Hello Manhattan!

Hola familia.

I guess that the first thing that I should tell you is that, I'm in a new area!  I've been transferred to North Manhattan!!!!!  Woohoo!!  And my new Companion is Elder Head.  He's a way awesome guy from Clinton, UT or something like that, and he's like the same as me.  Same likes in just about everything which is way cool.  Oh, also I'm a District Leader again, so that's cool.

But yeah, so as you thought, I don’t really have all that much time because of transfers and stuff, but I'm here in Manhattan as I said.  So here are the answers to your questions:

1. How did the baptism go?

The Baptism went great.  Unfortunately I won’t be there to see him get confirmed, but the baptism went swimmingly. 

2. When it snows in New York where do they put the snow they clear from the sidewalks?  And how fast are the sidewalks cleared?

As for your question about the snow, I honestly don't know yet, I've barely seen any snow, and none of it has lasted yet.  But upstate it was cleared really fast.  So I'm not really sure yet about the city.

3. What is the best food you had in the Bronx?

The best meal I had in The Bronx would probably be... I don't really know…I just love like all Spanish foods so much.

4. How many kids did the largest family in your ward have?

The largest family in my last area was like 4 or 5 kids.  Most families are pretty small because the houses here are really small, so yeah, that's a result.

5. Did you see many vandalized cars on the streets of the Bronx, like in the movies?

My area in the Bronx was pretty good.  I've only seen a few broken cars and only two where someone stole the rims.  But I'm sure it happens more in the South Bronx.

6. What are you eating for breakfast these days?  Are you including fruit?

I've normally been eating just a bowl of cornflakes with some bananas.  So yeah I eat fruit and stuff.

Anyways, that’s about all the time I have left for today.  Talk to you next week.

Love Carson

P.S. I used some of the personal money to buy some True Religion jeans for 35 dollars.  It was awesome.  I bought two pairs for way cheap.  But yeah, just thought you should know.

Ready for a Change...

Well I'm glad that all is well in good ol' Calgary.  Things are also pretty good here in New York.  Transfers will be happening next week, and yes Dad, they're every six weeks.  So for this transfers I'm really hoping that I get some kind of change, whether that’s a new companion or area I don’t care, I just want something to change, mainly because I want to serve around other people, and meet new people.  Currently I've served two seven month spurts in my areas, and that’s a long time.  Especially seeing as I only have like 8 months left more or less.  But whatever happens, I guess it is what it is, and I'll accept it without complaint.  But we’ll see, I'll let you know about that next week.

This week though we've had a couple pretty cool experiences.  The first one is just a funny one.  So Elder Hulme and I were waiting for the bus, and unfortunately the route we were waiting for wasn’t the most reliable one.  Se we're sitting there waiting, and we hear this crunching noise (the one that happens when someone gets rear ended).  So we looked in the direction of the sound, and saw this little green VW Golf, and a big Ford E-250 van or something similar in size.  And the funniest thing was the sound was being made because the van was pushing the car, kinda like a tow truck would pull one.  We both just looked at each other, and thought "WOW only in the Bronx!!"  So yeah, that was on Thursday.

Then on Friday we were going to a few of our appointments and we arrived at one and found out that she was holding a bible study group, so at first I thought “dang, this might not turn out very good”.  So they invited us to join them and we just quietly sat down and listened and eventually one of the people turned to us, and kinda in his own way asked, I know that Christ is my savior because of the scriptures, and I can know him.  How do you know what you believe?  SO I was like wow, that’s quite a question, so I explained a little that I'd have to do a little bit of background before I could answer his question, which he was cool with, so we began teaching the restoration to this group of four people who meet together often to study the scriptures and stuff.  And eventually we got to the end of the restoration, and it was kinda cool to say that this (the Book of Mormon) is how I know what I know, and how he can know it too.  We then followed that up by giving him a copy of the book and committing him to begin reading it and praying to know if it was true.  So yeah, it was just a really cool experience, and then to finish it all off we said a prayer.  One of the others did it, and the funny part of the prayer was that they read it out of a study book thing, so we finished our lesson with a recited prayer.  So yeah, we have a little way to go with these people but I think they definitely have a chance of progressing if they do their part.

And then since then we unfortunately haven’t had all that much success finding people.  All the people we've found have juked us or just had something come up, but the work continues to progress and go forward here in the Bronx.  I also have a baptism this Sunday which should be good.  His name is Jesus.  He's a nine year old who’s been coming with his aunt and recently we found out that the cousin of Jesus is actually the Second Counsellor to the Stake President which is cool.  So we've asked him to do the Baptism of Jesus.  So yeah, that’s the other stuff going on in my life right now here in the Mission field.

Umm... yeah, I really don’t have anything else to add today.  I wish you all a good week and hope all continues to go well and that it goes well at the home show.

 
Love, Carson

Happy New Year from the Big Apple!

Dec 28^th email from Carson: Well it was so awesome to talk to y’all on Sunday (Christmas Day).  Not all that much has changed since Sunday.   I'm somewhat jealous that you’re out skiing right now, but that’s cool.  Things here in New York are going pretty swell.  We're just looking for a few new investigators to kinda take the space that Mark and Angel left after being baptized. 

But yeah, the Christmas season has come to an end, and as great as it is, I'm kinda glad.  Mainly because here the people were really busy around Christmas, and we've lost contact with many of our investigators, but hopefully we'll be able to find some new people whose hearts are softened by the Christmas Spirit.  I know they're out there, now’s the time to find them.  But yeah, that’s about all I've got for this week.  I hope all goes well, and that you all have a wonderful ski trip.

Love, Carson

                                                               Our Christmas Tree

Jan 4^th email from Carson: Hey everyone, Happy New Year!!  It seems like everyone is saying that, even 3 or 4 days after the fact.  Anyways, things are going pretty good, we had a good New Years Eve playing board games until 10:30 and then we got the amazing opportunity to listen to college parties going on above and all around us till like 1:30 in the morning.  I think I was the only one who was able to fall asleep and stay asleep through all the partying.  So that was nice.  I got a decent sleep.  But aside from that it wasn’t too special. We had to come home early, and when we got home we just chilled till bed time. But yeah, it was great.  And before I forget too, I have planned to write the letters today along with a few other letters that I have to send and have written, but I just want to stick them all in one envelope.  So you should get them in a week or so.

So Elder Hulme and I more or less take turns approaching doors, although it seems like he does more of the English doors, and leaves the Spanish ones to me.  Not that he can’t speak Spanish, he's just kinda gotten into the habit of using me as a crutch which I think is kinda funny.  It's mainly because I'm his trainer, and that’s just kinda what you do it seems.  I know when I got here I did the same.  My trainer did all the speaking, and I just tried to do what little I could.  But yeah, we normally just whoever’s closer to the door does the talking and that normally is pretty half and half. 

Our chapel is a building itself.  And it has a parking garage below it.  It's pretty big seeing as it's the stake center, but the funny thing is that it's not big enough to hold the stake, so we have to rent buses and use a chapel that’s not even in our stake boundaries  (my last chapel actually).  But it's got very few windows, and what windows it has are really barred up.  And the whole thing is just red brick.  I think I've sent a few pics of it home.  Just look for a building with a white steeple.  And the nice thing is that it's not too far away, normally we take the bus to get there, but it's within walking distance as well.  Although for me, everything is within walking distance, it's just a matter of how tired out do you want to be at the end of the day?  So yeah, we take the bus to church.

For laundry we have to go to a Laundromat not too far from our house, and I don’t really air dry much except for the normal shirts I wear, because I still don’t want them to shrink.  But everything else goes in the dryer.  It normally takes just under 2 hours to do all my laundry on P-Day.  And as for dry cleaning, I've only dry cleaned my suits once my whole mission, and that wasn't until I hit my year mark, and to dry clean two two-pant suits cost about $25.00.  So I avoid doing it too often.

And as for the snow, we still don't have any, but the weather has finally gotten cold, and I'm more than done with it already.  Yesterday was bitter cold and windy, so I've decided that one cold day a year is enough for me with a good number of chilly days.  I don’t like the cold at all.  Mainly because it's not fun.  I can’t believe how warm Calgary has been! 

But yeah, that’s about how things are right now in the Big Apple.  Today we're having a Zone Dodge ball tournament, and then after that I'll start writing letters. I hope you all have a great week, and that all goes well for you.

Love, Carson

My Zone

Working With a Few Cool People

Well, I'm glad you liked the Photos.  First off the short guy is Carlos.  He's one of my two recent converts.  The Five elders with me are Elder Hulme, Elder Anderson, Elder Smith, Elder Peterson, and Elder Kropf.  That’s my current district.  And since that picture I've given myself a haircut.  So you don’t need to worry about that.  The family with the two girls is the Sanchez Family.  They're one of my favorite families, but the night we took the picture was unfortunately the night we helped them move out of the ward.  But they're super cool.  I love Mexicans; they're awesome, and way chill.  When we took the pic at Tom's, we ate there too, but the inside is nothing like the prop on Seinfeld.  But we did find that Pass-A-Long card on the wall.  The long really cool advent calendar that was spread along the wall in one of the pictures I sent was actually from a friend of Elder Hulme.  But I did get Grandma and Grandpa Smigel’s advent calendar.  And I wrote them back.

But yeah, things here are really going awesomely right now.  We're working with a few cool people, but unfortunately a few of our people have kinda dropped off the face of the world it seems.  So yeah, it's slowed down a little, but that’s alright, because it gives us time to focus a little more on contacting and finding people to teach.  So that’s good.  We're working with this one guy named Ramon.  He's an older Puerto Rican guy who's kinda home bound right now, which is hard on him, but we're hoping that eventually he'll be able to get baptized.  I was told that as long as he can make it to the church for his baptism then it's cool.  He's gonna be getting another surgery on his leg soon, and he's hoping that after that he'll be able to walk, even if it's with the help of a walker.  But yeah, he's one of the cool people we're teaching, and then we're also teaching Mark and Angel, who are also both way cool, and things are going well with them.

So that’s about my life right now.  Yesterday we had a Christmas program with half of the mission, because the Church doesn’t want us having whole mission wide meetings, so that was cool.  But it would have been better if the whole mission had been able to be there like last year.  While I'm on the topic of Christmas, unfortunately I still can’t give you a firm plan for our Christmas Day phone call because our day still isn’t completely planned.  But I'll let you know for sure next week.  Plan for around 3:00 your time though.

I hope all is well, and that you all have a great week.

Love, Carson

Some Pictures Finally!

Alright family,  I don't have a ton of time today but I just wanted to at least let you know what has taken place this transfers and also Grandpa Smigel asked me in a letter to tell you what I wanted for Christmas chocolates.

So first Transfers.  Elder Hulme and I are staying together for a forth cycle which is cool.  Even though I wanted to leave and see something new, I didn't want to leave and meet new people, so I am more than happy to stay here again.  As for the chocolates,  I love the chocolate dipped pretzels, and the ju jubes (chocolate dipped - especially the red ones.), and finally of course the toffee, that's a given.

Anyways, so we're doing awesome,  unfortunately one of our investigators moved to the Dominican Republic without telling us and they won't get back until January. On a high note though, Alejandro is now ready to progress.  He's finished with the stuff that kept him from coming to church on Sundays and now he is able to come to church and everything, which is awesome.  The other day Angel came to church (one of our 17 yr old investigators) which was awesome and we're gonna meet with him and Mark, his neighbor, tonight after our P-Day is over.

I sent some pics for you as well, and Mom Elder Hulme is in a couple of them, but it's not just the two of us (actually I think one of them is).  So now you can stop harassing me for them.

Brunilda's doing alright.  She didn't do her reading, but we're gonna go and see her on Friday, teach her the Plan of Salvation and extend her a date.  We are also going to extend dates to Alejandro, Mark and Angel.  So this cycle should be way super awesome!!!!

But yeah, as I said I really don't have all that much to say this week unfortunately.  My Spanish continues to improve and I'm doing my best to learn three new words a day.  I'm also still trying to write in my journal more, even though I'm still not that good at it.

We're also going to be having the Christmas party for the mission soon.  I believe it is next week, but that's about all I've got for this week.

I hope all is going well and that you have a great week.
Love, Carson

P.S.  Where's my letter Sarah?  I thought you said you were going to send one today.  Well I'm still waiting, and Frankly I'm a little disappointed..  JK :)

My current district: Elder Hulme, Elder Anderson, Elder Smith, Elder Peterson, Elder Kropf and Elder Dilling

                       This is the location of Monk's Cafe from "Seinfeld"

Baptism Day with Carlos

Christmas in the Big Apple

Hey everyone!!

So things here in the Big Apple are really good.  The Last two weeks have just been really good for Elder Hulme and I.  So transfers are next week, the 7th of December.  As for the questions about my Christmas Day phone call, I'll have to get back to you on because I'm not sure what’s happening with transfers yet, so I'll let you know within the next few weeks.  You might have to remind me though!

Anyways, for your other questions:

1.       What is Christmas in New York like? 

Well, to be honest I really can’t remember.  Mainly because the last one was my first cycle, and everything was new to me.  But it's definitely different here in New York.  For one thing, people don’t have houses to decorate, so they normally just put a bunch of wrapping paper on the door.  The other day I saw a giant tree of lights that someone set up in the courtyard of a building.  That was pretty cool.  Maybe if I remember I can get a picture of it.  Tomorrow we're going to put our Christmas tree up, and so that’s one thing I guess, but really it's a lot different than back home.

2.       Are you able to speak with more people during the Christmas season?

I'd probably say no.  Mainly because there are so many people here in New York, that there are always people to talk to.  I would imagine though that people become a little more accepting of things pertaining to Christ, because the holiday is all about him, but in reality, I don’t think it's possible to try to not run into people and stuff.  That’s one thing that really makes this mission unique.  Especially here in the city.

3.       When are transfers and if you could choose, where would you like to be transferred?

As I said, next week is transfers.  If I had to be transferred, then I would want to either go to Manhattan or the other side of the Bronx, mainly because I want to stay here in the city.  But then again, if I were to go upstate I'd want to go to Stanford Connecticut, because I've heard it's pretty cool over there and it's a bit bigger of a city so it'd probably be a little bit faster.  But we'll see what the Lord has in store for me on Monday.

4.       What was a spiritual experience you had this week (or in the last couple of weeks)?

And finally the spiritual stuff.  So yesterday we met with one of the people who attend the English class we help teach.  Her name is Brunilda and she's from the Dominican Republic.  Anyway, we started teaching her about the restoration of the Church and it went really great.  We taught up to the Great apostasy and then decided to watch the restoration video with her to explain the Joseph Smith story and all that.  While we were setting up the DVD she brought in a fan because the room was pretty warm.  So we started to watch the movie and she asked us if we were cold, and that if we needed to we could move the fan.  We said we were fine (because we were) and she said she was as well, but then about 3 minutes later she asked us again and we answered that we were fine, but she said “no you’re not”.  She told Elder Hulme to turn the fan a little so that it wouldn't blow on us and consequently her either.  So Elder Hulme moved the fan and we finished watching the movie.  When the movie finished (she didn’t want it to end) she mentioned how she was feeling all goose bumpy and that the reason she asked us to move the fan was because she wasn’t sure if it was the cold air from the fan or something else.  She said when we moved the fan it continued so she decided that it was God touching her, and after she shared that with us we talked about the Book of Mormon a little.

She shared with us that her and her husband have been having some problems, and that she really hoped things could change and so we promised her some blessings.  We're just really excited to continue teaching her and helping her progress in the gospel and all that, but it was just a really cool lesson.  Beforehand I really didn’t think that she would be all that interested, but that thought has changed.  She is so prepared for this gospel, and I'd sure appreciate you including her in your prayers so that she can work things out with her husband.

Anyways, I hope everything is good and that you have a great week. 

 Love you all!

Carson

Greatest Missionaries on Earth!

Note: this email has been posted a week late

Ok, before I forget, one idea I have for Christmas is Cinnamon Spread. 

Anyways, sorry I didn't write last week.  We went to the temple, which was super great because I hadn't been in like 8 months, and I was really missing it.  When we got back we didn't have time because of an early appointment of ours, so don’t feel bad about not writing on time.  But I do have time this week.  And to start off, President Smith told us all to email home and say that we are the greatest missionaries on earth. 

So congratulation on getting the job Mom.  And to Dad for getting the white tail, and to Daniel for surviving the scout camp that I'm excited to hear more about.  And to Christina for doing so well in her "clase de costura" (fashions sewing class).  And as for talking to Grandma and Grandpa Dilling on Christmas Day I was thinking the same thing.  This year there's not gonna be one big Christmas thing.  It'll be the upstate missionaries and the city missionaries at two separate events.  As for finishing with President Smith, I believe he finishes his time as Mission President in July, just barely before I go home.  I've also decided that I'm not gonna come home early at all.  So you'll have to tell BYUI that I'm not gonna be able to return in the fall semester of 2012.  And as for your question about whether or not Elder Hulme gets packages and letters, that’s a big "AFFIRMATIVE" he gets like 5 letters per week.  As for me, about 2 or 3 per month...  but that’s ok, I don’t really enjoy writing, so it's all good.  I do return notes and stuff to those who write me.

So for Thanksgiving we're going to have dinner with the Lucero family, a somewhat less-active family in the ward.  They plan to have some non-members for us to talk to, so hopefully we can find some new investigators while we're enjoying the night tomorrow.

So yeah, this last week was super great.  We found ten new investigators, and have some pretty solid people we're teaching.  One of them is Mark.  He's 17 and just seems to really love the church and has a firm testimony about prayer and the Book of Mormon that he's even shared with a few of his friends.  He's just way legit - unfortunately he wasn’t able to make it to church this last week, so the date we extended to him for the 3rd won’t work because he has to come to church twice, but all is well.   I feel pretty confident that he'll get baptized eventually.  And then we've met a few other pretty cool people that we'll start working with in coming days.  So hopefully we'll see a few more baptisms soon.  I really don’t know why, but I can’t think of all that much to write about.  Most of the people we've met seem pretty cool, and I'll be able to tell you more in the coming weeks. 

Today we went and played football in Harlem with some of the missionaries from over there, which was a lot of fun.  It started out pretty cold, but it seemed to warm up a little, and the rain stopped which was nice.  The weather hasn't been all that nice here for a while, so hopefully it clears up a little tomorrow, it's definitely nicer to walk without an umbrella.

So yeah, I'm not really sure what I want for Christmas.  Maybe a few more socks, some ties. Maybe some pens too.  (I use the Pilot Precise V5) That would also be a specific request.  "V5" is mandatory.  The V7 is too thick, so there's something.  Maybe a CD or two as well.  Umm... I was thinking about getting another jacket as well, but I'm not sure.  Not because I need one, but because I like variety.  All my suits are in nice condition though; I think I've actually gotten a little skinnier around the waste.  At least it seems that way, because I gained a belt hole.  But yeah, I'm really not all that sure.  So anyways, I hope all continues to go well, and I'll talk to you next week. 

Love, Carson