Stake Conference Week

April 24, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

The girls are in bed, dad just got off the phone with grandma and grandpa, Kirk and Kristina are watching some show, Sean is off visiting with the Shaws and I have a few moments of peace to compose a letter. Earlier this evening Sean, dad and I went over to the Gilman's to let Sean talk with Josh about Cordoba. It was great seeing them again. Sometimes we go a long time without running into them anywhere. Josh is excited to get going on his mission.

Today after stake conference, we had Easter dinner with the Braithwaites. Tracey had 3 of her daughters home, so of course I take 2 of my eligible sons over in hopes of connecting our families through the bonds of marriage. Kirk claims he can't think of anyone right now because he's off to Uganda in 10 days and Sean, well, he has his own date set-ups that people are doing for him (he's trying to connect with the Cameron's cousin).

Stake Conference was good. We had a broadcast today for our whole western Idaho region and last night the Saturday session was wonderful (it always is). Pres. Tanner spoke on the need for having a personal testimony because we will not be able to stand on borrowed light in life. He talked about 3 times in his life that he was confronted with anti-Mormon literature and told us all about what he heard and saw and how he listened to what they had to say and had no answer in response, but he did have his own testimony that let him just walk away and not be concerned about it. Then he told about what happened in the 1980's when there were some people dying from bombs being left on their doorsteps and finally a bomb that exploded next to a car and hurt the man whose car it was. At first they thought it was another victim, but in the end it turned out to be the bomber, Mark Hoffman. It also turned out that he had been a dealer in rare books and documents and was being questioned by several people about their authenticity. Those were the people who were killed. In the end, we find out that Mark Hoffman had been the forger, author of hundreds of documents concerning the church including the 3 that Pres. Tanner had heard about in his life. Pres. Tanner even read from Time magazine back then when the third document appeared and read quotes from several LDS people left the church because of it. Years later we learn that they were all fake and you wonder where those people are now.

His talk hit close to home because we were living in SLC at the time all this happened and I even had a close friend who was a rare book dealer at the time. So it brought back a lot of memories. But it's very true that in our lives, there will be tough times that will require us to have strong testimonies of our own where borrowed light will not carry us through.

Toni went home Tuesday, but we had a beautiful and even spiritual evening the night before. After going to lacrosse games, I took Toni to Doug and Traci Roberts to visit. We ended up talking for quite a while and it was a very tender talk. Toni's got some hurdles in life to get over to enable her to come back to church. She needs to know that the church can't be judged by the actions of one person. So it was especially nice to let her see and talk with a couple who love the Lord, love their family and truly care about those around them. Then Uncle Bill called and wanted us to come by his place even though it was late at night. We ended up talking with him and Nancy til midnight and once again it was such a wonderful visit. In the middle of the visit, Bill stopped talking and then said, "Toni, I just got a very strong impression and I need to tell you. If you will start going to sacrament meeting at least once a month even every other week, and only sacrament meeting is necessary, not all 3 hours, I know you will fall in love, find true love, get married and find true happiness in your life." He then went on to tell Toni that he often receives impressions about people, sometimes strangers he sees as he's out and about. Nancy validated everything he was saying by telling us about several promptings he received about people just in the grocery store and how he helped them. The key is that he listens and then responds to that prompting and many people have even asked him who sent him because no one but their family would know that they were in such dire need. Toni was in tears and I felt so proud to have people in my family who cared enough to speak up and say what they felt prompted to say. I told Toni later that we were so blessed to have such a wonderful family and how much love we feel from every one of them.

As we've talked this week since she's been home, she has brought up the "Bill incident" several times and I know she was moved by it. Family is powerful.

It's been fun having Sean home for a few days, but he leaves tomorrow to go back to Provo and then starts spring semester. He brought home his 70's hi-fi stereo for us to keep for him until September. So the girls have been playing all their records this weekend and been having fun with that. Kristina wants to have a party with it. Sean's plans are to audit one class in spring and take 2-3 classes in summer semester and has been having several job interviews. So he's hopeful.

We've also been spending a lot of time helping Kirk gather things for his Africa internship. He's gotten his shots, filled out tons of paper work and bought special clothing that they require there. I'm excited for him and his upcoming experience. He set up a blog so it will be fun to read his stories.

It's good to hear more stories about Thomas. There's nothing like the fire of a new testimony igniting the fire in someone else. Have you started teaching the woman he found?

We got your mission newsletter this week. It's a really nice and thorough newsletter and we enjoy reading it. You have a lot of good people that you're surrounded with in your mission.

Leah told me today that Kiley K. is engaged. That's my only source on that story, so I'll check it out for you and see if it's true.

My life has been extremely busy this past week with helping Jan Lutz get ready for quilt market and helping Jan Leifson with the quilt she is making for Jan. It's been a little crazy, but it should be completed by Tuesday. It seems like I'm always at a lacrosse game too. It's a good thing that Nikki didn't play on a team this time. I don't know how I'd fit it all in. I also met with the counselors at the middle school to talk about Leah and her transition there. I think they have a great team there that will be good for Leah and they are anxious to help her.

The weather's been beautiful and dad has been enjoying some days out in the yard, but wishes he had more days out there. He's starting on the garden, the sweet peas are in the ground and there are plants starting to grow in the laundry room in the basement. This year we are planting a huge field of corn in that field between us and the Leifson's. We'll let you know how that goes and send some pictures.

In our stake conference today they prayed for all the missionaries from our stake who were out in the field. It still makes my heart skip a beat when I hear that. Keep up the great work, rely on your own testimony, do things to make it even stronger (I always pray that you'll have experiences that will strengthen your testimony) and help others to gain their own so we can all stand firm and unmovable and will not have to rely on a weak borrowed light.

Love you very much,

mom

XXOO

Busy, busy

April 17, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

It's pretty late at night and I'm tired, so I may get up early and write a little more. Toni has been here this weekend. She flew up and went to a lacrosse ref certification camp and now she's here with us until Tues. Tonight we went to the Danny and Penny Rozsa's since it was Jake's farewell and lots of the Rozsa's were in town. It was a lot of fun visiting with everyone there and Toni was able to see them all too. I'll send pictures Monday morning.

Church was great today. The speakers in sacrament were so good, Bro. Childer's from the high council, his son Alex(12 yrs old) and a girl who just returned from her mission to Florida. She was an excellent speaker too. There was a very strong spirit in the meeting. Then in Sunday School, Bro. Randy Thompson taught and he always does such an amazing job. He just has a way with words and is able to bring out such good discussion and I love going to class. Then in RS, Susan Madsen taught the lesson on honesty and once again we had great discussion. Very uplifting 3 hours.

After church I went to find Diane Beagley because this is their last week in our ward. They are moving to Star, which isn't very far, but they've been in our ward so long and are very sad about moving. She was having a hard time today. We will really miss them in our ward.

This week I set up a web page on missionsite.com where I'm keeping all your letters and some of your pictures from your mission. That way, anyone that wants to can go to that page and look at any of your current or past letters and pictures. Austin and Cameron already have a site set up, and I finally got around to it. Once I set it up, it automatically links your page with anyone else who's serving in Nashville. I looked at the links and noticed one of my friends from California had a daughter serving there, but I think she was Spanish speaking. Her name is Sister Bounds from Orange CA. But then I also noticed she was finishing her mission this month, so now I can't even have you say hi.

We had a busy weekend. Nikki had her big concert on Saturday night at the Cathedral of the Rockies, I taught a class for Super Saturday for our ward RS on Saturday morning and I had fun with Toni on Friday. We're both helping my sister Jan get ready to go to quilt market in a few weeks, so we were busy with some projects we're working on. It's fun having Toni here and it makes me wish she lived closer to us.

Kirk is ironing out all the details of his internship to Uganda. He's leaving in just 2 weeks. It's hard to believe he'll be over in Africa. Sean should be coming home this weekend for Easter and then heading back to Provo for spring semester.

Tomorrow Toni is going to help Kristina's lacrosse team with their practice and teach them a couple new plays, then we're off to Leah's game down at Ann Morrison. Seems like we're constantly at lacrosse games these days. But now that the weather is warming up, it's much nicer to be at the games.

So how's Jerry Bowman doing? Did he ever read or listen to the conference talk you gave him? It must be kind of fun, or at least it breaks up any monotony when you travel and do splits with other missionaries. I'm sure every missionary has his or her own style of teaching, but the spirit can work through anyone's style if they know how to call upon the spirit and how to be well prepared before each meeting.

Here's something from sacrament meeting that I wrote down today: It's a quote from Elder Hales. "If you want to speak to the Lord, you must say your prayers. If you want to hear what the Lord says, you must read your scriptures." I loved that and it made me think. It might be something that would be helpful for your investigators especially if they have a hard time committing to reading the scriptures and only want to pray and get answers, or even vice versa.

Well, my eyes are stinging. It must be time to end the typing. We are all well here and we are working hard and playing hard. I love the feeling at night after a day of wonderful feelings, revelations, church work, family visiting, etc. There's nothing better than that kind of tired-a good Sabbath day tired.

I send you all my love, always. You mean the world to me.

Be happy, then help others be happy.

Love,

mom

XXOO

Mid April

Apr. 10, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

It was a good Sabbath here. Started with an early morning stake meeting, went to Sacrament where it was Derek Hansen's homecoming. You can tell he really enjoyed his mission and he's still an emotional speaker. Kimi Anderson was right there in the front row and rumor has it that they've been looking at rings together. In his talk he spoke of how each day, at the end of each day he would ask himself if he could see the hand of the Lord in anything that happened that day and inevitably he could, every day of his mission. I believe that to be true even when you're not on your mission. He also talked about when people are prepared and ready to hear the gospel, miracles will happen. He said to tell you hello.

The other missionary who reported today was in the Eagle 2nd ward-Jordan Potter. Kirk went to that meeting and said he did a good job. Still the same old Jordan, outgoing, friendly, never worrying about what people think, but a little more mature.

I went to a wedding shower for Lindsey Roberts (cousin) this past weekend. She said to say hi. It's still so funny to me that she's marrying Dustin Hadfield. At the shower I saw Penny Rozsa and their son Jake is having his farewell this next Sunday. He's going to the Washington DC mission. They're having lots of family coming in to town, so I'm hoping we get to see most of them.

Also today the exchange student who's living with the Purnells got confirmed a member of the church. Yesterday she was baptized. She's from Peru and the Spanish speaking missionaries help teach the lessons and also gave her her blessing today. The Elder told me it was his first time giving a blessing. I told him it sounded very nice to me from the little bit I could understand.

We also have another lady in our ward who's taking the lessons. She lives in the house at hte corner of the McCauley's lot. She's so fun to have in Sunday School and Relief Society because she always participates and is so excited to hear anything new. I'm sure she'll be getting baptized soon.

This past weekend was the open house for the new church building on Floating Feather in Star. I was in charge of the refreshments, so it was fun to be there. 16 non members(that we know of) showed up, some pastors, city council members and 2 or 3 left with Books of Mormon and wanting to talk further with the missionaries. One of the biggest impacts of them was the room where they were showing Mormon.org video messages. Several people were very touched by those. Another person(less active for several years) felt the spirit so strongly in the chapel that they were motivated to talk with the Bishop and return to activity. So overall it was a wonderful evening. The building is like a mini version of our building and now the Beacon Light ward and the Star 2nd ward meet there.

Dad's having a meeting with the the homeowners with the VP and secretary right now. Fun, fun. He's been working a lot of hours lately and it's really wearing on him, so I'm thinking he should cut back a bit. There seems to be a lot of work in Ontario, OR and only one doc on at a time, so it's a tough shift when he's out there.

Kirk is busy getting ready to go to Uganda for the summer. He's going there to do his internship for BYU-I and he'll be going with one of his roommates so it should be pretty fun. They will be working in a small village helping a dentist and an eye doctor and running clinics there. He's leaving May 4th and will be gone until the end of August. Dad is really wanting to go there and visit while he's there, but we'll have to see what else is going on this summer.

Sean is taking finals this week and then he'll be home for a week or two and then back to Provo for Spring semester. I'm hoping he gets a job for the summer, but who knows. His track record with jobs is not the greatest.

Kristina is pretty busy with her lacrosse season now and her team is undefeated so far, even beating BK, the big whigs in the lacrosse circles. She's really hinting heavily about getting her license now. She's had her permit for 8 months but hasn't done a lot of driving, so now she's volunteering to drive all the time. We're even getting the tires fixed on the Mustang and she's anxious to drive it around town. Actually, I could really use another driver around here especially with Kirk leaving town.

Leah is also busy with lacrosse and getting ready for ISAT's. We're helping her study fractions, etc but she doesn't understand it, but we're helping her memorize things. Her friends are starting to go into Young Women's now and she's anxiously waiting for her turn in November.

Nikki is Nikki. She's a bit of a drama queen lately and I'm hoping it's just a phase. She's still very funny and Kirk's always laughing at stuff she does. Her singing is getting better and better and she loves it. Cooking, eating, singing, cooking, eating, singing. etc, etc.

I'm still high from General Conference. I'm watching reruns on Tivo and I had a really nice talk with Pres. Stafford this week at our meeting about different aspects of this past conference. There's a lot to study from the talks and I'm looking forward to it. The word on the Meridian temple at this point is that they don't have the land purchased yet, but it will probably take 3 years for it to be complete. It's just fun and exciting news here.

I've been busy helping Jan get ready for the next quilt market which is in Utah in May. There are so many details to work on. It's fun, but it's a lot of detail work. I'm also trying to come up with fun games to do at the Living the Legacy. They've asked me and my presidency to come up and do a little something. I have some fun ideas thanks to my many years of hearing what you guys did at your academies.

So how are things going for you? Kirk occasionally tells us that he makes a comment or two on your Facebook. How are things going there? Since it's a pilot program, I'm wondering what your opinion of all that is. I'm so impressed with how technologically current the church is, they really seem to have their fingers on the pulse of things and I'm continually amazed.

Not much else going on here. How are your investigators coming along? What do you do as a Zone Leader? Are you training, motivating or what? Do you get to see Jaime Goodwin very often?

I'm excited to hear from you-as usual :) Here's a scripture that made me think of you today.

Moroni 8:3.

I love you,

mom

XXOO

Home Sweet Home

April 3, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

We rolled in back home a few hours ago. Dad and I went around to some friends and delivered avocados straight from grandma and grandpa's trees. Dad and Kirk picked hundreds and there were still hundreds left on the trees this year. I just made some guacamole. mmmmm!

I thought of you when the prophet announced a temple in Meridian. I screamed and jumped up. I was so excited to hear that news. It was totally unexpected but we had just been joking about getting another temple in our area, so it really came as a shock to all of us.

We had a fun time in Las Vegas, Utah, California etc. It was great to get your letter while we were in California. I'll attach a few pics with this email and maybe some in another. I hope some of your investigators were able to attend general conference. I thought it was a great weekend of talks. We listened to the last session in the car on the way home and I was weeping through Elder Scott's talk. It was so tender. There were so many talks I loved and I'm anxious to listen to them again. Dad said the priesthood session was great too, so I can't wait to read those talks. Did you happen to see Austin Smack singing in the Saturday afternoon session choir from Rexburg? They showed him quite a few times.

Did you ever come up with a Zone nickname? I thought Sons of Thunder was pretty good.

A few highlights from our trip. Once we got to California we checked into the Best Western right down the street from Disney. We were on the third floor so we thought, this will be great cuz we'll be able to see the fireworks from our room, but as it turned out, we were never in our apartment at that time of night. On Monday we went to the Winn (of course! this is our ritual whenever we go to California). We ended up going upstairs and going through all kinds of fun junk. Sean and Kristina found some sweet record albums from way back when and since they both have turntables now, that's what they wanted. Grandpa gave Kirk a bunch of his old cameras and even his old Super 8 video camera. Then we had lunch in downtown Brea and went to Jan's where we visited with Jan and Mary. David is working at the Winn until he goes back to BYU for spring semester. That night we drove to Long Beach and hung out in a few places until it was time to take Sean to the Long Beach airport. It was this little old fashioned airport that Sean loved because it only took 2 minutes from drop off until he was completely through security. He flew Jet Blue which he loved. That night we went to downtown Disney, shopped and watched the fireworks.

On Tuesday, we decided to hit fun malls-Fashion Island and downtown Balboa where we rode the ferry across. Leah and Nikki actually braved the cold water and went swimming. The water felt freezing cold, but it was a nice sunny day. Afterwards we went to Orange where Kristina went to lacrosse practice with Cami and McKenna-they are coaches of a team at Foothill High School. Leah and Nikki went swimming at my parents with Sarah, dad and Kirk picked avocados and we went to In n Out. We had a fun visit with everyone there at the Trumbo compound. Afterwards we met the Lutz's at a frozen yogurt place in Brea and came back to their house to hang out.

On Wednesday, we went back to the Winn to pack up our goodies and mail them home and then off to the obligatory mega quilt shop, and I mean mega. Everyone played hide and seek while I shopped. After a quick trip to Main Place, we spent the afternoon at the compound where my dad asked me to go with him into the basement. He wanted me to practice opening the safe! First off, grandpa couldn't even remember the combination so it took several tries, but eventually Kirk was the one who was able to do it exactly. So I may have to take him with me one day if I have to open the thing. We went through the contents and dad gave me one of grandma's diamond rings he had given her. It's one he bought for her when they went to Israel. That night grandma and grandpa took us to dinner at Soup Plantation, a buffet that the little girls were very happy about. Then we took a little side trip to the Block. The skate park was filled with some very talented skaters so it was fun to watch and the weather was wonderful for walking outside at night.

On Thursday, we were planning on getting Disney passes from Janet, but that morning she called and was sick so we made a plan B. We ended up driving to LA to the temple where we went to the new visitor's center. We watched a great movie about families. I'm so impressed with the church's media now. It's amazing. We went to lunch at Junior's, the Jewish deli that I'd always go to after attending the temple. I introduced the girls to the scrumptious Monte Carlo sandwich-the triple stacked french toast sandwich with ham and cheese, sprinkled with powder sugar and dipped in maple syrup. All 3 girls thought it was the best thing they'd ever had. (They kind of say that after every meal though :)

Then we went to the Santa Monica Pier which was a lot of fun to walk around. There were all kinds of street vendors and performers, lots of people. Then we sat in traffic and pushed our way back home to Jan and Jeff's where we met the Lutz family for dinner. Afterwards, we went back to the compound to say our goodbyes and I also had a present I wanted to give my mom for her birthday which is on April Fool's day.

Friday morning at the crack of dawn, we headed out of town and stopped in St. George where we visited with Allen and the kids for a bit. Then off again to Provo. I stayed up until 1am talking with Steve and Carolina-fun times.

In the morning we all had a great breakfast together, thanks to Carolina, then we watched conference in the basement. For lunch we J Dogged it. It's Steve's new best place and he keeps telling everyone about it as if it's a brand new place, but he just discovered it. Then we watched the afternoon session and took off for grandma and grandpa Thompson's after that. The men went to conference together and us girls hung out at home. Charmaine came up with us. In the morning we watched conference together and had a brunch-a baked french toast casserole thanks to Grandpa. At noon, we were off again and heading home.

That's our week in a nutshell. We missed having you there, thought of you often and the family was always asking about you and thanking us for sending your letters to them. I thought of you a lot during conference and I know how powerful all the messages are for you when you are serving your mission especially. It's true, like Elder Holland said, about listening with the spirit. It makes all the difference. I hope that's a lesson you will always remember from your mission. When the spirit is present, so much learning takes place and we rise to a higher plain.

Have a great week, Alex. Enjoy the work, the Lord knows where your next investigators are.

Love you,

Mom

XXOO

In California

Mar. 27, 2011
dear elder Alex,
So I'm sitting here in our best western motel room with my iPad on my
lap,the girls are fighting over who gets the top bunk bed(yes,we
actually have bunk beds), Sean and dad are watching espn,and Kirk is
texting someone. Same old vacation stuff. We left Friday afternoon and
drove to Utah where we picked up Sean from the airport where he was
leaving his car so he had something to drive home Monday when he flies
home so he can get back to school.
We all spent the night with grandma and grandpa and charmaine came up.
In the morning after a tasty waffle breakfast we took off for Vegas.
We stopped along the way in st.George and saw Tyler and the kids and
also tyler's fiancé. She's a girl he met at a Mexican club. She
doesn't speak any English so we didn't have a big conversation with
her, although I did try a bit(you know me and my baby spanish). Tyler
is still going into the navy next month but is hoping to get married
in the fall. His fiancé is not Mormon but has started taking the
lessons. We'll see how this turns out. Allen and Lisa were on a
painting job so they couldn't meet us. We'll see them on the way back
up to Utah.
In Vegas we went to the Lion King at the Mandalay Bay. It was
awesome. The whole thing was a visual treat and so creative and we
had great seats. We stayed outside of Vegas in Henderson and we went
to church there this morning. What a great meeting this morning. The
theme was missionary work and the speakers were so good. A woman in
the ward spoke about her experiences being part of Gladys knights
traveling choir, a choir she just at the last minute decided to try
out for. She thought it was just for a choir for a special fireside
but it turned out to be a choir Gladys was putting together to go on
the road and do missionary work through music. She related a couple
miraculous experiences. One is that a woman she roomed with was
anxious to go to mobile Alabama where she had previously served her
mission, but she had been having a difficult time in her life lately
and was lamenting the fact that she didn't even think any of her
missionary work had made any difference in anyone's life. She was just
feeling down about a lot of things in life and really struggling.
While at a fireside in mobile, they had just finished performing and
the local stake president announced the closing prayer saying that
this brother was the first African American to have received the
Melchizedek priesthood. The man came up to pray, but then said he
felt impressed to share his story before he prayed about how 2angel
sister missionaries had changed his life many years ago when he was a
pastor of another church. He not only joined the church but also took
most of his congregation with him as they also joined the church. He
was still being a great missionary today as he was responsible for
many of the people who were showing up to these firesides and he was
even renting vans to take them all over the south to the different
firesides. The speaker's friend realized as he was talking that she
was one of those 2 sister missionaries who had taught him many years
ago and she immediately felt a spirit of renewal in her soul which she
had been badly needing.
This was just one of the miraculous stories that she related. Then
she sang a song which means a lot to her and has become a way for her
to share her testimony.
the next speaker introduced an idea to the ward. They will be
fasting for forty days as a ward starting April 1. They have a sign
up for families and 1 or2 families will each take one day during the
forty days in which they'll fast for missionary experiences and
opportunities in the ward. Then every Monday night they would like
each member of the ward at 8pm to have a kneeling prayer where they
will ask the Lord for missionary opportunities specifically in their
ward. I just thought it was an awesome idea. He said fasting without
the prayer is just starving. Then one of the elders closed the
meeting with his testimony. It made me want to be a member of their
ward!
Then we drove to southern California to our hotel. We then went to
susans for dinner and games. Grandma and grandpa were there, Toni and
her kids all came over, along th jan, jeff, Mary and david, also my
brother david and his kids, and Maria and James and Hudson(he's
pulling himself up on things now and almost walking). I'll send
pictures next week since I'm not at home.
How has your week been? We got another letter from Wendee Truman with
some pictures. I also ran into Seth millers dad this week and he said
Seth is doing well in Canada but he's freezing and has a lazy
companion so he's struggling a little right now. Kirk got rear ended,
so I had to take his truck into treasure valley collision for an
estimate.
Can't wait to hear about your new comp. From what you've told us
about elder McDermott he'll make an excellent AP. I hope you are
doing well and working hard. Dad sends his love and we'll be sending
some vacation goodies to you in the mail. Everyone here asked about
you and said they love getting your letters each week. Keep the faith
and expect the miracles.
I love you very much,
Mom
XXOO