Elder Long in New York: June 17

Que lo Que?!

Haha, I've been told that means "What is What" like a form of what's up in Spanish.

My feet hurt!!! We walk everywhere! But, the city is fantastic! I'm not sure how to describe it, really. You know how when you go to Utah and you see someone of a different race than Caucasian and you kinda have to do a double take? Well, it's a lot like that here, just opposite. When I see a fellow Caucasian, I have to do a double take. Like, "Whoa...how did you end up here?!" Haha. The Bronx is a huge melting pot of people. Mostly Dominicans and Albanians. I have never wanted to speak Spanish more than now. If only! I hear more Spanish everyday that nice hear English. Crazy, huh? The signs on the street are in Spanish. And the tv channels are always in Spanish. I feel like I'm in a different country.

The mission pays for a monthly unlimited metro card. That way, we can ride to bus and train when we go to far locations. We take the bus to the church,which is located off of Olmstead ave and. So other than that, we walk. Like I said, my feet are pretty achy, haha. Mainly just the other day. We walked a lot. We also get recognized a ton! I haven't gone a day yet, where someone has talked to us on the bus or on the street, wanting to learn more. It's really different for me. President Morgan said: "Missionaries in a car are invisible!" It's true. Whenever we were in our car, we wouldn't be recognized as missionaries. But here, they can see us all the time. It's just really cool. Some missionaries in south Manhattan got on the from cover of the NYC news paper. And because of it, we got recognized from it. "I saw you guys in the paper today. Yeah, you guys are real cool. You guys are dedicated!"

I've also realized that the Bronx is super stinky. It just smells everywhere. There is also tons and tons of garbage everywhere. We play this game called "Bronx Ball" where you have to kick a piece of trash through your companions legs. If you score you get a point. It's pretty entertaining when we are walking everywhere. Elder Rydalch is my companion. He is from Oakley Utah. Man I love the guy. Almost every interest we have, we share together. Sports, music, movies. It's fun. He's also the first companion (out of three) that has been bigger than me. He is about 6'4" 250. I'm used to that from my buddy ol pal John Vaughan :) I'm also living with Elder Sevy who is from Sugar City Idaho and he is training Elder Richan from Arizona. We all get along pretty great.

We have a new investigator. His name is Devon Coke. He is fresh outta Jamaica. I know. Why have I been teaching so many Jamaicans?! Lol. But he is so cool! He got his masters in education and leadership. He's really smart and really humble. We invited him to be baptized of July 5th, but he didn't come to church the next day, so that tanked. As an investigator, you need to come to church three times before baptism and the date we set for him was exactly three weeks from then. So since he didn't come, we had to move it back. He is definitely progressing though.

One of the cool things from the Bronx is getting that occasional car that has huge subs and they are just bumpin super loud. It's so awesome. It reminds me of how my car used to be. It's also really fun to hear the World Cup fans go crazy. There is a house right across the street from the church who is always watching it and partying. Day in and day out. It gets pretty crazy at times.

I love you guys! It's been another great week. I'm so grateful for your support and constant love. I hope you guys have a great week and enjoy the nice weather coming. It's getting sooo hot here. The humidity doesn't help either. Especially being in a white shirt and tie all day, haha.

Love ya!!

Love, Elder Branndin Brian Long

The first three are from the balcony at our investigators apartment - The Bronx "As the crow flies"