Pics (18 February 2015)

This is Frita and I. She is one of my favorite kids in our Ward. We ran into them on the bus the other day and she always asks to take pictures and selfies so this was the result of that. She's great!

This is one of my favorite families too! They are the Hernandez family and they all call me Peter Parker from Spider-Man haha. This is us doing our evil faces haha.

Every day is a GIFT! (11 February 2015)

Hi family!

One thing I have learned this week is nobody is promised a tomorrow. Oftentimes many of us (myself included) live as if we will live until we are ripe with age, but in reality today could be our last day. It's something I've thought before, but I've never felt that a reality more in my life until now. As I've felt this and continually feel it throughout the day, it makes me want to do everything with my full heart, including changing my life. We waste this point of life if we just stay in the same place. We must strive to continually progress mentally, physically, and spiritually.

This week has been a great week. When i leave this area, I'm really going to miss a lot of the people here. It's kind of crazy how you come to a pm insane place like this, yet there are still some amazing people here amongst all the chaos. 

BRANDON - he came to church this week, but had a hard time speaking Spanish so we might be transferring him over to the English Ward. He is all ready to go! We had two more lessons with him this week and on Friday he is going to have his baptismal interview! It's great to see his progression. Please pray for him to stay strong.

There are so many amazing families here and one of those families is the Hernandez family. They have three kids who are amazing! I'll attach a picture we all took together. Don't mess with us. We go over to their house every Sunday. 

I'm getting really tired of Dominican Food, especially this dish they call sancocho. It's this soup they make with yuca, yams, plantains, oil, fat, and different kinds of meat. Like I said, they just drop huge bits of animal into the soup, bones, fat, meat, gizzards and all. One of our members offered to feed us chicken feet and grasshoppers this week. Ha we said we were good, so luckily we didn't have to eat that. I've come to the conclusion that this place is nothing like America. The most used language is Spanish, and there are no real grocery stores here like we have back home (just big Latino based supermarkets), there are almost no real stores either (just tiny hole-in-the-wall type of joints, and everything is crammed in, super dirty and you have tons of different people from all different countries. Everyone I have talked to from Mexico says this place is exactly like Mexico City. 

There is this family that I love named the Vega family. The dad who was the only active member had three strokes and almost died (early 40's), and almost left his two young kids (Melissa who is 10 and Julio who is 7) behind on this earth. He shared the experience with us this week. It was very amazing how spiritually it was and how much faith he had. They said the doctors were going to do brain surgery (I'm not sure why), but as they were rolling him in, he told the doctor no because he knew it wasn't his time yet and he would be fine without the surgery. He was then in the hospital for a few months, and finally got to go back home about 5 weeks ago. Their son Julio has autism and we have been trying to figure out a way to teach him about baptism. He absolutely loves super heroes and knows all of their names and stories, so we were looking for a way to relate that to baptism this week. We told him that he was going to begin training for a special mission to become a super hero. We told him that every super hero had some kind of suit (the white baptismal suit), and then we told him that when we get baptized, it renews us, and enhances us, and that is when we get our super powers (the cleansing effect of baptism). We then showed him a picture of Spider-Man shaking President Uchtdorf's hand and told him the church and super heroes are allies. It was pretty fun because he thought it was cool! He's super hard to handle and the parents were afraid that they wouldn't be able to have him be baptized. It was cute too because at the end, he asked his mom "mom can we keep the Hermanos (brothers in Spanish)???"

It was great! I don't have much more this week. There is tons that happened but I simply don't have time to write it all. We are going to Harlem today to get our haircuts from a member who owns a dominican barbershop. Ha that should be interesting. Then we are going to the city and checking out the legendary Nike store that apparently is 5 floors, and then we are going to the little island right in between Manhattan and Brooklyn.  It's going to be a great day. I love you so very much and have a fantastic week.

- Elder Celaya

P.S. Zach Snyder! I heard about your mission call to Mexico! We visited two members from Mexico last night and I asked him what he knew about the city you have been called to. He says the people are very outgoing and loud and speak fast like the Dominicans. He said it's pretty dangerous there too but it has its nice parts too. He said you will like it. He said down south by Pueblo (where he's from) it's a lot more relaxed, and the closer you get to the border the more crazy it is! So have fun brother! I look forward to being able to speak to you in Spanish when you get back! 

RUSSIAN SPIES (4 February 2015)

Welcome to another week in The Bronx NY! 

This week has had its ups and downs but the ups outweigh the downs a ton! So to start off the week, I went off on a split with our district leader’s companion into their area (when you leave your area and go to their area and do work with one of the Elders in their area, while at the same time one Elder from that companionship comes here with my companion) and it was an interesting but fun day! 

He only has 4 weeks in the mission so he is rather new! He had the challenge of taking over the area for a day after only being a missionary for a very short time. We taught this lady a little bit of English or at least tried to. I say tried to because she can't read English or Spanish, and can't write, and so pronunciation was nearly impossible to teach her. It was an experience that needed patience. 

- RUSSIAN SPIES - so after that, we got a call from a lady who wanted us to come visit a guy in a hospital. Well, she didn't give us the address, or if she did we couldn't understand her (she was SUPER Dominican). So we now were left to find this guy with no address but a knowledge that he is somewhere in The Bronx in a hospital that apparently is in our area. Well we found this huge veterans hospital. We walked up to the door, and as we walked in, we had to go through security (just like the airport). There were guards with guns and we had to put all of our things into a tray and walk through the metal detector. We made it through ok, but the guy didn't end up being there. So then we left, and as we were walking, the cops stopped us and were quite stern with us. They asked us where we were from and what we were doing there. Turns out they thought we were Russian spies haha. Now remember, nobody is white here, so when they see two tall white guys who looked like they just got off the boat from Europe dressed in big black jackets with scarves around their faces, walking swiftly together, they are going to think something fishy. Haha. It was cool though because after a while we told the cop we were missionaries and talked to him for a few minutes, and after he really tried to help us find this man and kept thanking us for our service. So that was interesting. We never ended up finding the guy, but we found where he lived. The other Elders are still looking for him. 

Elder C - so as I was on my split with Elder C, we had a few conversations that were great. As we were walking, there was this crazy guy yelling his head off on the phone about how he's going to get all his guys and kill the guy on the phone. He was saying stuff like "send anybody at me, and I'll take their life and put them in the grave no hesitation," but in a way worse way and along with a big deep bronx accent, which can sometimes be intimidating. The guy was pacing back and forth, cussing and threatening to kill this guy, and Elder C was like, "hey let's cross the street because this guy is crazy." We were walking towards him on the same side of the street, and as he said that, it totally hit me what it was like to be in his shoes as a new missionary here dealing mentally with this crazy environment. He told me he was tired of walking on the streets, feeling like he was going to die or get shot or beat up. It's weird because now when I am faced with someone crazy like this guy, I feel nothing anymore. I don't feel scared, nervous, excited, or worried; I literally feel nothing. You get used to it here and I told him this. Back home people are usually pretty sane--when you see a person like that it's a big deal, but here there are so many crazies that you get used to it and realize that usually it's all talk. Perhaps that's why they are stuck here. Haha. Almost every person I have talked to who is trying to really be successful and raise a wholesome family is trying to move away and out of here. This place would make it so hard to raise a family here. I respect those who have! 

Workouts - workouts are going great! There is nothing better than feeling great spiritually, mentally and physically. It's crazy how much the mind, spirit and body are connected. If one of those things isn't healthy, it dulls the other. You have to feel good yourself before you can help others change your lives! 

Soup - so I will eat pretty much any food here that the people give us willingly, but one thing I don't understand is this. When they make us soup, they put parts of the animal they cooked in the soup. They put the gizzards in the soup along with bones and even huge chunks of straight fat from the animal. I get so frustrated when they feed me this because they expect us to eat it. It tastes horrible and I just don't understand why they can't give us plain meat without bones or no fat or normal parts of the animal. It's such a lazy way to prepare the meal. Ahh I just don't understand.  

BRANDON: Had two great lessons with him this week! I am so thankful to be able to still teach him in my second area! We taught him this week about tithing and fasting, temples, family history work, the priesthood, and obeying the law. It was great! So BRANDON works up at a diner in Yonkers and usually he has Sundays off, so he was planning to go to church this week. Unfortunately he got a call that morning saying he needed to come in and work that day because it was super bowl Sunday, so he wasn't able to make it to church (he has already been three times). His work was going to feed the employees as well and they were feeding them steak, sandwiches and some seafood. Brandon decided to fast that day and he stayed strong throughout the whole day! He said everyone kept offering him food and he wouldn't take any of it. We told him he only needed to fast for two meals but he ended up fasting for 5 and told us once he starts something he always finishes it! What a great example! 

Missionary work is very tiring! We are up at 5:30 and go until 10:30 every day nonstop, it’s crazy! I've never had to work this consistently hard and long in my life. It's just two years of flat out go go go go! There are some days where I feel like there is nothing I’d rather do than take a nap at that time - nothing in the world. Plus when I get tired, I forget my Spanish and that isn't good! Haha. It's okay though. You have to just enjoy the work and keep pushing on :) 

Today we are going to go to South Manhattan and go explore the city again! We are going to go to Madison Square Garden (where the Knicks play), the Empire State Building, and a few other places. Going to south Manhattan is my favorite! I would say my favorite thing is seeing all the different people. There are tons of people and they are all very different. You see people who are homeless to people who are millionaires walking the street. Last time we were on Wall Street we say Donald Trump’s son. That was kind of cool.   

I want to share something I shared in our Zone Meeting this week. This was me talking to the missionaries, but I think it can apply to all of us. 

"Because we strive to live the Lord’s teachings and because we are missionaries, I feel as sometimes we feel we are greater than others--that others aren't good enough for us or the way we are living. But imagine if the Savior felt the same way of those who are not as powerful as him? Who are those people? Us, or anyone who has walked the earth. Nobody on this earth is as powerful and great as the savior, so imagine if he felt that way about us? He doesn't. Instead, he came to this earth, ministered with humility and love among those who were considered "worthless" by society, and even died a suffering death, all for us who are far less progressed than the Savior himself. We should be the same around our fellow men. In fact, because we are closer to the knowledge of God, we can greater see our weaknesses. It is when we do not judge others that we can love them for who they are regardless of our standing. It is when we do this that we free ourselves and can become joyful in all things."

The Savior never thought he was any better than anyone. No matter who they were and what they have done, he loved them, and SHOWED them his example by who he was and the way he loved. Never once did he feel above another because he had more knowledge than anyone, nor did he ever teach words he did not live himself. Jesus was usually short of words. He never really spoke unless there was a divine purpose for it. But, what he always did was act like the son of a loving Heavenly Father. Humbly strip yourselves from pride and you will free yourself. I feel like we sometimes become prideful to protect our power, but the Savior was the most powerful being to ever walk the earth and not a speck of pride could be found in him. Love everyone, no matter what they have done or who they have become. 

A good test that I've been using this week is this:" If the savior loves them, then so should I."  It's super hard for me to apply that with every person in every situation, but I am trying. I'm still trying to strip the pride away from myself as well :) 

Con muchísimo amor por ustedes, Les ama mucho y tenga una buena semana. 

Con Amor,

El Elder Celaya 

Pics (4 February 2015)

This tiny elevator we found.

My companion is the small little guy on my right, or your left.

We look funny walking around together because we look so different haha. 

La Republica Dominicana (28 January 2015)

Hello family! I just want to let you know that I love you all so very much...I really do. Now that that is out of the way, let's start the email.

- So I guess first off you should know that I am alive and well. On Monday they gave us 72 hour kits, made us go buy food and water for three days, made sure everyone had flashlights and we had to be in our apartments by 6. They told us that a huge blizzard was coming and that everything was going to be shut down for a few days including grocery stores. They closed down the subways, the busses, and the NY Police sent out a message to everyone here that all cars had to be off the road by 11 at night, and if any were on the road, they would be fined. So apparently something huge was supposed to hit. But, we woke up the next day and it wasn't much of a storm. Still there was a lot of snow (the most I have seen yet here), but nothing like they made it seem. So, I am alive and well and the storm did not live up to the hype....at all. 

- My Ankle. So last week, we were playing basketball and I went up for a layup and stepped on the side of my foot, and the guy who was guarding me, stepped on my foot after it was bent. So I ended up messing up my ankle pretty bad. I had to stay in for a day, and then forced myself to go out the next day a little bit. I can walk on it, but my whole foot is blue and green. I will try to send a picture. I can walk on it so that's good, it just looks like it is getting worse. It may be infected. I am not sure. But, either way I am doing what I need to do and I am feeling a lot better. We are back out to going out all day and doing things so that is good. Mom please do not worry.

- Brandon. Brandon is such a boss! We taught him about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity and he understood all of it and already has been living both. 

He has seen living here how much people become addicted to substances and he wants nothing to do with it. Usually the hardest two things to teach people were very easy to talk about with him! He is still on track for FEB 21st! He is awesome! 

We taught him twice this last week, and we will teach him twice this week, and he is coming to church on Sunday too! 

-- Words from the Dominican Republic. So there are TONS of Dominicans here. They honestly sound very weird when they talk. Sometimes I can't tell if they are all there because they mumble so much and I have an extremely hard time understanding their spanish because one, it's extremely fast, two, they mumble and cut off their words, always drop the S in words, and sometimes the R's too, and third, because they have TONS of slang ways to say things. So, I thought I would start creating a list of Dominican slang words. So every Dominican we visit, I ask for some words to add to the list. Here are just a few.

Las palabras de la Republica

Chele-penny

Cualto-money

Que lo que-what's up

La vaina ta heavy- The thing is heavy (meaning it is all good).

Ves pa lla-go over there!!

Que vaina es-what is this?!

Tigraje-being a Tigre

Esté Tigre es un Leon- a good looking Tigre (all the dominican ladies freak out when you say this haha)

Esta chivo- super tense or expecting something to happen.

Tirando muela- talking way too much

Aguita-money

Ey- hola 

Esta Chico - very beautiful 

Sipote- a little kid

Patoja  - young man or young lady

These are just a few of the words. I have a huge list and maybe in a while I will send them all in an email.

Different cultures - Here we have people from all over the place. 

1) Dominican Republic

2) Mexico

3) Peru

4) Costa Rica

5) Honduras

6) Nicaragua 

7) Spain (more so in South Manhattan)

All have different cultures. That means different foods, different ways of living and different words mean different things to each kind of people. So, it has been a little difficult knowing what words to say and not say to some of these people. For example, the F word to people from Mexico means "thing" in Dominican. It is a great learning experience though because if I ever go to any of those countries, I will already be blessed with the knowledge of their culture and will know what words not to say and what to say! 

We have been able to visit a lot of the families here in the ward and they are all so great! 

I want to end with something I have seen a lot in others on the mission. Jesus told us to focus on getting rid of the BEAM that is in our own eye, before we focus on the smote that is in our brother’s eye. Oftentimes people criticize others for what they see as their own faults. People hate most in others what they hate most in themselves. Just think if everyone were to cast the beam out of their own eye! There would be no need for being hypocritical and everyone would be living in harmony. Being honest with oneself is a beautiful thing because it brings out change. When we judge others, it doesn't allow us to love them.  We don't have to "be right" all the time. Isn't doing the right thing (being kind) always the right thing to do?

The Savior was love. He is love. Every good thing comes from Him. Love is what changes people. I have learned not so much to focus on people's faults, but fix my own, and love the people around me. Love someone this week.

You all are AWESOME. 

Keep moving on.

With Love,

- Elder Celaya

Pics (28 January 2015)

Outside our apartment in Kingsbridge, the Bronx!

Me and Elder Lyons are back at it. We are currently jamming on the piano.

(Selfie in some random bathroom haha)

The Journey To Huge-Ness Begins (21 January 2015)

This week has been filled with miracles as has the last one. 

- The Bronx. - So far, this place is SO much better than my last area. I love it here compared to there. Now this place would still never be my choice of living, but it is a lot better from what I have experienced thus far. The place is a lot bigger, the members are amazing as well, we have a full church now, and the ward is the biggest Spanish ward I have ever seen.

- Gym. My companion Elder Hausenfluck has a gym membership here along with the other elder we live with, so we wake up at 5:30 every day and catch the bus and head to the gym. It has been absolutely amazing. I forgot how much I missed it. The other day we all went to a Vitamin Shop and all got our protein, pre-workout and also mom you would be proud of me for this one...I convinced everyone to buy some liquid chlorophyll too. We work out with our zone leaders too and one of them has a full ride scholarship to BYU to play football as a center. He is a pretty big guy. It is crazy how much better you feel when you really do work out. The journey to becoming huge has begun ;)

- My companion - He is awesome! He is so loving and caring towards people here. He is always willing to help anyone. I hope to care and be as interested in others when I finish my mission. He is from Arizona, and he finishes his mission in May, so he is a bit "older" in the mission. 

Other Elders in our apartment - So we live with Elder Lyons who was my MTC companion (it's great to live with him again. We get along great and are always having a great time), and also Elder Enriques who is from Brazil. Now he is literally the same person as our fellow friend BJ Thomas. He is from Brazil, speaks Portuguese, but is fluent in English (has no accent), he LOVES going to the gym, he loves supplements and protein, he is super energetic all the time, can get along with anybody, and acts and looks exactly the same as BJ. It is unreal. He loves wrestling and rugby too - those were his two sports. We all have a great time together. 

Bitten by a squirrel - So this week Elder Enriques decided to feed some squirrels. Now there are two types of squirrels here. Regular brown/blonde squirrels and black squirrels. Everyone calls the black squirrels "sqwiggers". The brown squirrels hate the black ones and are always fighting. The squirrels here are just as corrupt as the people. Haha. Anyways so he tried feeding the squirrels and there were squiggers and squirrels. They started fighting and as he was feeding them, one came up and chomped onto his finger and Elder E flew him across the road. So then he had to go all the way down to south Manhattan to go get checked for rabies. Turns out they don't have rabies. In order to go get checked out, he had to call Sister Morgan (President Morgan’s wife). She thought it was hilarious and so did president Morgan. Everyone has heard about it and he has been telling jokes all the time about it. Just imagine BJ Thomas explaining him getting bit by a squirrel and this is exactly how it's been here - extremely hilarious. 

I DON'T WANT YOUR BOOK- Music. I have had three opportunities this week to use music as a way of opening other’s hearts and it has been amazing. We went and visited a less active man who is around 24. We taught him and his mom (who is a member) a lesson and she loved it, but he was pretty cold the entire time. We asked him if he had scriptures and he said he didn't. So I then asked him if he would like us to get him a Bible and Book of Mormon and he was like " uhh nahh nahh I'm good." I stood in shock for a minute and didn't know what to do. So I started asking questions about his testimony in the gospel and it was clear that he didn't really care about much. He said he didn't think the scriptures were applicable to his life so he didn't want them. The lesson was completely a fail, and we kind of ended it open ended with him because he was pretty cold and negative throughout the whole lesson. We then decided to try and get to know him better. We talked about music and turns out he likes playing guitar and has a guitar so he brought it out, and I got to play some songs for him that I wrote on the guitar. Immediately he completely changed into a different person. He all of a sudden became interested and excited. We ended up talking for about 30 minutes more and he actively invited us to come back. We are going back this week to teach him again. Before we ever got to play music with each other, we asked him if we could come back to see him again, and he said he did not want us to. It was cool to see how that one little experience opened his heart. We go back tomorrow. I had two other experiences like that this week as well :) 

Brandon - So it has been about a month that we have had any contact with Brandon back in Yonkers. So out of nowhere we got a call from Elder Segura in Yonkers telling us that Brandon came to church for Veronica’s farewell talk. Brandon lives in Kingsbridge and so Elder Segura said he was going to hand him off to us here in The Bronx. This was a very odd thing because we thought Brandon was completely done with the church.

THE MIRICLE - So last Monday after district meeting, my companion and I were going to go out to eat. He wanted to go to a Chinese place, but for some reason I felt prompted to go into this little bodega next to the church. I didn't even want to go get food there, but I just felt in my heart that for some reason I needed to go there. We ended up going on a little split with another companionship so I could go to the bodega. As we are waiting in line ordering sandwiches, guess who walks in? BRANDON!! We ended up talking and catching up and he was extremely surprised to see us there. We talked about meeting again and we talked about his life. I felt the spirit so strong in that little bodega as we talked. It was not a coincidence that I was led by the spirit to go into the bodega that day at that very time. Brandon even said it himself. He was like "The fact that we could come into this tiny bodega at the same time in the same place is no coincidence. This was God’s doing." Miracles happen when you follow the promptings of the spirit.

We are now meeting with him twice a week. We have had two lessons since then with him and each time the spirit has been so strong. He is literally a different person now compared to when we first started meeting with him. His countenance has completely changed. You can see the spirit working within him and seeing that change, and that is one of the best, if not the greatest thing about being a missionary - seeing that change in others, that only God can do. When Veronica left for her mission that is when it all hit him. That is when he said he really has to figure out his life, and he told us he wants this for himself. He wants to be happy without any other outside influence. It is amazing to see how different and enhanced people become when they choose to align their lives with God and his teachings. We challenged him to be baptized and he accepted with a full heart, so he is now going to be baptized on February 21st! My heart is full of joy as I have been able to see him literally flip his life around 360 degrees. Perhaps this is one of the reasons I was supposed to be transferred to this area. I really do love him as a brother and love his willingness to change. He is a great example to me. Please pray that he follows through strong with this. I am so excited for him, words can't describe it.

Greatest experience on my mission thus far - So last Saturday we had an APF. So I got to go on an exchange with an amazing missionary named Elder Sorenson. He is an african american guy from Utah who is such an amazing person who loves sports, so we get along. It's amazing how much more people will listen to you here if you aren't white. It's sad but people here are so ignorant. Anyways, Elder Sorenson is a boss. We get along so well. He is extremely positive and can really hone in on the spirit. We went down to the lower part of the Bronx (Concourse....the more sketchy part) and we were assigned to tract. So we went into this big building and went to the top floor. I had the genius idea of going to the top of the roof. Well, as I was walking up to the top of the stairs, the loudest alarm I have ever heard starting going off. It sounded like a bomb siren. As I turned around to run, Elder Sorenson was already down the stairs running. We got out of the building as fast as we could. The cops came and were looking for us but we booked it to another neighborhood. Well as we did this, we went up to the top floor of another building, tracted the first top floor and then went down a floor. We knocked on this guy’s door and he actually let us into his tiny project apartment. I have never seen this before when tracting, so it was a bit odd. He was from Nigeria and had a heavy accent. We started showing him a video about Lot and his wife, and about how we should not look back but forward in faith. Half way through the video, he asked us to pause it, and he got pretty angry. He started asking why we were showing him this? What was its point? Then he said to us "I want to learn something new! Teach me something I have never heard before!". Me and Elder Sorenson looked at each other and knew we should teach the restoration. We started teaching about how Christ's original church was restored to the earth again, and the way we taught in unity invited the spirit so strong. Elder Sorenson is an amazing teacher. The man asked some extremely difficult questions, not out of arrogance and anger, but out of true curiosity. I knew we were teaching by the spirit because we had the exact same impressions. As I was explaining something, I went to quote a random scripture I read in the Old Testament that morning, and as I said the scripture (I could not remember the exact chapter), Elder Sorenson already had it up ready to share and I didn't say a word to him. He was impressed by the spirit, as I was to share the same passage. This happened many times in the lesson, and we taught with complete unity with the spirit. We explained the complete history of the Book of Mormon and he asked if we could frequently come back. Elder Sorenson quoted the exact words from Joseph Smith when he talks about his experience with seeing God and Jesus Christ and I've never felt the Spirit so strong when talking about that. It again pierced my heart and I knew with even a stronger firmness that that experience really did happen. I felt it from heaven and so did he. We gave him the book, and he said he was going to read the whole thing after we left. No words can describe the progress of the lesson or the spirit that was felt there. It was so strong and I have never taught with better unity than I have with Elder Sorenson. He is a fantastic missionary who teaches and testifies with humility but with piercing power. Hopefully one day we can serve together. I will always remember the spirit that was felt there the rest of my life.  It was nothing of this earth.

I'm not going to lie, the mission is a very, very difficult thing to do. 98% of the time, it's extremely difficult mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. 98% of the time I am constantly trying to survive. The area here is very difficult too. The whole culture and place makes it very difficult to stay sane. It is the most demanding back breaking work I have ever done because it requires all of you. Everything you have spiritually, mentally, physically and emotionally. Every day you are drained of these things. I have had to rely on my relationship with God and his Son every day. It is the only way I survive. 2 % of the moments of being a missionary are filled with pure joy. Joy that isn't from this world. Moments like these (like the man we taught from Nigeria, or seeing the change in Brandon), somehow make it all worth it. The mission teaches you how to rely 100% on the Lord and it is really a refiner’s fire. I have learned so much already on my mission and I continue to do so every day. I don't really understand how 2% of this pure bliss can be worth the other 98% of struggling, but somehow it is. It is so worth it. I love those moments and thank God for them every day. I cherish these moments and hold them close to my heart, and they are what give me the focus and love to keep going. 

I love you all. Let the spirit of God do all the teaching in life. It is the only way people will truly change. 

Have a FANTASTIC week full of joy.

- Elder Austin Celaya