June 22, 2020 Good news! Today marks the first day of phase 2 of reopening New York City! That means that WE CAN FINALLY BAPTIZE, we can finally get hair cuts (I am getting one today and I am so excited), and we can finally take the train instead of walking for hours to get anywhere! With the long awaited authorization to have baptisms, we finally have plans to baptize Anibal this Saturday! He postponed his baptism last week because he accepted a job on a farm, but it turns out he only got paid like $4 an hour, so he quit after the 2nd day. The baptismal service needs to be really small (only 4 people will be there) and the program is only supposed to take about 20 minutes. We will be wearing gloves and masks the whole time, and it is going to be a really unique experience! I am really excited! Also, because we have been doing all our lessons over video call, I still have not met him in person. The first time I physically meet him will be at his baptism! As District Leader, part of my ...

June 15, 2020 Hello everyone! My first week of being a trainer went really well! My new companion is Elder Chavez! He is from Chicago, but his family is Puerto Rican, so he speaks fluent spanish! It has been super nice having him in lessons because he actually knows whats going on most of the time. The only thing is, he is still super new so he doesn't talk very often because he doesn't know what to say (which is okay, I did that when I was new too!). We don't have a lot in common (actually, pretty much nothing haha) but thats okay because we get a long and we are both having a good time. Elder Chavez was VERY surprised his first day here because of how busy we are! He was expecting to come to New York and just chill because we are quarantined, but nope! I wish I could accurately describe how busy we have been, its been insane! We once had 11 lessons in one day! He also had a BUNCH of new missionary meetings, and I had SO MANY District Leader calls to attend, so we always h...

June 8, 2020 Hello everyone!! I hope you all had a good week! On Thursday, President Teuscher called me and asked me if I would train a new missionary! He said it is the most sacred assignment that he gives to missionaries because a trainer makes a big impact on how the rest of your mission goes. He said that he has seen me grow a lot and feels like I am ready! I am going to be a dad! Just in time for Fathers Day haha! Because of the virus, transfers are working a little differently. My trainee is actually going to be dropped off directly at my house TONIGHT, and I will be in a trio until tomorrow afternoon when Elder Goodman gets picked up by an Uber to go to his new area. ELDER GOODMAN IS GETTING TRANSFERED TO RICHMOND HILL WITH ELDER LARSON AND A NEW RE-ASSIGNED MISSIONARY!! How crazy is that?! He is going to my last area and my last companion! This seems to be a common trend in my mission because my 1st and 2nd companion got assigned together, and then my 3rd and 4th companion got ...

June 1, 2020 So there is this mystery liquid in all of the gutters here in the Bronx. Its a cloudy grey color, mixed in with empty beer bottles and other trash. Sometimes we see mice drinking out of it. We call it "bronx juice" and you can smell it from a block away. It really sums up the overrall vibe here. But this past week, it rained! All of the bronx juice got flushed out and the poop on the sidewalks got cleaned up! It felt really refreshing to smell the rain and see clean streets! That reminded me of a primary song called "When I Am Baptized". The lyrics say, "I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain, and ponder on the beauty of an Earth made clean again. I want my life to be as clean as Earth right after rain. I want to be the best I can to live with God again. I know when I am baptized my wrongs are washed away, and I can be forgiven and improve myself each day." We all got metaphorical bronx juice inside of us! But I know that can be wa...