Hey Momma...

First of all I just have to say that I love getting e-mails. Every time I read what everyone writes me I feel even more excited to go out and get to work! It´s awesome!

But anyway... I had a pretty exciting week... On Friday I went to the Hospital too!! haha you can tell Uncle Matt that, but then again maybe you shouldn´t cause I didn´t have to stay very long. Don´t worry Mom, nothing happened to me, but let me explain... There have been a lot of people here getting Dengue, which is a sickness that wipes out the... plaquetas... in your blood...sorry, I don´t know how to say it English haha sorry... I think it´s plateletts... and if not, that´s what I´m gonna call them anyway... But anyway, three kids in our ward got it in the last two weeks, and it´s not always something that bad, sometimes you´re just extra tired or throwing up for a day or two and that´s it, but one of the boys, named Michael Bretón, got it exceptionally bad and he was in the hospital for a week and a half. On Saturday it got to a point where he was in desperate need of plateletts and they couldn´t really find anybody to give them to him. Apparently your veins have to be a little bigger and thicker to handle the machine that takes out the plateletts, and it just so happens that a trait of Dominican people is that they don´t have very big veins... learn something new every day right?... well on Friday, one of the members showed up at our house at lunch time to take us to the hospital to give blood. Elder Barnum couldn´t do it because his veins weren´t big enough either, but being the oxen we are, I worked just fine... They ended up having one other available guy too, so they just tested my blood and took a little bit instead of having me do the hour long platelett process, but I´m still on standby if they need me... As of Monday however, Michael is doing much better and now he´s back at home with his family.

But I can´t lie, it made for a good day of talking to lots of people at the hospital and learning some new vocab about the body...

All in all it´s been pretty solid week in Villa Olga... We´ve been trying to find people for the past week or so more than ever because it seems like everyone that we were teaching either took a great step forward and looking forward to baptism or they decided that they ¨didn´t want to waste our time¨ so they don´t want us to come back anymore... But, that´s the mission, and what do we do? Para Adelante!

It sounds like both the little skittles are doing great, young womens and finals... what could beat that? I´m glad work is still moving along for dad, and I hope it picks up even more in the near future... because who knows, if he needs a ¨consultant¨ to go with him to south america in just under two years, I think I might know who could help him... But I´m most excited for you, Mom!! Hair appointments and skiing?! that´s awesome! I can´t tell you how excited I am for the picture. It´ll make my day I´m positive of it.

As for Haiti, we´re not really aloud to do anything from here... The Church, as expected, has been working a ton and they´re trying to build back buildings and spirits as best they can, but as missionaries here our goal is to help the people here to help the others. It´s amazing the chain of effects that can come from one act of Charity, so we´re focusing on making it a lot more than one act of charity.

I´m still here, healthier than ever and working hard. Villa Olga is quickly becoming one of my favorite places on Earth and I can´t really express to you how great and grateful I feel to be here right now. Thank you for everything you do for me. I can´t wait to here from you soon...

I love you

Elder Joel Cornwell