July 1, 2009

HEY!!!
Wow California sounded fun. That will also be really cool to go on a nice little road trip to Colorado. Everything is really good here, the mission is the best! You can send that package to my house, we have a car and the post office is super close, so send it on over. Oh yea I really liked the Iguanas, it was pretty entertaining, and an "Education Experience" according to the package. I am going to give one to the daughters of Edwin and Alexander, and the other one to a less active we have been working with, she has a bunch of kids. The glasses are really nice, we drive around alot, so I am loving them, thank you. To answer about the 4th of July, yes they do celebrate the 4th of July, except they dont really have big fireworks. I hear they have a big show in San Juan. Pretty much Puerto Ricans will celebrate any holiday, because they just like excuses to get together and drink. They have these big calenders with all these wierd holidays on it.
We were planning a 4th of July ward party, it was going to be sick! We planned Carnival games, hot dogs, of course a big cooked pig, getting some of the members to bring their bands and play in the night time, then having President Dewsnup come down and speak, and then end it with a firework show. I dont think a ward party could get any better than that, and that's what you get when you have 6 Elders in a room for an hour, THE BEST PARTY EVER! Well Bishop decided we need more time to set things up, and that the bands would be too much. But we are doing it July 17 and still calling it a July 4th party.
Alexander is still excited to be baptized. He said that he wants to do it the day before because he wants his friends that he made from the stake activity to come. And Patricia is for sure for the 11th too. We passed by one day, because we contact our investigators with a baptismal date every day, and she was just like hey, im getting baptized with Alexander for the 11th. So we were all excited. I dont know if I told you before, but Edwin said that he wanted to wait until June of 2010 to be baptized, so he can be baptized with their youngest daughter. But last night when we passed by, again another daily contact, he was just chillin on the porch, and when we came up he said hey, I'm getting baptized with my family! Haha, I have never been so happy. Edwin is a really cool guy, he has said from day one that I have talked to him, that he wants to get baptized, but he just kept delaying it. He had work before, but now in August his schedule works out. They are a really cool family, and they will be great in the ward. They have been taking the discussions for about 11 or 13 years. Everyone has their moment, and you never know when someone could have a change of heart, and realize what they need in their lives. Alexander said that he wants me to baptized him, Patricia wants Elder Large, and Edwin wants a member from the ward to do it. So everything is really good with them.
One thing that was pretty cool this week, was that a bunch of sand from the Sahara Desert came. One day we couldnt even see the mountains that are 5 miles away. The sand carries in the wind and storms and stuff, all the way over to Puerto Rico. CAN YOU BELIVE THAT!? FROM AFRICA!!! I think it is crazy. I didnt notice it around me, but when you look at stuff from far away you can really see how much there is. At first i thought it was raining in the mountains, and that why I couldnt see them, but nope, it was sand from the Sahara.
I went on a really fun trade off with an elder in our district this week too, Elder Drollette. He is going to die (end his mission) at the end of the transfer, 4 weeks. So I learned a lot from him. He is a really good teacher, and a really cool guy, we talked for a long time in the night time, lets just say we didnt go to bed at 10:30. But Elder Drollette has been sick, and we finally figuerd out it was from all the sand in the air.
Last week we went to a little shack with palm trees on it that was right next to the ocean. It was beautiful, there was a bunch of palm trees,and we had a strong ocean breeze. The shack also had a spot for BBQ'n so we brought Bratwurst, and smores and stuff, and of course Malta. (You guys should buy some Malta from the store, I drank it in the states one time, but get malta India if you can, Polar is ok, but I like India, the first couple of bottles you will hate, but just keep drinkin it and you will start to like it) It was a really fun time. I was going to send some pics, but i forgot my camera in the car; next week. And then after we went over to this basketball court and played soccer, it was super fun. Just so you know, most of the basketball courst are shaded, they have these huge tin roofs, so it is nice and shady cool. (FYI-Malta is a non-alholic soft drink that is frequently drank in the Caribbean.)
But that is what we are doing this week too. Gonna BBQ and play soccer. Next Pday we are all buying Machetes and hiking up some crazy jungle mountain with some members. Machetes are suprisingly only 7 dollars, and they are big too. It will take a couple hours to get to the top, im pretty excited.
Well family I will let you go, you are in my prayers, and in my thoughts. "We have an important work to do, and we can not come down."




Love Elder Hardy