Hello my wonderful family! :) I love you guys so much! my family is so awesome! they are just the best ever in da whole world! YAY!

 

So I have much to report on for this past week! I am having such a great time here in Downtown Newport News! :) it is awesome! There are many many people out and about all the time so we get to talk to people so much! we talked to two guys yesterday, one on one corner or the block and then we rode three seconds away and had a lesson with another guy on the other side of that intersection, it was awesome! I love being around a bunch of people! I already have some crazy cool stories about where I serve and it hasn't even been a week yet! the first funny thing that happened to me yesterday was that we were riding late at night in da ghetto and a black cat just darted right in front of us and I almost killed it........I almost crashed because of a stupid cat! yeah, the roads are crazy and they are always busy and the people are all super crazy and high on something all the time........ I LOVE IT!! I cant do quite country, its way too boring. I love the city. Downtown Newport Baby! and this might sound terrible and it is terrible, very very terrible, but apparently a cop got shot two days ago and he was killed so now there are SO many cops rolling through downtown so I guess it makes it much safer for us! Elder Haderlie has been here in downtown for 8 months now and he said that before now cops were never gutsy enough to role through the hood until now. so some exciting stuff is happening! I like it! I was able to meet my new branch yesterday as well. our building is a converted old bank building so our library is a vault! it is so cool. the branch itself is tiny and we are like the only white members but it is still awesome! the thing that I am most excited for here is that we stay busy all the time! I love being busy, especially on a bike. I love to ride and I love the city so when I can ride through the city while I teach people about the gospel then all the better. I am just very excited! ohh and I lost my planner in da hood yesterday. I was riding and then I think I droped my planner somewhere and I will never see it again. downtown is so ghetto! there are always people just walking everywhere and they all have dreads and baggy pants and guns and all kinds of crazy stuff. Elder Haderlie told me that for New Years he heard like twenty thousand rounds just being fired off, I wish I could have been here for that! :) ohh and I am back here with Elder Marinos too, he's the man! I was able to play more Oompa-Loompa this morning and there are some crazy changes to my new zone and stuff and I am just so excited. I hope I don't get shot though.........that would stink.....but I would have some crazy cool stories to tell! so that is what is new with me. this last week I had transfers on Thursday and so I came up here to Newport and so on the first day we were out seeing people for seven hours! ohh and our apartment is at the top of our area because it is the 'safest' part of the area but then we bike like 4 miles to get to where we do our work... but its great! :) but it was a great first day. we also helped someone move the second day and then I met some recent converts and then we had some lessons and then I met this guy who was baptized about a month ago and he is the most thug guys I have ever met in my entire life! to get his kids attention he does this hood yell where its like "HEEEEEEAAAAAYYYYYYOOOOO" and his voice is super deep and its so funny! so the Hood life is the life for me, at least for a little while. My companion warned me about getting the 'jungle fever' though.....that's when you start to get attracted to black girls............don't catch the fever............once you go black you wont ever go back..............yep! so that is what is new with me! I am back here in Newport and I am so excited, I'm on top of the world! hey, Pres. Baker changed the music rule so that now we can listen to more music so I am very excited about that! :) YAY! lots of fun stuff happening with me! I am just very excited! Biking in da hood! straight up!

 

So Dad, you asked me last week about getting me some dry goods foods yummy stuffs! well my apartment is full of a big huge fat nothing.......I would love some dry foods goods yummy stuff! and we aren't really fed that well here.........so yeah! that would be awesome! :) but nothing sweet, nothing too sweet at least, no candy and no chocolate! Please and thank you so so so much! :) yeah, its pretty crazy here. the apartment is the smallest thing I have ever seen missionaries live in, and we are getting a third companion next transfer.....they usually have a trio downtown but this transfer they had an even amount of missionaries so they only needed the Dream Team downtown! I love Elder Haderlie! He's The Man! and my apartment is called Huntington on the James because I am about thirty seconds away from the James River! IT IS SO SWEEET!!!!  

 

Well, I love you guys so so so so so so much! I miss you lots but I don't think that will be a problem here soon. I love Downtown! I just love being busy, we were not busy in Roanoke and I hated it! so lame! but now I am busy and I love it! I have only been in Downtown for three days now and we have taught more lessons and found more people than we did in two weeks in Roanoke! it was very hard, but now its a different kind of hard, a more fun kind of hard! :D Yay, Excited! I am just so smiley and happy, now that's just weird, I am happy to be in da hood and da ghetto. but yeah! The mission will do that to ya!

 

Ohh and I have big news! My mission president will be coming out on splits with us on Tuesday! Yep, Pres Baker is coming to the hood. at first I was like.........."does he have a bike?" I was picturing him riding with us to our appointments but then I was like.....ohhhh wait, he has a car....." does he want to park his Lincoln or his Highlander in the hood?".......Tuesday is going to be so fun and awesome!

 

So that is what is new with me! lots of exciting things and lots of stuff to do! I love it! I am so excited for it! I want more of it! more work and more people to teach and more fun stuff to do! I am just very excited......if you couldn't tell! ohh have I told you that I am very excited to be here! yeah, I am excited...... but not to get shot....or mugged.....or beaten.....or bruised.....or mauled......by a cat.....or a dog......or a couch.....yeah, I don't want that!

 

I hope that you guys have a great week too! :) I love you all so much! :) I miss you and I want all of you to be happy and don't worry about me, if I die then I will die serving the Lord!!!! I am totally kidding, a missionary hasn't been shot here in like two years.....no worries! hehe!

 

With lots of boats and barges and ships full of love (get it! I am literally like a stones throw away from the James River) from you missionary Brother and Son!

 

Elder Anthony R Zonts