April 2, 2014.

Things are still going well here in Stamford. I love being on a bike! It's actually a lot of fun, and it helps keep me in shape ha it's nice to have a little bit of exercise in between appointments! The work here is so different than my last area.. There's actually work to do! We are teaching a variety of people, so we stay pretty busy! Our most promising investigator right now is named Carlos. I think he's from Guatemala? He's married to Ruth, who is Mexican. She's a less active member.. Well, now she is reactivated, but yeah. We are working with him! He seems really happy when we teach him. On Sunday we had a fireside in which one of the sealers in the temple came to speak and it was awesome. He talked to Carlos afterwards and I heard Carlos tell him that he was planning on becoming a member soon! Haha sooo yeah. We are almost there with him. There are a few other people who are showing good signs as well, so we have a lot of good things on our plate. Yesterday was my companions birthday. It was a good day, although I was on a split so I didn't really get to see him too much. Me and him are the oldest missionaries in our zone physically andddd mission age as well. It's really weird looking at the mission and being one of the oldest.. There's like 10 missionaries that go home this transfer, 8 that go home the next transfer, and then 25 that go home when I do. 

Me and Stephens are going down to the Bronx today! He served in Yankee stadium not too Long after I left that area so we are gonna go visit one of the families that we both love and then we are gonna go play basketball in the projects haha my favorite.. 

I hope you all have had a wonderful week. I'm excited for conference! Wondering if any big things will be announced! It's always nice to have the big guys instruct us on how to become better. Be kind, love one another. Talk to you next week! Adiossss (:

March 26, 2014.

Stamford is pretty awesome. Everyone who serves here says this is the best spanish area in the mission and so far I can easily see why. Our chapel is FULL during sacrament meeting.. All the missionaries stand until right before we start because members need their spots and then before the opening hymn we have to find a place where we can fit.. There are a ton of members here.. And we have 10 missionaries in the ward! It was so funny, my first day here (last Wednesday) we had correlation and it was raining so we ran inside the church and when we walked into the room one of the members asked "elderes como están? " and i responded " estamos bien, pero un poco mojados" .. So The ward Mission leader answers " no se preocupen elderes, todos aquí somos mojados! " hahahaha i laughed so hard it was really funny.. The ward members here are awesome, they help a lot with the missionary work. Most of the people I have met so far have been from Guatemala and Peru, not too many Mexicans here.. But it's been good! My companion is elder Stephens, from Utah. He rode bulls before his mission! Cool right? Me and him both go home at the same time, so neither of us are really the senior companion. But we get along really well, I already knew him from before so I was excited when I found out we were gonna be companions. We also ride bikes here! We share a car with our roommates, so one day we ride bikes, the other we drive. The car we have is a 2014 ford fusion. I love it. It's dope! But yeah it's been really fun so far. It's a lot different than Monticello haha we have a pretty nice apartment too.. The only bad thing is we don't go to a gym.. I feel fatter already! We need to find one that doesn't cost a million dollars.. I am having a good time, we have a lot of work to do in this area so we have stayed pretty busy! I don't think I need anything.. But the end of my mission is coming up soon and that is when we get to go to a broadway play.. Sooooo I'll be needing to save up some money for that! And if I want to go to the Statue of Liberty and a couple of other things that cost money.. So yeah. That's what's new with me! I hope everything is going well back home! Love you all! 

March 19, 2014.

Hey! 

Sorry so late, and so short! Today has been a little crazy.. I promise a longer email next week! But just so you all know, I got transferred to Stamford Connecticut! I'm with Elder Stephens! He's dope. I'll tell you more about him next week! I hope all is well. I love you all!

I got a haircut!

March 12, 2014.

Life is good. We had a pretty crazy week! Last Thursday was my birthday.. So that was cool. Friday our roommates went down to manhattan cuz one of them had to see a doctor.. When we came home at night we talked to them and it turned out that elder Sullivan, our roommate, was probably gonna have to go home because of some problems he has been having with his shoulder.. Pap patently it's cheaper to fly missionaries home, get an MRI in Utah, and fly them back than it it is to get an MRI in NY.. So we found that out Friday. Saturday was a bit of a normal day. Sunday I gave a talk in church! About member missionary work.. It was probably the most comfortable I've ever felt giving a talk. So I'd say it went pretty well. Then me and Elder Sullivan sang after I spoke. We sang a medley of Nearer my God to Thee, Be Still my Soul, and I Need Thee Every Hour. It went okay I suppose! Elder Sullivan is really good at singing. So that was Sunday. Monday during our district lunch We got a call saying elder Sullivan needed to be at the mission home by 4.. And it's an hour and a half away from here. So we were super rushed and we left.. So we dropped him off and said goodbye., it was really sad! It's always a weird feeling when a missionary goes home.. I really hope people don't give him grief about going home early, I hate when people do that!! So now that he's gone, I'm in a trio with Elder Encarnacion and Elder Rydalch, our other roommate. This is the second time I've been put in a trio because of someone going home! So yeah while we were down by the mission home we stopped by a members house who was in my last ward and it was so awesome to see that family- the Aguilar's! Mom, I think you and Hermana Aguilar would be good friends, I would always tell her that and I always wanted her to talk to you haha I was going to give her your number but I forgot to get it for her before I left her house.. Then Saturday we got to go down to the temple to do baptisms for the dead with out ward. It was nice to take a little break from the forest and feel the city again. 

So yeah. Crazy week. And we found out that elder Rydalch is leaving Monticello next week during transfers. Meaning that they will be bringing two new elders here just like they did with me and Encarnacion.. Haha there's just a lot going on. As for the work, things are still a little slow. Still trying to get things going. The people here really just struggle with a lot of things.. It's hard. But we are trying.

On a light note, it was 55 degrees yesterday! It was soooo nice, I had my sleeves rolled up, we were driving with the windows down, I was pumped! 

March 5, 2014.

This past week was pretty good. We are still just trying to find people to teach. We now have an investigator named Lisa! She's awesome. She's bilingual.. And probly one of the most normal people we've met here in Monticello haha she's been to church once.. Initially when we started teaching her she said she didn't know if she believed in God and all of this other stuff, but we've visited with her a few times and we've helped her realize she does Believe and that she does have faith.. She just has a lot of doubts as well! She's awesome tho, we love her. We are going to go see her today. I'm definitely pretty used to being here. Me and my companion still get along well. No problems! Everybody here is asking me if I think I'm going to finish my mission here. If I do, then.. There's nothing I can really do about it and I would be fine I suppose. But honestly I don't want to "die" here.. It's a decent place, but I feel like I belong in the city haha I want to serve in Harlem before I go home. Either that, or go back to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. I loved that area so much! A lot of people have asked president if they can go somewhere for their last transfer or two and some get their wish and others don't.. Some time next cycle I'm going to ask him if he can think about placing me in Harlem or maybe back in the Bronx. But we'll see. It could really go either way. 

On Facebook I've been see a few posts about MCC and how they're doing really good in basketball! I wish I could be there to witness it all. I think soon they're playing salt lake community college and if they beat them then they go to nationals.. Isn't that crazy?! It just makes me think of what I'm going to do.. I need to start figuring school out. I think I'm going to email my coach either today or next week and start talking to him about what the possibilities are for me to come back and play next year.. I really want to! But yeah I know MCC has already started enrolling, so I need to get on that fast! 

Also, do you guys remember Critchfield? Well, he's up in my zone.. So we worked it out to be able to go on a split! So we were on a split from Monday to Tuesday, it was dope! I love that kid. 

I'm doing well guys. Time is flying by as usual. I miss you all a lot, thank you for the birthday wishes. I hope you have a good week! One love! ❤️

Feb. 27, 2014.

Well. Not too much has happened this week. I'm getting pretty used to where I am. The work is starting to progress! We are definitely starting to see the fruits of our labors! I'm sorry I don't have too much time today.. We are going to a kickboxing gym today cuz one of the members in Middletown is a trainer.. So we get a free session today! Pretty cool right? Haha It should be fun. But thank you so much for your emails. They definitely help me out. You guys are awesome!! Have a good week :) 

Feb. 19 2014

things are going good. The weather here is the worst! We were snowed in three days last week. The roads have all been plowed so the sidewalks are all covered in snow. About four feet of it. So people just walk in the street because literally all the sidewalks are covered. And just a fun fact haha I haven't seen the pavement/asphalt of the church parking lot yet.. It's been covered in snow since I've been here. Isn't that messed up? Haha we were checking the weather from around the United States the other day, and Monticello was the coldest place we could find.. And Mesa was the hottest we found. So we are living in opposite weather. I hope you are all enjoying it! The ward is really warming up to us. Everyone is nice. The sad thing is still, we don't have any spanish members. But we have high hopes. We've been able to find quite a few people who speak spanish and who are willing to have us come back over, but the problem is that almost nobody out here has a car. At least out of the people that we have found.. So they have no way to get to church. A little discouraging, but we know if they want to come, they'll find a way. I'm glad you guys liked my Facebook post.. Being here I've really had some time to reflect and think about a lot of things. I'm still learning a lot of things.. I know I always will be. But we are trying really hard to maintain a positive attitude, and so far we are doing a pretty good job. It's definitely a hard place to be with our situation, but we are making the most out of it. Life is good. I love you all. We will be playing some basketball today, if you were wondering 🏀❤️🏀❤️🏀❤️🏀❤️🏀

Have a good week!

We gave our car a snowhawk