Birthday!

Well, actually it was "Bueno," but close enough. Hermana Clifton and I invited our new investigator Pablo to be baptized during our first lesson and he said that if he could know that it was true then he would be baptized. We still have a lot of work to do figuring out how to help him know for himself, but it was a big step. We were also able to help Edith pray during our last meeting with her. That was a huge step because she has been so reticient about praying. Prayer will definitely help her come closer to Christ and to know how much He and Heavenly Father love her. It will also help her recognize the truth of what we are teaching her and see how the gospel can bless her life as she begins to believe and follow it. Our goal for this week is to get both of them to commit to go to church.

Spanish is coming pretty well, but I've hit kind of a roadblock. Really, what I need is to learn more grammar, but it isn't sticking as quickly as I'd like. It's hard to remember to use it in conversation. It is getting easier to understand people though, and my companion and I have been doing much better about speaking spanish to eachother. We practiced in the TRC (teaching resource center) yesterday, and it was great. That is where volunteers come in and talk to you and have you teach them in Spanish. It's nice to talk to them because they're all members so we can focus on speaking Spanish and on bringing the spirit instead of on trying to use the simplest concepts and not bring up any words that they might not recognize.

Also! I saw Kadee Esplin this morning. She entered the MTC yesterday, and I looked for her, but didn't see her. The first couple of days are a lot of running from place to place doing all sorts of things. She's not in my zone, but we have class in the same building so I'm sure I'll see her around. She looked really happy and said that the first day was overwhelming, but good.

We have gym time every day except Sunday and P-day. I usually play volleyball. I'm actually getting better at it although I still can't spike the ball. ( I don't have that much hand eye coordination.) I had a pretty cool block yesterday right at the net. We can only have six on the court at a time, so when we have more than that who want to play we rotate. When I rotate out I usualy do planks or crunches. Sometimes instead of or before volleyball I'll run stairs or a few laps arround the track. One day I spent almost the entire time stretching. Mostly I love gym because it gives me time to relax and not be constantly stuffing knowledge into my brain.

I guess I can tell you a little about the Elders in my district. Elder Williams is our district leader, and he's pretty cool. He's from Portland Oregon, and he just worked before his mission so that he could pay for it. His companion is Elder King. He's the youngest of the bunch and a whole 2 1/2 years younger than me! Those two are probably the sweetest elders in the district. We also have Elder Pahulu who is from Hawaii, and his companion Elder Barkdull who is also 'from' Hawaii. His dad was in the Navy so they moved around a lot, but he calles Hawaii home. Elder Bennett is from Middleton so just up the road from home. He has probably improved more in Spanish than anyone else in the district. He came in not knowing anything other than "Hola" (with the h) and now he's teaching lessons to our investigators like it's nobody's business. His companion Elder Dohner is from Utah, and he is really good at volleyball. I love having him on my team because every time he get's a spike or a block he has the best go-crazy-be-excited reaction.

Any way, I'd better go so we can get some lunch (I'm starving). I love you all!!!!

Hermana Hardy!!!