When the Red Rooster Crows (23 September 2015)

Hello Everyone!

One night we went to the church and found a guy in the church who was begging for some food. The bishop asked us to go take him and get him some food. So we did. Turns out the guy was pretty wrecked. He was living from day-to-day and had HIV, which caused a lot of problems in his body. So, we got him food, sat him down outside and told him to listen...that it was God who bought him this meal this night. We said that we weren't even planning on going to the church that night but then something fell through, so we went for five minutes to print something off. To our surprise, there was this guy. God knew we needed to meet him. We talked about how no matter how lost and lonely he feels in life, no matter how much of a failure he may have felt he was, God sees hope in him. It was so amazing to put both our arms around the guy, someone who has been forsaken by everyone, and tell him that God loves him and to talk about the divine potential he has, and that he has the ability to turn his life around. It was very powerful for him. He ended up showing up to church and we talked to him again and taught him about who God is, the kind of being He is. It was a little miracle to meet him. 

- Old man Argentina. Yesterday we were walking by the Harlem wings, and we saw this older gentleman who looked very classy. He had a nice striped bottom-up shirt on with a nice hat with a feather in it. We found him on a busy street, and we started just talking to him about what he was doing outside. He told us he was from Argentina, so we started speaking Spanish to him. We showed him our tags (how they are in Spanish), and then he got super excited when he saw "Jesucristo" written on the tag. He started saying "JESUCRISTO! JESUCRISTO!" He then pulled out a necklace with Jesus Christ on it. We asked him if we could show him a video about Jesus Christ. He was sitting in his little walker chair and so I kneeled down and turned on the video and started reading it for him, and he would copy everything I would say. Everyone walked by us looking at us very weirdly as we were reading this video out loud enthusiastically, but I felt the joy and love of God's spirit so strongly. The man got so excited, and after we told him we would come back, he stood up out of his walker and gave us each this big hug, and kissed our collar. Poor guy, right? I just wonder if anyone ever talks to him. It will be fun because we will be going back over to his house soon. 

- There are so many high class French people here in the upper east side...I really like that culture. I'm going to try and learn some French so we can communicate with them.

- Allen Russ. Well, guess who came and visited us in Harlem?! Good old Allen Russ! Wow, was that such a treat. It felt very weird seeing him again. It felt fake like a dream to some degree. I don't even feel like the life I had existed at all, and to have him come visit felt like I went back to earth! It was great to catch up and talk. He took us to the "Red Rooster," a down south famous restaurant in Harlem. It was amazing to feel my heart be so full of joy to see him again. I have really learned on some level the beginning of love. I felt like that was just a little bit like what it will be like when we are reunited with our loved ones on the other side and we see that they made it! I will attach pictures of his visit. Thanks again Allen! That was SUCH a treat to spend time with you. I never realized how lucky I was to have such role models for me to follow back home. I feel ashamed that I didn't take advantage of it more before, but hey, at least I'm seeing that now rather than later. Great visit!

Well, that seems to be about it. It's been super fun to talk to a lot of these crazies all over the good old Harlem streets. We will continue to do just that this week. 

- Change is possible. No matter how far deep down we may be, God can save us if we let Him. He made us to become like Him and for no other purpose. Just see this young man’s example:

 https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-08-004-step-4-truth-austins-story-about-addiction-recovery?category=12-steps-to-change&lang=eng

- Elder Celaya

Harlem Days - "Jimmy, we got a world to save our there!"

Transfer Meeting (17 Sept 2015)

Saying goodbye to my trainer, Elder Paize!

Horse Drawn Cabs Only - Tip-Toe’n’ Wit Ma Bronx Cart (9 September 2015)

Hello All!
- We have been running through Central Park still as much as we can. It's wild—you’re surrounded by African Americans, then you enter Central Park and it's all Caucasians. It's wild how you’re surrounded by a massive city and then you enter into a forest. 

- We walked out of our apartment yesterday and there was this random cat. He ran in and we couldn't find it. We spent an hour looking for it and then gave it back to the neighbors. 

- Found something very scary this week in a project elevator that we can talk about when I get home. Harlem never ceases to surprise me. 

- Luis. So we decided to go on a split and bring Elder Rivera, who is from Honduras, over to Luis' house (the man who loves his Bible). It ended up going really well, and after two hours of intense discussion, he was finally touched by the spirit. This guy is very difficult, but there is just something that keeps telling us to go back. 

- My companion and I have been sick this week, so there hasn't been much that has been going on. 

- Miracle moment - We were at a member’s house. She asked for a blessing, but what was interesting is how she asked. She accidentally said, "Elder, can you give me a patriarchal blessing? Oh no not that, I meant a blessing of healing." (Patriarchal blessings give us some understanding of our callings on earth. They are the word of the Lord personally to us.) We said yes and gave her a blessing. Elder Wadsworth did the anointing and I did the blessing. As I put my hands on her head, I waited, and as I waited I began to really feel the spirit strong. We gave her the blessing, and when we finished, she was crying heavily. We didn't know why, and then she began to tell us that the words that were said were exactly, word for word, what the first half of her patriarchal blessing had said. She had never mentioned anything ever to us about her patriarchal blessing, but yet the Spirit somehow spoke those very words to her. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Clearly Heavenly Father wanted her to be reminded of her patriarchal blessing. It was an incredible miracle and incredible feeling that I will never forget. What was even more amazing was she lives in a project building, and as we walk up, there are cops guarding the ground, people smoking and doings drugs—we walk in and it's extremely loud from people yelling at each other. It is just a very dark feeling. And then from that dark feeling, to be able to feel the spirit so strong in that little project apartment was just so amazing. Elder Wadsworth walked out and said, "Why would anyone ever trade what we felt tonight for anything in the world?" I cannot agree more. It was a very personal, piercing and strong feeling that struck me straight to the core, that God knows us better than we know ourselves, that He is there, and that His love and mercy are infinite. No words can describe what we felt that night. 

Isaiah 49:16—“Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.”

You are the best,

- Elder Celaya

 Central Park

 with Elder Rivera

with my companion, Elder Wadsorth

ABC's in the Subway (Part I):

:

Don't you just love these subway performers?!  All of them are so good!  This looks like so much fun. 

ABC's in the Subway (Part II):

The Devil Is Within the Ice Cream and the French Fry (26 August 2015)

Wow what a few weeks and how they have flown by! 

So, to explain the subject of this email...Remember how in the Bronx I told you that there are ice-cream trucks EVERYWHERE and they all play the one same song (I haven't heard this one until I came to NY), and there is no way to get away from it. You hear it all day long and because of how close everything is, you always hear it...on the streets, in appointments, at home...there is no running from it. Well, I thought I would get away from it coming to Harlem, but it just got worse. This is a tiny island and there are so many buildings, so everything echoes off of everything. It is the creepiest and most horrible song ever. It drives you crazy. So, that is why the devil is within the ice-cream trucks. The funny thing about it though is that the ice-cream trucks look very inviting and innocent—then you look at the driver and he looks like some thug that's coming out of the projects, covered in tattoos and piercings—and the best thing about it is they ALWAYS have their earphones in or headphones on listening to music because they know how annoying this song sounds. This song has been carrying over into my dreams too. I can't get away from it. It's going to haunt me the rest of my life. 

About the french fry. Well, I haven't written an email for a while, so for those who don't know, I have been blessed to receive a brand new missionary! I love him and he is great. There are some things he is still getting used to, but everything has been so fun and I have learned so much about how to be yourself on the mission from him. But last night, we were at an appointment and he ate one french fry. There were about 10 people. All of a sudden he started choking and mucous starting flowing out of his mouth. He couldn't talk and we had no idea what was going on. Everyone began to be frazzled and he rushed to the bathroom. We all thought he had a bad allergic reaction and that we were going to have to take out an epi-pen and jab it in his leg and get him to the hospital. Everyone was yelling in Spanish "HE'S DYING, HE IS DYING. CALL THE HOSPITAL!!". He came out, and as embarrassing as it was for him, he told everyone that he choked on one french fry. Haha. It was such a good old rookie mistake :) Ah, it was very funny. We all laughed it off and enjoyed the night together. So yes, the devil is in the ice-cream truck and the french fry. Be careful kids ;)

We have been trying to find new ways to find people. So we thought, hey, this is Harlem. Everyone is addicted to drugs, everyone plays basketball, people are into poetry, and people are into spray painting everything, so let’s take our finding to a very personalized outline specifically for Harlem. We are thinking about starting an addiction recovery class, a Spanish class, a basketball class, a poetry class, and one thing we already found was this: There is a big place where anyone can place their art on a big wall here in Harlem, so we went and got a big board and spray paint and decided to spray paint a scripture on the board and hang it up on the wall. We put the scripture and then "call for hope" with our number attached. It looks pretty cool. (see picture attached)

-We met this guy and started teaching the restoration and something we call "How to Begin Teaching" and then he interrupted us and said, "Listen....you aren’t here so that I can learn, so you can teach me. I already know everything about God....You are here so I can see if your religion is wrong." He was pulling out scriptures left and right from his Bible in Romans and a bunch of other really complicated scriptures. It was amazing to see how the Spirit was able to guide me with such hard questions in a whole other language. My companion didn’t say a word because he can’t understand or speak yet...so it was all me...and lucky the Spirit. :) So, eventually we started teaching the plan of salvation...and he said it contradicted with the Bible. We asked him to show us where...so he did...and then we showed him the scripture in Corinthians which talks about the three degrees of heaven...and then he was like "Wow, so you are saying that the Bible contradicts the Bible!" and I said "YES!" (he was expecting me to say no). We then shared what the Book of Mormon was. And the thought came to me to teach him through his own Bible. So I grabbed his Bible and looked up a scripture in Corinthians that said basically that man cannot know things of God unless they are manifested through the spirit of God...and it was insane....because I was able to testify of the Book of Mormon and how to know if it’s true, and it was wild to see him finally submit and listen...you could literally see the Spirit working within him. It was a two-hour lesson (super stressful considering my companion didn’t say a word), but it was amazing how the Spirit turned it all around. So, we are going to teach him about the restoration of the gospel by using his Bible this week. It will be great!

Luis - So this is a little interesting. Luis and his wife are two people that the English elders found and passed off to us. They are an interesting couple. We got into the appointment and we started talking, and right away he wanted to get down to business. He pulled out this list that looks like he started making it in the 40's. It was covered in scribbles with all colors of different pens. So we are thinking "YES! He read and actually studied the Book of Mormon." It was very different than that indeed. We prayed, and then we planned to share with him the talk called "What is the Blueprint of Christ's Church?" He then stopped us in the middle of us saying the title and said, "No we can't look at Jesus’ plan...we need to look at God's." He started going off with all these weird calculations on his list about everything from when Jesus will come again, when the Millennium will start and end, etc...He talked straight for an hour and a half, and whenever we would try to say something, he would ignore us and continue talking louder. We didn't know what to do. Finally we had it. The spirit was not there, and there was a very dark, contentious feeling that was being radiated. So, we knew we needed to change something. We interrupted him and asked him, "What is the purpose of our visits to you?” And he said, "So you guys can come and learn from me." Then we asked, "Why do you think we choose to come over here as missionaries?" He answered, "So I can see if your church is right, and if it is, I want to baptize myself in it, and if it's not, I won't." We said, "Exactly! And how can you know our beliefs if you won't listen to us?" It was like a light switch popped into his head and he let us talk. We ended up sharing the talk, and I felt a very different spirit enter the room. You could feel the spirit of truth and love. It was amazing to see because at the end of the lesson, he completely changed. His countenance changed, and he couldn't argue about what he was feeling.  You can never deny what you truly feel from God. You will always know deep in your heart that what you felt was true. And it was a miracle to me to see how the Spirit was able to crush the contention and open the eyes of someone who truly thought he was right. I love the gospel. It brings ultimate peace. Read or listen to that talk! It is amazing. "What Is the Blueprint of Christ's Church?" by Tad R. Callister.

https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2014/01/what-is-the-blueprint-of-christs-church?lang=eng

For those of you who know Elder Fagan, the wonderful young man who served in our church ward 21 months ago and came back to our ward to finish his mission, he just went home today. I have been meditating on the great example he has been to all of us, and in a very personal way, to me. He saved me. He taught me in a very personal way how the spirit works - how it completely changes who people are. There is a better world out there. There is this dream world that so many of us have deep within us, but the hope of it flees so easily away as we let what we call "reality" shape what we believe. It is out there and it starts within ourselves. That is something Elder Fagan has taught me. If that endless love, that hopeful and pure blissful spirit is possessed within us, it will spread to others as we share with them what has made us that way. The gospel of Jesus Christ, when fully embraced, turns us into that. He has led so many of us out of the old world and into this new, fuller, more satisfying, enjoyable world, and to Elder Fagan I will be forever grateful. He taught me how to be a missionary and I hope one day to be even half as humble, compassionate, deep thinking, and Christlike as he is.

Turn to love. Let us not judge, but love. Let's create a different world here. It all starts within ourselves. 

- Elder Celaya

This is the sign we made.

My dog friend Romero. Isn't he just so Happy?

This is a sign they made next to our apartment because every day at 7:00 am there is this Asian lady that comes by to dig for bottles and she just puts down her pants and starts peeing on the street. My companion every morning opens the window and starts yelling at her, but it's funny because she can't tell where it's coming from. Haha. So, kids, don't pee on the streets. :)

We got glasses so people will take us more seriously...

and wow does it work! 

We just went to the new World Trade Center 

and ground zero....and wow do you feel what happened there...

it feels hallowed there. It's a sacred place. You feel different there - almost empty...

you can feel the history there.

This is the Drake Face....they have pictures of Drake all over Harlem with this face...so 

we do it every time we see a poster of Drake.  

Just imagine a bunch of missionaries 

walking around Harlem amongst all the 

people, acting all tough doing our Drake face.

Zone Conference August 2015

"My Jesus" (5 August 2015)

This transfer meeting was a tender moment for me. First as they announced who I was training, you could see him stand up in front of the 100 missionaries, looking around, and up pops me from my seat in the back with a big smile on my face (a big guy training a little guy), and I run over and give him a big hug. Everyone, when they found out that I was training him, was in awe and they got pretty loud. It was a very tender moment. 

Then, the final testimony by President Smith really stuck deep within my heart. When he gets spiritual, he gets really quiet and soft and gentle.... and he was talking about the missionaries going home. He was like, you never "die" on the mission...you will continue your service for the rest of your life....and when all of you go home, and life moves on, I hope every time someone mentions New York City, your heart skips a beat, because you think to yourself, "Those are my people....they are my family. And that place is where I came to know God. That was the place I came to know my Father, and I found them." Tears flooded my eyes when he said that because that is truly how I feel. I have come to know how to love out here on my mission. My heart has gotten a lot bigger out here. I just think of my heart skipping a beat later on down the road when I am caught up in business, in the rush of life and having a family, and I think back to this solitary time where I came to know my family. Where I put everything I had into finding them (that includes President Morgan and President Smith, all the missionaries I have been able to grow extremely close to, the people we teach, this place... everything). I couldn't help but cry. The spirit was so strong. President calls Christ "my Jesus"... and his wife explained why. She said that he calls him that because he feels like he found him, and once we find him, we should call him that too. I tear up just thinking about it. Words are so limited as to what I truly feel about God now.

Anyways, I just thought I would share that with you guys. I love this experience. It is extremely hard, but at the end of the day, when all the hard sorrows fade away, I am left with the feeling I just described and with me personally knowing my Heavenly Father. What more could I ask for?

I love you so very much!

Elder Austin Celaya

p.s. BTW, I am going into the chiropractor tomorrow (there is a chiro here that treats the missionaries for free) because I have been experiencing really bad neck and back pains (from when I injured my neck at the gym before I left...the gymnastics type of gym) ...so hopefully he will be able to help me.

Transfer Meeting (I'm in the back left)

Meeting my new companion

Training Elder Wadsworth (from Lehi UT to Harlem NY!)

Goodbye Sister Smoot!  (with Elder Nelson)

Hi Mom

All the trainers for the new missionaries

Why Happiness Exists (29 July 2015)

This week has been one of the hardest weeks of my mission mentally. This week has been downright hard, draining, and difficult. But, looking back on it all, and what happened, I count it as a blessing.

The Heat - The heat here is unbelievable. The sun is so hot, the humidity is so thick it feels like you are being cooked in an oven full of boiling water. It drains you completely. 

Hermana Feliz' niece. So my old companion Elder Hausenfluck served in Harlem before. He told us to go look up the Feliz family. Well, we did, and we have been meeting with them every week now. Sister Feliz has a niece who is visiting from the Dominican Republic for the summer. We have been teaching her for the last month and she is really receptive. She has come to church three weeks in a row and all is going well. It is interesting because we have been teaching a lot of people who came to this country from their native country to find work and opportunity. It is amazing to see those who "mistakingly" run into the gospel. The Lord sees these things and He gives us these tender mercies that just make it all fit together.  We will see how she continues to go!

Fashion designer - There is this guy in our church who is in charge of dressing models and celebrities. He creates their outfits and packs them to go on tours (if they are music artists) or for photo shoots (if they are models). He has dressed some very famous people and he was telling us all about it. MY favorite was him telling us how he was in charge of putting all the outfits together for Justin Timberlake. That was a very fun visit. You just find so many awesome people here in NYC. 

Tender Mercies of the Lord - 

This week has been extremely difficult. Almost everyone we talked to was extremely rude to us. I felt like everyone we talked to cussed us out this week or threatened us, or to put it plainly, just didn't want us to exist. Yesterday we were feeling really down. I haven't felt that way for a long time. We decided to go and knock one more building. We knocked the building, and everyone was super angry with us. One guy started yelling at us in French, and then changed to English and cussed us out for a while. This happened with about 15 doors. Everyone answered (which is extremely unusual), and they all had something to say. So we were down with one floor left. We were not feeling happy at all at this point. We knock the next door, and this lady answers the door, and said, "HI! How in the world did you get in the building?" And I said, giving a smirk like we are some secret agents, "We have our ways..." Then she got super scared...and then I busted up laughing -- "no we are kidding, we just rung the bell and someone let us in." Then she asked us if we had been out all day and we said yes, and she told us to come in. She already knew who we were. Turns out, she is from southern California too. She just moved into her apartment a month ago and lives with a guy roommate. She is 23, and we came to find out that in high school she dated a Mormon guy. He left on his mission and they ended it and she felt pretty bitter about the whole thing. Well, that was the reason she let us in. She was extremely kind and we ended up talking for about an hour. Elder Merrell and I felt like we found our friend. I felt the spirit confirming to us that everything we had to go through that week led us to this. We had one of the greatest conversations I think I have ever had on my mission about life and who we are and what our purpose is as humans. The spirit was there, and the joy that we felt was so full of the love that comes from God. It was awesome. She just moved in. She was telling us how she doesn't have any friends here yet. We were going to leave after 20 minutes, but then she asked us if we could stay a little bit longer...she even told us she was feeling extremely depressed before we came. I find it funny that people think "we" make them feel good, when it isn't us, it's the Lord’s spirit. They cling to it. 

It was wild because I kind of have forgotten what normal people are like. People say "New Yorkers" for a reason. They are rough, tough, and straight up blunt about everything. She was kind and understanding and normal. This whole week was filled with rejection, but we both left feeling very edified and filled with the Spirit. It was a tender mercy to me to see that God was truly looking out for all three of us. He knew we needed something to lift our spirits, and even more, He knew that she needed it. We are going back to visit with her and her guy roommate within the next few weeks. They are going to make us dinner and we are going to go over to talk again with them. To explain the feelings I felt, I felt like I found my friend. That has been the most amazing feeling on the mission. When you feel like you find the person God wanted you to find. And when you find them, you can feel it by the spirit. Anyone who has served a mission knows exactly what I am talking about. The joy you feel is indescribable. 

This experience seems so meaningless, but that is what I have been learning. This mission, serving in the areas I have served in, has been hard. I don't like the atmosphere here. But I have come to LOVE the things that are good, because of how much bad I have been experiencing. I have come to see for myself that the greater bad I can experience, the greater good I then can enjoy, and things that are so simply good mean the world to me now. Buddha said, "Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."

The way to know joy is to know misery. The more misery you experience, the greater you will seek after joy, and the greater capacity you will have to experience it. I am learning this first hand and I love it. 

As they say,

Come what may,

and LOVE IT!

That is something that makes this mission all worth it. Finding your friends who are in the darkness, and you both come into the light together.

Sincerely,

Elder Celaya

The view outside our apartment in Harlem

with Elder Merrell

Our Harlem Zone with President Smith