Familia!
K' lo K' ! aqui 'toy di'frutando el dia preparacion, tu sabe!
Ha Dad, just to let you know, we're not required to memorize section 4 of D&C, so i'm not gonna lie, i haven't even looked at it. I've been studying the book of Mormon, and i think i'll finish it within the next day or two. I love it so much! Before i got here it was really hard for me to get into it.. and to even read for more than 2 days in a row.. but since i got to New York i don't wanna put it down! no lie.. And yes we have district meeting every monday, and then we go out to eat as a zone afterwards! It was weird to think about how i was in New York for 9/11.. but nothing out of the Norm happened here in the Bronx. people had the flags out on their lawn, but that's everywhere in the US. but we're going over to manhattan right after we leave the library so maybe they will still have things up from yesterday, we will see! and since we can see manhattan from our window, last night when we looked out towards the city we could see the light beam that shines in place of where the towers used to be.. our investigators are doing good, our baptism is definitely still on for saturday, Marta is so excited! the rest of them are still having their struggles.. but we're seeing some improvement! but the last 2 days we've found THREE new investigators.. that's more than we've found the whole time that i've been here! it made me so happy! I don't get offended when people say they don't want to hear the message. Lately when they say no i've been quick to reply "are you sure?!" and we've actually taught some lessons at the door because of that. so i'm gonna keep saying it! and don't worry about sending me letters, your emails make me very happy and as long as you keep in contact i'll be fine! so no worries. i'm also happy to hear that you will soon be getting the iphone 5.. you've been talking about it FoReVeR haha its about time you upgrade!
Mom, it's still weird not being able to play basketball.. my companion laughs at me because i swear i can hear a basketball bouncing from 100 yards away.. and when i do i can't help but stare.. he told me it will be easier to not wanna play as the time passes, but it's only getting harder.. haha i guess i can't complain about you sending me both pairs of shoes! its better to have more than to not have enough.. and i also cant complain about candy. I love it. I've eaten so much candy since i've been here. And its funny how you sent me the nachos because i was just telling everyone in my apartment how i would ask you for that whenever you would go to the grocery store! Stalker!!!! haha you WOULD find out where my church is, and how i get there haha but yes, its the two-story brick building with the white fence around it.. its really small, but it's kind of cool! and thank you for the newsletter! i will be writing you a letter soon.. so expect that to come within the next week or so.
Time is going by so fast! our first transfer is almost here! i can't believe i've already been away from home for so long. it doesn't feel like i've been gone for that long, but at the same time it feels like i've been a missionary for ever! ha it's hard to explain.. Today we're gong to the city, as in Manhattan. we're gonna go see China-town, maybe little italy, the brookelyn bridge, and maybe times square. but i might ditch the times square to go play basketball at the manhattan church building.. which is also the temple.. how many people can say they've played basketball in the manhattan temple?! i just really want to play basketball.. and i have plenty of time to see times square, it's not going anywhere. at least i hope it doesn't disappear. but today should be a good day! the past couple of days have been awesome, we've taught more people than usual, so hopefully we can keep that up, because that will lead to more investigators! the only problem is that we have a hard time finding people that speak spanish, so most of our lessons are in english, and then we have to hand them over to the english missionaries.. it's kind of lame! i don't speak as much spanish as i did in the mtc.. i need to try and speak more! but i'm proud to tell you that i HaVe received a lot of compliments on my spanish from the people in our ward.. and some random people. they tell me i have a "beautiful accent.. like mexican with spanish.." (as in from spain) so that makes me feel good haha but i have to go, i'm out of time! I love you guys so much, and miss you all very much.. I will keep you in my prayers, i know the Lord is protecting you!
Love,
Elder ZAZ.
BEFORE THAT
Hola Hola!
Mom,
I was planning on trying to send pictures in the email, but i forgot my usb cable and we do our emails in the public library which is kind of far from the apartment so i can't go back.. sorry, next time i will make sure i bring it so you guys can get a sneak peek at what i've seen and done! But no when we go go places on p-day we go as an apartment, so it's me and my companion and the other two missionaries that live with us! today i think we're going to the bronx zoo after we get done here! my companion is going to see the statue of liberty with another elder that is leaving, so i'm gonna be the third wheel in another companionship for the rest of the day. there were some members from puerto rico i was talking to the other day and they told me they also used to have church at a house.. that had huge lizards in it! i guess that's normal over there.. and yes, my foot is completely healed so you can relax now :)
Dad,
I DID get to play basketball, finally. and the kids we played against at the park were okay.. like any other people that play at the parks, they thought they were way better than they actually were haha but hey, we didn't tell them they sucked- we just beat them. i was surprised, some of the missionaries in my apartment are actually pretty good! and the park that we played at.. well. the rims are low. that was fun :) and yes, the T-rex skeleton was at the museum! they had TONS of dinosaur bones and things like that, it was unreal.. and intimidating! our ward is named "Olmstead 1st" ward. the english ward is "Olmstead 2nd" ward. This being because the street the church was built on is named olmstead. but our stake is big, we have 11 wards! possibly 12.. i don't even know. i've been told that stake conference is held in two different locations because our stake is so big geographically and demographically.. imagine fitting 12 wards into one building! zone conference was really good, it was nice seeing the other missionaries that are in other areas close by. i got to see Elder Ochoa, my companion at the mtc, and that was cool, he's doing really well! But zone conference wasn't in manhattan, it was in the bronx! it's weird.. new york city is huge. broken down into 5 buroughs, and within each burrough there are different areas/communities. so it's like a city within a city within a city. so zone conference was in kingsbridge, which is in the bronx, but a different area than the one i am serving in, which is called olmstead. We only went to manhattan because we wanted to! we will probably go next week and go see times square, it should be fun! and yes, sadly we don't get fed very much, so i really haven't eaten anything i haven't had before.. it just makes me miss mom's cooking so much more!
I'm sure you guys are wondering how the work is going.. well things are slowly getting better, i think. We have a baptism next saturday, i'm so excited! on sunday we had 6 investigators at church. and three of the ones who usually go weren't there. so hopefully this sunday we will have 9 ! i've met some amazing people. everyone has a different background and story, and it's so cool when people open up to us and tell us the things they've been through and have had to overcome up to this point in their lives. That's just something else that makes me that much more grateful for all of the blessings i've had until now. i know i've only been gone a little over a month, but i feel like it's been a lot longer. I think mainly because i've been experiencing things that i never have before. it's helped me realize that i really am blessed.. everyone who has the gospel is blessed. so many people out here don't have it, don't want it, and they don't realize what they're missing! it doesn't bring my spirits down, we keep on moving, but i just wish they would listen for THEIR sake. its kind of sad, really! but hopefully we can keep on adding to the list of investigators and eventually the list of newly baptized and confirmed members.
SO whats the status with Karla's wedding? when i do i get my wedding announcement!? i wanna be there. so karla, it's your job to make a cut out of me. handle it. cool. and family, thank you so much for the package, it made me so happy! i'm not craving anything specific, so just keep sending the random stuff :)
OH and mom, is there any way you can send me my old white with black basketball shoes? when we played basketball at the park i played in my running shoes because i didn't wanna ruin my indoor ones.. and i'm afraid i'll break my ankle if i keep playing in my running shoes.. Please and thank you! and mom, i hope you don't mind me using some of the money on my card to buy random things.. like candy.
Los extrano mucho! cada ratito pasa algo que me recuerda de lo que veia y decia en la casa.. y todos mis companeros/amigos que tengo aqui saben de ustedes porque siempre les cuento de ustedes. cada noche estan en mis oraciones, yo se que el senor los esta cuidande como me esta cuidando a mi. Recuerden que dios nos da desafios en la vida para ser probados, a fin de que podamos superarlos y crecer mas cerca a el. Los quiero mucho.
Love,
Elder Zazueta
