Sunday Evening

Feb. 27, 2011
Dear Elder Alex,
So how's life this week? I went to the Eagle 3rd ward today. Myles McKell was asking about you again. He loves hearing how you're doing. I also talked with Josh Gilman. He's anxious to get out on his mission to Cordoba but he doesn't leave until June. He said he's kind of going crazy waiting around. Sean is going to go over to his house when he finishes this semester but that won't be until April.

In our ward, Derrick Hansen will be coming home in about 4 weeks. Kimi Anderson is talking marriage when he gets home, so we'll see what happens there.

Kirk said today in his singles ward that Kellon Moore showed up. He came with a girl he's been dating. He was looking very Mormon-like in a grey pin-striped suit and white shirt and tie. He stayed for all the meetings.

I just talked with Sean. He's going to be staying for the spring and summer semesters this year. He's doing that so he can be ready to do an internship in the fall of 2012.

Last week it was fun to read in Elder Goodwin's letters that he was doing splits with Elder McDermott. And they loved getting a picture of you and him. Your new mission president sounds interesting. Can't believe he'll be bring 5 daughters with him. That will be quite the adventure. Is the mission home a large home?

We heard you guys had some crazy weather last week. Were there any tornadoes that touched down in your area?

How is Thomas doing? Did he get baptized? Also, was he able to find a job? We've been praying for him here.

Everything's going well here. Nothing much different. We really loved watching the BYU game yesterday against SDSU. They won 80-67, so it will be fun to see how they're ranked now. They were #7 and SDSU was #6, so this should be interesting. Kristina is such a Jimmer fan! She knows when all the games are and has his picture as the wallpaper on her phone.

You never mention too much about dinner appointments. Do you get a lot there or are you guys cooking in your apartment? Just wondering if you could use any new recipes, etc.

Today when I walked into sacrament mtg, one of the Elders was handing out bulletins at the door. He's from Samoa and he had just ripped out the back seam of his suit jacket. So he was standing with his back to the wall. I told him I could take it home and fix it real quick for him, but he said it was a rule that he needed to wear a suit jacket. So I went to the library and got a bunch of pins and I took his jacket and pinned it together the best I could. He was doing Teacher duties at the back door during sacrament mtg, and every time he got up I watched to make sure his suit was still holding together. Then at the very end of the meeting he got up and it was torn open again in a smaller area. So I went up to him again and took out the broken pins (he had completely broken the pins in half). I told him he needed to get it tailored and that they could make it so it would have more room, but he said he was leaving for home shortly. I asked him when and he said, in 3 months. So I told him he definitely had to get his suit fixed and that they could do it at a dry cleaners. It was like I was talking with Nikki and how she'd be perfectly fine wearing something with a big hole in it. I'm going to try and check on him tomorrow and I may have to take it for repair for him. I get the feeling that this is probably his only suit and he's trying to make it last til the end.

Also there was a wonderful couple of articles in March's Ensign about missionaries and missionary work. Pres. Hinckley is quoted when he talks about 2 missionaries he met when he was a young man on his own mission. He said, "One was a superstar. He was educated. He was bright. He was quick. He was a little arrogant. We had another who was a sign painter...with very little education, but he knew his inadequacies and he relied on the Lord. When he prayed, you knew he was talking with the Lord...That young man accomplished wonders while the other young man went through the motions. The power that was in the one and the absence of power in the other was so apparent."
I thought about you because I know you so well and I know that you are like the one who knows his inadequacies(not the part where he had very little education). Remember to rely on the Lord like that young man did. The Lord knows every inadequacy we have, but when we show faith, put forth our best efforts and then rely on Him, He pours out His spirit on us in every part of our lives. Your thoughts will be His thoughts, your words will be His words and your actions will become His actions. He wants you to succeed and have joy. He wants you to help others succeed and have joy.

I hope you have a great week. We're always here for you, remember that you are always in our prayers.
love you much,

mom
XXOO
Here' a couple pix Kristina and Leah took. We've been having some great sunsets lately. Also we had some nice weather for a little bit, so the girls were happy to get outside and play. The last one is Kristina's lovely lime green room.

Winter's Back

Feb. 20, 2010
Dear Elder Alex,
Last week we were outside playing, wearing shorts and loving 63 degree weather, then this week we've had snow storms, hail storms, rain, thunder, sleet, you name it. I guess winter's not over yet.

It was so good hearing about your new area and especially that you love it. We got your mission newsletter this week too sent from your mission office. That was fun reading messages from your president, etc. It was also fun seeing Elder Goodwin's picture as an incoming missionary. Is the newsletter something new or are we just now getting to see it and you've been getting one all along? Whichever it is, we enjoyed receiving it.

Also we've been watching American Idol and one of the girls that's made the final 50 is from Goodlettsville! We have to root for her of course. She's actually very good.

Sounds like you're doing a lot of teaching. That's something I always pray for in my personal prayers. How is Thomas coming along? Tell him to have faith.

Let's see...today I had ward conference with the Star 1st ward. I think I'm actually going to miss going to these ward conferences, but eventually I need to get back to our ward and get to know some of the new people. A family is actually looking at Brian and Val's old house down the street. It's been sitting empty for quite some time now. Dad said they came to our ward today to check it out.

We had a couple's Valentine ward party last night. For the entertainment part, they played some minute-to-win-it games. Dad went up on the stage when they were playing the orange in the pantyhose game. You attach the pantyhose to your backside and then try to swing it so you can knock over a full water bottle. Dad failed, some kind of hip malfunction excuse. He's going to have to work on swinging his hips better!

Thursday night I went to a mother/daughter night with Nikki and Leah for activity day girls. We made banners that say "Return with Honor".

Yesterday when I was helping Kirk clean his room for Saturday chores, I found a sticky that said "Nashville contact-south of Nashville. Coolie's friend, Brett Raymond(musician)." Just thought I'd pass that along to you. I kind of remember writing that down, but not all the details. So hopefully it means something to you.

Kirk is working just about every day now at the mall. He even got a bonus check this time for the sales he made last month. So he's doing well. He's planning a trip to Rexburg to talk with a school counselor in a couple weeks. He really needs to fine tune his major and what route he wants to take in life.

Sean just called and is hanging out with grandma and grandpa Thompson this weekend, President's weekend. He had lunch with his mission president and has a date in Salt Lake tomorrow. It's a girl he met in his Arabic class. He also went to Aaron Barney's wedding over the weekend. The luncheon was at Tucano's.

Kristina is signing up for her classes next year. Her electives are concert choir, seminary, Spanish II, Drawing/painting, digital photography, food and nutrition and welding. Of course, she won't take all those, they are just the alternates, but I think she's secretly hoping she gets into the welding class. She keeps talking about it.

Leah will be signing up for her classes in middle school in the next few weeks too. It's hard to believe, but she actually is starting to mature a bit and I can actually see her ready for middle school. She'll still need help academically(she'll be getting tested by the school to see how much and what help she'll need for the next 3 years), but she's definitely turning into a young woman. She also has a huge crush on Justin Bieber so we never hear the end of it here.

Nikki is jealous that dad is on a high protein diet because she wants to eat meat all day too. But somehow she can't understand that you only eat meat and no sweets. She's thinking of giving up sugar for one year and wants to start tomorrow, but I don't know how serious she is about it. We'll see. She and Leah will be starting lacrosse in a few weeks.

Dad is busy with work and is doing a lot of homeowners president duties right now too. I think he wants to get fired from that job.

I just finished going through the conference talks 2 times for my scripture study, so now I'm ready to start something new, but I don't have a plan yet. I always turn to the Book of Mormon because I like it so much, but I really need to branch out and expand my horizons.

Myles McKell was asking about you today and said to say hi. Church was starting so I didn't have time to get the scoop on Ryan. Next time.

Have a great week. I love you soooo much!

Mom
XXOO

Valentine's Eve

Feb. 13, 2010
Dear Elder Alex,
Well, I guess it's officially Valentine's Eve, but hopefully that's not really on your mind. I'll wish you a Happy Valentine's Day. We just got back from Tracey's house where we had a game night. It was the Braithwaites, the Campbells including Jason and Brittany, and a new family that just moved here from Chicago, the Billings. Kristina has become really good friends with their daughter Riley. We had a lot of fun playing games. The big games tonight were Reverse Charades-it was a blast with a big group and then of course, Pirate game. We had to play that because Jason wanted revenge since he went out first last time. Well, this time he won, so I guess he really got his revenge. Caleb made those yummy bacon wrapped water chestnuts tonight and I remembered how you always made those and loved them. Kristina thinks you and Caleb are so similar, so there's one more thing. Kristina still beats him in ping pong though and it makes him so mad. But he's a whiz at math, so he's helped Kristina with that.

So your letter last week was crazy! First of all, a Facebook Elder! Kirk showed me your page and it's still hard to think that you can go on there, etc. What exactly are the rules you were given? I'd love to hear all about it. Do you think I should get a facebook page? I was wondering if you want me to deactivate your other account until you get home? Just let me know and keep us posted on what we need to do, if anything, on our end. Bro. Jensen said he'd like to be invited to be your friend. Some of the elders here said they heard something about that, but they thought it was just one of those missionary rumors. So we set them straight.

Then the day after we got your letter, I got my Christmas present from you in the mail. You should have seen dad and Kirk's faces. I was so excited! Carolina got one for Christmas so she was showing me how great it was while we were there and I couldn't wait to see one in our home too. 2 days later, there it was! Dad used it at church today. He had to sub in the High Priest quorum. I've been using it for lots of things and it's amazing. I love the size of it, it can even fit in my purse. I've even been tracking my calories each day on it. So thank you very much. I will definitely treasure it.

How is your new calling, ZL? Tell me about what that entails. I know you are a natural leader and have seen that in you since you were young, so I know you will do a wonderful job. Seek the Lord's guidance always and remember to give thanks to Him for the help and talents he gives you and you will be fine. You've always had a great sense of people. You seem to be able to read them well, if you know what I mean. That will help you immensely when you're working with not only investigators, but also other missionaries.

I was glad to hear that your President is keeping Foxcroft open cuz I know you said it was on the brink of closing at one point. I hope you'll be able to hear how Kris progresses and now also Bro. Stacks.

So what's your new area like? You're actually in Tennessee now, can't believe it! How many wards do you cover and how big is your area. We found it on the map. I'm guessing that since you're a ZL that you are in a car still, is that right? I hope your bike will get some use while you're out.

Dad and I decided to start a diet and really cut down this past week. I told him I'd support him in any diet he picked. Well, he picked the high protein diet, not exactly my favorite, meat, cheese and eggs,etc. I can't lie to you, it's been a little tough, but I'm trying to hang tight to help dad stick with it. He's doing great. So far he's lost around 5 pounds. We need to start exercising regularly now. Speaking of that, do you get any time to exercise regularly? How's the food there? Do you get a lot of dinner appointments? I hope it's not too much southern style food or you'll be in trouble. Of course, that sounds pretty good to me right now. Dad and I are trying to eat healthier all the way until spring break, the end of March. Hopefully by then we'll have some better habits established.

Where should we send mail now? Do you want us to use the mission home address or do you have a different one?

I started my day off with a stake council meeting early this morning and got to hear Kyle Ray report his mission to the high council. He's a humble yet very strong young man and it was an honor to be able to hear his report and feel his strong testimony.

I went to the 8th ward today for ward conference. I enjoyed going there since I know so many people. They called Tracey to be the YW president today too, so I was glad I was there sitting right next to her. She'll do a great job.

Sorry for all the questions I had today, it's just that I'm very excited to hear all about your new area and your new callings and your new companion(s).

I heard a talk at church today about how having a good character and faith go hand in hand. The speaker was using Elder Scott's talk from last conference called The Transforming Power of Faith and Character. I loved Elder Scott's talk, it had so many powerful points in it. But when the speaker was talking about how we should all strive to repent daily so that we can build our characters, he said he remembered always hearing this adage, "A clear conscience is a good pillow." I love that. What a great way to think about repenting daily. So I hope you always work hard each day to not only improve your character, but also to stay true to who you are and what you know. Be known as a man of your word.

Keep up the good work (in Tennessee now). I hope your first week went well and that you're already feeling at home in your new area. Your attitude cheers me up, so I know what it will do for the people there.

lots of love,

Mom
XXOO

Mini Vacation

Feb. 6, 2011
Dear Elder Alex,
Well, we just got back home from our mini vacation to Utah. We had a lot of fun, but it was pretty quick. We left Thursday morning and went directly to Salt Lake City to the Gateway where we walked around for a little bit. Then we rode the trolly to temple square where we toured the visitor's center where there is a new temple display. It was really nice. We took our usual temple square pictures and then had some dinner at the Lion House. Aferwards we went to the Church History and Art Museum. They had some really good displays. I loved the display of Primary children's art, some of the best pictures they've received that they usually put into the Friend magazine. Some of them were so funny. The girls loved the Latino display which had lots of interactive things. Here are some pictures.







Then we headed out to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We spent Thurs and Friday night with them. On Friday I took Kristina down to Provo to meet with my cousin Jay and his wife Theresa who own a beauty school. I picked up Sean there too and we got the grand tour of the school. Kristina is even more excited about going there now and wants to graduate early from high school so she can get there. It was fun seeing my cousins again.

Thursday afternoon we did a little shopping in SLC and then went to Sean's mission president's house so we could chat with them for a while. Just as we were leaving, one of the Elders Sean knew from his mission, a guy from Argentina, showed up with his family. Sean was so surprised and thought he'd never see him again since he lived in Argentina, so it was a fun surprise.

We all went out to dinner with grandma and grandpa and Charmaine (Golden Corral, woohoo!) and then some of us headed to a mall afterwards to walk off the meal. On Saturday we headed down to Provo to Steve and Carolina's. Carolina and Kassie were across the street having a Book of Mormon marathon. They started listening to Book of Mormon tapes on Friday around 4pm and went til midnight. Then they got up at 6am and went all day Saturday finishing the book around 7pm. It was a Mutual activity. Steve took us across the street to see them all in the middle of it. There was a large living room full of young people with their Books of Mormons open and an extremely fast talking guy on an iPod. They sped up the speaking in order to get through the whole thing in 2 days. There was tons of food sitting around. Carolina said the whole ward took turns dropping off food for the kids and leaders. After they were done, Carolina said she may not read scriptures again for a few days. I'm not sure that was the outcome they were hoping to get from that. She said at least they can all say that they've done it. Not many people have read the BoM in 2 two days, so she's right there. Kristina says she wants to tell her YW leaders about it so that maybe they'll do it here.

Saturday afternoon we went to the BYU/UNLV game. BYU won easily. It was a fun game. We were in the nose bleed section, but it was still fun. I got to meet up with Tracey Braithwaite's parents at the game. They have season tickets. It was sooooo great to see them again after 35 years. They both had tears in their eyes and I told them I was back in their lives for good this time. They said they considered me their 5th child and I used to call them mom Long(their last name is Long) and Papa Long and they were so happy to see me again. I will definitely be keeping in touch with them.

We stayed the night at the Trumbo's and had a fun time chatting with Steve, Carolina, Axel and Laura Saturday night. We went to church with them the next day and then had Sunday dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and Charmaine. We left for home after the meal. I'll send more pictures in a separate email.

So I'm anxious to hear how your week went. Dad said to tell you Green Bay won the Superbowl, but you probably already heard that. I hope Josh will be able to get over the loss. How is he doing otherwise? How did your ....Fifth Grader... game go? I'm kind of hoping you'll stay there one more transfer just to keep things going with him, but the Lord knows best.

Did you ever get a date set for Kris to be baptized? I hope you were able to keep up with the missionary work despite some of the bad weather that went through your area. I love that picture you sent with all the snow. For some reason I never thought you'd see that much snow in your mission.

Other news from our area: Josh Gilman got his mission call this week!! He's going to the Argentina Cordoba mission. Can you believe it? Sean is going to talk with him when he comes home even though he doesn't even know the Gilmans. Josh leaves the middle of June. He's excited about his call.

Well, that's about it for this week. Everyone we saw asked about you and said they loved reading your letters. Keep working hard and pray to see everyone you meet as the Lord sees them. It will greatly enrich your vision of the work you are doing and the people you are meeting. Have fun!

Love you much,
mom
XXOO