August 25

Hello Home!!
It's another Gloomy day here in the Bronx!!

Haha so funny, even after 7 months and a transfer I'm still saying hello from my dear old Bronx! I love it! :)

As you know, I'm in KINGSBRIDGE 1st Ward with Elder BRANDON PEINE! (Said "piney")! He says hello!! He's from San Antonio, Texas- and he's GREAT! I love him! He's hilarious and smart and has GREAT Spanish for only being to the MTC and 4 weeks in the field- we're gonna have a blast together I can already tell!!
PLUS- guess what's in MY AREA!! It's called Kingsbridge SE, and it has..... wait for it......
-----Fordham College!!!
-----The New York Armoury (spelling..?)
-----THE BRONX ZOO!! (We're going to the Zoo, We're going to the ZOO!! )

(Ahem- this is where "Madagascar" is based, thankyouverymuch! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR MAURICE!!)
-----Last and best- LITTLE ITALY!!! (Little Italy BRONX, there's a LIttle Italy Manhattan too..)

AHHHHHH!!! It's this random blob on the map of intensely packed Italian culture- I feel so at home! Haha crazy Italians.... :)

Sister Passantino I'm sure is SO Jealous!! Bwahaha!! They blast Italian music in the streets and have hundreds of Italian restaurants and hundreds of little Italian flags on every street corner and stoplight- we even have some of the Members in our WARD that are Italian!!

Yesterday we went and visited a little half Dominican-half Italian family there- it's SO cool to see the church cross every race, language and culture barrier here in New York. After we visited them, Elder Peine and I bought some 100% Legit Gelato and Cannolli's from a little family owned Italian bakery!! AHH!! Then we skipped down the street singing "like a big aPizza Pie that's AMOREEE!!" Love it!! I wonder if Grandpa Giovanni Bernardo Ciddio knows any families that live here! They are all... well, Italians!!

I already can tell I'm going to love my area and the Ward and my companion. There's just a good feeling here.

It's amazing to me to see the strength of the members here in the Bronx! I love serving here- there must be a reason that I'm still here in the City after 7 months of it! I'm so excited and look forward to working with Elder Peine. We have the same sense of humor- and the SAME FIRST NAME!! Hooray! OH NO TWO BRANDONS!! Our new apartment is a mix of the old one and the new one back in Olmstead. It's not too bad :-) Although we have caught 3 mice already, living in the OVEN! ????

Oh right - forgot to tell you-- mail comes from the Mission Home only on Sundays now. But because of weird schedules and transfers and everything I haven't getten mail for over 2 weeks! :( So this Sunday I should be getting everything from the last 2-3 weeks - BAHAHAHA! ;-)

Ahh! There is this ADORABLE little family from PUEBLA ( haha heads Up Carlie Marie- 4 months now? hehehe Pueblitis...) that live in our Ward- they are so great! We went over last Sunday after church and they fed us these INCREDIBLE tostadas and this Mexican Soup that I've never had before- and they have the cutest little girls- 2 and 4. It seems like all the families we meet here are incredible. But they just LOVE the Missionaries and told us they insist on feeding us at least once a week and that they love having us in their house. We practice teaching them the regular Missionary lessons- even though they know them down pact!

OH DEAR. I'm SUCH A TERRIBLE PERSON. We were over at this family's house few nights ago (also Mexican)- There's the mother Gloria, her boyfriend Roberto, their Daughter Maria (19), their nephew Oscar (32) and three other little ninos that are Maria's little siblings. They fed us chorizo and tortillas- it was incredible- BUT I was eating some Jalapeno peppers... (I kinda eat them like candy know.... me and spicy go very well together..) and I bit into one and all the juice squirted out and flew across the table and hit Oscar square in the EYE!! He screamed and ran to the bathroom to flush it with water- I felt TERRIBLE!! I've heard horror stories of people going BLIND from Jalapeno pepper juice!!!!! Anyway, he came back a bit later and his eye was DARK MAROON- and he was very insistent that he was alright and it didn't hurt but I felt AWFUL! It looked HORRIBLE!! Before we left (and after a million apologies) he said that he would for sure be alright and laughed and said that if he needed he would call us in the middle of the night for a blessing! He was joking, but I still felt terrible! The next day at church- it looked completely better and he joked that he could actually see better- oh the blessings of Missionary-Blessed-Jalapeno juice!! I still feel bad and from now on need to be more careful at how I eat peppers!! Agh!!

My emotions are very near the surface (they usually are) as I received a phone call last night from Elder Torres still over in Olmstead telling me that 5 of the people that we found and began teaching near the beginning of our companionship together in that area, have accepted baptismal dates!!! September 5th and September 18th! I am ecstatic and grateful to be able to be a part of this awesome blessing. I feel honored to be a Missionary for the Lord! I do wish that I could be there to witness the ordinance and follow-up teach them to see them progress in the Gospel- I feel very close to these good people- but I will definitely keep in touch with them and keep them in my prayers. I still feel very connected to the Members in Olmstead and my recent converts over there- but I have a big list of addresses to write them and when I go back to visit I'll look them all up!!

I can't believe Connor has started school already!! AND that he has Mrs. DUFFIN! That's so great! Someone go tell her that I love her and that her son Elder Duffin is amazing and that I loved serving with him. And that he'd better write me. :) And KEVIN is coming home in 2 DAYS! YAY SAMMI!! HOLY SMOKES!! Time is FLYING! And everyone is growing up! Man!

WELL I'm off! We're going to go to Laundry and be Blobs for the rest of the day! We're so tired- we do even more walking in this area than in my last one!! PLUS we only have PARTIAL Metro instead of FULL!! I love you all- thank you for your love and support!
Be safe! Be strong!! BE ITALIAN!!!

CHURCH IS TRUE!!

Always,
Elder Brandon Hellberg