This week was sooooooo bomb. It flew by and literally was such a good week with some of the greatest experiences I have had on my mission! I freaking love being a missionary. It's so crazy like everyday when I look in the mirror I have to stop and think wait.... like I'm literally in NY right now! It's crazy we were in young mens yesterday and we were with all the young men and like the teacher was just talking about how all the stuff they taught would be relevant in their missions when it came time for them to go. It made me remember when we were all in priest quorum and talking about missions, it's crazy to actually be on the other end!

Tuesday was sickest day ever. We met with Raj and Christine and they are such a cool family and keep them in your prayers and we are hoping they make the decision to get baptized! Then on Tuesday we played ball and Shawn Jr came and we invited the young men! Christian Pena is 14 years old and he is dope.  He came and he brought his non member friend luis and we are meeting with him this week! Then some Spanish people came and we had 5 on 5! We played like legit ball and we had some good guys playing.....it was so cool! I dunked on a fast break and all the guys that I was so dope hahahaha! But that was such a great time and it's cool to see how something I love like basketball is helping me do the work! We are about to explode with baptisms I can feel it. We are working very hard, and NY is such a hard place to do missionary work but I can feel something great coming!

We met with Andrew Sanchez who is my favorite guy in NY. He used to be a branch president but then went less active but is now back in the young mens. He is so dope and we meet with him all the time now and he is like another ward mission leader! Wednesday was also so sick.....we went on exchanges with our zone leaders elder Jensen and beecher and that was so cool! Exchanges on the mission are like vacations they are the best. You get to go to a new area and be with a different comp for the day and it's just a blast. Then at night it was all 4 of us and it was ust a party and thier apartment. We stayed up till like 2 am and it was so dope hahahaha we were so tired the next day, Mormon hangover is what I call it. Then we got to go on more exchanges on Friday with the office elders and I was in the office for the day! We went on a road trip out to long Island southshore and that place is way cool! It really was such and amazing week!

Keep praying for naveen he really needs all the prayers. Yesterday was fast sunday and we fasted for him and it was the easiest fast of my life. If you know me that crazy cause I love food and usually fast sunday is torture. I didn't even almost die this time. Speaking of food tho I've gained like 8 pounds which is super solid hahaha I love it.

Anyway I have a cool story that happened this week. So we are riding the bus home and we had split up and try to talk to more people. I sat next to this guy who was about 25. He had a Yankees hat on so even tho I hate the Yankees I said hey cool hat, are you a Yankees fan? And he said yes! We got taking and he was so cool.  He opened up and told me he had made some mistakes in the past. I told him about baptism and how it is like starting over with a clean slate and how God really does care about him. His name is Alex and after I said that he was quiet, when he looked at me he asked "how do I get baptized" even on a loud crowded bus I could feel the spirit so strong. He has been texting us a lot and we are meeting this week and I'm so excited for him and it was such a great experience! Also we set our temple date with Shawn! We are going on April 8th! We are taking his beamer to Manhatten it's literally a dream come true, that is gonna be one of the best days of the mission so far!

I know this church is true and I know the power of repentance is real, I have seen it in my life and the life's of others here in NY. I challenge you all to read Alma 34:33! Or just read the whole chapter....my dad sent me that chapter to read the first week I was here in NY and it really changed my outlook. I love you all so much...quick shout out to my family you guys are OG squad I love you so much and I will express that every week! Also shout out to fine 9: K9, P-town, Skeet, Blocks, Bed, Scoop, G-JOY, Bunks... I love you all and talk about you everyday, everyone thinks it's so dope that our squad is all serving and how we are all over the world! I pray for you all every night, keep ballin.  I'm pumped for conference and it's gonna be so cool here! Also my bracket tanked so that Is a bummer but who cares hahaha! Everyone keep me updated with you....I love hearing about all you!

Elder Imlay

Hello Fam and Everyone​

This was a solid week. I can tell you all for sure that I am ready to be done training. We will just leave it at that.. The first thing this week was the SNOW!  It's March and it's freezing out here. The snow made it crazy this week and we are still walking through it everyday. I love my area so much and  hopefully i can be a leader of the area at some point!  I'm growing a lot and my patience is growing as well.

This week I really have gained a huge testimony about the book of Mormon and studying it everyday is so important. I have gained so much knowledge from being out on a mission, and my testimony has grown so much. I feel the spirit so strongly and I know that this is true. Seeing people change is definitely the coolest thing you will ever see in your life. And I love meeting people and creating relationships, I know new York is where I'm supposed to be for the next 2 years. This week I have been praying a lot for naveen and for Shawn jr. And this really was an amazing blessing....this week naveen has really just bonded with me and we have become really tight. He calls me poster imlay and he turns to me for a lot of questions! I was praying tho especially for him to feel the spirit.  He Facebook messaged me 2 nights ago and said he knows the book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was inspired! It truly was an answer to my prayer and now we will work towards church every week.  With his job it will be hard but I know we can do it! Also Shawn jr is gonna start taking lessons and we are having a ball session with him tomorrow!!!

Everyone please read Moroni 7:48. That scripture and a picture of my family is my screensaver and it really is amazing and motivates me everyday. Shawn got his temple recommend and we are going to the temple with him in 2 weeks!! Finally I get to go into Manhatten and I'm so pumped! The people here are so wack hahaha and I meet so many crazy people but I love them all so much!

This week was great and it was very quick! We also had mega zone this week which is awesome.... imagine church for 7 hours!!!! That's what it is, but it was amazing!  Elder Creager is in my mega zone so I got to see him and talk to him! Also coolest thing this week was Glenn was in town and he came and saw me on Thursday and he brought me Philly food it was awesome. He is still bald and short. No I love the guy and he is very nice and he really is a stud.

Just know that everything is going very well and I love the work here. I miss you guys so much. My emails are getting shorter but the work is getting better. I will have a lot of stories to tell in 2 years! Everyone have a great week and keep me updated love you all.

P.S.  The video I'm gonna send after is my boys deyshawn, jerimiah, Jamal. We picked them up for church and the roll up like this

Hey everyone!

Another week here in Queens was good! Shout out to Rihanna with the title of my email, cause I got to listen to her this week...haha. Well the week was pretty basic and not to exciting. I need to get robbed or something crazy needs to happen. Blake is having all that fun in Colombia hahaha! My area is ghetto but I never feel scared.  It's an awesome place and I love it here in New York.

This week Tuesday was transfer day, that was super dope cause you get to see like most of the mission, and I got to see my boi Van Haren!! Still just waiting for the day that we are comps, maybe hit up zone leaders again later on in the mission! But yeah anyway the weather in New York freaking sucks. It was like 70 last week and now the high is like 30 and we about to get a blizzard and it's freezing!

This week tho was a good week, just a solid week of missionary work. We did a lot of service this week and really when you have opportunity to do service you jump right on it because it's different and you get to wear normal clothes. I get my Hoodie on and I fit right in. But really I love just talking to random people...like I just start like talking about sports and like other things and people are actually very willing to open up if you start with something they like! We were on the bus on Friday and we split up so I was in the back, and  a guy had some Nike kicks on and we just talked about shoes and basketball NBA for 10 min and then I share the gospel and got his phone # and hopefully something comes out of that! But really we get a lot of interested people and then when you contact them they just don't answer or blow you off! NYC is a hard place for missionary work, but you just gotta find the right way to approach it! I have made some really awesome relationships with the members tho here and I wouldn't trade those for anything. Really I love people and I love being around them and I'm going to be sad the day I have to leave Rego park 1st ward.

The people we are working with most tho are Naveen.  Pray for him for something crazy to happen at work so he gets Sundays off! Cause he wants to get baptized he just has to come to church! Also deyshawn, I would do anything for him to come back to church...I love the guy and he really is "dat homie". Also pray for Raj and Christine! The hardest thing about the mission is getting people to realize that this is the only true church. A lot of people just believe in God and all churches are true. I can tell you all with a surety that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. And I know for a fact that I couldn't survive the mission without help from somewhere and I know that that help is from our heavenly father. I was reading the conference talk "it's better to look up" by ELder Cook in 2011. I would recommend for all to read it.  I love you all so much and my family I love you more than anything, and I'm so grateful that I will have you forever. Fine 9 is fam as well. We'll sorry nothing interesting this week other than, me and elder asplund recorded our song and as soon as it's finished I'll send it out!

Deuces from NY

Ps Im filling out a bracket...I got Arizona winning the whole thing. Hahahahha I miss sports so much but I will survive!

Elder Koby

Also I cook like 7/10, you gonna see me in culinary school in 2 years

Hello All

This week is what the mission is all about!  I have finished my first transfer and really this has been the craziest/hardest/amazingest time of my life.  There is a  99% chance I will be in Rego with elder Asplund next transfer and that's cool! I love the ward so much even if it's insane and crazy, I literally love it so much and I've gained so many relationships with the people it's amazing. The coolest thing happened at church yesterday.....I met this guy in our ward and his name is J.D Wilcox! And guess what he is Clay Wilcoxs brother, so I got a fellow saint George guy in our ward! Stg is the promised land!!  If you are reading this and you are in stg kiss the ground it's amazing. This week was really why I am on a mission.  It was so hard and stressful and my comp tests my nerves sometimes but at the end of the week I found myself standing at Shawns baptism and I have never felt the spirit more than in that meeting.

The week was a lot of getting ready for the baptism and lots of teaching! Wednesday we went on exchanges and I led the pool and got to be in charge and it was amazing, it was the best day!  I was with elder Cahan from Seattle and it was an awesome day with great food! But really what I want to talk about is Shawn and the baptism! Shawn is so dope like the man is gonna be a life long homie to me, he will probably make it the fine 10, even at age 38. Hahaha!!!  He was so ready to be baptized (I will send a lot of pics)!! But his family support was literally so awesome like it was amazing and really as I was standing in  that baptism I realized why I came out and it really confirmed the choice I made to serve. If my mission were to end today my life would be complete!   A scripture in doctrine and convents says your joy will be great if you bring 1 soul to me but imagine how great if you bring many! I cannot wait to see what the mission holds!

Saturday was so hectic and we were running around the church and we literally ran the whole thing.  There was 4 baptisms, two converts and two 8 year old autistic kids! It was so awesome and the support was insane we couldn't even fit everyone in the room. I got the greatest view cause I was a witness and it was so awesome.  Shawn was so happy and the crowd starting clapping after he came out the water and idk if that's allowed but you know I was clapping as well HAHAHA. I also got to be apart of his confirmation and it was so dope! After the baptism we had like a after party thingy and it was legend! The whole squad was there and there was tons of food and we played basketball and I gave my kobe's to Shawn Jr.  It was literally just so awesome! I cannot put it into words so I'll send pics! But it was the most amazing day and I can't describe how I feel!

Also I will have my first opportunity to go to the temple in about 2 weeks with Shawn and his sister and I've never been more pumped. The greatest thing ever is to see people change and to see how happy this gospel makes people. God is watching over us even in the hardest of times. I pray for everyone of you daily, my family especially, I say this all the time but I'm gonna say it every week. I love you so much like I can't explain how grateful I am for everything mom and dad! I have the best family out there and I wouldn't be here without you. And also my friends I can't tell you how much you all mean to me. Wherever you are keep balling out and keep being awesome! Everyone keep emailing me and I love hearing from you all and it does make my week when I hear from you so please keep it up!

Funny story last night we were walking to an appointment and we saw the ward mission leader outside of the mall with his wife and they had shopping bags and we caught them red handed breaking the Sabbath.  It was hilarious and they were embarrassed.  They had a good reason but we were joking around it was funny! I remember me gav and parker were super hungry one Sunday and we went and got a little Ceasars about a year ago hahahahah and gav had to pay cause we forget our money but I said I would take the blame HAHAHAHA.

I love you all and have awesome week! March madness in starting so dad when the bracket comes out next week will you send me it thanks haha! NYC is amazing

Elder koby (I'm forgetting my first name so I need to use it more)

P.S.  me and elder asplund got some new kicks. (see pic)

P.S.   update, just got transfer call and me and asplund are both staying in rego for 6 more weeks.