Happy Mother's Day!

Hi Mom, Dad, Taylor and Cami,

Happy Mothers Day! I hope you're all being very nice to Mom and that you're having a really really fun day. I am sorry that we're not skyping this week, we'll definitely Skype next week however! It's for the best, so Dad can be home too.

Right now, I am emailing from a borrowed laptop at the Captain Cook Hotel. I'm on splits with Elder Davis, and we're working in Banana. The Banana elders however are SO lucky, and their housing is just one of the rooms in the hotel. Now, keep in mind, hotel is a bit of a stretch. It's not super nice, but pretty much anything beats the stick house. I'm enjoying the view, right next to the ocean. I'm also enjoying the wifi, the fan, and the fact that I'm sitting on a soft bed. Not that I am upset with my stick bed, but the soft bed is nice. Interestingly enough, I had a terrible night's sleep last night, my body was not used to the soft bed and I couldn't fall asleep. Too used to sleeping on the stick bed in the stick house I guess. Banana is nice, but I miss my own area.

Speaking of, my area is totally taking off! The work is progressing at a remarkable pace. We had 3 baptisms two weeks ago, we had 3 on Saturday, and we're looking for 7-9 on the 24th. So exciting. All of our people are really progressing, and they're really enjoying our lessons. I'm so grateful to be working with Elder Raika, and we've been trying to work as hard as we can every day. It's been so nice just to be working so hard. The problem is, we worked so hard the beginning of this week, we both got really sick. Bad news. So that was tough. We're working on it, getting healthy is more important than numbers or stats I suppose. I'm grateful for the time we do have to work however, it's been really good and I feel like I am growing a lot.

We were able to baptize Kareobwa, Kabure, and Mweretaka this week. They are excellent investigators. We've been working with them for so long through smoking habits, through working on their marriage, and through all of our lessons. They've come so far, and they are so ready to be baptized. I'm grateful for the chance I had to teach them and that I was able to be a part of their conversion even in some small way.

President Weir just emailed back and informed me that I will FINALLY get to meet him on June 18th, here on Christmas Island. after 6 months on the mission I will finally  to know my mission president. Another side affect/ good news that comes from that is that until that point, I know I won't be transferred :) Fun times getting to stay on Christmas! Elder Hamula of the Seventy will also be coming to visit us, and I'm excited to get to meet him as well.

I recently restarted reading in the Book of Mormon. Everyone knows the famous 1st Nephi 3:7 verse, about going and doing. But I went back a few pages and found that 1 Nephi 2:16is an equally important verse, which provides the basis of Nephi's faith that gets so prominently displayed in the following chapters. Always fun to go back and find new things in old stories.

I'm almost out of battery on the laptop here, but I want you all to know that I love you and am  grateful for your support and kindness in keeping me in your prayers. Thanks again for all your thoughts and love! I'll talk to you next week (on Skype!).

Love Dal