Letter from 10-16-2013

10-16-2013

Hey there everybody, I'm in Stamford, Connecticut! This is one of the best Spanish areas as well, I will have had two out of the three best Spanish areas for my first 2 areas in my mission, I feel great about that. 

So, what is up with me and my current situation as a missionary right now is that we are on bikes here, Elder Diaz from Cali and I, and the weather is nice now, a little bit cold some days haha but still nicer than biking in the heat. My first week here we had 5 lessons for the entire week. That. IS. NOTHING. We were getting between 15 and 20 a week in Yonkers, so that first week in Stamford was my lowest so far, and I don't ever want to get under that. It was hard. And the bikes are still bad cause other elders messed them up, but we are getting the good bikes that were never used from Yonkers. Good thing I served there so I knew where to get them from haha. (They had to give up the car for a while because an Elder on a bike route broke his leg)

We had an amazing week serving here its really a lot better being out of the car that way its easier to contact people and everyone can see you. We got a lot of referrals, helped out the English elders who are struggling as well, and yeah! It was cool as well the mission president called us in for interviews and he made some personalized comments to me that i thought were cool. He could tell that I did really well in Yonkers. When I first arrived in Yonkers, numbers were bad and nothing too great was happening. I tried everything, map work, calling the whole ward directory, updating the area book, tracting, street contacting, putting together organized binders and anything else I could think of because I just saw the massive potential that area had, and I wanted to leave it better than I found it.

For those of you who know Brother Wagner and scouting, I thought of the Wagner walk haha, to leave the campsite better looking than we found it. 

And so he complemented and thanked me for the service that I had done there, and he said he felt impressed to put me here, because if I could do that in Yonkers, I could work it here. And he liked my idea I came up with, going "mobbing". Sounds hood I know, But it's the membership. organizational. binder. is what it stands for and its just a binder style compilation of the area so when you are in a certain area and something falls through you have a ton of places to go try after to keep busy. 

So, it's been harder, but the projection this week is to have 10+ lessons and work as hard as we can to spread the gospel. I love you all so much, please know that I think of you all often, and that prayers are said for you. Thanks to everyone as well who have either sent me things or sent me letters and emails it means so much to me. 

Love, Elder Buckley