August 18, 2010

Hey mom!

Happy to hear from you like always! Thanks for the birthday wishes!
Everything is going great out here. I had a great celebration for my
birthday yesterday afternoon. We had cheesecakes and Martinellis from
Costco. I enjoyed it because I got to spend time with some of the
Elders that I have become good friends with here in the mission. I
also received the gift you sent to my place! It was truly a surprise
when the guy said, "Package for Castro." I was kind of wide eyed,
haha. It was great. I didn't have any of the strawberries yet but when
I get back to apartment later I will have some. They looked very
delicious.

That's good you were able to have a short vacation out in Vegas with
the girls. September is arriving soon and Nicki will be off and the
girls will be back in school so it's a good bonding time with them
before all that stuff in the Fall happens.

Wow, I can't believe Jared is now off to his mission! That's really
good and really amazing. Elder Resolme will do a great job serving the
people of England. We're all in the great work together and we're
bringing Christ's children back to him again. I read that paragraph
about how he gave his talk and it made me think of when I gave mine.
It's crazy to think that was a little while ago now.

Looks like you have a really busy weekend ahead of you with the
rehersal dinner and wedding and stuff this weekend. It should be a fun
time and a great time for EJ. I can't believe he is finally getting
married. That's great for him and I know you'll be able to get all you
need to done.

The missionary work is going great still. We still visit members and
hope they will refer us to someone else we can teach. No luck with
that though but it's always good to build good relationships with the
members so things can hopefully progress. We don't put ourselves down.
We just have to keep pushing and pursuing our goals. It will be a
tough time here in the Branch. With Elder Evenson leaving we have lots
of responsibilities now as the "next generation" of the ASL
missionaries. We have a lot of rebuilding to do but we see it as a
time to grow and improve with our skills that we are confident we can
use to our advantage and help the work progress here in the Branch.
It's tough to see the experienced missionaries go but it was bound to
happen sometime. We will just press on in the Lord's work from here.

Sounds like you had a good time with Nicki and my birthday this past
couple of days. That's good you had a lot of time to bond with the
family and just enjoy a small celebration of another year's life. It
really does sound like a good time.

I hope this weekend goes well mom. You can handle it well I know you
can! I miss you and I love you a lot mom!

Love always,
Your son Elder Derrick Joseph Castro