June 30, 2010

Hey mom!

Great to hear from you. I forgot that you had been traveling that's
why you haven't replied to my e-mails yet. That's okay, glad to see
you've had so much fun. Looks like you'll really be busy in the next
week too. Nauvoo is such a beautiful place and I know you'll love
being there for the pageant. Hope Nicki will have fun at her last EFY.
Provo was always the fun place to go for EFY and she always seems to
enjoy it. That's good to hear you were able to be off and travel and
have fun and you'll be able to have more time to spend with the girls and dad too.

Thanks for putting the money in my account. I will just tell you when
I need money. Shouldn't be a lot of times though. I will work on
budgeting my expenses from the mission. The Yankees game we're going
to is on the 21st and the seats are only $5 which is great. I'll be
able to experience a game here in New York in their new stadium! It
should be fun with all the missionaries as well.

My companions and I are doing well. We're working hard to teach as
much lessons as we can every week. Remember the investigator I helped
teach awhile back? Well he is getting baptized on July 11th! That's
great news. He's really excited and he even invited his friend who is
flying in just to see him be baptized. It's great to see his growth in
the gospel and we all can't wait to see his improvement from there.

My talk went great last Sunday. I made sure I wrote it out in ASL
Gloss so even though it looked like broken English it was still the
right way to sign things. I didn't feel nervous and I was complimented
about my talk so all in all it was a good experience. I know I'll end
up giving more talks in the branch but after the first one I think it
will be easy from here on out. I feel that preparing for the talk has
really helped my ASL skills as well. My finger spelling has gotten
faster and I am signing with more confidence! It's great to see the
improvements I make each day. I only hope to build on it some more.

Thank you for all the support you give me here on my mission. Without
it I wouldn't be as strong as I've been thus far. I miss you all and
hope you will continue to enjoy your Summer fun back home. Continue to
write and I'll always update you every week.

l love you mom!

Love always,
Your son and Elder Derrick Joseph Castro