Elder Celaya in the NYNYNorth Mission: The land of the Morenos (24 June 2015)

Transfers! I am getting transferred and leaving The Bronx and I will be going to.............HARLEM! Went from one hood to another :) Apparently there are these shirts in Harlem with pictures of Mr. Rogers from "the neighborhood" with his face on the shirt with a grill (girl) and earrings and a chain and it says "it's all good in the hood.” Hahaha. I'm going to try to find one of those shirts. I'm excited. Harlem is crazy in the summer. The adventures ahead will be very interesting.

I really am going to miss Elder Richards! He was great and I really learned how to let go and be myself even more with him! It was a great time and we did a lot of cool things together!

I don't know a whole lot about my area yet, but you will all be filled in the next week.

I had to say goodbye to everyone here in this area this week which was super hard to do. I've come to be so close to these people, words don't describe it. I've been here in this area since the beginning of January and they have come to be my family.

- Church. So we brought "John Carlos" (an 18-year-old we found while knocking doors), to church with us. We picked him up, went in the bus, and then he sat next to us at church. 10 minutes in he asked me where the bathroom was because he said he had to go. So, he went, and time and more time went by and nothing! He didn't come back. So Elder Richards and I went to go and try to find him and he wasn't there. We checked every room in the church twice and he wasn't there! He just randomly left! It was so weird. Elder Richards and I were completely confused the rest of the day. Well, yesterday we ran into him and apparently his trip to the bathroom didn't go so well and he had some irregular bowl movement so he ran to a friend’s house. Haha. It was a funny and very weird experience.

Lots and lots has happened this week, but I don't have time to write about it.

Saying goodbye to President Morgan - wow was that weird. This man has helped me come closer to God more than anyone I know, and for that, I will be forever be grateful to him. His testimony has been such an inspiration to me. He is powerful. I will love him and Sister Morgan forever. God has saved me by putting them in my path in this life.

Learning to love - I was thinking this week about all the energy and work we have put into loving the people here. I didn't know them at first, I didn't feel for them in the beginning like I do now. They were all just random people to me at first. I have realized that love - the noun, is followed by love - the verb. When we act as if we love them and serve them, we will come to love them. I have come to love these people with all my heart. They are my family. They are my friends. I had to come here to find them. They have taught me how to love. I thought I knew before the mission, but I didn't. God has placed a TINY, TINY, TINY amount (so tiny compared to His love I feel wrong even saying this) of His love for them in my heart for them. I've never felt that so deeply before. I can't even imagine how much more I could truly love my family if I apply the things I've learned here. Love is so much, and God's for us is infinite.

I love you all.

Here are some pictures of me saying goodbye to the people here. Enjoy!

With love,

- Elder Celaya

I'm only going to send half of the pictures from saying goodbye to everyone this week. The rest will come next week :)