Spring '09

March 21, 2009
Dear Elder Sean,
How are you this week? We are enjoying spring, which is officially here, but also it has brought pleasant weather, finally. It seemed like a really long winter this year.

To start, I need to tell you some sad news. Travis Hugentobler passed away yesterday in a motorcycle accident, dirt biking in southern Utah. Jodie called me late last night after they got the news and we've all been in shock since then. My heart aches for all of them. She called me from a gas station just outside of town because they had heard about his accident and were driving down to be with him when they got the news that he had died. They were all in such shock that they literally didn't know what to do-keep going to southern Utah or go back home. I was in such shock too that I couldn't think clearly to answer her question and told her I'd call her right back. I really felt they would be more comfortable back at home surrounded by their friends and loved ones. Dad and I met them when they got back home which was around 1:45am. All I could do was wrap my arms around Jodie, Joel, Quinn, Melanie. They Beagley's also came over. We had a family prayer with them which was heart wrenching and then blessings were given to each member of the family. It was especially hard to watch the pain Mel was feeling. It was hard not being able to fix it or take care of it, just be there for love and support. Jodie is like a sister to me, not only cuz we look like sisters, but we totally understand each other, so I just want to take this pain from her. It's going to be a difficult week.

Today was Derek Hansen's farewell. He's very ready to go, not only because he had to wait 4 months after he got his call, but I could tell from his talk that he'll be an excellent missionary. I'm sure you'd be proud to have him in your mission. He has a good head on his shoulders.

This past week Alex had his pre-festival concert where they're adjudicated. Every group this year was phenomenal. Mr. McMullen has proven himself to be an amazing choir/music teacher. Alex felt like they did very well at festival. They probably won't get their scores until after spring break.

Because we want to be here for the Hugentobler's this week, we won't be going down to Utah. Dad still hasn't heard what the pay will be from St. Luke's to go to Weiser and Mtn. Home, so we really can't make any big decisions until then. In Utah dad was going to be meeting with some of the ER docs down there, so I guess if St. Luke's doesn't come through, we may have to make a quick trip down there to talk with them. We were also looking forward to seeing Axel and meeting his fiance.

I'm going to send you some pictures of Alex and his friends jammin on our front porch. They were so funny. One day they all just decided to get instruments and start playing. They made up a couple tunes. Alex borrowed Kirk's ukulele and then they thought they were so good that they went downtown to the Grove and started playing. This past weekend they've been having some of the March madness basketball games here at the Taco Bell Arena and there have been people from all over here in Boise. So they thought they'd play and open up their guitar case and get some money. They ended up making a big $8, so they all went to Taco Bell for dinner.


We all (Trumbo family) had a family fast today for Cheyenne, Patrice's oldest. She keeps having these seizures and she's going into UCI this next week so they can monitor her. We're hoping and praying they will find out what's wrong and be able to treat her for it, because it's been very scary for her.

The sister missionary who taught Alex Erickson's girlfriend-now wife Sharon. She didn't know they had moved, so I found some phone numbers for her. She's going home in a week and wanted to check on them. She was not happy that they hadn't invited her to the sealing-but deep down she was very happy that they are doing well.

I typed 4 patriarchal blessings last week. I usually do about 2 a week, so I was busy with that. This has been such a wonderful calling for me. I love it. It always makes me think about my own blessing and reminds me to read it often.

I hope you've had some successful contacts this past week. I don't know why searching for the elect can be so difficult at times. Are they hiding? I only know that Heavenly Father is a God of order and because of our gift of agency, He can't just place families in your path until they are truly ready. So in the meantime, you fishers of men have to just always be out there at sea waiting and ready with your pole until the elect come to the right point in their life and then decide on their own to take a swim in your particular ocean, at the exact depth of your fishing line where you are anxiously waiting to bring them on board. Your waiting is not a punishment, although I'm sure it feels like that to many. The best fishermen have developed patience beyond measure, love of the very act of fishing and are willing to be tossed to and fro with the wind and the sea knowing with faith that the elect will come. Listening to your letters, I know that you have become a true fisher of men and will be an instrument for the Lord as He needs you.

I just got off the phone with my dad. He said to send his love. He just went through some of his old mission things and found his rule book. He said there weren't very many rules in it and it was a skinny book. He wants to sit with my mom and have someone make a DVD of them talking about their lives. I told him I'd love to do that, so I may have to make another trip to CA this summer. He said I'd need to come up with good questions that they can answer on the spur of the moment. He's still working hard every day, trying to take care of my mom and generally being the glue of our family. He says he needs to get a hernia repaired, but other than that he's feeling great.

Well, I hope you are doing well and having an enjoyable p-day. You mean the world to me and I hope you're happy and of course, anxiously engaged in good causes. My love and prayers are always with you.
Love you,
momxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoooox

California Trip-March 1, 2009

March 1, 2009
Dear Elder Sean,
I just barely got back home from California late tonight. I've been there for the past 4 days and I had a lot of fun and got a lot of things done in a short time. I went out to lunch with Toni and Mom in downtown Old Orange and we walked around a bit in the old shops. Then I went with my dad to his accountant's office for a 2 hour mtg updating and going over his trust, the Trumbo family partnership and the Winn and Doreen. The last paper work they had was very outdated and several things had changed so it was very good that we got in there. It was a time for me to ask questions too and it helped me understand how it all works and what my job as trustee is, etc.

That night grandpa had to go back to work because they had this big project for Toyota that they'd promised to get done by Monday but they were going to have to pull late nights in order to get it done. So I took my mom out to dinner at Marie Callendar's which she loved and we hung out at night til grandpa got home. We also went to the Starrs to visit. On Friday I went next door to visit with Allen and Lisa and their family. They had just driven in the night before. Mom, Toni and I headed up to Jan's next where we went house hunting looking for a one story house for the Lutz's to buy (Jan has a really hard time with stairs now with her rheumatoid arthritis). Then us girls went out to lunch in Brea. Toni took mom home for a rest and Jan and I went shopping til around 7pm when we bought some dinner and took it to the Winn for the workers there. Grandpa had gone home early, but the rest were staying til around midnight again.

Saturday morning I helped my mom get ready to go to the temple and grandpa came home from work. I drove them to the LA temple (with grandpa giving me back seat driving directions the whole way!) We got there with only 1 minute to spare. You can't believe how many different freeways I took to get there trying to take shortcuts whenever there was a traffic jam. The temple sealing of David and Caryn's 2 littlest (Andrew and Lily) was so wonderful. It brought back so many memories of our day seeing all of you in white and how cute the little girls looked when they came in and how angelic they behaved. And you know David's kids, they were very worried about how they'd behave there, but all of them could sense the importance and the reverence of the ordinance and it was just beautiful!! When we got back outside, the kids were running wild all over the place and I went over to Caryn, put my arm around her and said, "Inside you got to see just a little glimpse of eternity, and now we're back down to earth, back to reality and hard work, but at least we got to see that little view of heaven."

After the temple, my dad suggested we stop at Junior's (this Jewish deli down the street where we almost always go after our temple trips). So Allen/Lisa and their family, myself and grandma and grandpa stopped for some good food. Grandpa had to have his favorite, creamed herring. I had my favorite, a Monte Cristo. It brought back good memories.

The drive home was much calmer, but we had to immediately change clothes and get over to David and Caryn's friend's home for a dinner/get-together. It was a beautiful home with a huge backyard. There were probably 70-80 of us there. It was lots of fun. Afterwards I went to Jan's (since she wasn't feeling well enough to go to the dinner). We hung out, went to In-n-Out to get t-shirts for the boys back home. Grandpa was still up waiting for me when I got home-just like the old days.

Sunday morning we all went to David and Caryn's ward where David blessed Andrew and Lily. Since it was fast Sunday, Caryn, David, Lyndee and Ryan all bore their testimonies. Ryan is like a man in a boy's body. His testimony was so sweet and funny at time. He said "the spirit in the temple was so strong and good. And that's a fact!"

I got to see Elder Beagley there in their ward. It was so fun seeing him. He says he's really enjoying his mission and he especially loves going over to the Trumbo's house (David Trumbo's house). He said it's always wild and crazy there and that it makes him laugh. I brought 2 pies from his mom for him since it was his birthday and he sent home a present for his brother Taylor. After church a few of us went over to Toni's house to see the work that Scott and Janet were doing there. I can't remember if I told you but Scott and Janet lost their house to foreclosure and Scott will be filing bankruptcy for his business. So they needed a place to live and will be sharing the Flint house with Toni and her family. Scott and Janet will basically take the downstairs and Toni and the her kids will have the upstairs. I flew home in the afternoon. I had a wonderful time, but sure missed having the family with me.

All the cousins asked about you. Cole is graduating from high school this May and then will be putting in his mission papers since he turns 19 in November. Trevor is still with his girlfriend Kathryn, but he's thinking about applying to BYU for winter semester. Brig is still undecided about things too. McKenna and Joe are still in northern California and it looks like Hannah will be going up there this fall.

How have you been this week? Your mission conference sounded wonderful. Thanks for sharing what you learned from it. How is Marcela coming along with her lessons? So many miracles happen for people who are ready to have the gospel in their lives. The Lord's hand is very evident and new converts can usually look back and see where the Lord was directing their lives and realize what a miracle it was. A woman in David's ward today bore her testimony about the miracles that happened when she was taking the lessons and got baptized and also about the times when she felt the spirit bear witness to her the strongest in her life and she said today while David was blessing his children, she received one of those strong spiritual witnesses and was so grateful for the Trumbo family and their example.

I will also send some pics from my trip. I have to turn my thoughts now to a talk I've been asked to give to the RS senior sisters in the stake this Wednesday for the RS birthday celebration luncheon. They've asked me to be their guest speaker. I've been thinking about it for some time and have written lots of my thoughts down, but now I need to fine tune it and get it prepared for Wednesday. I'm a little nervous and hope I can convey what I've been feeling and thinking into good expression.

My prayers and many others from all the family are always with you. You are part of a wonderful family, a very large wonderful family (with 2 new sealed members) who all care about and love each other very much. Have a great week knowing how much you are loved!

I love you,
momxoxoxooxxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoox

March 8, 2009

March 8, 2009
Dear Elder Sean,
So how are you doing this week? I'm back into the swing of things here at home again. It takes me a while to acclimate when I go on a trip. I can't imagine how it will be to come back after being away 2 years. But you're pretty flexible, so I think you'll do fine. I hope we don't seem like heathens here. ;)
Everyone here is doing fine. Alex actually rolled his ankle yesterday playing basketball at the church. He was an unhappy puppy last night, but still managed to have some friends over and play wii. Dad brought a brace home for him to wear and that seems to be helping. He just got home from mission prep. They worked on the 3rd lesson tonight. Yesterday Alex signed up for Heritage with Austin Westerberg as his roommate. They're hoping to get Spencer Carter also in their room.
Also Tiffany Shaw is now engaged. And Steve called this week and said Axel is very close to being engaged, yes, Axel. He pretty much fell for the first girl and hasn't looked back. We'll be meeting her during spring break cuz we're going down to Utah. Grandma and Grandpa need their garage door painted and some other minor fix-its around the house. Anyway, I'll keep you posted there.
Scott and Janet were supposed to be moving into Toni's house, the Flint house, this weekend. I hope they can get back on their feet soon. Their 2 little boys have really grown. Maria and James are desperately trying to get pregnant since they got married and it's been very difficult. Remember them in your prayers.
Nikki and Leah got to play their first game of Mexican ChooChoo with us tonight. They were pretty excited. Leah's doing well in school, not really caught up with her 3rd graders, but at least she's progressing. She takes medication during the week that really helps her to concentrate better. Even she notices a difference. She says she has a crush on Luke Yorgason. She's also doing well with her piano lessons. I've been pretty surprised at well she's doing. She's a star at jumping rope. She takes a class once a week and at school, her PE teacher always asks Leah to demonstrate how to do things. Nikki is doing well in 2nd grade. She's still what I would term a very spiritual young girl. She has a good understanding of the gospel and not just the verbiage, she really knows why we're here and what the plan of happiness is all about. I'll be starting her with piano lessons shortly. We still watch the cooking channel together. She says that's her favorite thing.
Kristina said not to say anything about her cuz she wants to write you. I'll just say she's such a beautiful young girl, both inside and out.
Dad is still in limbo as far as jobs go. Next Monday we're driving out to Weiser to interview with the ER director there.
This last Wednesday I was the guest speaker at the Stake senior RS birthday luncheon. I'll mail you a copy of my talk. Most of the stories I told I hadn't written down, but people asked me for copies after I spoke so I had to try and put them into words. It was a really nice luncheon and I sincerely enjoyed being there.
I was very sad to here about Marcela. Is she still out of the picture? How did the lesson go with Claudio and Claudia? How about Yesica? Remember that even though you may only be teaching or helping convert one person and not an entire family, you are actually affecting an entire generation, so one person is a family (something I touched on in my talk).
In church now the bishopric have been assigning talk topics that coincide with what we're studying in Sunday School and RS/priesthood. So today it was on missionary work. I was asked in RS to read a quote and it made me think of you. "Love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the sons of God. A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race. This has been your feeling, and caused you to forego the pleasures of home, that you might be a blessing to others, who are candidates for immortality, but strangers to truth; and for so doing, I pray that heaven's choicest blessings may rest upon you." Joseph Smith
Not much else going on around here. It's still a very trying and humbling time for most of us and we're all trying to ride out this economic down turn which they now say will go on for at least another 5 years. A lady at my RS luncheon came up afterward and was talking to me and said she was born in 1930 and can still remember so much of the effects of the Depression and she said she never thought she'd live long enough to see another one. But now, in her mind, we are right back there. There's another family in our ward losing their home this month. We will really miss them.
The gospel brings so much peace to people and being able to serve others and care for them keeps us so focused on what's really important in life and it helps us forget ourselves and love others. Does your mission do community service of any kind and if so, what do you guys generally do? I'd love to hear.
I just got the Eagle newsletter for March, so I'll try and get that off to you tonight. It's so fun to read what your friends are doing.
Kristina wants to use the computer to write you, so I'll get off. I love you very much and I hope you can feel our prayers for you. Let us know when you get our latest package. The Purnell boys in Chile say all their candy gets stolen from their packages.
Have a wonderful week and share your testimony often. We love you more than you know.
Love,
momxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxox

Ides of March

March 15, 2009
Dear Elder Sean,
Yes, it's the Ides of March according to Shakespeare and the day Caesar was assassinated. For some strange reason, I always remember that from my high school days. I hope things went a little smoother for you this week.

We had a wonderful Sabbath. The speakers were good and in Sunday School we discussed D&C 25 and had an interesting discussion on pride and humility. The interesting paradox of trying to be humble is that the more we think about it and think about ourselves being humble, then most likely we are actually letting pride slip in. It's a slippery little virtue and in my mind, the only antidote is sincere repentance. There are always a lot of good comments in our class moderated by excellent teachers.

Over the weekend, I went to my first official bluegrass jam at the Pinder's. I felt very out of place in the beginning, but everyone made me feel so normal and welcome there and I really enjoyed it. I have a lot to learn, but they helped me every step of the way. We're getting together again in May, so I'll be practicing a bunch on the mandolin so I can keep up better. The mandolin plays the off beat and it takes some getting used to. We had a bass, 2 guitars, a fiddle, a banjo and me on mandolin. Bro. Pinder was very nice and picked out a bunch of songs with easy chords and even made a CD with the songs on it so I can play along at home.

Kirk went snowboarding for his first time last week with a girl he knew in high school. They went to Bogus and said they had the place to themselves, but Kirk said it was pretty hard at first. He said the hardest thing was getting back up again. At the end of the day, he went and rented some skis so he could make a couple runs without falling. He said he'd actually like to go again and try snowboarding again. He bought himself a long board skateboard the other week too, so I guess we can say he's a boarder...

Alex has a busy week of choir things coming up. Districts are this week. They have a pre-district concert this Tuesday night. He's also taking voice lessons again from Bethany's sister.

Kristina had her first lacrosse practice this week and loved it. She got a lot of her gear from Aunt Toni and was pretty excited about it. We've been playing catch with her in the backyard. We have plenty of lacrosse gear to go around. Her coach seems really nice and is excited about the team this year. I really hope she continues to enjoy the game. She has a lot of her friends on the team too.

Leah is still the queen at jumping rope and loves her art club. I think she may be the only artistically talented Thompson. Dad and I have a meeting at her school this week to talk with the teachers, principal, school specialists, etc to talk about how Leah is doing in school this year. I'm anxious to hear what they have to say. I think she's been progressing and doing well, but I can't tell how far she is behind everyone else in her grade.

Nikki has been going to choir with me the last couple weeks and loves it. Her attention span is a little short and she continues to sing through all the rests, but hey, she loves to sing. I can't remember if I told you, but the adoption scandal case involving our adoption agency is finally over. The owners only got probation for 6 months and I'm pretty happy about that. I never met them personally, but enjoyed talking with Scott, the owner, on the phone several times through the years and I never felt he was intentionally lying or trying to scam people and he has 7 of his own children to take care of. The good thing that has come out of this is that now we have contact with the girls' birth parents and it was so good getting a letter from them. They said they knew what they were doing when they gave up the girls and just wanted a better future for them and have been so happy to see the pictures we have sent. They also would like us to come visit some day if we want. So who knows, another trip to Samoa may be in our future. I feel very blessed to have this contact, because there have been very few other parents with such a positive outcome.

Dad and I are going to Weiser first thing in the morning so he can interview with the director out there. It will be fun to check out this place. He heard from St. Al's this week and they said they have no spot for him, so now he really needs to get this job with St. Luke's in their outer hospitals. I feel calm and at peace about this.

So is this a transfer week? I was trying to figure it out. Can't wait to hear what's going on there. My prayers are with you and with Pres. Olsen as he makes changes.

Derek Hansen will be giving his farewell this next Sunday, then he is off to the MTC. Jared's mom, Terri, has moved to Phoenix with a new job she couldn't pass up. His dad is staying here until Jared gets home this summer. Terri will come back every couple of weeks until then. She said it's horrible timing, but such a wonderful job. If she likes it after a couple months, then his dad will put in for a transfer with the postal service in Phoenix. Jonny Stevens parents are moving this week. I haven't heard where they're going, but it's been tough times for them since they are both real estate agents and business has totally dried up. We will miss them in our ward. As far as I know, Jonny will still be speaking in our ward on May 10th with you. I'm sure there's more news, but I just can't think of anything note worthy right now, plus it's kind of late at night.

I studied the first part of Revelation and also Jude this past week. I also listened to what 4 BYU religion professors had to say about the chapters (thanks to KBYU), and I gained such insight. To know that John was foreordained to be one of a handful of people to see the vision of the last days and to be the only one who was to write it down. I'm very appreciative of Joseph Smith who asked to know the meanings of John's written symbols. I wish he would have asked about a lot more of them. I'm one who really likes to see the big picture of things. It helps me keep focused, keeps my eyes looking forward, it gives me hope and it really helps me keep a hold of the iron rod even through the mists of darkness, which mist is not selective but covers us all. So I am really enjoying reading John's words.

I hope you are well, healthy and rejuvenated for a new week and that you are having many opportunities to share your testimony. Have a great week. Press forward. Remember I love you very much.

momxoxooxoxxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoox