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 :)

Some pics!

These pictures were taken last Wed. during and after the NCAA games at the Madison Square Garden. FUN!!

New investigators!

Dime a ver!

Pops

our week was pretty decent! our numbers didn't really show an excellent week but we had a few really good experiences that made up for all of it. We've found two new investigators, and i have some news about patricio and teresa but i'll tell you about it at the end of the email. i cant believe Brisa got her mission call! where am i gonna guess? uh.... i'm gonna guess Milwaukee, Wisconsin, spanish speaking! haha i don't know.. speaking of guesses, mi 'ama todavia le deve unas tortillas al Tim Sharp hahaha desde hace mucho.. There's no way i could've waited a few days to open my mission call. remember how we planned on it, but we ended up opening it on that same day? Brisa's more patient than i am.. yes, i got the package this morning! thank you so much! i'm going to be studying the scriptures you sent me and i'll probly read the book as well, as soon as i finish the one i'm reading now. man i wanna know what's up with your interview.. i'm still crossin' my fingers for you! give them my number so i can put in good word for you. as for the email, we technically have as long as we want to email, it just depends on where/how you access the computer. but the rule change that has been made in regards to email is that we can email whoever we want! crazy right? parents, cousins, siblings, friends, other missionaries. whoever we want to contact, we can do it now. isn't that crazy? we all think so.. haha we're all wondering why the missionary department made a huge change like that.. who knows, but i'm not complaining! uhhh i think we'll be able to walk around in just a white shirt after conference? that's what i heard.. and we had zone conference yesterday and president mentioned it, so i think it's coming soon. at least i hope so. i'm tired of wearing a suit every day haha that's crazy that beto is gonna be a priest.. so cool tho. i just wish i could be there for all that ya know? i don't see why they wouldn't let you bless the sacrament with him, i know i felt a lot more comfortable with you up there when i first did it, i think it'll be fine! oh, also, yes we had to wear our suits to the game! i'll send you guys a picture..

Mom

yessss i am doing great!

la calle? no habla mucho. de hecho, no he escuchado que la calle ha dicho nada. pero voy a poner mas atencion desde ahora! haha i bet you guys are so tired! i can't believe school is starting the 4th quarter.. i've been gone for almost an entire school year! crazy.. 8 months. it really has flown by unbelievably fast.. but i love that it's that way. i wish i coulda been there to celebrate all the march birthdays haha karla turns 21 tomorrow. she's so old! and i'm 20. that's weird to say. i still feel like i'm 16. i'm glad the cards got there safely, i hope they both liked them! what does sammy do? does he not hang out with people from school? is he still running track?  i'm jealous you guys get to go to the easter pageant.. i was actually talking about it with my roommates because one of the members in the english ward out here has been to it and they were telling the elders about it. cool right? i'm always down to brag about mesa.  Man, we've played volleyball twice out here recently and i just wanna go back to high school and play again.. don't worry about the package mom, the one you guys sent me was perfect, that's all i need! i'm super grateful for you guys and everything you do, you don't need to do more, trust me! as for my card. i took care of it! i went to the bank, they gave me a temporary card and i changed the address on it because it was the 3rd place address.. so i changed it to the Elm St address and they said they'll send it there, to you guys! so it should be there within a few days and then you guys can send it out here to me! i hope you don't mind. uhmm, my shoes are starting to tear, but i think i can wear them out a little bit more, so we're good for now. i think i'm good with everything, but in like a month or so it'd be nice if i could get a few short sleeved shirts.. everyone says summer out here is brutal and that short sleeves would be a good idea.  so yeah. in the future i'll let you know what i need. oh by the way, the name of our ward is "concourse" ... el barrio Concourse! ya tu sabe!

Other things.

Yobanna is still active! we've been working with her trying to get her to go to seminary but it's too hard because her school is too far, and if she goes to seminary she'll be late to school and that's not an option.. you wanna know what she said to me tho? we were talking to her about having good friends and surrounding herself with people who will help her stay on track and stuff like that, and we got to talking about temple marriage.

Patricio and Teresa. last you guys knew, they broke up. well, we only expected patricio to come to church on sunday, but after we sang the opening hymn in sacrament we looked back and they both walked in together. i'm sure you could imagine how happy and excited we were. so we talked to them after and they said that they're gonna try to work things out after all. we're visiting them tonight so i'll be sure to let you guys know how it goes! but this is super good news :)

new investigators. we knocked into this lady named maria. i told her we were there to bless her and her family and she started crying and let us in. we just got to know her a little bit and found out she's very catholic and her husband is too. but she's willing to talk about God so we're going back on saturday to see how we can help her and her husband.. we also Have Jaime and Gladis. they are columbian and they were a referral from another set of missionaries in harlem. we've been over there twice and we love them they are awesome! Jaime is really open to everything we have to say and asks really good questions, but his wife Gladis is suuuuppppperrrr catholic and the only questions she asks are questions to try and disprove the things we believe in.. so it's going to be a little bit of a challenge with her, but i can definitely see Jaime getting in the water if you know what i mean! so we're excited to be teaching them. 

Me and my companion still get along really good and we're both trying really hard to always be in sync and i think thats helped our companionship a lot! we never argue or anything, we always seem to be on the same page, whether we're teaching or planning or whatever. and i'm grateful because it's the first time i've had a companion where we both think the same and share our ideas and really we just have no problems with deciding what to do or where to go or anything. so it's going great! 

other than that, i don't really have any more news. so let me know if there's anything you would like me to do for you guys, okay? Los quiero mucho, cuidense por favor!

-Zazzy

Having some fun with the NCAA

Hi guys how's it going ? Dad, don't worry about not writing a long email! as long as i know your safe and doing good that's good enough for me. but i'll just be writing this whole email together. sooo first i'll talk about the game. it was SICK. we went down to madison square garden. the first game was Cincinatti vs Providence. it was pretty cool! but we were seated WAAYYY up at the top.. so at half time a few of us walked down to the bottom level and found an entrance where there wasn't any guards.. so we snuck in and found a row that fit all of us! so for the second half of the game we were actually pretty close to the floor! the 2nd game was Syracuse vs Seton Hall.. syracuse is a big basketball school so it started to get pretty packed and all of the people around us who had snuck down all got kicked out of their seats and so we thought that we were gonna get kicked out too, but we decided to stay there until someone kicked us out. and we got super lucky haha nobody came any said anything! so for the whole second game we had seats on the bottom level, it was dope!!!! and i bought a hat. i had to do it. SYRACUSE! haha so yeah. the games were awesome, thank you for giving me the money to go :) uhmm not a whole lot else happened this week. the weather has been stupid. we got a few inches of snow the other day. i don't like it down here in the city . but it's all melted by now! my companion has been feeling better. we ran on monday morning, but then monday night was when it snowed so we couldn't run on tuesday morning because there was snow everywhere. and this morning we didn't run because i don't even know why! lazies. don't judge! i am getting fat haha i need to be able to play ball every day. i've really been thinking about whether or not i wanna play basketball when i get back.. don't know. but i wanna play more basketball, once a week aint enough! 

so for the update on our investigators.. we got some bad news. we went back to teach patricio and teresa on monday and they told us their final decision.. they decided to get seperated! and teresa said she doesn't want to continue the lessons for now.. patricio said that he's still gonna take the lessons and that we'll talk at church on sunday.. he doesn't know where he's gonna live.. so there's a chance he could move out of our area.. so that means we could have just lost both of our investigators :/ it was rough.. it really honestly hurt! kinda ruined the whole day.. but whatever. we still pray for them and we hope that whatever happens they'll be able to progress.. so yeah. right now we don't really know what's going on, but we are pressing forward! so yeah.don't worry, i'm treating elder critchfield very nicely! we get along better than any of my other companions because we work more as a team than i have with other companions.. so we're good! i actually haven't done anything about the card yet. i'm probly gonna go today or tomorrow to get this card situation figured out. tell beto i'm sorry i didn't send him something earlier, i actually sent him a card today so it should get there soon! and i sent one to the house for karla.. i lost her address so i had to send it to your house.. so they should get there the same day! as for other things.. nothing has really happened haha life is good though, we are super happy even though we've been having this struggle with our main investigators. 

i've been reading this book called the continous atonement.. it's really good, i suggest you guys look into it!! cuz i want it haha I love you guys so much, i cant wait to talk to you guys in like a month and a half! i hope everything is going well, be safe! los quiero mucho! 

-Elder Zazueta