Kirk's home

Aug. 28, 2011
Dear Elder Alex,
Well, we've actually got Kirk home with us now.  We picked him up Thurs evening around 11:30pm.  He looks great. He's lost around 30-35 pounds and when we saw him he was wearing his sandals that he had on in Uganda the whole time and you could even see the African dirt still on his feet.
He didn't seem to have any trouble at all with jet lag, and he's starting work tomorrow at the Blue and Orange store.  He had to have a burrito from Qdoba when he got home.  He said he missed burritos and good ole American grilled meat.  I'm sure he missed his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches too. They also didn't have any dairy products there, so he's enjoying bowls of cereal with milk.
He's also very interested in a girl he met on the plane over to Nairobi.  They've been emailing, calling and now skyping constantly.  Her name is Sarah and she seems really nice. (I got to meet her on skype) She's trying to work it out so she can drive down here from Canada(where she lives) this next weekend and then go with us to Utah. I hope she can make it. We're going down to Utah this next weekend so Kirk can show G&G Thompson all his stuff from Uganda and talk with them about it.
Sean is starting classes tomorrow. A couple of his classes conflict with each other, so he's a little frustrated with that and will try to work it out with the counselors tomorrow.
Leah, Nikki and Kristina start school on Tuesday.  Nikki found out that she has Mrs. Bunn, so life is good. 
Tonight we had a game night at the Braithwaite's. Played a little Taboo and the pirate game.
The good news I found out today was that Trish(in our ward) has set a baptismal date of Oct. 8th. It seems a little far away, but her whole countenance looked different today and I'm going to call her tomorrow and tell her. I love watching her in class and the excitement she shows with just about every subject we talk about.
Dad spoke in church today. His topic was the atonement and he did a great job. Heather Lee also spoke with him and she took most the time and spoke on the same subject, but both talks really complimented each other and it was a great meeting.
Today I made several loaves of zucchini/yellow squash bread, so we took some loaves around to people along with several ears of corn from our garden.  Dad and Hal Leifson have been working on a corn field out in Leifson's field and now there's tons of corn.  We've pretty much been eating corn every night.  Today I made creamed corn. So we have plenty to share. Maybe we can send you some in a box. 
I don't know the Turner's in our stake, but Sean said he knows them.  Are you still meeting with the Anderton's?  If you want, I can make a call to Sis. Turner to say hi.
How is Steven doing? Sounds like he's going to be an awesome missionary one day.
So dad and I don't know anyone in the wrestling dept. at BSU. I know that BSU has already started. Was Austin Woods planning on coming out here for this semester or is he still in high school? The only one I could think of who might have any info would be Travis, my cousin.  He went to BSU and he's a pretty connected guy, but right now he's super busy with Mitt Romney. But if you want me to even call the wrestling dept, I could do that and ask some questions for you. Let me know.
I just talked with Grandpa Trumbo. He's doing great. He's always so upbeat, that's why I love talking with him. I know life's not easy for him, but you'd never know it talking to him. He told me tonight that there were 2 great decisions he made in life. 1.When he got off his mission, he decided right then and there to go after the girl who had written him a dear John on the mission and get her back.2.He made a commitment to himself early in life that he would try to never miss going to Sacrament meeting.   I can remember him telling us that second decision when I was just young during our family nights, so I know it was a decision that really meant a lot to him. I can remember thinking as a young girl that I wanted to make that same commitment and it has become something very special to me throughout my life. 
I also spoke with Uncle Jeff tonight.  Jan is going in for another surgery in the morning, this time on her back so the recovery will be kind of long, but she has been in so much pain that I really hope this will help her a lot. Her doctor(who happens to be in her ward) and Jeff administered to her today and she has been in really good spirits tonight. 
Looks like Tyler's plans for getting married over Labor Day are going to work out, so he'll fly to Bakersfield where Leticia is from and marry her this next weekend and she'll go back with him to Texas. 
I am looking forward to the new school year. I'm able to be a lot more organized when everyone's in school. I love fall weather. It's the best. I love football games and it will be fun watching Tanner Mangum(Eagle's quarterback) this year since he's now one of the top quarterbacks in the nation. We watched the ESPN special where he made the elite 11 and then made MVP. Hope the Eagle boys can keep up with him. BSU will also be fun to watch and we're hoping to hit a BYU game.
I hope you are well and that Franklin is treating you well. How is your new President? Have you had a chance to have an interview or two with him yet? I'm very grateful for him and his wife and they are also in my prayers. Remember always that you have been "set apart" as a full-time missionary/emissary/disciple of Jesus Christ and He will use you and be with you, by your side in the work you are doing. Look for the miracles.
I love you and wish you a wonderful, successful week.
mom xxoo

Kirk's B-day

Aug. 21, 2011
Dear Elder Alex,
Kirk called today for his birthday and said he had a good day.  They had a little celebration for him in Uganda, so I'm happy. We, of course, celebrated here without him by having roast beef, potatoes, broccoli with cheese sauce and Sunday salad. It was the least we could do. He's getting excited to come home and get started with new goals. He gets home Thursday night.

Didn't know you'd be so offended at an XL shirt. ;)  I'd keep it since you're gaining 13 pounds a year. Hopefully you'll be transferred to a bike zone sometime.  Your bike must still be in the packaging at the mission home, right? 
So you're enjoying the bacon flavored mints too...yes, those were quite a find in a gift store in Seattle. I am really missing the cool weather of Seattle now that we're back home.  We're having a little heat wave here, but I really can't complain since we have so little humidity.

Tonight we went over to the Pinders for a little music fun and treats.  Here are a couple pix:Randy was giving Sean a few pointers for the mandolin and helping Kristina with the bass.  Kristina is totally loving playing the bass and has now officially put a new bass on her birthday list.
I made banana pudding-from my southern heritage and also some "carrots" brownies. Do you remember those?  Sean took a plate full over to Jared's this evening too.

Sean is in town just for the weekend.  He leaves on Tuesday because of his work schedule. Then next Monday BYU begins classes.  All the seniors from our ward are leaving now and the moms are very sad, especially Lisa Myler.  She's having a really hard time with this.  

My brother Mike actually called me yesterday.  Hadn't heard from him in quite a while. He's looking for work.  I guess he's really hit rock bottom, no money, no job, utilities all turned off at his house, etc.  We had a nice talk, but I really hope he starts turning his life around because of this.  He seemed pretty humble.

Uncle Allen also called me yesterday.  Sounds like Tyler will be getting married over Labor Day.  He gets leave from the Navy where he's still in training to become a dentist and he and Leticia have become even closer since he's been away. She has been taking the lessons and wants to be baptized, but wants Tyler to baptize her.  I'm not sure if he'll do that right before the wedding or when. But Allen and Lisa have really grown to love her and think she'll be great with Tyler.  Cole is doing well on his mission. I haven't received any letters from him or else I'd pass them along to you.

Uncle Steve called me tonight so we caught up on life too.  Isaac came over for a couple weeks and Gio and Jen and baby came up so they could all be together.  Steve said it was nice having everyone together even though he got into quite a number of arguments with Isaac and wasn't pleased with Isaac's general behavior.  He still seems very selfish and it made Steve sad but he was glad he could have him home to let him know how much he's loved by his family.  Axel and Laura are doing well, just waiting for the twins to be born in the next couple weeks. We're planning on a trip down there over Labor Day weekend.

I got Leah and Kristina all registered for school this week. We got Leah all trained on how to open a locker, where to go, etc.  She is now excited to be there.  She's actually trying out for the volleyball team tomorrow, but with the budget cuts around here, sports really took a hit and looks like there'll only be one team for the entire school, but I'm glad she wants to try. Kristina is thinking about the golf team but it's the same time as lacrosse so that's a big conflict. Nikki is just hoping to get Mrs. Bunn as her teacher, but we don't find out til this Friday.
The YM/YW in our ward had a zone conference this week where the mission President and his wife came and spoke as well as the AP's and the elders from our ward.  Kristina came home saying how great it was. I love that our youth can have experiences like that.

Mary Thompson was doing great for a few days and was even released from the hospital to come back home, but she had to go back to SLC to the hospital where they now have to do another skin graft on one of her legs.  It's really a set-back for her and she was very discouraged, but she's engaged now and making wedding plans which seems to take her mind off her current situation.  

I spoke with Dana's mom yesterday at Albertson's.  We're now good buddies because we are Nashville mission moms together. She said to say hi. 

So I was sad to hear about Steven's dad.  I included him in my prayers all week so I hope to hear good news about his heart softening.  Are you still teaching him?

I've been thinking a lot about the "world" and all its enticements lately and have been hearing about so many friends and family who are being lured into a spiritual darkness by the bright lights of the world, and once you're blinded it's so difficult to see things of a spiritual nature. I can't even talk with them about changing their ways because having those bouts of momentary happiness or pleasure keep them from even having a desire for a long lasting peace. Yet I'm watching their lives and children crumble around them and they keep wondering why. I hope you can step back from your own life right now and see why it is that you can be so much in the world(in daily contact with people from all walks of life), yet be so filled with the spirit. It's because of the oil you put in your lamp each day and the exactness with which you are obedient.  It seems so simple, yet it is so powerful.  It is not by chance that you are strong and willing and able to preach the gospel and bear testimony every day. It's a gift that you can claim because of your preparedness and obedience to the laws that bring forth all the blessings of the gospel. 

But the thing I never want you to forget, Alex, is that you can have these same feelings of strength and peace even off your mission.  The laws and principles are the same.  I know these things because I have experienced it.  It's not some special thing just for missionaries. It's available to all of Christ's disciples, all who have a willing heart. I hope all your investigators truly understand that. That's why I take time to study the scriptures each day, to pray, to ponder and especially to listen.  I'm working on the listening part. It's because of the amazing things I am still learning from the spirit today at my age.

So anyway, that's what I've been thinking about. When one soul loses their way, I ache and try to figure it all out.  I always think there must be a way for me to fix things and make them better.  

You talked of a new technique you were going to try in getting people to progress.  I hope things are going well there.  That's kind of like parenting.  I'm always trying new techniques in hopes that I find the golden nugget that will work in every situation.  But alas, no such thing. So I just keep coming up with new techniques.  It's probably more fun that way anyway. Remember all the various chore charts, incentives to do good and rewards/punishments I came up with.  You may not remember, but I do and it makes me laugh to think of all the various games, etc I came up with.  I'm thinking of resurrecting that bag monster I had that came and ate up all your toys and clothes that you left out.  I forget his name now, but I think he's really needed in the house.

Well, dad just called from work to say good-night, so I know it must be getting late. I hope you have a great week. My prayers and thoughts are always with you.
love you much, 
mom  xoxo

Stake Conference

Aug. 14, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

Well, we just finished quite the whirlwind weekend of stake conference meetings.  We are officially split now.  The Eagle Stake consists of Eagle 1-8 wards and the boundary goes only to Linder.  The Star Stake includes Star 1,2,3, Beacon Light, Verona, Silverleaf and Lochsa Falls wards.  The new stake president is Pres. Firmage who used to be the Bishop in the Beacon Light ward.  His counselors are Pres. Tanner and Pres. Frogman(from Meridian North Stake). Now their work begins as they start to make tons of callings this week.

Our stake did most of the callings today.  Our new counselor is Pres. Gines.  I have a new counselor, Millie Enzler and a new secretary, Kris Grigg.  

Last night my old presidency had our last official act as we made and served dinner to the general authorities between meetings.  I already miss my old presidency, but I will bravely move forward. 

The talks last night and today were wonderful.  Elder Evans of the 70 who is executive director of missionary work, while having dinner at the Staffords on Friday night, told Phillip there were just 3 rules for every missionary to follow in order to have success.  He said, 1. Always stay with your companion. 2. Don't flirt 3. Don't do anything stupid.

sounds pretty simple to me.  Those are rules for married couples too :) He told the Staffords about the missionary from Guatemala last month who got mauled by a lion when he was at a zoo and had climbed up on the fence to have his picture taken.  He broke rule #3 on that one.

Today Elder Evans told us some tender stories about Pres. Monson and how caring he naturally is and that he never tells us the stories of how he is now, that we tend to just hear the same stories from Pres. Monson and how his stories are told to help motivate us to better and stronger more faith-filled behavior.  He tells them in hopes of motivating a Bishop to work harder or for us to be better neighbors, etc.  He never tells his stories hoping to elevate himself. Then Elder Evans told us how Pres. Monson made several calls through the years to Elder Evan's mom after she was widowed and checked on her, asked her to serve 2 missions and attended and spoke at funerals. He lives his life today the very way that he preaches and has such a strong desire to help the one, the lost sheep, the suffering, the lonely. It was such a wonderful talk and my testimony of Pres. Monson was reaffirmed to me today that he is truly a prophet of God and that he has learned through the years to respond quickly to the promptings he receives, an example that means a lot to me.  

Grandpa Trumbo just called and we had a great talk, of course.  I love talking to my dad.  He had lunch at Jan's and Heidi, Cameron, Steve and Carolina, Isaac, Dakota and Kassie were also there, so it was a fun lunch.  Isaac is in the states visiting for a couple weeks.

Kirk called today and is getting excited to come home.  He's ready to move on, get going in school, get dating again, etc.  This has been a wonderful experience for him.  Sean just finished up with his finals and will be coming home this weekend.  He got some time off work.  

Dad is busy with work this week since he took off time at the beginning of the month for our vacation.  Now he's making up for his time off. He's working today, but he got to go to the Saturday evening conference and the talks were mainly to the fathers and grandfathers.  They talked about how powerful a father's influence can be and how all prophets through the years have talked about how they were taught by their fathers. The BOM prophets seem to especially give credit to their fathers.  They were very uplifting talks.

One point Elder Evans made last night was to the Bishops.  He said as a young man he always looked forward to hearing the missionaries speak as they left for the mission field and when they returned.  Elder Evans said we may have taken the admonition about not having homecomings a little too far because he's seeing some Bishops asking returning missionaries to speak on topics that have hardly anything to do with their missions.  He said the returning missionary should speak about his mission, his experiences, the people he met, etc. and how as a returning missionary speaks, he is speaking as an obedient servant of the Lord, almost like they have had a rebirth and are pure and clean, almost like they have just been newly baptized.  He said their talks about their missions can be so powerful and so influential on potential missionaries sitting in the audience.  I was so happy to hear that.  Those were always my favorite sacrament meetings too and I have missed hearing some of the fun details of missions lately.

How has your week been?  I saw Julie Rasmussen today and she was asking about you.  I guess her son is with Elder Donohue and so far so good.  

How is Steven coming along?  Did his dad agree to let him get baptized?  I hope so.  I love hearing about your service there too.  Sounds like you're having a typical hot and humid summer.  In South Carolina I remember being so jealous of men in the humidity because they would always just pick up their shirts and wipe their faces and I would have to stand there and let the sweat just drip down and melt off my face.  But I also felt bad for anyone out in the heat and would let them come in if they came to the door, so maybe that hot look will work for you. I was talking with Sis. Solomonsen today and her son is in Atlanta and is also melting there.  I hope you'll get a little relief soon.

Two weeks until school starts here, so this week we're doing registrations, etc.  Leah is nervous about middle school, so Kristina and I will take her there and walk her through things.  Nikki is totally excited about being the oldest in her school.  Kristina is just anxious to get back with her friends.  I've hired Kristina for the next 2 weeks to tutor the girls in reading, math and practical applications(money, using a calculator, etc.).  She's doing a good job with them and is creative about it.

They spoke a lot about missionaries this past weekend and I couldn't help but feel that awesome feeling of having a son out on a mission.  It's an incredible feeling that probably only moms and dads know about.  We feel so blessed as a family because of what you are doing. Have a great week and I hope you can feel our prayers for you each day.

love always,

Mom xxoo

We've Landed In Eagle

Dear Elder Alex,

Well, we're back from our whirlwind vacation to Washington. We had a great time.  I saw that dad's writing you a much more detailed letter about all our activities, so I'll just give the highlights. I'm sitting here chatting with Jan and Heidi.  They're staying here because Jeff's father passed away last week and the funeral was yesterday. So it's fun having them here for just a little bit.  They've been staying in our house while we've been gone, so it was nice for them to have a place.  David came, Jeff's brothers Steve and Chris were also here in the house. They're all leaving tomorrow afternoon to go home.  Heidi looks very cute in her pregnancy state.  She's 31 weeks along, expecting a boy, Cameron junior most likely.

Kirk just sent me some pictures from his safari he just went on.  I've attached a few

Sounds like he had a really good time.  

I talked with Sean earlier this evening and he is starting his last week of summer semester.  He'll be taking his finals this week.  I'm proud of him that he stuck with his Arabic class, because taking a language in the summer is extremely difficult and he's managed to pull it off.  Hopefully he'll be able to take some time off work and come home for a little bit before the next semester.

Seattle was a fun city to explore.  We took a city tour with the Duck boat/bus and Kristina kept saying she could see you having a job as the bus driver.  Every driver was a little crazy and managed to whip all of us into a tourist frenzy along the trip.  We were all singing, yelling, semi-dancing throughout the whole tour.  Then the bus goes into the water and that was lots of fun.  The music museum was fun and it had several recording studio rooms that you could use with keyboards, guitars and drums and other various instruments.  Lots of fun experimenting and pretending to know what we were doing.

We stayed the first night in Seattle and walked all over the place despite Nikki's objections.  Pike's Market, of course, is always buzzing with activity.  We bought gum so we could add to the collection at the bubble gum wall, which I found very disgusting yet intriguing at the same time.  The girls would like to start a gum wall of our own down in your room on one of the walls. ;)

We took ferry rides several times to get back and forth from Kingston to Seattle, one time it was in complete fog.  Speaking of the weather, we were so lucky.  It was beautiful weather the entire time we were there.  I mean it was actually sunny every day except one.  Everyone kept mentioning how exceptional the weather was. We went deep sea fishing one day and it was a lot of fun despite the fact that our fish count was extremely low and dad has yet to catch his elusive salmon.  We all caught fish though and even had enough flounder for a yummy little meal the skipper made for us.

The house we rented was very nice and cozy.  We took 3 kayaks with us thanks to Dave Callister.  I didn't think Nikki was going to get the hang of it, but by the second day she was doing great.  Since we were in a little cove, there were tides to contend with and the cove itself wasn't very deep which made for warmer water, so it was pretty pleasant.  When the tide was out, the girls went out and literally played in the mud.  They loved it.  But what the girls liked the most about the house was the fact that it had Netflix.  I lost count on how many movies they watched, but they were loving it.

We also loved that we could just walk to the downtown area of Kingston where they had little shops and cafes.  One day we had crepes for dinner and most days we went into town to get ice cream cones.  Believe it or not, there was even a quilt store!  I had to go in and support small businesses.

On our last day, we went into Seattle and ate at a little bistro on Lake Washington. After lunch, we went out on the dock by the bistro and watched the Blue Angels perform over Lake Washington.  There were literally hundreds of boats all sitting out on the lake together watching the show.  It was really an impressive sight to see-the blue angels and the crowd.  From there, we went half way home to Kennewick where we stayed the night, went to church this morning and then came home.

We got you some fun trinkets from our trip, so we'll send those out to you tomorrow.  And of course you should be receiving our smattering of post cards from Seattle.

We enjoyed getting your letter while on our trip.  Thank you modern technology.  It's great to hear all about your new companion.  Are you in a 2-some now because that's how the new mission president wants it? How is Steven coming along with the lessons?  Today in the ward we attended they had a convert confirmation of a young girl in high school.  It was so cool to see her walking up there in her pants.  There was something so fresh and exciting about seeing someone new accepting the gospel message and having such a strong desire to be part of Christ's church. Later a man got up (probably about 60) and bore his testimony about his own conversion 20 years earlier and how he felt and how seeing this young girl join this weekend has brought those strong memories back to him.  He bore a powerful testimony to her and to all of us about the truths that he now knows in his life every day and the influence that the Holy Ghost has been in his life.  I loved listening to him.

So I hope Steven and many more youth will open up to your message.  My friends who joined the church while in high school and in college are still today very strong members of the church. I sat in on many many missionary discussions as a young adult and it made probably just as big an impact on me as it did on them. Try to have your discussions with other young people present.

Better get off to bed.  It's getting late and I need to close up the house.  We have tons of weeding to do tomorrow :(  It looks like we've been gone 1 month not just 1 week.

Have a miraculous week.  There are miracles granted us every day and remember to be generous and genuine in your compliments.  They magnify someone else's soul.

love you,

Mom   xoxo