Happy Birthday to me....

Wow, I can't believe that my birthday is so close. Today is my 11 month mark. A year ago today I was getting home from scout camp. It's pretty crazy how much time has flown. This week has been pretty good. This month we are doing something similar to the "30 days to perfection" thing we did as a mission in December, but without the weekly fasts, that was really hard. We are going to see a lot of success this transfer. This week was also really tough. We had a baptism that was supposed to happen next Sunday, but he didn't come to church yesterday, so he cannot get baptized now, he needs to come at least twice to church. We are going to try and set him with another date this week. However, yesterday was filled with some joy as well. Sundays are always filled with so many mixed emotions, joy for those who came, and sadness for those who didn't. One of our investigators, Gabriel, came yesterday, and him and his Girlfriend, Yawdy, who is a member, are planning to get married in September. They talked to the Bishop and things are going really well. Gabriel wants to get baptized, but before he can they need to get married, and he needs to quit drinking and smoking. Yawdy's father is Genaro, our recent convert, Genaro is really excited for them.

I am really excited as week this week because Isabel Castro gets back this week. She left in mid-July to go to vacation in Cuba, but before she left we set her with a baptismal date for the 30th of August, and she was really excited to get baptized. She gets home on Friday and Saturday we are supposed to call her and go over again. I am very excited.

I'm excited things are going well with the new house. Oh, I have a question. How much approx. are you going to be asking for rent per month on the old house? There is a member here that is thinking about moving to Utah, and wants to get an idea of how much a house would be to rent there.

I'm really excited for Nick, he leaves in a week right? He is going to have an amazing experience going off to college. I'm excited for him, I'm sure he'll do great. Nick, you need to write me while you're there, I can't rely on mom and dad anymore to tell me how you are doing! I hope that everything is going well with Em and Ian too, it sounds like it. It's crazy that Emily is going to high school next month. Everybody is growing up on me. I'm almost 20, Em's going to high school, Nick's 18 (scary!) and Ian is growing up too!

I feel like I'm missing out on everything back, home, but I wouldn't trade being in New Jersey for the world.
I remember a couple of weeks back you mentioned that you were going to take a trip to Italy. When is that again? I remember that Mom has been asking to go for a long time, years! I was thinking about that the other day, I don't think that my future wife will ever beg me to take her to Jersey...

Elder Sopeña and I are doing well together, we have been working hard and are sure to see a lot of success, hopefully we'll be together longer that one transfer. I was thinking about this last transfer, about how much I"ve moved around. Every area and with every companion, Ive learned something. I guess I just had a lot to learn, so I've been with a lot of companions in a lot of places.
I love you guys a lot, and miss you tons, See you in 13 months!

Love you, Elder Isaac Ellsworth