June 16, 2010

Hey mom!

Great to hear from you once again. I'm doing great here in New York.
We've been going to the library lately to do the e-mail so I just got
a New York library card today! :)

Oh yes, and P-day is today! Wednesday! Just so you know for the future
reference. Today has been an unusually busy P-day. We woke up earlier
than usual and we went to one of the many church chapels here in New
York. We met up with the rest of our Zone and had some fun playing
Volleyball for a bit. Afterwards it was time to shop for food! Elder
Gervacio has a Costco card so we made the long journey to the only
close Costco to our place here! It was quite a trip there and an even
harder trip on the way back home with all the food! But it was good
because now we have a lot of food for the week. I realized that I have
to do a better job budgeting. I'm trying to budget so I won't have to
use my Personal debit card too much here. Only on essentials. I'll try
to get by with the $153 they provide us with each month. I even made a
chart for my budgeting and will put that into effect for the month of
July. So after shopping we came here. Now I'm e-mailing you and dad to
tell you what's been up this past week. Later on we're going to visit
a less active member in the deaf branch. Hope to contact her and
invite her to come back to the branch sometime.

Let's see what has happened this week... I was given the assignment to
give a talk on the 27th of June. My topic will be the "Articles of
Faith." I've already been researching my topic and seeing what I can
talk about and how I might go about signing it. I'm a little nervous
but I know the spirit will guide me as to what to say and what to
sign. Wish me luck!

That's great you were able to start cleaning the house! It always
feels good to be in a clean house. We too did a little clean up of our
apartment because it wasn't in the best shape. I was tasked with
cleaning the bathroom. It was really dirty! But I ended up doing a
good job and now it's a really nice and clean bathroom. It was good to
see the place after we were done. It feels good to live in a nice
clean apartment. It helps the Spirit dwell with us there as well. We
also had a problem with Bed Bugs! We had to spray all our beds because
we kept getting bitten! It wasn't the best! :( But hopefully the Bed
Bugs are all cleared up.

Seems like you all have a busy summer schedule ahead of you. That was
nice of you to treat Sarah out like that. I'm sure she was very
thankful for that. It's good that she's going to a great school in
BYUI. Hopefully she'll continue to pursue her studies to the best that
she can.

I can't believe Nicki is already graduating as well! That's amazing! I
know she will do great in BYU-I. I'm happy with the effort you put
into spending more time with her because like me she'll be gone soon
too. Then you'll just have the two littles for awhile. And about her
serving a mission, you never know. You can't predict the future but
I'm sure whatever she decides in her future will be great for her. She
always strived to be the best and I'm sure she'll continue to come out
on top. Myself, I have also thought about college a bit. Wondering if
I should go to BYU Provo or just go to SDSU. Lately I've been wanting
to pursue an English major but I am still left undecided. English
really interests me and I want to teach it but who knows what I'll end
up doing. Hopefully I'll get into something that will support my
family in the future.

That's great you will all be together for Father's Day! Dad really
deserves a day dedicated to him! He works so hard for us and supports
us with all his effort so it'll be good he will have rest from work
and just be able to hang out with all of you. I wish I was able to be
there too but I'm sure dad will forgive me. I'm preaching the gospel
in one of the best cities and I'm doing it for you all. I hope you
will all enjoy your day with dad.

As you continue to stay busy with work and summer plans I hope you are
safe. Hopefully you'll get better rest now that you'll only have one
job. But I know you'll be able to make it through. You want to be able
to be with Danica and Danielle through these years and really spend as
much time with them as you can. Before you know it they'll be like
Nicki and they'll be off to college soon too! So take advantage of all
that time.

Mom, I can never say it enough. Thank you for all your support while
I'm here on my mission. Thank you for teaching me the gospel so that
now when I read things again I can understand it better because it's
my desire to want to know these things. The mission has really been an
eye opener for me and I can't wait to see what other things I will
discover here in New York. Thank you mom. I love you. Till next week..

Love always,
Your son, Elder Derrick Joseph Castro