Hello

So i'll go ahead and give the news first this time - so transfer week is next week. i'm staying in red bank. the mission is being dissolved on july 1. the news is i'll officially be in the morristown nj mission (gerber guessed right so he can be happy about that - i'll probably be in some of the areas he was in) and i get to choose between 2 release dates - february 1 2012 or march 14 2012 - i want to hear thoughts and choices from others before i make a final decision and i want to do that next weekend. so thats the most exciting part, oh and the thought that once the mission is dissolved, i will probably be transferred to a new area which means i probably won't be riding a bike (and i hope it stays that way - i really prefer a car/walking than a bike). have fun thinking about when you'd like me to come home! :)

So time is flying by and it will continue to do so, especially since at about my year mark i will have a new mission pres. (the pres for the morristown has about a year left so by the time i'm done i will have had 3 mission presidents). i did get heidis grad announcement and thats cool that everyone was able to go to that without rain.... the pool sounds good or just the idea of being in cold water playing with the kids or whoever. i'm glad the ranch was fun and that all went well. yes i've heard that the suns lost, especially when my comp loves the lakers - he's very passionate about basketball, even more when we play on p-days.

Yes it is crazy he is home that soon and as i said earlier, i can come home earlier or later (my original release date was right in the middle of the 2 choices i have now so i will be staying longer or going home sooner). I haven't heard anything yet about the blanket/atm card and i'm not sure if i will when it gets here - i might be going to transfers next week so i can pick it up then (it should be here by then and if not, something went wrong....). I'll let you know next week if i got it or not. Ya the weather has been changing here. the past 2 days have been cloudy and rainy and today is sunny and hot/humid but there is almost always wind and for the summer time, i love the wind.

It seems like the work is getting harder, or maybe we've just been to excited and doing too much with other elders that we're not working hard enough.... whatever it is, it'll change quickly b/c changes are going to be made with the new mission pres so we'll see what happens. we get work done but we never really have set appointments,,,, we've given Irma 2 blessings now, and yesterday we took a sister from the branch with us to our appointment with Irma and went over the whole Restoration pamphlet.

it's going to be time with her so we just keep going back to visit and teach something. there was an experience we just had with her though that was hard, but good. we got a member to come with us to her house and as we turned the corner of her street to walk to her house she was outside with some of her neighbors and when we got there Irma wasn't in a very good mood. She found drugs in her sons room (i thinks he's in his 20s or 30s) and i guess he stole a lot of her jewlrey etc and sold it all so she kicked him out. i guess he was going to be violent too if he was able to get back Irmas home so it was a hard day for her. thats when we gave her the 2 blessing and she told us later that she was going to call us just as she saw us turn the corner to her street (she's always outside) and she felt that God had sent us to her. again, it'll only be time and we just have to wait. about the cakes - i don't know if i ever ate them, and if i did, i didn't know what it was.

i've don't remember seeing that statistic anywhere but its cool to know. i always think to myself that people know we're missionaries and the way i act gives them either a good or bad impression whether they like our church or not and so with that i try to always say hi to everyone we walk by etc but my comp doesn't believe in it as much anymore since no one cares if we say hi or not - as soon as they see the shirt and tie they decide to ignore us or avoid us, lo que sea but i still like to try. I think i've met jay before, but i never really knew him. i didn't know he wasn't a member neither but hopefully one day he will choose to be baptized.

Yes all is well and i'm staying healthy. I think there might be "bed bugs" on my bed b/c my comps bed had them and now he won't sleep on his bed for a long time and they might've moved to my bed but i'm going to check it today after i start laundry, if i have time. its nice that arizona you won't have to worry about that kind of thing. i'm still trying to understand and speak more spanish but its hard b/c we don't like having a "set" lesson plan b/c something a invest. says could lead us in a completely diff. direction and i still have difficulty recognizing those kind of clues/hints but the main thing is we want the spirit to guide us so we decide what we want to teach and go from there. it'll come with time though as i work my hardest at learning as much as possible everyday.

Haha ya the houses are huge a just covered by trees so no one can really see the front side. Supposedly Bon Jovi is supposed to live in a home on that same street as the homes in the pictures but we don't know for sure. It'd be cool to one day meet him, or even just know which house is his but oh well. Thanks for putting them on the blog and for getting the picture to Grandma Lloyd. I hope its a good one. Oh and by the way, i don't remember if i already said this but i don't want to know anything about Susans baby untill i call on Christmas - no names, gender, nothing. i want it to be a complete surprise for me. :) Of course, its nice to hear that all is well with Susan and her baby though so you can give me info about health but thats about all i want.

Thank you for John/Erins and Paul/Blancas emails. I love you all and thank you for the support. Have a great day/week and I hope that next week i'll have a cool story or something funny to share. Stay safe. I hope the store is continuing to do good and that buisness continues to come in. I keep you all in my prayers everyday. If there is anything i can do for any of you please let me know, I don't care that i'm on the other side of the country. How is the ward and stake doing? Again, enjoy thinking about when you want me to come home and i'll make a decision next weekend. I love you all. Thank you for everything.

Love Craig