oh ya, the mission was invited back to the rockaways to do some stuff, but we didn't go. it was cold and far away and i didn't feel like it.  but what they did was stand on the beach and hold hands like a chain all around the beach.  and they had the drunk irish people there too. elder bey had this drunk lady all over him. like holding his hand in a less normal way, and the news crew was there, and he was freaking out the whole time, and the other elders and his comp were just laughing at him. hehe    they were supposed to launch those little light lantern things from tangled. but i guess not..

  oh, so yah, elder law is transferring out. i'm sad about it, but it's normal, and he's had a different comp every transfer other than training. so it's normal for him to be out.  and plus it's been the same for me too, i've had a different comp every transfer other than training.

  

 the ward had a chili cook off / trunk er treat. and elder law made some chili that was pretty good. the kids dressed up and my favorite was the second counselor in the bishopbric 's kids were dressed up as pioneers. and they looked good.   then there was this fat girl dressed up as finn, from adventure time, and the bishop's kid was a knight. and it was mostly the little kids ( as always)  two older ladies dressed up too, one was the queen of hearts and another was snow white.  ( oh i saw that pic of shelly dressed up as snow white, super funny)  

   halloween is a weird holiday.

 oh ya, and for our costumes, we switched name tags with each other.

OH story of the week: yesterday we were at church and this fat lady comes up to us - we were standing outside the doors like always- and she starts yelling at elder law, and i'm across from him, and she's saying that we can't go over to her daughter's house anymore because we didn't say hi to them at the chili cook off.  her daughter is a less active and we just started seeing them, we went over just once, and had a good time, then they came to the activity and i noticed they were there, but stayed seated, because the other members were doing their job, which is talking to the less actives and just anyone new in general.  so she was yelling at us -in front of a few members, like a missionary couple from the north mission, and the old bishop who is now our correlator, and a crazy cat lady (more about her later)- but she was saying that she has tried to get her daughter to church for years and she's never come, then the first time in years she comes and we "dropped the ball" -according to her husband.  BUT IT'S NOT OUR DUTY TO SAY HI AND BRING PEOPLE BACK, IT'S THE MEMBERS!!!!!!!!!!!  just cuz we didn't say hi to them they  don't want us to come to their house, and probably they'll never come back to church.

   MISSIONARIES COME AND GO, MEMBERS STAY LONGER. THE FAULT ISN'T OURS ENTIRELY. 

hello family. i loved the elk leg story. i can imagine. that's funny.

   so we had stake conference this weekend, and pres calderwood spoke about hastening the work, then about how easy it is to use technology.  like how when we talk to people on the streets or their porch, we say hey can we come in your house and talk to you about jesus?  and they might be scared to let two strangers in their house.  but we can use facebook now,  so we can tell these people to add us on facebook!   

 then he said "the missionaries don't know this yet, but they will be getting their ipads and iphones on november 11" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  exclamation point.

   so we're excited. like i couldn't even pay attention to the next talk.  and then pres hardman, the stake pres talked a lot on how to be good parents, like about the sermon on the mount  i think.. blessed are the peacemakers. really cool.

 and elder law told me he (pres hardman) used to be totally against the church. .like he was like alma, trying to destroy the church. then somehow got converted and now he's a super strong stake pres!

   so lets see... i can't believe it's the last week of the transfer already. six weeks flies when you're having fun.  man....    i had a lot of bread so i decided we should make french toast this morning. so elder law made us some. it was good. and we played magic and i won, using a deck law made for me. i totally destroyed elder bey with like 8 creatures that were pretty strong, then i drew a card that gave all of them 3 extra power. hehe i'm a magic nerd now.
  

  we hope that we can talk to hardy more times during the week when we get our ithings. like we can only meet on sundee, but with skype, things will get better i hope.  we want to commit him to be dunked on nov 9. that would be good.  i also hope law stays one more transfer, or if he leaves, i'd get someone who's been here before and knows the people.  like i had help with that in my other areas, lynbrook, bay shore. both my new comps in those areas were people who had been there before.
  

i have an idea of something i'd want for christmas. i found it at a store. i'll post a link to it on a separate email to dad. it's kinda pricey at the store, so maybe it's cheaper on amazon...  but it looks like a bit of fun and frustration. it's a puzzle ball. 

  i saw the list, i don't know if you want me to pick something and you guys will buy it,,, or what?   llike last year i guess i got kayla that snuggie.  but we could do that process. i guess.......

i hate this keyboard

maybe we can do emailiing on our ipads as well. but i hate typing on them unless we get those fancy keyboard cases.
  

every missionary will get a personal one.  that's a lot of money. but as long as it's used for good it'll be worth it.

  we've only had the use of facebook for a little while and we've already had a lot of success from it. that's something pres said yesterday as well. 
 

 every once in a while i get a little heart burning feeling in my throat, but i don't eat acidic food or whatever would cause it. it's kinda random. i've been taking them tums, but it doesn't seem to help.  and yesterday morning i think i started getting a cold.  but i was just sick! so i can't be sick again! it's only been like 3 weeks since last time i was sick.    but today i feel better.

  the weather is nice. cold but nice.

   the trees are changing. and every day elder law says he wants to be in central park so bad. to see the trees and stuff.  and he likes this cold weather.

  i'm not used to this kind of cold. the humidity adds deathly chills to it.
 

  i don't know what else to say.  our investigators are doing well. of course i'll let you know of any improvements.

 till next week

hello family, and brother. apparently yesterday was a holiday so no emailing for us.  so we did some stuff.  remember that magic card game i told you was dumb and they wanted me to play? well i have been assimilated. pretty much because they play and i just watch, but now i play too. it's fun.  and i'm getting better at fooseball, we play a lot. galloni and law are really good, and bey is good, and i'm getting there. i'll score sometimes, but for the most part, it's all luck on my part.  

  yesterday we got our oil changed in the car and so we were at the shop for like 2 hours just standing around.  then we went to a bazaar and talked to some indian guy about the airsoft guns he was selling, they were the cool AMG ones. (all metal gun)  and the main one i was looking at was the interception. it's a sweet sniper. he said it's spring or gas, and they even have a shooting range downstairs, but not for distance, but for like an arena that you take a pistola or small rifle and shoot zombie targets cuz it's october.

   anyway, that building is massive and has tons of stores and floors and it's packed. plus it was a holiday so everyone and their dog was everywhere.  literally, at pep boys this lady had her dog in her bag...

  then we went to the church and hung out for a while, and zones 7 and 8 were there, plaing v-ball and b-ball. then we went home and played magic for a time.  then went out working.  

   now i'm at the libry after D.M.  and the senior couple went to vermont to see the nice trees and the leaves and stuff. but it was good even w/o them. i like it when they come cuz sister owens makes really good food.

 oh talking about food, we didn't even go shopping but on sundee i had an urge for chili cheese dip. like the kind aunt tracy makes.  
 

 lets see....   we have a few investigators, one, Hardy, a guy from china, he's golden, we taught him the gospel of jesus christ on sunday and it went well, even better when he said the closing prayer! the spirit was super strong and i just felt super happy and great. and afterwards i was thinking " i flippin LOVE missionary work" like the teaching part really makes me feel like a real missionary.  we asked if he'll get baptized and he said "now?" haha then we joked and said "well we are in the baptismal font room.." 

   law says that people from inland china don't have much or no religion or know about god or a god.  so they soak up everything they hear. that's why the chinese progrum has so many baptisms.   

   there's a couple, they have a kid and they are the daughter and son in law of a less active member who apparently got into a really bad car accident..   but they are a young couple that look in their mid 20's but are really both 19.  but they have an apartment and a kid and the guy, gabriel just looks older.  they are cool. we talk about games and stuff. he's got the star wars edition x-box.   we had a lesson the other day and he's kinda athiest, cuz so much religion was thrown at  him when he was younger. and he doesn't want his kid to be lost in this world like he was.   oh man i'm getting dizzy .......   vertigo......   i gotta breathe more ....

     anyways.... then there's jackie who i've not met but i guess she's loaded. and she was a referral from HQ, like she went to temple square and liked it.   and there's vianette i've only seen for a second thru the door. but she's sick  now.    oh and a former that was recently resurrected, Hersie, from haiti.  she was taught everything, but works most sundee's so she doesn't come to church.

    oh , i remember last week i said i'd try to take more pictures cuz we had an activity?  well that didn't happen, cuz  someone got in an accident while they were getting the pizza, and the prices for bowling weren't what we had thought, and so we didn't do anything.   it was dumb.    but i do think of things to take pics of.    i drew a really cool pic on the chalk board in the RS room and took a pic of it, so there's one....    but it's hard to remember to have me camera, and also if i do have it, to use it. or even find something worth taking a picture of.

    there's so many old people at this library too, i guess during the day when kids are at school...   
  

   one thing i remember from GC is that uchtdorf i think said that if you want to be something you have to really picture it, and that that's what you're supposed to be.  "look through heaven's eyes"   and so i'm gonna try to see myself about 20 lbs lighter.

  cuz it's possible i could leave this mission over 300lbs.  and i'd like like that.

  ahaha and i was planning on getting dunkin today to eat while we deep clean. 

   probly still will... idk.
 

huntington had a baptism this last week. and they had it in plainview cuz the church there isn't really a church.  and then the stake had like a talent show thing, it was just a bunch of skits the youth did.  we went there for a while. i saw (former) elder jean-baptiste, and some other people from my first area. 

  oh and elder busby said i could go back to bay shore as DL next trasfer.
 

oh sweet! i just got an email from elder mousley from the mtc!!  exclamation point!

welp, i think i'm done here.
 

 g'day

wow it's october already..

 conference was good. as always. i loved that pres monson talked about trials because one of the less actives we're working with has a lot of them and i hope she heard it. i also loved elder nelson's talk about something i can't remember now.

  but i did like this season's conference.

it's pretty hot and humid here. like i left the window open the past few days and now all my paper and books are warped cuz of the intense moisture in the air.  it was foggy all day yesterday and it was misting when we went to the church in the morning.  then it would rain randomly throughout the day.

 oh, mom i wrote this on my letter i'm sending with my sd card. that the pics you took for brian are most likely still on the card. just on a different folder because the camera is different from his.  he can plug it into a computer and i'm sure it'll be there.

  thanks for the money again, i had temporarily forgotten about that.

it wasn't that much anyway. i wrote that then sent it and i was thinking it would be more. but it wasn't.   hopefully the card aint too much.   i'm posting some pics on facebook because they are more general. i'm sending the card home because most of the pics are for your info, like what my pad looks like and other random things that are dumb. kinda...

  i gotta take more pics of my district. i haven't done that since my first one.  we have an activity today and i'll try to take pics.  i would take pics when the other elders are at our house, but we aren't wearing shirts or pants so i shouldn't.  i was thinking if i did i could go in and edit clothes on them. but it'd be easier to take a pic of them with clothes on. hehehe

  lets see...  oh this week we are having a missionary conference on how to use facebook.  i'm pretty much using it "unofficially" now. but i'm not really doing much but getting it ready.

   i still don't know when we're getting ipads. but it should be around the same time we use facebook, because it's easier to use it on personal tablets than having a million missionaries at the libraries.

  

saturdee we went to the church all day. law made brownies and i made horchata. sundee we went to the church for the fist session, and then went to the martinez familia for lunch, and had a lesson, then we went to the owens, and had food there as well as watched the afternoon session, and had a lesson. then we went home and partied with the other elders. actually they just played magic while i watched.  

     before preisthood session, elder law accidentally tripped on the cable connecting the video to the projector, and he broke the little nub inside the end and it wasn't working. so we ran away. then when we came back some members had pretty much jimmy-rigged it to work. then sundee they got a new cable.  hehe   we ran away to teach a lesson with the other elders. 

  i think i should get my toenail removed cuz it's always irritating my toe and it hurts like the dickens all the time. and it's just annoying.  i think it's like that cuz my left foot is flatter than my right and the toes get squished and it's no bueno.

  well i don't know what else to say.... so i'll just go. and i'll send the card later.

 lyb