JUN_25_18_MOM_PITT

 Mom!!

Everytine I see a picture of Baby Cohen my heart just smiles. You weren't kidding. He really is a cute baby. I can't decide yet who he looks more like, Tony or Briana. I think he's got a good mixture of both of them. He's got tons of hear too!! And it's super dark!! Welcome to the dark haired club, Baby Cohen 

I'm sure you're happy to be amidst your children and GRANDCHILD again. It's seems to me as though you've had QUITE the summer vacation thus far!! So much for staying at home by yourself and watching Netflix. You're busy traveling all over the place, which I'm sure makes your heart happy as well. How does it feel to hold a newborn baby again, and know that he comes from YOUR child? I'm sure it's pretty surreal. It's been almost 20 years since you had a child of your own. Can you believe it? Your youngest is almost 20 years old!! I think you're due for a little bit of baby time. And they say that the role of a grandma is one of the best: you get to cuddle the kids, play with them, spoil them, and as soon as they get a little much, you can refer them to their parents. Sounds good to me, right? 

NOT only that, but Dad is gonna be home soon!! That's exciting for the both of you!! I don't recall what day he was planning on coming home originally, so in not sure if he had to cut his vacation a little short. But either way, in sure that he's excited at the prospect of meeting his new Grandson in just a few short days!!

I will have you know that that chocolate is almost entirely gone now, so good work!! I single handedly polished like the whole bag off. I've been snacking on them during personal study, in an effort to keep me awake longer. I'm just super terrible at staying awake during studies. You'd think at this point in my mission, I'd have it down. But NOPE. So I need all the help I can get. 

The missionary work is going okay, I guess. Honestly, it's going pretty slow. Basically we just do finding all day, knock on doors and talk to people on the streets. It's definitely not the most exciting time in my mission. The reason why I liked Lewisberry and Greensburg so much is because of the PEOPLE that I met. The members in the ward were awesome. The people that I was teaching were GREAT. The companions that I had were (usually) fantastic. I just feel like this area doesn't have any of that. I've met like 0 members. None of them live in our area. We're not really teaching anybody, and Elder Jones and I are very different people. I guess I'm just not usedto it yet. Everybody talks about how much they love this area, how it's one of the most coveted in the mission. But I just dont get it, to be quite honest. The work in this area is slow and grueling. The members are cold and nonexistent. And my companion is very stubborn. Here's hoping for a better tomorrow 

The highlights of this week? Here goes nothing:

- I cut my hair and got a little trigger happy with the clippers. I cut off a bit too much of the sides, and now it looks a little bizzaree lol. But you know the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut?? TWO WEEEKS lol

- I went on exchanges with one of the elders in my district, Elder Rucker. We talked about movies until like 12:30am and it was GLORIOUS.

- It started raining hardcore during our exchange, and within 1 minute of being outside, our entirw bodies were soaked haha

- Apparently a black kid was shot by a cop in Eastern Pittsburgh, and so there were some intense "Black Lives Matter" protests going on right in front of my apartment. It was crazy.

- We were able to have a good lesson with a new investigator, Darnell. Oftentimes, when we teach the Restoration, it's clear that these people don't understand the gravity of it. But Darnell totally did, and understood Moroni's promise PERFECTLY. I don't know what's going to happen with him, but I'm just grateful that he understood it and is willing to act.

- My love for black people has increased tremendously. They're the only ones that will listen to our message. 

Welp, that's about it!! I love you too mom!! Enjoy your time in Rexburg!! 

On Jun 25, 2018 1:37 AM, <perucalica@aol.com> wrote:

Hi Buddy Boy,

I am late getting my letter written to you tonight. It has been a busy day? As I'm sure you've figured out by now the highlight of the week was the birth of baby Cohen. Briana called me Friday morning and told me that she had been having contractions since about 2:30 am. While I was video chatting with her I could see her grimacing every once in a while and she admitted that she was still contracting and so I started to time them. They were coming about 5 minutes apart and I knew Tony was at work so I told her that Tony probably needed to come home. They ended  up going to get something to eat and then went in to the doctor's office who told her that she needed to go to the hotel and the rest is history.
I left to come to Rexburg on Saturday. I flew into SC and Sarah met me and we caught the shuttle to Rexburg. We arrived about 4:00 yesterday and Tony picked us up from the shuttle stop and took us straight to the hospital. We met little Cohen at that time and I'm not going to lie, he is pretty dang cute. He is Edina tell the star of the show.  Briana came home from the hospital today and she and Tony both are trying to learn all the ins and outs of having a baby. They're both doing a good job and  seem like naturals.

Dad should be coming home tomorrow evening. John is going to the airport to pick him up. He called today to see how everything is going. If things go as planned, he will be driving  here  to see the baby  and we will drive home together. He mentioned that he would like to see Granny on the way back.

So how is everything  going  with the missionary work? What are the highlights of this week? Are any of your investigators progressing?

BTW , your dad and I were the ones that sent you the camel socks and the tie. Sarah mentioned that you thought it was her. She did however, do the legwork as she's the one that found them on the computer. Your dad and I just paid for them. All the candy was from my students on the last day of school. Since I can't eat it anymore, it just seemed logical to send it to you.

They had football media day on Friday. I did get to listen to a few of the interviews they did between talking to Briana and making travel plans. They had Jamaal Williams, Bronson Kaufman and Fred Warner on one show. They have all changed their hairstyles since they left BYU. I'd say they all looked better during their BYU days.

Well, that about sums it up for this week. I'll try and attach a picture. I love you sooooo much.

Until next week,

Mom