March 7

Hello Parents!

I got Dad's letter on Tuesday. He sent it Sunday, so it takes 2 days to get here if it left Monday. So if you want me to remember what you write in your letters so I can respond to them, send them Tuesday or Wednesday. All I really remember from Dad's letter was something about capitalizing my I's. It's too annoying to do that and usually I'm in a rush, but I'll try. Anyway, on to my week!

This is the last week of the transfer. It's hard to believe that I'm coming up on 2 months on my mission! Doesn't really even seem like a lot because I still have 22 months, but it's gone by super fast. Last week I told you about that golden family. Well... they really are golden. We had a fantastic lesson with them about the Book of Mormon and the restoration. They look like deer in headlights because they've never been a part of religion before so we took it slow and explained a lot of things. But they just soaked it up and loved it. The boy is 12 going on 13 this month and he really wants to get baptized and he wants the priesthood too. He is awesome. He has never said a prayer before but we asked him to say a prayer at the end of our lesson and he did it. The Spirit was so strong. He even went to mutual on Tuesday and they came to Church yesterday and they loved it. We will be seeing them tonight and we'll be asking them to get baptized. Im super super excited. They don't live in our ward boundaries so we're poaching them a little bit, but they are good friends with a family in our ward so it's alright. They ARE going to get baptized in the next month. The boy has already said he wants to . Anyway, they are really awesome.

We also have a few other really exciting potential investigators as well. This next week should be a really exciting one! These last 2 weeks have been awesome. 2 weeks ago we taught 15 lessons -- which is our goal for every week and this last week we got 16 lessons! We were shooting for 20 this week but a few people fell through, but that's bound to happen.

In other exciting news, my bike SUCKS! The peddle crank thing keeps falling off and I've taken it in to get it fixed 2 or 3 times and then it fell off again and I bought a new part and they installed it and said it wouldn't break again and then it fell off again...So someone in our ward has a friend at the bike shop I bought it at and I have a year warranty on it so he is going to go there and throw down on some people and either get me a new bike or get it fixe for good. So that ha kinda sucked this week, lots of walking but it's all good.

We also went on exchanges again this week and I stayed in Napa and took over for 24 hours. It was a pretty good time and I did decently I think. I was with Elder Olsen; he is hilarious. We had a lot of fun! This next week I'm staying in Napa again to take over while Elder Sharples comes down to me to that'll be fun as well. It rained again this week. We had to walk in it because me bike broke. So today, it's been a sweet day! I bought a butt load of groceries so if I get transferred I'm going to be upset because I"ll have to leave all my goodies. Also I want to stay with Elder Marsh because we're getting to be pretty good friends and we're having fun. Not only that but like I said earlier we have a ton of good things going on right now and I want that to keep going like that and I don't want anyone to mess it up. But we'll see I suppose.

Yesterday was fast Sunday -- as you know -- and it's so much harder to go through as a missionary! I'll tell you why... I've gotten used to eating 3 meals a day, so missing breakfast and lunch is rough. Another reason is because I am exerting energy by biking, but Elder Blake (I saw him at Zone Conference on Tuesday) said I looked a lot skinnier! That made me happy because we are very well fed out here.

That reminds me -- Zone Conference! That feels like it was SO long ago, but it was just this last week. It was really good. It lasted from 10-4. In the morning we were taught by the APs. We have 4 of them so we had 30 minute stations at each. They all taught different things; finding people, teaching with the Spirit, baptism and humility. Then in the afternoon President Bunker and Sister Bunker taught us. They're super awesome. Pres is way intense but I love him. It sucks that he won't be here throughout my whole mission. I'm going to miss him. Sister Bunker is super super sweet too and I like her a lot. She is cancer free too!

Also, like I said earlier, I was able to see Elder Blake again. It was really good for me to meet other missionaries too so I made some new friends and whatnot. I found a missionary who I would really like to serve with, but I think he'll end up as an AP in a few months if not next transfer (one of the APs is leaving). He's from Columbus, which is awesome, I also want to serve with another missionary I met from New Zealand - I just want to hear him talk. All I know is that he has a sweet accent, but I've never actually met him. Anyway, today for P-day we drove up a mountain and hiked to a super sweet waterfall out in the wilderness. It was super awesome! It looks small from far away but when you get up close it's pretty big. It was a ton of fun climbing on rocks and just hangin out. Plus, we were up on a mountain so we had a sweet view and it was super windy. We ran into a baby rattle snake so that was pretty scary - because I was the one that found it because I almost stepped on him. I got a good picture of him. I actually got a ton of pictures from our waterfall hike so you'll get that in a few weeks, or when I get up to 200 pictures. I decided that I'm going to send back my memory cards every 200 pictures. After a wonderful waterfall experience we came back to the church and we played some basketball and such.

I've got to go write some other letters now. Have a good week and whatnot and I look forward to hearing from you both. I love you!

Love, Elder Edwards