August 31, 2011

Hey Nicki!

Great to hear from you this week! I'm doing great and it's good to hear that you're doing good as well. And yes! I have about 5 months left in the mission! Time is super passing by. That's good you were able to see the pictures that we took of auntie Badette taking us out. It was really fun and I'm thankful that we got to meet up with her. She was really nice and took us to eat at all these great and fun places. We went to eat lunch at this Filipino restaurant. It was soo good! I haven't had Filipino food in such a long time! We had stuff like sinigang, bopis, pinakbet, kare-kare, sisig and crispy pata which is fried pork knuckles. It was way good food. We also had halo-halo. I was so stuffed after that. We then went to Red Ribbon and bought pandesal! It was awesome! First time to have pandesal in forever! We then drove around Manhattan and auntie took us to this place called Veniero's. It is this Italian cafe that serves all these awesome pastries and stuff. There was a lot to choose from. I just had a NY cheesecake with different berries on top of it. It was really delicious! The berries were really fresh tasting and the cheesecake was probably the best that I've tasted! It was really good. Definitely a place I would go back to. We had a good time and auntie Badette was really kind to have taken us to all these places. She said she would meet with us again soon. I was really thankful that she was able to take us out when she had time during her busy schedule.

But I guess lots of people weren't too busy in the aftermath of the hurricane that passed over this past weekend. Hurricane Irene became a threat to us over the weekend. It began Saturday with the announcement that all transit would stop in preparation of the hurricane. Apparently it was tearing up the East coast. It was a level 2 hurricane which isn't too bad but is still pretty dangerous. So we were pretty much stuck with no transportation. We really couldn't work because there was no way for us to travel. It was a tough two days because we had to stay in both Saturday and Sunday. Church was cancelled in all the stakes in the city. It was way crazy and we were expecting the worse. Luckily the hurricane started to die out by the time it reached New York. We received harsh rain on Saturday night but beside that there wasn't too much to worry about. We were starving a lot though because we didn't have lots of food and lots of the stores were closed because of the weather. We got through the weekend though and on Monday it was such a nice day. Nice and sunny with a gentle breeze. All seems to be back to normal. There has been nothing but sunshine since the weekend. It's definitely an experience I will remember. Man, it makes me miss the West coast weather. The weather here is just so unpredictable.

It's good to hear that you have been enjoying your last weeks in San Diego. It really sounds like you had a great summer. Now it's that time again for school and I know you're excited about that. I know you'll do great this semester. It's good that you were able to land such a good job this past summer. It seems like it was really fun. The two boys you were nanny for look like they really liked you. Man, you are also way lucky to have gone to Disneyland so much this past summer. I want to go a lot when I come back. I miss going there and riding all the fun rides. It's good now that you're not scared to ride any of the rides. You now know what you've been missing! Took you long enough to man up and ride the "scary" rides. Hahaha. All in all I'm glad you had a great summer. Now it's time to kick butt in school. I know you'll have another great year and come new year time you'll be getting ready to see your big brother soon enough! I'm trying to live out everyday I have left to the best that I can possibly live it. Doing all that I can to proclaim the word of the gospel and just enjoy living here in New York as well. I'm actually considering coming back here to study journalism. I just get endless amounts of people telling me if that's what I want to do, I have to be here in New York to do it. So it's something to consider when I come back home and decide on what I want to do for schooling and such. I just hope I'll be able to jump back into life smoothly. It'll be tough but nothing in life is ever easy. I know going back home and staying and going to school locally is the safe way out but what about being sure of what you want to do and knowing where to be to do it. Definitely with the time winding down I've been thinking a lot about what it is I want to do when I come back home. Ahhh! The future is scary sister!!

Anyways, I hope you enjoy your last week at home and be safe going back to Idaho! Do all you can to help mom and dad while you're still there and make the best of the time you have with your sisters. Enjoy this school semester and I'll see you in no time! I miss you and I love you little sister! You're growing up fast. Take care and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love always,
Your big brother Elder Derrick Joseph Castro