Transfer to New Rochelle, NY

Mommy! Ok this stinks but I have like no time! I am in New Rochelle with Elder Kropft. I will be killing him. Term meaning that he will be sending him home next transfer. This is his last cycle. I am also a ZL .now.  Zone Leader, similar to a district leader but works with a larger group of missionaries. I am certain he will explain his responsibilities in future emails.   But I am happy about the changes, it was hard at first but now I am really excited to be here :) this stupid computer at the library only gave me 15 mintues to email because the library is closing in a couple of minutes. and we were helping with Transfers all day.  But I am glad to hear Thomas is doing well! :) As you all are. :) Sorry that this will be the shortest email of my mission.

 

 

Well I love you all very much I promise I will say more next week! :) You are all the best!

 

Love Mark! :)

Some pictures from his last weekend in Stamford:

Thank You to Everyone!

Dear Mom and Dad :) 

So Mom first off.. you didn't find any dermatologists in the area for me like I asked lol! I am only saying that so I don't forget to ask again. 

But anyway my birthday was really good! :) As you know I went to the Baltazars Monday night and they had a really interesting/fun party for me :) I appreciated it a lot! I also had 2 other parties that day. 1 with the Vera family and 1 that the Sisters planned haha! So by the end of the day my face was stuffed with cake! But it was a lot of fun! :) I enjoyed myself. 

And Mom thank you for all the cards and for the package! :) I appreciate it so much! I got a good number of cards, so I just want to say thank you to everyone who sent me something... haha I even got a letter from Tori! That was really surprising!.. I was confused when I saw the envelope because it was not the same last name that I was used to haha.! But I am going to write her back today.. :) Sounds like she is doing good with her Husband and her baby boy :)  

So the work is going really good :) We found this awesome kid named Christian this week who is a friend of Katherine Baltazar. He is legit. Such a humble perosn. He is 18, still in High School, but so open to the things we are teaching him. We left a Book of Mormon at his house Sunday night, then called him Tuesday to see if he got it, and he said "Yeah what part do you want me to read" And he sounded really excited to start reading so that was a really cool experience! :) 

Also we have taught Emmanuel again, as well we are now teaching his mom! :) He said he was going to pray about which Saturday in October will be the day he gets baptized! :) I am just so happy, because his Mom, Dora is so open! We had such a great lesson with them Sunday night :) 

So we have given like 15 blessings in the past week! It has been such a blessing for me to be able to see the power of the Priesthood work through us.. The one I gave to Hermano Alfaro was a really spiritual experience.. and it was given completely and utterly by the Spirit.. The Lord promised him some big blessings.... :) Priesthood blessings, especially ones for the Sick have really helped me understand the Atonement.. They really are such a powerful thing..

So I don't have too much time today, but I just want to let you all know that I love you and I am constantly thinking about you.

Well everyone thank you so much! :) You guys are all the best! :) I love each one of you! Thank you for all you do and for your support! I love what I am doing out here! There is no place I would rather be :) God Bless! :)

Love Marky Mark! 

Oh Mom could you please send a flash drive with all my mission picutres?? ASAP please :) just save them and put them on there and if you could have them out by this weekend it would mean the world to me :) Thank you Mucho!!!

Love Mark! :) 

Feliz Cumpleanos Elder Mattei!

A Gospel Comparison to Halo?

Dear Mom... Thank you so much for sending that to me! :) Your conversion brought tears to my eyes and I felt a really strong special spirit at I read it. So thank you so much :)

Well other than that.. I really have no idea what is going to happen with Transfers. I know that Elder Vazquez is out of here. As well as Elder Stevens will probably be going to. Shoot there is even the potential that I could leave and Fox could take over the area. (Probably not) But it is still possible. But I will let you know when I know something. Maybe splitting the area?? That is possible as well becasue of all the Work we have from this plan! :) Our investigators are doing great! I love them all! Every  single one is an awesome person and I love them so much! Haha quick funny story!

So all those years of me playing Halo came in handy yesterday! We were teaching our investigator Emmanuel, he is 12, and he loves Halo! And he had some doubts about getting baptized because he feels like he would need to be perfect, or God would expect so much more of him after he would be baptized.. So I related the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Halo and the Master Chief ( the main character in

the game lol) Baptism was the beginning of the game. Afterwards he would die (or spiritually die in real life. SIN) but he would advance to Different Checkpoints (places where it saves the game and you don't have to restart.) And that is equivelent to Sacrament and Repentance. And New Levels are steps in the Gospel (Priesthood,Patriarchal Blessings, Callings, Temple, Etc.) And at the End you beat the game. (Resurrection) And throughout the whole game you have someone there to help you (Cortana, ask Greg I don't feel like explaining. It's a Hologram Master Chief has inside his helmet.) And I compared that to the Gift of the Holy Ghost and how that will help us finish the game and keep on going on and Fighting and killing the Covenent, as compared to enduring to the end..     It was completely led by the spirit. And at the end we asked him if he still had doubt and he said "no.. not really the Halo Analogy made everything pretty clear and helped a lot! 

so Mom all those years of me playing video games was actually a blessing :) it helped someone's elses life in their progression in the Gospel and coming unto Christ! :) :) Next time we go we are setting a bap date with him! That will be on Saturday! :) So we are excited! if you did not understand the analogy I made just ask Greg to explain it to you lol! 

Well we got to get going! But I just want you to know I love you and am thankful for all that you do! :) You are the best Mommy! :)

I love you all and you are all in my prayers! 

Love you! Love, Marky

Some answers to questions -

1. So yes we get fed very well! Somehow I am still managing to not gain weight.. like 3 or 4 weeks ago we had 4 dinners in 1 night lol! 

2. And it varies. Right now we have a really big teaching pool because of our recent Ward mission plan! It is going great! We try to teach 20 lessons a week, Including Members and less actives. But right now we are really focusing on getting With Member Lessons! :) 

3. We cover 2 cities Greenwich and Stamford (And yes I know they are both very rich) 

4. WE only cover 1 Ward. The Sister Missionaries cover Norwalk CT. 

5. We go to PEC the First Sunday of Every month. Other than that we go to Correlation every Sunday morning. In my other 2 wards we went to PEC each Sunday. 

6.Stamford is a lot different. A lot more houses and sane people. Most of the people here are from either Peru, Ecuador, or Guatemala. In the Bronx they were almost all Dominicans. We don't really work in the Rich part of our area. We stay really close to the actual city. 

7.Most are employed.. Stamford's nickname is the "City that Works" haha kind of lame. But they do landscaping.. Or surprisingly a ton of them work at McDonalds. Just depends. A lot work at Restaurants as well.

8. Well today we are just relaxing. Last week we went to the Mall.. And other than that we just play sports and hang out. I would like to go fishing or hiking one of these weeks though. That would be a lot of fun! :) 

9. So we are now allowed to go to the Statue of Liberty and Time Square and all of those places. Hopefully I will be back in the city at the end of my mission so I can do all that.

10. and yes I have been to the Natural History Museum. 2 times actually and 2 Times at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have not finished looking through either 1 though. They are HUGE! Makes the Art Museum in STL look like a little turd. From what I remember though i think I like the Museum of Natural History in D.C more than the one here. 

The BWW Blazing Wings Challenge Champ

Hello there! 

How is everyone doing this week? So life is going great! So to answer your question we are teaching  a lot of people right now! Monhita and her husband Mario are 2 of our most promising investigators! I see real potential in them! Mario seems to be holding his wife back though... :( But they are both solid! :) I think it will just take a little time! They are Guatemalan! And we are also teaching this 19 year old Mexican kid named Luis! He has a bap date for the 29th of this month! :) I have never seen someone so prepared to make changes in his life! We have not even taught about the Sabbath day and he is looking for a new job so he can come to church! He is a great kid! A little shy, but has such a great heart! Then there is Alex who is a friend of Marvin (member in the ward) Alex is 14.  He came to church last week and has committed to be baptized. The only thing as of right now that will hold him back would be his parents, who are pretty devout Evangelicals! But we have a lot of investigators, but those are more or less our most solid ones who are progressing right now! And we have a lot on the way! :) We have over 250 referrals that we are having to look up! We have been kind of stressed out! We have so many people we are in charge of bringing the gospel right now, it is hard to keep them all in mind all at once! I am growing so much as a missionary, and even more as a person because of all the things that are going on right now! The Lord has really blessed me! :) 

So this week has been good busy as usual! :) I bought some sunglasses today! Thank you so much mom and Dad! I also got some shoes that I need to send y'all money for! So expect that soon!  But other than that, idk I can't think of anything new lol! I have been writing in my journal every night so that is some good news! haha! 

Well it is so weird to think that Todd is driving. That blows my mind. I really can't even imagine it without laughing. Things are going to be different when I get home won't they? But I am excited to come home and be able to watch his hockey games again! And be able to go to some Blues games! We have a rink here in my area, and our members live right next to it, and I always see little sweaty kids walking out with their giant hockey bags and stick... Freak that makes me pretty trunky. I miss those days! 

Also I had a terrible dream last night.. I mean it really was not all that terrible it just made me really trunky when I first woke up. In my dream I was at my 5 year high school reunion... It made me realize how much I miss some people. So many people that I may never see again...I loved high school.. And I realized that the mission will probably be the same way :(.. .But that is why I love the Gospel, because we have the knowledge that we will see all of those people again once this life is over! :) And that is a comforting feeling! But in the mean time Mom get on my facebook and write Mark, Joel (unless he still does not have facebook) Bryan, Jake, Mike, Blake Gibbons, Conner Bodeman, Ryan Vesper, and Brandon Wyant and tell them that I love and miss them for me will ya? That would mean a lot to me! 

Other than that... Today is PDay we went to the mall in Danbury! And I ate Arbys for the first time in forever! haha I spent a little more money than I probably should have but it’s okay because I don’t know when I will get to go there again! Oh freak! I just remembered! I did the Buffalo Wild Wings Blazing wing Challenge yesterday! :) Which is to eat 12 of their Blazing wings in 6 minutes! I did it in 4! haha! I got a free headband, and 6 free wings on my next visit! Plus Bragging rights! haha! to be honest it really was not that bad. I guess eating all of the Hot Mexican food has prepared me! :) 

Well that is about it.. Other than the usual.. Talking to people, teaching, and playing Bang when we get home at night! :) haha! Well I love you all :) Take care and have a great week! Love Mark! :) 

Making Plans

Hola momacita! :) como estas?

Well I will try to make this as long as possible! Sometimes I feel like I am running out of things to say but I will do my best :P  Haha so yeah I am glad you received the pictures! And enjoyed watching those disgusting videos! For the 4th of July, Elder Mattei and his room mates played a game of soda pong.  The losers had to drink nasty concoctions of sodas with nasty stuff added in. And yes you are fine for befriending (on Facebook) all of these people for me! I appreciate it a ton! oh and Sister Merino is a member in the Bronx! Her mom is the same one that lived in Tre's old area! haha small world right? So last week I learned how to scissor cut my own hair! :) I actually did a really good job! I am going to start cutting other people's hair! This is actually one of the better hair cuts I had on my mission! So before I forget.. I told you and dad to both write and send me your conversion stories.. Never did it!! Both of you I better have them waiting in my inbox next week! lol! 

So yesterday we had zone conference and had some cool rule changes... and some not so cool ones, but it is okay. They were needed. We are now allowed to go below 59th street and Time Square and the Statue of Liberty!!! Yay!... Now that I am upstate lol! So that was good! But we had a much stricter rule on music. No more Disney and instrumental.. Only Music we can find at Deseret Book! But now we can have ipods that do not have internet access! So some wins and some losses but I am excited for all of it! I just can't listen to half of the music I have now lol!  Zone Conference was good yesterday! I felt my testimony grow a lot! And I had probably the weirdest thing I have eaten so far! Cow Tongue! It is actually really really good! But my stomach did not agree with it! It was laying behind the dumpster at our apartment building 10 minutes after we left Sister Vidal's house lol!

So hopefully everything goes okay with the Hurricane! New Orleans is just always getting hit. And that was good news hearing about Drew Brees. I heard about the scandal, and I heard that in pre season training he had still not signed so I am glad he did. I would have been pretty upset if he had not. So how are the Cardinals doing?? And you will have to keep me updated on how the Cards are doing! I feel so out of the loop! 

So about elections Mom I need you to figure all of that out. I need you to send me information on both Obama and Romney so I can cast a somewhat educated vote. 

And Tell todd to keep his head up and to hurry up and write me back! I want to hear from him. And yeah the wallet I made him is pretty cool. Elder Lewis taught me how to make them with subway maps of Manhattan. So I just put my creative juices to use! How is he doing in Hockey?? I was telling Dad in the email I sent him you guys should get him into lacrosse. I think he would really enjoy it. Is he playing any other high school sports??

Freaking crazy all my friends are leaving SCC! I rememer Mark wrote me and told me about nursing school! That is so good for him! And sounds like everyone is staying in STL.. Seriously haha they make me want to stay in the state to study. But I really feel I need to get out of the state so I can do things on my own and get focused! But yeah I asked President Morgan yesterday and he said I can start getting stuff ready so I can go to school. I already looked at some SCC stuff and I am going to take 1 or 2 4 week half semester classes at SCC like the week after I get home. Then Idk.. I am looking at UVU or BYU. I really do think I could get in. If all my credits transfer. I need at least 24. So if I can test out of Spanish I will be good. And I will just really need to focus on the classes.. And maybe I won't start until Fall Semester... But I would really like to go out there for summer semester because I hear it is easier to get in.. Even easier if I don't apply to BYUI as well... Because they want you to go to a church school.. And if they see that you are not applying to the other one.. I hear it is more likely you can get accepted to BYU. That is what I hear.. And I am an RM and transfer student.. Chances are a lot higher for me now then they were earlier. President Morgan already told me he would write me a recomendation and I am sure President Smith would as well :) So.. I am going to see what I can do.. The only thing I am confused about is.. I wont have 24 credits when I apply.. but it is very possible I can have them before I would start at school in the summer... how does that work?? Because my GPA will change after that as well! So idk lol! 

But that is not important right now! The work is going good! :) We have seen a lot of miracles! It has been amazing :) I wish I could explain them all... Missionary work really is so amazing. It is the work of the Lord. :) I love working with people.. And I love sharing the gospel with them! 

Well! That is everything that is going on here! Life is good! :) You are all in my prayers! :) I miss you all so much and I love you! 

Love Mark! :) 

World's Shortest Email

Hey there mommy! So this is going to be the worlds shortest email. So I will just answer all the main points briefly. So yes I did know about Tre' :( He just told me. He is in my prayers I have faith that whatever happens it will be the Lords will.  One of Mark's best friends who is presently serving in Mexico has been very sick and was just recently released from the hospital.  We are praying that he will return to good health and that he will be able to complete his mission if that is the Lord's will.  Please keep Elder Barnes in your prayers! And I am doing great! Life as a missionary is amazing! :) Today we went to the temple, and I just really feel like after the mission I need to go out to Provo.... and I just realized I may have left my patriarchal blessing in the temple. This is a special blessing given to members of our faith, usually youth, that outlines some of the blessings they might enjoy in their future if they are faithful. The words of the blessing are typed and each person is given a copy.  Mark absolutely treasures his and was likely reading it in the temple as he ponders his future. ... Freak! ah.. Well now I have to walk and go back and get it. But yeah that is what I feel like I need to do. I was even thinking about going for the summer... Ah.. IDK. But yeah :) I will figure it all out.  And Memory Card is on the way! :) Also a letter for Todd! and a little gift for him. .

My life is good here! Investigators are doing great! 

So yeah that is really about all of the time that I have! Going down to the city from Stamford takes up most of our day. :( Well I love you all so very much! I promise I will say more next week! Take care all of you and God Bless!! :) :)

I love you all! Love Mark! :)