My English Stinks

Hey there mom! Sounds like everyone is doing good! Thanksgiving went really well! We went to the Rejas family's house, and also to the Galvez family. The Galvez's are really cool. We normally visit with Norma and Alejandra. Norma is 22 and we are teaching her boyfriend George, and Alejandra is 18 and she is married and has a 1 year old son named Sammy! I like them a lot. We also visited with them on Sunday, and we had a really good heart to heart with them. They opened up a lot, and let us know some of their concerns and things . It was sad to hear some things they told us, but I saw so much progress in them both. I really would like to see the both of them return to full activity in the Church. 

So Thanksgiving was great! Both of our appointments were part member meals! :) So it was good! I enjoyed part of the Cowboys game with George when we were visiting Norma and Alejandra on Thanksgiving. He is a huge sports fanatic! He is majoring in Sports Management and has promised me some hookups if he works for any big teams lol! He is way cool. The 3 or them have become really good friends of mine!

So to answer your question Michelle will now be baptized on the 8th! We just got to figure some things out, because apparently there is a party going on here at the Church that night. So it may be moved to the 9th.. But we are not sure yet. Either way it is going to happen! :) She is such a smart little girl! We taught her the Plan of Salvation at Church on Sunday and I was amazed at how fast she picked things up and how much she understood! She looks like she is 8, and acts like she is 16. Its the weirdest thing! She is only 11! 

So we have been helping the English Elders (Eliason and Plouzek) teach some college girls lately. There is a girl in there ward named Mariah and a couple of her roommates have a lot of questions about Mormons.. So she did not have all of the answers so she invited us over.. That was about 6 weeks ago. We go to the college campus each week and teach about 4 college girls the gospel. Not going to lie the first time it was REALLY WEIRD to be on a College campus. She even took us to dinner at dining hall there.. Crazy awkward, then her friends asked us some of the most ridiculous questions... The first time there were about 8 of them.. the ones who were not really interested kind of fell off. We are now teaching Melissa, Kristin, and Melina. It has been a lot of fun! And they are all reading and Kristin and Melina have even come to church a couple of times! I am really interested to see what happens with them! I think all of the interest came in after General Conference with the new announcement that sisters can now serve at 19. Because Mariah decided she was going to leave at the beginning of this summer. So naturally her friends had questions. She is a really good girl and a great example to her friends! I have a lot of respect for her!  It would be extremely hard to be going to college, and be as active in the Gospel as she. 

So no more news for BYU as of yet. I have progressed a little on the essays. The good news is I am almost done! So all that will really be left to do is edit and send it all in... And Mom I don't know what to tell you about the Seminary thing. Call and ask them. I have no idea why it keeps turning up empty. We should figure that out though. :) 

Oh and yes we did get to go back down to the Rockaways in Queens! Friday we went with our stake and I led one of the Groups! That day President and Sister Morgan went down as well, along with their son Ryan. It was really good! We worked our tails off! There is still so much to do! We did not finish working in the 1 house we were working in that day. Then we went down again on Saturday as a Zone and we spent a whole day at a house working! The family there bought us McDonalds so it ruined my fast food and soda fast! But it was all good! We had to crawl into a little 4 foot hole in the side of their house and clear stuff out from under it, as well as rip up their wooden floorboards. It was fun and a lot of work! I was so happy to serve them! It was one of the best experiences of my mission.. I will never forget it! We really helped people.. over the 3 days combined I did over 18 hours of service.. I was dead each day and slept like a baby! I don't even want to know how the South Missionaries feel.. I love serving! I hope and pray I can do something like that again! :) It was the experience of a lifetime. We helped others as the Savior would! And we were happy as we did it :) 

So life is good ! :) I am happy as always! I need to know who I need to buy my secret Santa gift for this year so you guys should let me know ASAP :) And I just want to apologize to you all.. My English stinks. Spanish has really messed up not only how I speak in English but how I write lol! I really need to take an English course when I get home. 

Stinks to hear hockey is still on hold.. At this point the NHL probably won't be back on till next season...  But glad to hear LSU is in a bowl game! Makes me really happy to know that Notre Dame is the football team that they used to be! I hope they destroy Bama when they play them.

I love you all! I hope you have a great week! I will talk to you soon! :) 

Love Elder Mark Mattei!