Great Week On the Island

Loved Ones,

Greetings! How was the Disney trip? Turkey legs? Dole whips? Churros?
Are you all riding a wave of patriotism after enjoying some Great
Moments with Mr. Lincoln? One of the members in Bay Shore just
finished a Disney World vacation. I am biased in favor of Disneyland,
but the Epcot Center sounds pretty cool. We'll have to make our way
there someday. At any rate, I hope this email reaches the inboxes of
very happy people. I am happy. I'm healthy, too! Sure, I probably ate
too much Easter candy, but I'm only human. When you tempt me with cake
flavored Peeps, I have no defense. I thoroughly enjoyed that Easter
package! Thanks so much!

We had a great week here on the Island (I just had a random fun
thought: What would a weekly email report or journal entry from one of
the "Lost" castaways be like? "Week 2: The giant black cloud thing
continues to torment us. We still aren't even sure where we are. I
mean, we could be stuck in worse places. The scenery is great, and the
fish doesn't get any fresher! Oh, when I was walking through the
jungle, I ran into a polar bear. That was pretty weird."). I would
like to give an update and also mention one or two things I neglected
to cover. First of all, Elder Hardisty and I are teaching a great guy
who now has a baptismal date for May 18th. That would be a nice
birthday gift! It has been such a joy to teach him. He struggles with
very difficult addictions, but he has such a strong desire to come
unto Christ. He is progressing well. It's humbling to teach people who
will have to give up more than I have to be a part of Jesus Christ's
church. While studying the missionary efforts of the sons of Mosiah,
it occurred to me that they forsook a kingdom and then taught people
(Lamoni and his father) who had to be willing to do the same in order
to follow Christ. There is so much more that I can give! We also
started working with a family consisting of a mom and dad who are
less-active members and two sons who are not members. Something that I
forgot to tell you all about before is that I had an opportunity to
teach two Skype lessons. One of them was with a man I met on the
street in Midwood, and the other was with a friend of mine in Russia
who I also met in Midwood. Technology is so cool! It was awesome to be
talking of Jesus Christ to someone across an ocean and half a
continent. Both the lessons went well! I can't think of much else to
report on. Elder Hardisty and I are getting along really well and
enjoying the work here. Oh, we also had interviews with President
Calderwood last week. Those are always great. Back to Elder Hardisty,
we discovered that we have connected pasts. Not only did we both
attend the same EFY in Santa Barbara, but he was in Wyatt's group.
Maybe Wyatt will remember a Shane Hardisty. Cool, huh?

Mom, I owe you a huge thanks for finding an awesome housing situation.
It will be tons of fun to be with Elder Kitchen and Elder Yates. It'll
be kind of like our first transfers together in Bushwick! You're the
best, Mom. Thank you all for the letters and love. I really do wish I
had more time to respond individually to all of you.

I have a question for you all? Are you lovers of the cause of Christ?
Kinda interesting to think about. I am out of time, but I'm gonna
follow up on that next week. Love ya'll! Thank you again for your
endless support.

Love,
Elder McDonald