Service in Queens

Well Good Morning! 

I have not received and email yet but I am just going to go ahead and start! So how is everyone?? What all has happened this past week that you all have to fill me in on?? :) 

So this past weekend we had the chance to leave the mission and go and help do some service in Long Island! It was so sad, but despite all of that it was a happy time to be able to serve and help others. People's basements were completely flooded, as well as parts of their main floor. We spent the day throwing stuff out and tearing out sheetrock. As well as ripping out carpet. We were there for about 6 hours on Saturday. It was nice to see the other part of the city, but not so much under those conditions. The people were so grateful for the service we rendered. There were over 1,000 members there serving the people who lived in Queens. Every group was organized into groups of 8. Elder Kay took half of our Zone, and I took the other. It was a good opportunity to learn how to lead as well. Only us and 2 other Zones from the Mission went. It was more of a Multi-stake activity than a mission activity. We are all hoping we can go back!

We started off by waking up early in the morning. Elder Kay and I went and bought some work gloves and some doughnuts for everyone. Then soon the buses pulled into the New Rochelle Chapel to pick up all the Members and Missionaries. We had to pack our lunches for the day. When we got there we were told to go to certain streets and just look for people who needed help. It was Work! WORK! WORK  all day! At the end of the day we were helping this man clear some stuff out of his basement...There was tons of mold, and it was just nasty. He had years of memories and so many other things down in his basement.. Just about all of it had to go. I picked up an antique dresser and it just fell apart as I picked it up because of the water damage. There was only room for me and 1 other small kid down there. The water was still about 3 inches deep, it had been over 8 feet... It was sad, but it was good to help! So many people thanked us, and opened their hearts to what we did, and to the message we taught. I would have to say that this was probably the highlight to my week, and one of the highlights of my mission. We really served, and I feel like we accomplished a lot and helped many people. And the Missionaries in The South Mission and in New Jersey still are. We are all hoping that us as a mission can go down there and help. 

It was exhausting, but it was worth it :) I'd never had a desire to work so hard. We were all a mess by the end of the day. The bus ride home was long, so Elder Kay and I passed the time by trying  to sing country songs., Sadly we have forgotten most of the words to almost all of them lol! But it was fun! 

Other than that we are teaching a little girl named Michelle. She has a bap date for the 10th of December! She is really smart! She is the Granddaughter of our Gospel Principles teacher, Hermano Bucay. So she was pretty much a miracle. 

I love Elder Kay  - he is an awesome companion. We get along so well! We are having a ton of fun! But life on my end is good! I hope to hear from you all soon! Please pray for the people that were affected by the Hurricane! They need it, and God is the only one who can give them the peace that they need. Hope all is well! I miss and love you all! :) 

Love Mark! :)

Here is a link to a church video that depicts some of the service Mark describes above.  You can find him about 1:35 into the video.   Please watch if you haven't already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=X6XEIN3ZUps#!

Fun Changes

Dear Mommy and Daddy! :) 

So I will try to address everything you asked me. About the election, yeah Romney lost. What can we do? Hope for the best and expect the worst :) Hopefully he can actually do something in these next 4 years.. You guys know me, I am no politician; I don't care enough. But things do need to get better. Let's hope for the best! :)

With that said here is the good news of the week! ELDER KAY IS MY NEW COMPANION!! :) Elder Kay is his best bud from the MTC. We are ZLs together!! I am so happy! :) And Elder Eliason is in our pad! He is in the English Ward! I feel so bad for Elder Plouzek. He is living with 3 almost dead missionaries (close to going home) who go home together. Haha he does not even have a year yet! But the two of them are the new office elders. It's a new position in the mission.. They basically do all the stuff that the AP's did not want to do before. I am so excited for this cycle! Those were the best transfer calls I have received my whole mission! 

So Lydia got baptized! Elder Kropf baptized and confirmed her! It was really cool! Hopefully the other 3 sisters will follow her example some time this cycle! And now we have a baptismal date with a little girl named Michelle! She is 11! And the Granddaughter of the Gospel Principles teacher Hermano Bucay! It is a miracle. She just basically told her Grandpa that she wanted to be baptized. We met her at church on Sunday, then visited with her Monday night. She set her date for the 10th of December! So we are pretty excited for that :) 

And BYU App deadline is the 1st of December for Priority. And we need to finish the app before we can start recommendations. But I was thinking Sister Hudson as well for a teacher one. And President Smith, and Brother Tuttle as well! :) You read my mind mom. I am almost done, I really just need you to put on my GPA and things of that sort. So please get on that!! This week! I am going to try and finish the essays by next PDay. I will send you all of the revised ones. I have kind of changed them up a little bit. I was thinking the same thing that you mentioned, that with this new change in mission age, there is a much better likelihood that I can get in! :) So please pray and keep your fingers crossed! 

I am 100% committed to getting into BYU. And my second option is UVU. I just really feel like I need to be in Provo, so I will not be applying for BYU I :/ Not now at least, sorry :(  lol! And thanks for the EFY link mom! I will be looking into that as well if I do not get in for summer semester. :) 

And about my release date.. ah you know I hate talking about that, but if everything goes as follows I should arrive on the 14th. Assuming we don't have some drastic changes in the mission from now until then... That is so scary to think. Elder Kay and I really hope that we get to kill each other off, but I doubt that will be happening! Seriously he is my best bud out here! :) I am so happy we are companions! 

So that story about Lindsay made both Elder Kay and I laugh! That is funny! So did she actually meet President Smith?? I could not really figure out from what you told me. 

But yeah I am good! We were out of power until Friday afternoon last week. I hated it. The dark is so depressing. And tonight we are grounded ( we can't drive) because of the snow storm. So we are just going to go back and move Elder Kay in. But to answer Dad's questions we did get to do some service.. not too much hurricane related, but service none the less. We helped an investigator of the Scarsdale Elders rake his and his neighbor's leaves. We also helped him carry a bunch of free fire wood to his back yard (He got the firewood because of all the trees that had fallen over as a result of hurricane Sandy) So.. it was kind of service for them. Most of the work is to be done in New Jersey and in the South Mission. To the looks of it, President Morgan is trying to organize something so our mission may be able to provide relief to those areas. Because of the long gas waits and many highways that were closed this past week, it was almost impossible to get over to Jersey or Long Island. But hey who knows maybe I will be leaving the mission soon to go help out :) The biggest problem here was power outages, and the 6 hours we had to wait to get gas. We had to wait until midnight to get gas.. it was ridiculous!! We waited for 2 hours Thursday morning, and the station ran out. then we came back that night and got in line at 7:40. We started filling up 1 car at 11:40, but our car did not get filled because at 12 the workers had to go home.. (we were like 10 cars behind the English Elders.)  So annoying.. We were running on empty for days. Thankfully to Maria, our landlady, we were able to fill up part of the way because she had a 5 gallon tank, or else we would have been in a bind! It was not until yesterday in the morning that we were able to fill up completely! :) It has been stressful.. But at the same time a lot of fun :) I feel terrible for the people in Long Island and Jersey. :( Everyone needs to keep them in their prayers! 

Well that's about it! I think I addressed everything you both said. :) I love you both! Thank you for your advice! :) I am taking it! :) And yup Dad the End is coming... I don't know when, but I feel it is getting closer! Just got to keep our heads held high! Well I love you all! Take care and have a good week! You are all in my thoughts and prayers! :) 

Love Mark! :)

The Storm

Hey there mommy! :)

 

Happy Halloween everyone! Haha so mom first I am going to address your concerns about my short emails recently. That is because we generally go to the library to email and we are only given an hour. 

 

And about a care package! Don't worry about it! :) It is not a big deal. But if you do sent one just send whatever you would like :) It does not matter to me! :)

 

So about the Storm. It hit pretty bad. We do not have electricity. We have been out since Monday night. So naturally walking around in pitch black has been a blast. We just stayed in our apartment. Down by the beach some small sailboats washed up onto the shore! And there are a lot of trees down! Luckily our church still has power which is about 1/8  mile from our house. But we were grounded all of Monday, and until like 4 yesterday. We looked for stuff to do, but sadly around here there is not too much. If we could somehow get an organized project together that would be nice. The biggest problem is that like nobody has power! The wind was extremely strong. Rain was not too bad at all! But as you said apparently it has hit the city really hard! I have not heard a lot! But yeah.. That is what is going on as far as that. We are just looking for opportunities to help. Staying inside for 2 days really made me appeciate what we do every other day. Although it is sometime repeticious! It was just nice to finally be outside doing things! :) \

 

But I am glad to hear you talked to President Morgan! He is a great guy! I love him so much! We had interviews last week, and it is always such a blessing to be able to  talk with him.

 

And when Elder D. Todd Christofferson came, that was really cool! He said a lot of interesting and powerful things that really got me thinking! It was a great opportunity and I left from it remotivated! :) He has a true and strong testimony about the Gospel, and about the Savior. What he said at the end of his testimony was truly just amazing! Before that I got to pick up missionaries from the train station in Scarsdale, so I was driving around by myself. That was weird! It was the first time in forever that I was alone! But it was nice! lol! :) I miss having alone time!

 

 

So Lydia, 1 of the 4 sisters is getting baptized this Saturday! :) It will be right before Elder Kropf leaves! So we are really excited for that! :) 

 

Well I don't have too much more time these computers only give us an hour. But I just want to let you all know I love you! And thank you for all you do :) I am good! The storm could not take me down! I am doing good! Just trying to get used to the cold weather! I HATE THE COLD! haha! Okay mom I am going to send you a second email! But I love you all! :) Have a great day! Have fun trick or treating tonight! Garrett save some candy for me! :) Love you all!

 

Love Mark! :)

The "New" Mark

Hey mom! :)

Well not much time like usual! So I am going to try to answer all your questions. Okay yes I received mail from almost all of my friends! As well as most of our relatives. I have had like no time to write letters though with all of these hectic pdays we have been having. I need to write them. It is likely I will not go to the city at all next cycle and I will spend it catching up on all my letters. So I apologize about that to every one :(

Glad to hear Todd got good grades! :) That really made me happy to hear! I wish I would have tried harder in High School. I now realize how important that was. I have changed a lot in that regard. I realize how important school is, and how it will lead to success and to making me happier. That is why I am so eager to go to BYU. And to go to Utah. I want to stay the person I have become on my mission. And I am afraid if I go back home and just start sitting on my butt again I will become the "old Mark".  Not saying that I am different. My priorities are just a little better well organized now :) But I think as far as personality goes you will find it surprising how little I have changed haha! My actions are different though and my decisions. And I believe I am a lot less prideful lol! And you are going to hate me for this but I have not been taking as many pictures as I should :( Next cycle I will be going to the Statue of Liberty though and Battery Park, and the Empire State Building :) So I will make sure I have my camera on me then.

Today Elder Kropf is going to see "Wicked" so I will be hanging out with Elder Fusco, our AP. So that will be funnish... lol! We are going to the city.. again.. haha I really just want to relax! But oh not much time. Hopefully I will get on in the city and be able to email. But Lion King Tickets - don't worry about it. I talked to Elder Dennison in the office (senior missionary), he is going to figure out the ticket situation for us :) I just need to know how much you guys are willing to spend! I may go see it in Feb when there is a pday show. But I don't know yet. A couple missionaries want me to go see Newsies with them!

Well no time, ask me about the meeting we had with Elder Christofferson next week!! It was so good and I want time to explain it!

We are setting a date with the Lopez family this week! The 4 Mexican sisters! So pray for them! Okay really got to go now. We need to meet up with the AP's! Okay love you all! Have a great week!

Love Mark! :)

Finally Adjusting

Mom!!!

 

Hey there! Okay so I am going to address the Lion King first... There are only night time showings?? No day time... :( If you could look again that would be great. But yes that will be a problem if they have stopped showing them during the day. And not necessarily that week but it would need to be sometime during my second cycle. And not the last week of it. So maybe like the 26th of December. That would be good! :) So just look around there. I really hope they still have daytime showings.  Many of the missionaries in his mission are able to view a Broadway show before coming home.

 

Well not going to lie, not much new.. Going to the city again today for Pday. Haha I think next cycle I am not going to go at all! lol! It's just such a hassle :P But it has been nice to enjoy some of the new privileges we have. They are now able to go into the New York South mission to see such sights as the WTC Memorial, Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty.  But I would much rather serve there again! I really hope I can go back and finish my mission in Harlem!

 

ZL Zone Leader stuff is normal. Not too much going on. We are now allowed to give permission to missionaries to leave the Zone on Pday. Zone Leaders have a lot more responsibility than before, but still nothing too backbreaking. My favorite part so far has been going to Zone Council and getting to meet with all the others ZL's, APs,Assistants to the President and President and Sister Morgan. Those are pretty cool meetings where we all get to share our thoughts, ideas, and experiences from the mission.

 

Oh Big news! This Saturday Elder D. Todd Christofferson from the Quorum of the 12 is coming to talk to us :) That is going to be so cool! I remember when he came to our stake! It will be cool getting to meet with him again! He is coming to talk to the Yorktown Stake (Where I was in Stamford) And I was upset that I was not going to get to hear from him after I got transferred, but now he is coming to talk to all the Missionaries so I am really excited! :) It is going to be sick! I will tell you all about it next week! \

 

Other than that, not too much new. I took over the area yesterday when I went on a split with Elder Elliot (District Leader from English District) He is really cool! Such a great teacher! I learned so much from him! I think it was one of the better splits I have had on my mission. The ward has been struggling with people coming to church so we have been focusing for now on a lot of less active work. We were looking some people up yesterday and we had a bit of a miracle. We just so happened to visit a family who was having some internal struggles... Can't say too much. But it was truly amazing what led us up to going there :) 

 

So tell Lindsay to email me! I want to know her plans about serving! I think she should get her papers in ASAP! And if she does not want to leave until after I get home, just put her departure date for after! But she could get her call within the next 2 months in all reality! .. Following the announcement at General Conference that young women can now go on missions at the age of 19, Lindsay has decided to put in her mission application early next year.  Yes, I have requested that she not go until after Mark gets home.

 

All of our investigators are slowly progressing. I love helping them work past their fears and doubts! :) I have finally started meeting some members, and I completely got punked multiple times the other day at the Arroyo's house( I think that's their name lol! ) First off I ate a tiny pepper.. Freaking Hot as.. yeah. But it surprised me how hot that little thing was. Not going to do that again... then they played a game with us..  It was way weird.. There was one person who would decide how to touch someone's face with their hand and just do something funny.. like run their finger across the person to their left's forehead, for example.. I thought the game had no point... Well turns out Elizabeth ( the mom lol) had lipstick on her fingers.. So whenever she touched my face I got lipstick all over me...  I had no idea what was going on, but everyone else was laughing at me and I did not quite get it.. haha It's kind of hard to explain but it was funny... Elder Kropf got a pretty good kick out of it. It took me like 10 rounds until I looked at my hand and there was a red mark and I was like "what the?? " lol It was fun!

 

To answer you question Mom we have been going down to the city for our Pdays. Last week we went to China Town and to the 9-11 Memorial with Sister Keanini and Sister Floyd!  I was proud of myself! I did not spend any money apart from $7 for Metro!

 

But anyways that is about all the news for this week! :) I am doing good and finally adjusting to this place! :) We are trying to pick up the work! We really need the help from the members so that is what we are focusing on.. But first we need to get them to church! Well pray for us here! Pray for the ward! :)

I love you all! Take care and have a great week! :) 

 

Love Mark!

Just a Few Quick Thoughts

Mommy!

 

Well I know you are writing but I am going to start writing now! So the big question is.. When is Lindsay putting in her papers??? :) Hopefully soon! :) That is such a big crazy change!

 

But anyways conference was so good this weekend! I loved all of it! One thing that really stood out to me is when President Monson said "As we act on the promptings of the Spirit the Lord will use us more frequently to run his errands" Or something along those lines. I was listening to it in Spanish so I do not know exactly what it was that he said. But I loved it! I learned so many things by the leaders of the Church, as well as by the spirit! :)

 

So not a lot of time so I am going to cut to the chase. Mom could you look for Lion king Broadway tickets for like the 2nd of January? There are like 4 or 5 of us who want to go and the sooner the tickets are bought the cheaper they are. So If you could look and tell me prices that would be great.. and would you be willing to buy them and then I could just have everybody pay you back? Because we would all need to buy them together so we could be in a group... But either that day or like the week before or something. Any of those Wednesdays would really work. Just make sure it is a Wednesday. could you do that for me?? :) Thank you tons! :) Just look at prices and let me know what I could do for myself?? That could be my Christmas present! :) Please do that this week!!! :) The sooner the more money we all save!

 

Okay well about college. Second thought apply for the Fall semester. Not summer. After some praying that is what I want to do. And Elder Fox told me I could apply as a freshman because that is what he did at multiple schools lol! So if you could start that.  Okay well mom not a lot of time! but I am glad to hear bout Linz! :) She should go right after I get home! A Well mom I love you all! Got to keep it short! :)

 

Oh scc ID no idea where it is! Well I love you all! Love Mark! :)

 

Sorry about the short email! WE are going to the city again! :) Chinatown and Memorial for the Trade Centers! lo love u all! :)

 

A New Area

Hey there mommy dearest! :)

 

So your letter today was as scatterbrained as I normally am lol! But I will go ahead and try to answer all of your questions. I may not have too much time because this is Elder Kropf's dying cycle and he wants to go down to Manhattan and take advantage of the new privileges we have been given... AKA we are going to Time Square today :) And yes Elder Kropf is the one with the Yoda lol!

 

So the area is good! Still upstate so I am still in a car. Right now Elder Kropf is the one who is driving .Although I am fairly certain the the next couple days I will be the one taking charge of that so I can learn my way around the area. The area is huge! It borders my last area in Stamford/Greenwich. And we live in a small apartment. There are only 3 in the building. Our landlady Maria is awesome. She owns a Pizza joint as well so she is always giving us free pizza lol! She loves us. So we are well taken care of. Plus this is the nicest apartment I have lived in. A little smaller than the others, but for sure the best furnished and decorated. I really like it! :) And I am finally on the Bottom Bunk!! First time in 18 months lol! So that has been nice. I feel like I sleep a lot better, when I am closer to the ground. New responsibilities are  fairly simple, be kind, loving and an example! So not too bad. Plus we take numbers on Sunday nights and call the AP's. So nothing too bad... I was not excited when President Morgan called me though lol! I was trying to avoid leadership.. But oh  well.. What the Lord wants, I will do. :)

 

So packages, just send them to the office. It is in my Zone so I can pretty much go there whenever I want to pick it up... Just for now on send mail to the Mission Office. I will get it pretty much when it comes in.

 

So the area is really nice! We live about a 2 minute walking distance from the Church! So that is a huge plus!! And yes I am still working in the Spanish Ward! :) This ward is a lot smaller, and I have hardly gotten to know anyone yet.. But I plan on changing that soon. I am going to implement the plan we used in Stamford and use it here. And we are giving a training about it to the Zone next Monday.. That is something President Morgan wanted me to do, and one of the big reasons why I think I was called as a Zone Leader. So I am excited to see the Work get moving here. Member Participation in Missionary work is kind of down the tube here, so it will, with much faith, be coming back up here shortly :)

 

So I am thinking this is probably my last area but I really don't know. We will see what happens! :) We are teaching some really cool people. There are 4 Mexican sisters who come to the Spanish class, and come to church each week. The hard part has been actually sitting down with them and teaching them. They are all younger. Se llaman Mia, Lidia, Nance,.. and I forget the others name lol! But they are cool. Then there is this lady who we are teaching. She is ready to be baptized, she just needs to move out of the apartment where she is living because she is living with another guy... She is looking though :) That is the good news :) Elder Kropf has done a great job at teaching her!  She is so smart and has a sincere desire to learn :)

 

And then there are a lot of other people but I don't have much time lol! :) But things are going well.. as always I am a little slow adjusting to change but I will be good :) I am glad to hear the family is doing alright and nothing too Crazy is happening... I will try and write Todd again soon. I got a big stack of letters that I need to reply to. lol!

 

And thanks for telling me about Julian. Tell him I say "what's up" and I love him. I love you all very much! and I miss you! You are all in my prayers! :) Tell Bishop Remund I say Hello as well :) I love you all. Take care and have a great week! I will talk to you all soon! And try to have even more time to email next week! Take care! Love you all! Love Marky Mark! :)

 

(Auhoo hoo) That is my monkey noise for Stephie! You can tell her I just made that in the Library for her lol! :) Bye Bye! :)