Oct 21, 1995
Wow, crazy day. We had a baptism this morning. After the baptism, we looked outside. It was a wall of water All the streets were flooded, and we had to run home in it puddles a foot deep. We were drenched to the bone. A street by our house fell out. Not because of the rain. The sinkhole in the intersection fell about 4-5 feet. Wow. So, I went around soggy all day and cold, then at night a party was going on one floor down. I fell asleep and got woke up at 12:30 AM to the climax of the party, a fight. The music was still pumping loud and hundreds of people were packed on the floor below. Turns out they were flashing guns and stuff. Crazy. And I came in and went to sleep again and the fight went on outside. Crazy. Wild city.
My thoughts:
First, I think the rain was ruminants of a hurricane.
Second, the bed I slept in had a bullet hole in it. I think we were on the 6th or 8th floor and there was no elevator in the building. The kitchen had a fire escape where you could sit and look at the city Manhattan skyline. It was beautiful.
OK, I remember this night. I remember having worked so hard during the day. I often walked so much and worked so hard with Elder Chino that I would often fall asleep kneeling down and saying my prayers, I remember one-time sitting on the bed with my feet on the floor, falling backward, and waking up in the morning in the same position. Anyhow, this evening was similar, I was so tired I fell asleep quickly. I remember the music being so loud, the floors were rattling, and the windows were rattling. People in New York don’t have the typical stereo systems. I can’t count the number of homes I went to that had basically concert speakers for a home stereo system.
I remember the elders shaking me and telling me to wake up, there was a fight. I jumped out of bed and ran out into the hallway. As soon as I ran out, the elders told me I was out there in my underwear. I hurried back in and put some clothes on.
I remember there were so many people in the building you couldn’t even walk through the halls. I’ve thought about the experience so many times. Why weren’t the police called? How could you have such a huge party in a building that big with that many neighbors and no one care? It was truly wild. I also remember the entire inside of the building had just been painted. When we got up the next morning, every wall on every floor was covered with fresh graffiti.
The last question was… how did the other missionaries know that there was a fight and guns had been pulled at 12:30 in the morning? I never asked them. I wonder if this experience helped Elder Castro decide to become a professional DJ. Ha ha ha.