January 12, 2011

Hey mom!

 

Was able to get another opportunity to e-mail you today beacause we still needed to e-mail President our numbers for the week.

 

Yesterday we were walking around and I was noticing the faces of people here in the Bronx and how sometimes they look very sad and depressed. Now I don't know their situation but it was very saddenening to see that. I was wishing they would have smiles on their faces. I thought to myself I wish people would be more open to hear the gospel message because that will bring them the missing happiness in their lives. Sometimes people see us and immediately brush us off and don't even listen to what we have to say when simply put we just want them to know there is a Heavenly Father out there, He is watching over us and he cares for us and he wants us to return to Him again one day. Just a thought that popped into my mind yesterday. It really got me thinking that what we do as missionaries is a great thing. There are people out there waiting for the message we have to share and we just need to find them.

 

The English program is great. I was transferred on time. Just had to wait for my companion to come from upstate for a little bit, but all went well with that. My companion's name is Elder Ibisagba. He is from Miami but he was born in India but his parents are from Nigeria. Really interesting. He was telling me how he lived in all kinds of different places. He is a good missionary. I do live in a different place now. It is way nicer compared to the ASL apartment. The ASL apartment is really ghetto but the place I stay now is really nice. All of us in the zone live in the same apartment complex and the sister missionaries live a couple of buildings down so we're a really close zone which is great. We're small in numbers only being 10 but we have lots of missionaries here that are ready to do some hard work. The Ward is great and they were very welcoming of us. This week we've been going around just trying to meet with the members and get to know them a little bit. It's been going good so far. Still lots of snow here but I'm staying warm. I'm used to it now. It gets really cold at night. But other than that things have been really really good. I'm enjoying the English program but hope that President moves me after this cycle maybe upstate so I will get to experience that. Heard it is wayy different from the city and then will also be traveling in a car. I miss traveling in a car. Feels like forever since I rode and drove one.

 

Well, I think that's all I needed to catch you up on. Thanks for getting back to me mom. I will talk to you again next week. Enjoy the activities this week and tell everyone hello and that I miss them and love them. I love you and I miss you lots mom. Talk to you again next week!

 

Love always,

Your son Elder Derrick Joseph Castro