ll send you some pics and answer questions next week I forgot'em all :/ SORRY
Love-Elder N. Ray Dandridge

Hill on the north side has a lot of Irish People and in Ireland it's disrepectful for green to be on the bottom so.... the light on top of the hill is all mixed up!

Hey everybodies!
This week was actually kinda sad... We didnt get to baptize Shannon. She's 13 so the decision is hers and her parents and like a couple days before her Mom (Denise) said that Shannon couldn't be baptized... SAD :(. SO! its just a matter of time until she dose get that oppritunity.
Umm... We do have Rob who is a cop that could get baptized... but he dosnt feel completely ready yet so... Were just working hard to find more people who are ready to hear what we've got to say!

By the way it is getting SUPER COLD this morning on the way to the library I wore thermals, slacks, shirt, tie, sweater, and my pea coat AND IT WAS STILL COLD! Its crazy! It rained last night so that didnt help to much... hopfully it dosnt rain on my bike...

Well I'm having a blast actually and it sounds like you all did at Erics Party I got the Invite sorry I couldn't come I was workin in the hood... haha

Glad to hear you're all ok! I'll be sending some packages home so heads up!

LOVE YA, ELDER N. RAY DANDRIDGE

Pretty Road in Syracuse

No More Green

Hey Everyone!
Hey Guess WHAT? I'm not a greenie anymore! I went to the "return and report" meeting and became officially... not green... anyways that was fun I got to see all my old mtc buds. Elder Henning is doing great, Elder Potter came out of his shell and we're all just kicking the rest of the missions butt (in terms of numbers) but that's not what its all about.
OH MY GOODNESS! Wasn't General Conference AMAZING!?My goodness Elder Holland was "off da chains!" (as they would say in da Cuse)
Elder Warr and I were so impressed by that talk, that we both just started out our approch with the BoM, and we found 3 really solid people in less then an hour!

Well I love you all and hope to hear from you soon.
-Elder N. Ray Dandridge

Syracuse ROCKS!

Hey everyone!

Big news Eric I hope you have a Happy Birthday because it will also be happy for me. My VERY FIRST BAPTISM is on Oct. 9th so there you go Happy Birthday Brotha!

Her name is Shannon she's cool I'll send some pics of the baptism! She"s 13 and is loving YW and is just awsome. She reads the BoM and FSotY and calls us with questions.

Elder Warr and I are having a blast here! The work isn't any fun without fun. And the fun isn't any fun without work. I think you would have to be a missionary to understand that, or at least have the spirit of revalation. lol.

OH I ALMOST FOR GOT TO TELL YOU Elder Warr and I were starving so we went to go get a hot and ready from Little Ceasers! There was no where to sit so we went over to McDonalds to eat it. We were not sitting there for 5min and this is when we met Gwendaline.

OH MY GOODNESS! She asked us if she could sit down next to us and talk and have a smoke so we told her that was ok and that we would love to talk to her. oh my thought "This can be a good teaching experiance."So she asked us what we do and we told her that we were missionaries for our church. So she asked oh what church, we told her and she asked do you believe in God? And before we could answer she said "I'M GOD... DID YOU KNOW THAT?" and we told her that it would be hard for us to believe that. She just said "oh..." and she told us all kinds of weird things like, she made Elder Warr's watch for him out of lobster crab shrimp and whale. Then she gave him his rosy cheeks so that he can get free ice cream cones. And ff I touch my left dimple and then the right I can get what ever I wish for. Oh my goodness there are some weird people here... if I could just paint a picture for you shes about 300 lbs black... no teeth and She looks like she talks! She did so many drugs she was just fried! oh boy it was awsome!

Q&A time!!!Q: Send pics email or mail?

A: Well I can't open them on the computers here so.... mail is problly agood idea.

Q:Elder Warr?

A: he's very cool... ill send some pics :)

Q: did you get your bike back yet?

A: NOPE!

Well I hope to hear from you all

Love ya, Elder Dandridge

I Love Missionary Work :)

So the night after I wrote last week,
Elder Warr and I came across a family of 4 :)
The youngest child ordered a bible from church head quarters. And so we delivered it and the whole family was excited to hear our message and they all sat down and just listened AND... THEY ASKED QUESTIONS!
It was AWESOME! so we were done and asked them if we could come by another time and they said "yeah we're having turkey dinner tomorrow come eat." SCORE!!!! So we taught them that night about the plan of salvation and they had a Million Questions!!! We're teaching them again to night they are all so ready I can almost smell the baptizimal font!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyways the other day my bike seriously just busted. The crank and the barings in there seriously exploded while I was pedaling up a steap hill. So its in the shop right now and I'm using a members bike. Oh Syracuse is really cool there are a ton of hills and the biggest one is on the west side.... we live on the west side so in the morning we get to fly down the hill probably around 30mph and at the end of the day when your tired and stuff... yeah we get to bike up it :) I'm not complaining just tell you how much I enjoy loosing 20lbs and boy oh boy you should see my thighs :)
Q&A time!
Q: how long has Elder Warr been out?
A: This is his 10th Transfer so he has about 10 months left.
Q: Are you serving in a Ward or a Branch?
A: Both there is the Syracuse Ward and then there is a Singles Branch.
I love you all and you're all in my prayers let me know whats up!
-Elder Dandridge
PS Excuse any of my Ibanics I Be Trying not to show ya'll how we's peoples talk up in
"The Cuse"

The Q's

Hey Everyone,
I'm writing actually the day after Pday because the library was closed yesterday. Ill try too answer every ones questions uh first off Syracuse (Seer-a-q's if your white Sara-q's if your black) but to make some agreement everyone just calls it The Cuse (Q's) There are some RIDICULOUSLY nice houses and all so there is the extreme ghetto. If the city were human it would be bipolar I swear! My Companion Elder Warr is the bomb he is the best piano player I have heard in my life. The culture is just like the city either very willing to listen to us or just wants us to leave. And its surprising that it isn't in just one area its random all over. The food Oh my goodness, I might bring Bro. Kirkland home with me. He's from Alabama and he can cook a MEAN bbq. he also says things like was Soaping those since thursday (talking about soaking the steaks) or the Melchezidek preisthood. haha he is awesome I'm on a bike and I forgot to tell you about how many hills there are here my goodness at the end of the day my thighs are burning! oh and by the way our apartment is the highest part of the city so in the morning its clean sailing but going home is tough. at least we don't like going home until its time to go eh?
Love Elder Dandridge

He made it

Flight was canceled due to problems with the planes WIRES just another chapter for Ray's book he said he is going to write "Down to the Wire"
They ended up going after a 5 hr delay made it into Syracuse @ 11pm and finally to the mission home to bed @ 2am. After starting out at the MTC @ 3 am that made it a long 23hrs. What a way to enter the field one to remember.
Sis Hansen called me from the mission office for some updates and told us Elder Dandridge did a great job keeping them informed on both ends. I'm so glad they made it safe and sound
His first area is in Syracuse!

Almost to NY

I had to make a new email account because for some reason the other one wasn't working!!!
Anyways I got to listen to Richard G Scott last night and he gave us all an Apostlic Blessing that we would have the gift of tounges and also a blessing of safety as long as we are obedient to the Lord :) He taught a lot about teaching a acting upon the promptings of the spirit and how we just need to listen.

This whole stay here has just been crazy and it makes life at home just like a dream, almost like I never lived that life. The food is great, and so were those cookies! thank you for those and those letters they truly brightened my day! :)I'm leaving to New York on September 1st (: 6 more days :) We will be flying in to Detroit and then a 2 hour lay over for a flight into Syracruse. I will call your cell at either Before 6am on that tuesday OR around 9-11am while im in Detroit. I dont know if you guys cant find it but I really need that camera charger my camera is about dead and there is so many pictures I would like to take! I dont have anyones email accept yours so if you can send me all the immediate family's email addresses I would love to talk to them as well.

Mom, I know that your sacrifices and hard work will pay off, when you submit your will to the Lord he will bless you more than you could and will ever know. And at times when you feel frustrated with things you can always know that Jesus Christ knows those exact feelings and he felt them with you in the garden. If you turn to him for comfort it will be given to you as long as you have a broken heart and contrite spirit.

OoOoOo Yesterday I had the chance to work in the Referal center where people call in for BoM's and stuff like that and a lady called in for the lamb of god dvd and I got to share a Scripture and my testimony and it was all about the atonement and she had bone diterioration and that was exactly what she needed to hear so I sent missionaries to here house as well :)

Well Mom I love you very much and I cant wait to here from you.if you write me back through dearelder.com ill get it by dinner :)-Elder Dandridge

ps what do you get when you put spaggetti in the ocean?

Apostasy haha :)