Lots of Stuff Running Through My Head Lately

Hey Dad! Well I am going to reply to both yours and Mom's emails this week :) 

So wow.,.. Did not know you guys were going out west! That is fun! Not going to lie I am a little jealous! That is so cool that you guys are getting to have so much fun and spending time with the Barnes family,... Actually I have been considering going out to school in Provo,  either at UVU or BYU. I would really like to go to BYU. I want to study Communications and also Religious teaching.... And I would maybe like to work at the MTC or something.. IDk . Lots of stuff running through my head recently. 

So the area is doing really good! We have a really big ward mission plan that we are working on right now, that involves the members a lot more than things that we have tried in the past. I love the area! I am really fond of Elder Fox. He is a great guy! Last night we received a call from President Morgan. I answered and he asked to talk to Elder Fox.. Turns out his Aunt and her daughter died last night in a car accident... he took it really well. I felt so bad for him though. :( Such a strong kid. I am really excited to take over this area with him! I can just see how things are going to sky rocket here! I would really like to spend at least 3 cycles here but we will see what happens. All of the members here are really nice! I cannot even begin to explain it... Seriously some of the nicest people in the world live here... A person could not help but love everyone here :) I already like this area more than I did the Bronx.  Stamford is so cool! Oh and Mom! Before I forget! I will be sending the memory card home hopefully this week :) So be expectiong that! 

So on the 11th of Augst we have a bap date for Gizzelle. She is a 9 year old girl. She is so excited! I feel the spirit so much each and every time we go over there to teach her. She is awesome! Her prayers... Wow she just makes me want to cry.. Such a sincere and humble little girl! I think I now understand what Christ meant when he said "Be as the little Children. For theirs is the Kindom of heaven! " 

We have a lot of really good potentials... We could easily have 5 baptisms in August! :) The people are ready! We are teaching these Brazillian sisters! Bruna and Amanda! they are really cool! Bruna has felt the Spirit. But we are now just waithing on her to be ready to be baptized.. Because she was baptized like 2 years ago in her dad's church and she felt like she was forced.. So we are making sure it is her decision. But she knows the things we say are true :) Their mom is a LA  Less Active  who is coming back to church :) 

So last week we had interviews with President Morgan :) He is such a great guy! He invited me over to make gumbo for them sometime! So mom resend me the recipe! :) We talked for quite a while! I really like him! He is just so humble. :) I really hope you guys get to meet him and President Smith at some point! :) 

So yeah.. Not a lot of time. As you guys can probably tell by now. The upstate emailing is a little more difficult :/ But I just want to let you guys know I am doing good! and I am hanging in there. Even with the whole Melissa thing. I have good roommates, 2 good companions, and my Heavenly Father :) So I am good :) Thank you both mom and Dad for your words of encouragement and comfort :) They mean a lot! :) Both of you are awesome parents :) I hope you guys are enjoying your vacation! Stinks that I can't be there with you! But I would rather not be anywhere else in the world :) I love it here! I love the people and what I am doing! It has changed my life :) The Gospel is everything to me. Christ is everything to me. And i am grateful that you brought me up in the church and always encouraged/ not forced, encouraged me to choose the right :) Thank you! I am forever in debt to both of you :) I hope one day I can be as good of a parent as the two of you are to me :)

I love you all! Tell my friends I say I for me if you see them! And tell the Barnes hello as well! :) 

Love you all! Love Marky Poo :) 

The Strongest Lesson of my Mission

Dear Mommy and Daddy! 

I am doing good! :) Once again I am not going to have a lot of time because the internet is down at the Church and we are having to use the library again. so sorry in advance!

But everything is going good! I am loving the area. We are teaching a pretty promising family here. Well part member family. The Daughter will be getting baptized here soon. Her name is Gizel! So that is exciting! We also have a lot of other promising investigators. :) A lot! We have a pretty big teaching pool! so I will let you know about them as they progress! I would like to talk about each one individually but I really don't have time!~ 

I will tell you about one family though. This will probably take up the majority of my email.. And it just shows how much the Spirit has been impacting me in my life over the last couple weeks! My testimony has grown so much... So here is the story. we were teaching our investigators Oscar and Rosa, and we just had the most poweful/blunt lesson. The spirit was so strong. During the lesson I asked Rosa if she knew what the holy ghost was and if she knew what it felt like, and if she had felt it in the past. She said she had. and explained to us an experience she had in the past.. Well long story short,  Oscar tells us about all of his life problems. And Then we ask him and her if they want help, and they both just look at us and say yes. And we tell them that the Gospel and the church will be able to help them more than anything else. As we leave we say a prayer. Elder Fox begins saying it, and after he says "nuestro padre celestial." our Heavenly Father,  Oscar stops him and runs into the other room to grab his baby girl... one of the coolest and just most humble things I have seen in my life... Ah,,, I wish you could have all been there! Then Elder Fox says the prayer... and says amen.. and I just looked at Rosa and Oscar and asked them if they felt something different.. And they both said yes.. and I asked Rosa if it was the Spirit and she said yes. And we told them both it was.. And I looked at both of them and told them, that they need to follow that feeling, the Holy Ghost for the remainder of their lives and if they do that.. They will be happy. It serisouly was the strongest Lesson of my mission.. I wish I could explain it in better detail!  I hope and pray they get baptized... I pray so hard. I love them so much! They are 2 very very humble people! 

Then we had another Lesson this week, where Sister Vera shared her Testimony/conversion story with us and I just started crying.. Then she talked about Missionaries and how important they are, and about the blessings we will receive because of serving a mission. And at that moment that is exactly what I needed to hear! It was so good! Ask me in a seperate email next week mom and I will explain it to you.. Kind of personal. But such a great story and great testimony! Then she fed us some amazing food! :) 

So sounds like everything back home is good! Thank you for sending all the pictures! Granny and Pop Pop - happy aniversary!! :) Enjoy it! And Garrett happy late birthday! I hope you got my letter! :) and Todd be good and have fun at EFY! You will love it! Just as you did last year! And email me when you get back telling me all about it.. And listen to the Holy Ghost. Pray, It's a good time to do so. I love you bud! And you Thomas! All 3 of you are such great brothers! And I know Mom and Dad are happy to call you their sons.

My roommates are awesome! Elder Fox is such a great kid! And so is Elder Vazquez. Elder Vazques is from New Jersey. He is 27 years old! I look up to him a ton! Elder Fox is 19 from Lehi Utah. And the two of them have helped me turn into the best missionary i have been on my mission. I love them so much! And I love the Missionaries around me. Sister Major is in my District. From Utah. and SIster Alvarez is in the same district as me once again! They are both really funny! I love our District because I feel like we can all be 100% ourselves around each other. Elder Stevens, you guys already know a lot about him. I love that kid. And Elder Portillo. From Reno Nevada. Has become one of my very best friends in a short amount of time. He is a convert, and just has a huge heart. And we act so dumb around each other lol! Great guy. Well that is a little about what is going on here! Oh and Elder Kay is in my Zone! Today we all played Soccer for Pday! I stink! But it was fun! And... yeah... :) HOw are all you doing? I love you all so much! Sorry my emails are so scatter brained.. I just hate being rushed for time! Well I love you all so much! Thank you for all your support and love! I appreciate those of you who read my emails, because it shows me you care! :) So thank you! I hope you enjoy them! And get a little bit of a feeling of what a mission is like! 

Well love and miss you all! :)
Love Mark! :) 

Grandma you are in my prayers :)

Changes

Mom it was nice to hear from you! :) You emailed me right as I got on! So I will say as much as I can in the small amount of time as I can. My comps are great! I love them both to death! They are both really humble people and are really willing to work hard. They have made this transition so much easier! Training Elder Fox has been fun! He is a great kid and has a great heart! I don't think I have ever seen someone more eager to do missionary work, and so ready to love other people for who they are. Driving is going good! Haha I was a little rusty at the beginning but it is all going better now. Kind of like riding a bike. Little things are coming back as I do so. We got these stupid Tiwi Boxes in our car that go off every time we speed or do anything slightly off color! So before I forget I got a card from Granny! tell her I say thank you and I love and miss her so much! Also that I will be writing them a letter this week :) And the 4th was fun! We played Bang and Soda pong! lol! The punishment was drinking nasty concoctions of drinks. I love my apartment. Elder Portillo has become one of my really good friends really fast. We just get along so naturally. haha I will send you some videos on my memory card soon! So President Morgan is awesome. We met him for the first time on Monday. Along with his family.. It is different having a mission president with kids.. I am not going to lie. A whole new Change. From the area, to training/follow up training, to a new mission president. It has all been fun and I am loving it! I really respect and love President Morgan! He is a great guy! And I can already tell he is going to be a great leader in the NY NY North Misson! So there is a lot going on in the area! We have taught a lot of cool people! :) I will explain more next week, due to the lack of time I have today! But I like it a lot! The Ward is cool and I really love the investigators. This is the upstate area that everyone covets lol! I am just trying my best not to get fat up here. So far I have lost 3 pounds so I think I am doing a pretty good I am good and I am loving life! :) Suprisingly despite everything that is going on I could not be happier! :) The Lord really does know how to lift us up in our hard times.. He knows us all too well. And he knows me and I am so grateful he is always there to help me :) I love you all so very much! and thank you for all that you do! Have a great week! and I will talk to you very soon! I love you! :) Love MArk! :)

EXCITED!

mommy dearest! :)

So I am in Stamford Conneticut! :) I am Training in a trio.. So both follow up training and training lol! Elder Vazquez is a Mexican from Jersey and I am follow up training him, and I am training Elder Fox who seems really cool and he is from Lehi Utah.(So there are three of them - one has only been out on his mission for about six weeks, the other is a brand new missionary straight from training at the MTC.)   I am so excited to be here! Everyone tells me it is the best upstate area in the mission... So I drove a car for the first time in more than a year today :P I was so scared! I turned the wheel the wrong way while backing out. haha! But after that it was all good! It was just like riding a bike! I was so freaking out.. When I was backing out of the church parking lot half of the mission was watching me. Elder Hermosa.. The AP had to come give me words of comfort :P 

So I am released as DL(he will no longer be a district leader)! And I am living with Elder Stevens again.(Elder Stevens was in his first apartment in Harlem.) Just like my first cycle, and Elder Ortillo. They are in the English ward here. But I am so pumped! Really I was so excited to leave! but it was so sad leaving the BX. :( Saying bye to Gisela, Chrismary, and Jordi was difficult.. only because I know I may never see them again.. They are moving back to the DR in like 2 weeks :( So that was sad.. And saying bye to Niorgeli was sad also... She bawled when I left... :( I felt bad. She made me promise her I would take her to Coney Island when I come back to visit. I think she had a small crush on me. I love that litle girl and her family. They are so cool! 

Then I also saw Cindy yesterday.(one of the first ladies he taught in Harlem). Her daughter was baptized last month, and her fiance  got baptized last weekend :) I was so happy to see how much good came out of that. She has changed a lot.. It was so good to talk to her. It brought a smile to my face! :) 

So now I am here. the New Mission President comes in Thursday.. Today was our last time that we saw President Smith. :( I am going to miss him a ton! 

so I did get Birthday cards for Pop pop and Granny. I just was forgetful :( I will make sure that I do better at that! I started writing them a letter but it got lost in me moving. ah... I have so much stuff!! I don't know how I have got so much! I need to get rid of a ton.. And I gave away and threw away a ton before I left the Bronx and I still have a ton! And yes I will write Todd again soon! :) :) 

Well I am excited to be here.. I don't know what else to say :) We went to Panda Express today.. I am going to go to Buffalo Wild Wings here in a couple days so I am really excited!! :) And apparently there have been 7 baptisms here in the past 3 months.. So I am excited to keep this area on fire and find more people! 

Well I love you all so very much! We do not have a lot of time, but I love you all so very much! You are the best! :) Take care and I love you all so much! You are in my prayers! :)

Love, Marky Mark

It Is Time!

Hey Mom I am going to keep this short..   The game was good! (Yankees v Braves) I had a lot of fun! It was a blast! Very hot like you said though!   I am here until next Tuesday, which will be both Transfers and Pday. Just so you all know.. And I received word from a Senior Missionary that I am leaving.. Somewhere upstate it sounds like but he could not remember!  But I feel good about it.. Like you, Mom I feel like it is time! :)     And Norgelie's Baptism was awesome! :) I baptized her! WE are going over there again tomorrow night.. I am having a hard time right now and I do not have a lot of time.. Sorry for not saying much! Let me make sure I answered all of your questions! :)   Oh mom most importantly follow your heart. Desire the Spirit and Pray for it.. And if you have a good feeling to do something do it. That is the spirit. It's not the best answer but it is the one President gave me.    And dad to answer your question yeah we still play Bang :) But anyways! I am going to get going! Sounds like a lot of fun stuff is going on back at home, and also back in Louisiana :)   I love you all very much!   Love Mark! :)

South Manhattan

Dear Mommy..   I am a lazy sack today. I am so tired... So I will write what I can. Don't be surprised if this is a short email. lol! Just know that I am good and happy! :)   Well anyways.. Today we got to go to South Manhattan. We got permission because Elder Eliason had to exchange some really nice shoes his Dad bought him. They were the wrong size, so we got to go to Rockefeller Center to do that. Then we went to Macys! Elder Eliason bought a nice Citizen Watch. I got a nike T shirt lol! They had some really good Fathers Day Sales. We should definitely go shopping there after my mission. IT is a really cool store! It is so huge! But we did that and walked by the Empire State Building and Madison Square Garden. Then we took the 1 train down to go to the World Trade Center Memorial. That was really cool. It was really pretty and really peaceful. I could also see the new Memorial Building they are building there. IT is so Tall! lol! It was really cool. We saw a lot of Members from Different parts of the country, that stopped and talked to us along the way. You can definitely spot out the tourist from the people that actually live in NYC lol! IT is actually kind of funny to watch.   But while I was at the Memorial site, you could look up names of people who had died. I could not find any Mattei's but I did find 1 Haydel couple. Harold and Betty Haydel. I don't know if there is any corespondence. But I just know how big dad is into Family History and IDK lol! But that place was really cool. Very very peaceful. And very spiritual as well.   But anyways glad to hear everyone is good! And that Greg got a car and Todd is doing well in school! That really made me happy :)   Well Sunday is Norgeli's baptism! :) We are really excited! Then next Thursday are transfers.. I am not sure exactly when we are going to figure out.  I am sad that I have to leave that family though after I just met them (Assuming I am leaving) BUt the truth is I would not mind staying.. I really just want to stay in the city. It is going to be hard to leave here.   Well I am about to fall asleep in my chair. lol! and I still need to email dad. Mom just chat with me lol! So everyone have a good week! I will talk to you soon! Oh yeah! Yankees game next Wednesday! I am excited! :) I miss sports! Love you all! :)   Love Mark! :) And yeah I heard from Tre it sounded like he was pretty content with what was going on. so I am happy for him!  So to answer your questions...  1. THe bronx is going good. The people are crazy and life here is very fast paced.  2. THe weather stinks today, it has been raining for the past 2 days. 3. THings could be better with my comp. But nothing to complain about. :)  4. Just invite Melissa over for Dinner sometime. :)  5. We are teaching Norgeli. She will get baptized on Saturday. We also found this guy named Quincy Jones last week.  Haha weirdly enough he is spanish. But he is cool, he is really receptive to the Gospel and is eager to read the Book of Mormon.  6. Teaching is going well! Spanish is coming along much better.  7. and yes we are going to the Yankees game this next wednesday!  So I have a question. My damaged Ipod Nano. Do you guys still have it?? haha sorry that was random but I would really like to know. Well Grandma is in my prayers. I hope she gets better soon... Tell her I say Hello and that I love her! As well as Grandpa. Well I love you Dad! Have a great week! I will talk to you soon! Love Mark! :) 

Just as Happy as Could Be

Good day everybody!

So first things first before I forget if you could please ask Mark for his address and let him know that I have a Birthday card I have been wanting to send him for like 2 weeks,and also check and see if Bryan got the stuff that I sent him. That would be just fantastic :)

Well not much is up! Just doing missionary work. Life stays Generally about the same lol! But I am good! As I told you last week we are teaching this girl named Norgeli! She is 11 and is really cool. The family is Dominican. The Mom and other kids are less active and now deciding to come back to church. I really have fallen in love with this family really fast. I have so much fun when we go over there. They have a Cocker Spaniel nambed Cucuto! haha He reminds me a little bit of Angel! But Norgeli is really cool. She is funny and she has a baptisimal date on the 17th of this month! :) So I am really happy I stayed 1 more cycle! And she is just so smart. She picks up on things so fast. She understands the plan of Salvation, and logically understands the Atonement very well. Now we just got to get her to the SPiritual side of it. But she is so cool. Everytime we are there I can feel the spirit really strong! It is amazing! Teaching her makes me feel like a Greeny again. So there home has kind of become a safe haven for me. It is really far away. Actually not in our area, but they want to go to our ward so we go up into Elder Lewis' and Aguilars area to teach them. But it is worth it. For the Feeling we have when we are there and for the food! I look forward to going there this Friday! :)  

Sounds like you guys are having a pretty nice summer! The weather is good! I am so glad that it has not gotten to hot! I am waiting until I get upstate for that to happen (So yes I think I am getting transfered.. I would prefer to stay in the City but I am willing and ready to do what the Lord/President ask of me :) )

But for real sounds like everything is going well at home. Sounds like Thomas is having fun and Todd is doing much better. I am going to write him this week. I really stink at it i Know. It really is just so hard sometimes lol! And no I don't know the kid that played on Todd's team last year considering I was not there lol! :P But that is good to hear. Give that boy a nice big bear hug for me. So what else is new?? anything. did Nicole end up seeing her parents or anything?? And mom have you checked my facebook in a while to see if I have gotten anything?? Please do and let me know if anyone has talked to me or messaged me.

Pday today we went to Manhattan to Costco again. Nobody wanted to buy steaks with me :( lol! Elder Lewis almost did but he backed out last minute. That pansy. lol! I was so excited to! So I ended up not gettting too much. But it was really nice to be back in Harlem. I had a lot of memories come back, just while walking through there for a couple of short minutes. I miss it a lot. I really want to finish my mission there. That place is like a 3rd home. next to STL and Louisiana. There are a lot of people that I really love there.

How is Dad doing? He is in Amsterdam??? Lucky guy! Thousands of the potheads around here would be jealous as heck! haha. J.k... but no they really would be... But that is cool. how long is he there for? I did not hear from him this week.

So on Monday we had Zone Conference with President and Sister Smith. It was really good! I really love the both of them. I feel like President and I have just started getting close and now he is going home :( I am going to miss them.. But it was a really uplifting conference. and just what I needed as well. But I think we still have one more meeting with him before he goes home as well as interviews. I really hope that you and Dad get to meet him at some point. He really is such a great guy. 

So if greg gets a car does that mean I get the Jetta?? lol! J.K. :P But really... :) And well I miss and love you guys! But there is not much more to say. I am doing great! Just as happy as could be and I hope all of you are as well! I miss and love you! Thank you for all that you do! I will see you soon! Have a great week! you are all in my prayers and God Bless! :)

Love, Marky Mattei! :)