Don't worry. He's got me!
Greetings from New York. Haha, I
laugh at this because I have realized New York is nothing like "what it
seems." When people think of New York, they think of Downtown New York
South Manhattan, and they think it is the dream land. Almost none of this state
actually looks like down town Manhattan and it is completely different living
here than it is to visit here. I would never live here in the future.
Ironically, I say this as I am living here. -__-
Anyways, first of all I want to
start with thanking all of you for the amazing birthday notes! Thank you mom
for putting them all together! It was such a surprise! I got my package a day
before, and then on my birthday I opened it up, and then there were cards and
notes from all the people I love, so thank you so much! I wish I had time to
individually write you all back, but just know that I truly appreciate it and
you all are awesome! Thank you for all of those who wrote me cards and sent me
packages! I will be writing you all back soon. :)
Gaga Boy: So, I am not really sure
where to start with this topic, but I guess I will start with explaining who
exactly "Gaga Boy" is...aahhhh haha. Well there is this 19-year-old
"young man" (lol) in our church here who loves to sing, dance, dress
up, and who is obsessed with Lady Gaga. He's not exactly typical, meaning he
flirts with me at church, which is very uncomfortable for me, but I find it
funny. Haha. So the first time I met him he told me that in the day he is
"a good Mormon boy who follows the commandments," but then at night
he "comes alive" and is heavily influenced by "drugs and alcohol
and he becomes an ‘art monster.’" We had a talent show here in our church,
and he told me a few weeks before that he was planning on singing, dancing, and
dressing up in a dragon costume and that he wanted to be put at the end of the
program because he wanted to bring the "wow factor" to the show. BOY
did he bring the wow factor but in a totally horrific way. Gaga boy is kind of
a legend in our apartment and in our zone (the 30 plus missionaries in our
area) so some of the missionaries came to the show. I will attach a picture of
all of us at the talent show.
All us elders at the talent show.
(The two elders next to my companion are my roommates. Elder Palmer is on the far left.)
- Our Church in Yonkers/Noche De
Talentos –
We had our "Noche De
Talentos" here in our church (funny fact about that is us missionaries had
to help set up, and because people don't know correct Spanish here, the man who
picked up the letters to hang up on the wall thought Noche De Talentos was
spelled like this "Noche De Talento"...with no S...completely
Dominican style...and he's not even Dominican. Right when I saw that, I just
looked at my companion and slapped my forehead in frustration. Haha). And it
was far from anything I hoped it to be. It was scary in every way. haha. So
first of all, something to know is that the Spanish program NEVER starts on
time for anything. So the show started an hour and a half late. When the talent
show actually started, nobody was actually listening to those who were
performing. They were too busy talking to everyone and being loud. The acts
were completely horrible. Gaga Boy was completely scary. He performed a super
hard screemo song that talked about condemning people to the grave, and he sung
this in the chapel of the church - something that should never be allowed to be
performed anywhere on the earth, especially not in the chapel. I felt violated,
it was so scary. Haha. I will send a picture of his performance. Seriously the
worst "performance" and the most scary thing I have ever seen. Haha.
Then, there was this act, where this girl came out and started dancing with
very little clothing on, and in a not-the-most-appropriate way. It was so
awkward because all the men in the ward were perked up in their chairs videoing
her performance, and all the wives and ladies were super angry and then
everyone else was looking at us. It was so extremely awkward and both things
should have never been going on in the church.
Gaga Boy!!!
On Sundays in church all they do is
argue. For example, a couple of Sundays ago, a couple of new people came to
church, but complained to the bishop because the church wasn't reverent enough
and the Spirit of the Lord could not be felt there. Well, the next week,
everyone gave lessons on being reverent and respectful in the church. Turns out
everyone started blaming everyone for being noisy and everyone got in big arguments,
and then last week, one of the ladies said those new people were of the devil
because they said our church was not reverent enough. I guess the whole point
is we have tons of work to do in the ward here. The only problem is, when we
try to help, they are extremely prideful and think they know everything
(reading this, I'm sure my parents are thinking "now you know exactly how
we felt about you growing up!" haha) so they won't listen to us or anyone
for that matter. Our church is going apostate haha. Our problem is, why would
we help bring people into the church if they are just going to be gobbled up by
everyone in the ward? The church is crazy here. It doesn't feel like it's
right....simply because it's not. The Spirit isn't there. We need to figure out
how to show them how Jesus actually set up his church. ahhhh.
Manhattan Experience - Two weeks
ago, we all took the subway down to South Manhattan. It was perfect because
Elder Nelson (the newer missionary we live with) last served in Downtown Manhattan,
so he knew the city like the back of his hand. He knew every street, shop,
etc...and he also knew better than anyone I saw how to walk in the city.
Walking and crossing streets in the city is insane, but he does it so well.
Basically, you have to time when to cross the street so you don't get hit, but
there are tons of cars, so you have to really think fast and then go. It felt
like Mario cart. haha. He would dart out into the street and barely miss a car
going 40 miles per hour. In fact, he would skim his fingers across the cars
going that fast as he walked behind them as they passed by. So he taught us how
to walk in the city. I feel like now I can cross any street with traffic. It
took a lot of practice until I could do it safely but now it's awesome. Anyway,
we took the subway down to Wall Street. We got to see the NY stock exchange
building, and it was amazing because everyone in the city is dressed so nice,
and high street fashion is huge there so I was loving it! We then went and saw
ground zero (where the trade centers were). They are building some big
architectural thing in its place, but it was just cool going there remembering
all that has happened there. It's crazy to think that the entire world has
changed because of that experience. We then went to China Town. That was very
interesting. I learned something quite interesting too about China Town in NYC.
Gangs run china town. They tell the people who work for them in the shops or
restaurants there that they have to work for dirt cheap, and if they leave,
they will murder their families and also them. So in a sense, they are
completely being forced to work for nothing and can't leave or do anything
about it, or they and their entire family will die. It's a very interesting
place because it's basically a black market in hiding. It's sad for those
people, but it was cool visiting there. I still like the China Town better in
LA. We then went to Times Square (which is crazy). They have nude people
"painted" (that's what makes it legal) and then we saw a naked cowboy
in the streets singing with his guitar (something I wish I didn't see) haha.
But Time Square was amazing because someone stopped us in the middle of Time Square.
It was a man and his wife, and turns out they were both from the church and
they live in Las Vegas. They flew in
that night and were checking out the city before they were going to go on a cruise
for a week. We talked to them for a while, and they had two sons that had
served missions. They were awesome and so loving. They asked us if we ate
already, and he pulled out his wallet and pulled out a hundred and gave it to
us and told us to go feed ourselves. We tried to not accept it, but he insisted
and then we said goodbye and that was it. What a great example he was. It's
times like these that I truly feel humble to have the opportunity to be a
missionary, and I love meeting people that are so much closer to Christ when it
comes to possessing the same attributes than most of the people in the world.
After that, we went to Juilliard. We
walked into the building and checked it out a little bit. We couldn't see a
whole lot because we weren't students there, but it was awesome. So across the
street is the temple/church in Manhattan, and we went upstairs in the church
and they were having auditions for some movie or play and they were auditioning
Opera singers from Juilliard. It was absolutely unreal the talent that some of
these people have. There was a famous composer doing the auditions, but
apparently a lot of those people auditioning are also in the ward there. It was
so amazing to be around the cream of the crop kind of people in the world. That
feeling is infectious. It really makes you want to do something with your life.
After that, we headed to the Empire State Building. What's crazy about NYC is
that all the buildings are so tall -- you could be one building away from the
Empire State Building, but you would never know it because another building
would be in the way, so you could see nothing. It's crazy how small you feel in
the city. Definitely a place to visit, but I would not want to live
there.
New York City with Elder Paize
Bishop: So, this week we got a new
bishop, but before I talk about that, I want to share an experience. My companion and I were setting up chairs for
the talent show and a member of the church came up to me and asked me in his
TERRIBLE dominican Spanish (worst Spanish speaker I have heard here on the
mission) where sister Gonzalez was. I was so confused because there is no
Sister Gonzalez in the entire mission. So I told him I had no idea who he was
talking about and to go ask Elder Paiz (my companion) because he may know. So
he went over to Elder Paiz and chewed him out and said he was failing as a
trainer because I didn't understand Spanish and that we weren't listening to
what he says (he tells us how to improve our Spanish, which is ironic because
his Spanish is horrible). He really offended my companion, and that got me
pretty angry. He then told my companion that he asked where "Sister Smith
was" and that I had no idea how to respond to him. So he basically lied
straight to my companions face, or he's just dumb...or both. Haha. I'm horrible
I know. He's very prideful. Well anyways, this guy is now our bishop -__-.
Great right? I have no idea how this is all going to work out, but it's going
to be interesting. He is the one who argues every Sunday too. I think
the best way to get along with him is just to suck up to him and then he will
do whatever for you. He chastised the church here because not enough people were
helping us missionaries, so that's really good. As long as we keep him on our
good side, I think he can really help us with the work, and whipping the people
into shape here. Our ward needs someone to put them in their place, and he will
do it alright. Maybe it's what we need - Only time will tell.
Ruiz: Ruiz is the guy who just
randomly walked in the church. We taught him for the first time last week, and
the lesson was amazing. He was very receptive to it and the Spirit was very
strong within the lesson. All was good and as we were wrapping up we asked him
if he had any questions and he said yes. He said the reason he came to meet
with us was to get help. He said he has been having visions and didn't know
what to do about it. He said he was hit by a bike when he was 3 and he walked
away with no scratches. He claims this is the reason he has visions. He claims
that he had a vision, and he told his aunt about it, and she told him to go
read in Revelations, and the dream was exactly what was in the chapter of
revelations. He has also had a vision where Jesus woke him up and they climbed
to the top of a mountain and Jesus apparently asked him if he had faith, and
said if he did, to jump, so he jumped off the mountain with Jesus, and the next
thing he knew he was falling and then he was floating in mid air. He also
claims to have a vision where he was in a room with two young girls, one was
extremely scared, looking and pointing at the window, and he asked what was
wrong, and she wouldn't talk and just kept pointing at the window, and then the
vision ended. Well turns out the next day, his co-worker didn't come to work
because someone raped her two daughters. She called Ruiz to tell him what
happened, and she said he came through the window, and Ruiz stopped her and
described exactly what her daughters looked like, even though he never has seen
them. He claims to have visions of the future as well. What's hard is he
doesn't carry himself to be crazy at all. I think it's a Hispanic culture
thing, so my companion believes him (he's Hispanic), but I think it's garbage.
The reason I also say I don't believe it is because when we were teaching the
lesson, the Spirit was so strong and there was such a good feeling in the room,
and right as he was talking about his visions, the Spirit was gone and there
was a dark unsure feeling in the room. The Spirit testifies of truth, and I
don't believe anything he saw was actually true. He told our now previous
bishop everything, but he still wants us to meet with him. So we are meeting
with him tonight and we will see how it goes. I personally absolutely
hate dealing with people who talk of these crazy visions and seeing Jesus, and
all these people on the streets who claim they are prophets. There are so many
crazy people here. There are a couple of elders in our zone who are teaching
this one guy who was baptized at one point, but now he claims that he is Jesus.
Ahhh, there are so many whack people here. Haha.
Splits: So yesterday I was able to
go on splits again. I went to Scarsdale again (the same place I went to last
time I went on splits when I was really sick) and I got to go on a split with
my district leader named, Elder Palmer. Elder Palmer goes home in January, so
he has pretty much been on his mission for two years. He reminds me exactly of
my two friends, Caden Morgan and Jordan Pace, in one person. Out of anyone I
have met here on the mission, we get along the best. He is such a cool guy and
I was truly able to learn a lot from him yesterday. I picked his brain about things
pertaining to learning Spanish, the gospel, things he has learned on the
mission, and it was over all such a great day. We were able to visit some
amazing people as well and it was just a great time. I asked him too about the
gangs here. He has served in Harlem and the Bronx, so he has had his fair share
of crazy people. He said here it's more people coming in from poor countries
that are drug addicts, who mooch off the government. He said not to really
worry about gangs here, even though there are some, not to worry about it
because it's not the same as it is back in LA. It's more domestic violence or
domestic gangs instead of large groups of gangs that we have in LA. I don't
believe it though because where there are drugs, there are gangs. Yonkers has
gangs though, but still they are smaller and all split. Everyone wants to be
the king of Yonkers. The blacks want to be the kings and so do the Mexicans and
the Puerto Ricans and just about everyone. So they all fight against each other.
There is this member in the English
ward who used to be one of the head gang members here in Yonkers. He has
completely flipped his life around. He talks all the time about some of the
things he has done and the people he has killed. It's crazy to see someone who
has completely changed his life 1000 percent. His wife even stabbed a knife
through his hand and he claims it was at that moment when he knew he wanted to
marry her. He was telling us this story where one day, he and his brother were
drinking and they walked out on the front porch where a group of 15 people in a
gang stopped and looked at him, and he was like "Oh! Okkkkkkayyyy"
and then he walked back in, chugged a beer, walked out and they were still
there. He did this four times. When he was drunk he said he would always flip
into his animal mode and go crazy. So he and his brother were extremely drunk
-- he walked down his porch and knocked out one of the guys in the gang. They
both knocked out 10 of the 15 guys. This guy is huge too. He is 6 foot, 6, 270
pounds. He then got in his car, took off and started chasing after the other 5
people. He caught them and told them if they didn't want to die that they
needed to meet them at Ghetty Square (we call it ghetto square lol) tomorrow
and they would fight it off. So the next day he pulls up in his car with his
brother and there are about 20 guys all with metal bats ready to kill him. He
stood up out of the car, everyone realized that it was him and they dropped
their bats and ran away. Haha this guy is crazy. The ghetto life here is
starting to become normal to me, for now. For example, the other day we pulled
up to the church right after a shooting took place. I took a picture of the
view from the car. It's ok though, apparently Yonkers isn't as bad as Newburgh
which has the highest murder rates in the enter country (which is in our
mission), or Olmstead, or some parts of Harlem.) I'm finally becoming happy now
though and learning to be happy around very unhappy people. Thank you for all
those who have prayed for my physical and mental health. I have truly felt
them!
The shooting outside our church. Sunday morning getting out of the car at church.
Brandon: Brandon is the guy we met
on the street and who is the boyfriend of Veronica (the girl in our church who
is going on her mission to Argentina). We had our first lesson with him last
Monday. He is one of the most awesome people I have met. I believe he is the
golden one. He is 19, so it's very easy to relate to him and him to us. He
lives in The Bronx, in Kings Bridge, and it's amazing that someone who grew up
in an environment where gangs were heavily present that he was able to keep his
head on straight and grow up to be an amazing guy. He has been practicing
karate since he was a child, and people know not too mess with him here he
said. He has all these amazing goals in life and he truly wants out of NY. He
has seen a lot of bad things growing up that he told us about. He is so
receptive to the truths of the gospel. He wants to get baptized (we committed
him to baptism) and he wants to have the blessings of going to the temple to be
sealed to his family and his future wife for all time and eternity, so he can
be with his family in the next life. He truly listens to the Holy Spirit and is
not afraid to go and act upon what is being revealed to him. I wish more people
were like him. He is such a great guy and he is honestly someone I would hang
out with outside of the mission. He is the one we were supposed to find. He
doesn't tell his girlfriend that he meets with us because he says this is
something HE wants.
HE wants to find the eternal truth
of the gospel and not do it for his girlfriend, which is key. We taught him and
the spirit was so incredibly strong. He said that he felt a very warm feeling and
it felt like all his troubles were being lifted, and like he was in heaven. We
testified to him what he was feeling was the Holy Spirit testifying to him that
the things we were teaching him were true. That brings me to a good point that
I have been thinking about over the last year.
Brandon is willing to act on the impression
that he gets from the spirit. I think a lot of times people may get impressions
from the spirit, or they may get the answer from the spirit that the gospel
contains the full truth of God, and because God gives us our agency we are free
to choose to accept it or decline it, and I have seen so many people who know
in their heart that the gospel is true, and they have felt the spirit testify
of it, but because of earthly circumstances or mixed desires, they choose to
decline it. This I find to be a tragedy. People who experience a type of
heavenly happiness that they have never truly felt before, once you go back to
your old life, you will never be the same or as happy, because you are no
longer ignorant to the truth and the deep happiness that’s out there that the
gospel brings. At this point, because they have chosen to deny it, they go on with
their life, searching for ways to constantly temporarily make them happy, and
one day they will realize that they were just ignoring what they truly felt
inside. They were searching for that happiness elsewhere other than looking to
God, and that's one thing we will all realize, whether we choose to except the
gospel of Jesus Christ or we choose to decline it, or whether we are good or
bad people. Our fate is that one day we will die and meet God. And at that
point everything good that we have done and everything bad will come to our
remembrance. God made us to rely on him. There is no other way. Human existence
has constantly searched for something to "run on," or for the
happiness that only God can truly bring (and that's where we get wars, power,
money, prostitution, drugs, etc...). He made us to run on Him, and only him,
the same as a car can only run on Petrol and not water. We can only run
from God for so long. We will all one day fall into his arms when we meet in
the other side, and depending on how we lived our lives, it will be the most
beautiful thing we will ever experience, or the most terrible dark day of our
life. Because God is loving, he gives us a choice to choose. He gives us a way
to know what is true (through the Holy Spirit), and he gives us this life to
prove to Him that we will become better people by following the example of
Christ, becoming like Christ, and slowly becoming perfect, as is God.
C.S. Lewis describes this fate
perfectly:
He says, "What can you ever
really know of other people's souls - of their temptations, their
opportunities, their struggles? One soul in the whole creation you do know: and
it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands. If there is a god, you
are, in a sense, alone with Him. You cannot put Him off with speculations about
your next door neighbors or memories of what you have read in books. What will
all that chatter and hearsay count (will you even be able to remember it?) when
the anesthetic fog which we call 'nature' or 'the real world' fades away and
the Presence in which you have always stood becomes palpable, immediate, and unavoidable?"
If you know the gospel is true, if
you have felt the Spirit in your life, don't wait. Follow its promptings and it
will lead you to a happiness that you have never experienced before. There is
no other way. It's the only way. I testify of it and I know that the gospel
brings more happiness than anything in or out of this world. Don't be afraid to
follow the Spirit - to follow what you know to be true. Just please don't
be afraid. Follow your heart because you're the only one who can.
I love you all so much.
With much love,
- Elder Austin Celaya
- Elder Austin Celaya
My companion and I on Halloween. Thank you Stolpers for the tie!
Look mom I can cook! Haha
