Empire State

What it is!

what it is!

Dad! it's nice to get your email haha i don't know why i haven't been getting yours! and thank you for the lesson about the catholic church. i've actually been studying a little bit about it here and there because one of the couples we are teaching is super catholic and proud of it and they like to object to a lot of the things we have to say, so i have to make sure i really try to think how they would think and ask myself questions that i think they would ask so that i can have an answer for them. you had 42 converts?! holy hannukah, i would feel super accomplished if i left here with 10.. that's so many! i know the work is different here than it was there, but still, that's impressive. i know the spirit is the true teacher. its actually been a big help lately and i'm grateful for it.  and thank you for sharing your story/testimony with me. sometimes its hard for me to understand how non-members feel because the only thing i've ever known is the church, and so i can't really put myself in their shoes and know completely how they feel.. but we do our best! and speaking about "rezando" .... we actually went to the hospital last night to give blessings to 2 people who were in the MICU and in one of the little rooms, the ladies family was doing that. it was the first time i'd seen someone praying the rosary and i really don't understand it! its not talking at all...and i know that God hears all prayers, so what they're doing when they do that counts for something, but it really leaves me scratching my head at how lost people actually are.. just makes me that much more grateful i was brought up by goodly parents who love the Lord haha

Mom

LOLO'S. i LOVE that place. it's so good, i'm so jealous you all got to go there. and even more jealous that you went with Haley's family haha but yes, i got the newsletter and my card, thank you so much! i love your basketball pictures, but i want to see one of you dunking it! haha can you make it happen? that's so cool tho, i tell everyone that dad's a blackbelt and that you played college basketball. i have the coolest parents. i did not buy a suit, we didn't have time! the empire state building was sooooo sick! i'll send you guys some pictures. tell beto to do work in volleyball! i wish i could be there to watch him play.. blahh. but okay, i would appreciate some money for shoes haha my shoes are torn up pretty bad! no rush tho, i think they still have a little bit of life in them!

other things. things are going really well! we just had transfers today. i'm staying and so is my companion, which i'm super happy about! we are still doing work! staying super busy all of the time the days seem so long and so short at the same time. patricio and teresa are figuring out their paperwork so they can get married on the 10th. as of right now, they are on track and i'm sooo excited for them! cant wait for all this.  there are so many changes happening in the mission! the sister leadership stuff is now official and we have received 70+ missionaries in the past 6 weeks which is a TON so things are crazy. areas are getting split and a ton of people are getting transferred and it's just crazy but it's exciting at the same time. i'm just happy that i'm staying where i'm at because i love my ward and i love my companion! the weather is getting nicer still, we are starting to see a lot of the trees are growing leaves and people go outside just to hang out. its awesome. and yankees games have started and we walk past yankee stadium a lot so a TON of people are always around and a lot of members will stop us and say hi and stuff and i actually met a lady that went to westwood! i don't know if i already told you guys that? i don't remember.. cool tho right? well yeah, nothing else is really new other than that i got a hair cut yesterday so everything is okay! but yeah, sorry i don't really have other news, but i will try to make some stuff happen so that i can have some cool stories by mothers day! be thinking of what you guys wanna ask me or whatever! I love you guys so much and wish i could be there to celebrate everyone's birthday and just spend time with everyone.. take care, i'll talk to you in a week :)

I'm doing soooo good!!

Hey!
 ohhh man i'm sure Brisa's really excited, i'm super excited for her!  England? that's so lucky haha i'm kinda jealous even though i AM serving in the best mission in the world..  did you already send the newsletter? or not yet? i've actually seen some of the videos you were talking about! i was looking those up before i left home.. they are super funny! i wouldn't have been mad though, i definitely would have laughed about it.... i think! mothers day is so soon! and your birthday!!! that's crazy.. i'm super excited to be able to talk to you all but also sad i can't be there to enjoy those days with you.. conference was amazing! I really liked President monson's talk on sunday, elder holland's talk on sunday, and elder uchtdorf's talk from priesthood.. easily my favorite talks ! and we had quite a few investigators come to conference so that also made us super happy! transfers are next week!! but i really doubt i'll get transferred! if i stay it'll be the longest i'll have been in an area. ha but yeah, i think i'm safe for now, and i really wanna stay too. i love it so much here! as for the sister leadership stuff, i havent heard any of it.. we DO have "traveling sisters" in our mission which are two sisters who go around the whole mission and do exchanges with the other sisters so they can train and help each other and stuff, but other than that i haven't heard about any of it. and no, our mission didn't get split! but we do have a TON of missionaries coming in. last transfers we had 40 new missionaries come in and the average for our mission is like 12.. and this next week we're getting 33 more new missionaries.. sooooo there's gonna be a lot of new faces here!
sooo patricio and teresa. we went over last week with the bishop. it couldn't have gone more perfectly. they are gonna get married on may 10th, baptized on may 11th, and confirmed on may 12th. I'M SO EXCITED! i really hope i don't get transferred cuz i really wanna be there when all of that happens.. i'll be really sad if i don't get to ! zaida, well, she lives outside of our mission boundaries, so we cant teach her, but we  gave her information to missionaries in the south mission, so they'll be teaching her. hopefully she'll progress!
i love going to the gym. i feel so much better about myself haha and i feel more energized throughout the day. it's just really nice to sweat and be sore. it's been a while! i gotta say in shape too because i don't know if i will play basketball when i come home, but i would like for it to be an option.
i'm not getting dad's emails :/ the last email i have from him in my inbox is from march 20th.. i didn't get his this week either i dont know why? i'm sorry Dad! i don't know whats happening! could you try sending it again? i'm gonna try and hop on another computer later today and see if there's been any changes..
the work has been going super good. me and my son are like bestfriends. we get along so good and we've been working hard and our numbers are still going up . and now we have 2 scheduled baptisms... and a marriage! dope! also, the weather here is SOOOO NICE. i love it. we no longer have to wear our suit coats. and it's like heaven . i forgot how much i hated wearing a full suit until we were able to take them off. i love it. today we are going down to manhattan. one of the elders here knows a guy who works in the empire state building so we get to go up there for free! what upppp! and i also think i'm gonna buy a new suit today. i'm gonna go check them out, but we'll see how i feel about it. but yeah, that's pretty much it!
oh yeah, i did send the pictures last week so Haley has them! but yeah. i love you guys, and i hope you have a wonderful week! :)

Things are going great in NY!

Hey!

this week was really good! nooo i don't think that i've lost weight.. but we don't have a scale, so i honestly don't know how much i weigh haha wait the facebook page that you found.. was that of my mission? or from sister Johnson's? sister Johnson is actually from Arizona! gilbert i think? that might have been at zone conference that we had a little while ago.. No, i don't have access to facebook. i let those kids in so they can accept themselves as my friends haha but no worries mom, i'm not getting on. Thats awesome that Brisa is going to Virginia! i bet she is super excited... but yeah that is weird that she is going english speaking! but you never know, the Lord probably has special plans for her in that language. she will be where she needs to be! tell her i'm super excited for her! Wow, they're really making dad wait on that call! i hope everything goes the way he wanted it too.. i'm crossing my fingers for him. i know email is the only way for us to talk, but hey Mother's day is coming soon :) i'm super excited for that !! good i'm glad Kevin wants to email me, i'm been wanting to see how he's doing for a while! he hasn't emailed me yet, but hopefully he will soon. I'm super excited for conference this weekend! i think we're just gonna be going to our chapel to watch it there. i wonder if there's gonna be any crazy announcements this time.. probly about the 2nd coming haha 

Sooo everything is going really good. Me and Critchfield get along really well, we never argue which is really good. we just really seem to always be in sync with whatever we have going on! I'm so glad to be able to be a trainer because i've had a different mindset than i've had before, and our numbers are higher than i've ever had them.. and of course numbers arent everything, but i'm definitely more busy than i ever have been and in a good way! Yobanna is doing fine, after that last visit things have gone back to normal and she's still coming to church and she's even invited her friend to come with her! so she's progressing. Patricio and Teresa.. wow. we have some very good news. they've both now expressed that they want to be baptized!! so tonight we are going over to their house with the bishop to talk about what they need to do in regards to getting married.. so if all goes to plan, we can schedule a date for their wedding and also a date for their baptism! and they said they want to get married and baptized the same day.. wouldn't that be the coolest?! ahhh we've really been praying for them.. hopefully we can help them keep that desire.. as for maria, we went back and she didn't really pay attention to the lesson, but she had guests over and we ended up teaching like 8 people instead of just her.. and one of them asked us for a book of mormon and was asking a lot of great questions, so we think that the reason we knocked on the door that day wasn't to talk to maria, but to find Zaida.. it was just a really cool experience.. we're working a lot with less actives right now, and although we struggle to get them to church, we are seeing a lot of progress and we are building really good relationships with them, so we're having a lot of fun while we work! oh also, i got a gym membership haha we've been going to the gym for the past week. it is AWESOME. i'm actually sweating while i work out instead of just laying on the floor of our apartment.. it's nice to be sore again haha we wake up at 5:55 and we're at the gym by 6 and then we work out for an hour. i love it. hopefully i don't get transferred anytime soon so i can keep going there ya know ! Yankees had opening day on monday.. it was sooooo busy ! we live really close to it so a few streets by our apartment were all closed off and there were a TON of people everywhere.. things are gonna be crazy the next few months with every body on the trains and buses going to and from the game.. nonsense! 

i'm sorry this email is so short, but nothing has really happened this week.. i'm gonna try and write everything down as it happens so i can start writing you guys better emails.. as for now, that is all. I love you guys! 

byeee :)