7 Dec 2008

December 7, 2008
Dear Elder Sean,
It's my turn at the computer. First off, I'll send another email with a copy of your farewell talk in it. I'll work on the mission call too a little later.
I had a wonderful day at church. It's amazing how you can actually walk into church stiffnecked and walk out meek and full of love. That's what happened to me today. My stiffnecked part was just because I had been so short with the little girls just as we were getting ready to leave and to top it off, Alex was still in bed after I had called for him 45 minutes before. But the testimonies today touched my heart and by the time we sang our closing song, Silent Night, I was truly humbled and had that fire within me that made me want to do and be better. Songs are definitely a way for the spirit to speak.

Dad and I have been discussing tonight how to help some families in our ward. There are so many who are struggling that it is almost overwhelming to figure out how to help. Dad said usually by this time he has a small group of families who have come to him asking where they can help this Christmas. But this year, so far, he hasn't heard from anyone. We are having a tight time ourselves (after a lovely IRS audit) but are so blessed that dad has a great job and a steady income. As a family we are going to cut way back this Christmas and use what we can to help others. But with so many in need (including many members of my own family), it seems like whatever we do won't really make a dent. We will have to pray about this to know what to do and how to do it. Many families are very close to losing their homes(a few already have. I think I told you that Uncle Scott and Janet have lost their house too and will be moving in with Toni in the Flint house this month). The families here would happily move to a smaller place, but the real estate market is dead, so they are stuck. It is all very humbling.

We had a great ward breakfast last Saturday. I'll enclose some pics from it for you. They served breakfast burritos (one of my favorite breakfasts), the Primary performed, they had a slide show, took family pix and had a display of all the missionaries from our ward. We asked Bro. Hugentobler to help us with yours and he brought some paraphernalia from Argentina to put on the table. Members of the ward wrote some little notes to each missionary, so we'll get those out in the mail to you too.



That afternoon we went to downtown Eagle for the Christmas days event where Kristina and her band played.

Alex and his Premium Blend group also sang. He has a solo for the Christmas concert this year and he did a great job. I'll take pix at the concert this weekend.

So how was your mission conference? I can't wait to hear about it. Tell me the agenda and what the talks were about and what you did. How is the Villegas family doing? I hope they are still progressing. This time, Leah is the one who always remembers to pray for Aurora in her prayers.

We are having fun putting together your packages. I hope you enjoy them and that you find good homes for many of the things we included. It will be fun to hear what you liked, what was funny, what hit the spot, etc.

We listened to the Christmas Devotional from the First Presidency tonight. What a treat! It was very motivating.

Today the bowl games were announced. Utah is playing Alabama in the Sugar bowl (should be a great game). BYU is playing Arizona in the Pioneer bowl in Vegas and BSU is playing TCU in San Diego in the Poinsetta Bowl. Just got an email from Gentry Myler saying he has a few priority tickets for the BYU game and wondering if we want any. He is such a big fan.

Well, since I wrote last Kirk and Rachel have broken up. I think it's for good this time. He's ok with it and was feeling a little bored with the relationship while they were here for Thanksgiving. I could tell and actually I'm happy that they're both going a different direction. There was no animosity at all, just not the right match and moving on. Kirk will be home from school this Saturday and will start working for Travis at the mall right away. I hope he gets involved with the singles ward here. Alex thinks he missed the early registration for BYU. For some reason Eagle High didn't get his transcripts in and either did NNU where he took a class. He got everything else in though. He wants to room with Austin Westerberg next year so they've been doing some scheming and planning.

You can tell Kristina is getting older because she's even talking about what she wants to major in in college. Right now it's dance, photography and teaching. Leah says she's just good at jump rope and wants to do something with that. Nikki laughs at her and says that's not something you can major in. Leah may have the last laugh as she goes on to compete in major jump rope competitions around the world, who knows? Nikki still wants to be a chef and certainly still has a love of food.

Jan and Jeff and Mary and David are coming this weekend. They're going to Mary's graduation (yes, she's finally graduating after 6 years of college) and then they're coming here for a couple days before heading home. It will be fun to have them here. We're trying to get Charmaine here too. She has a lot of vacation time accrued with her government job, so we told her to spend it here. Charmaine is doing great these days. She's getting more and more active in the church and has decided she wants to go to the temple too. Her break-up with Lanny is what really spurred all this on and I'm really happy for her. We're hoping to go through the temple with her the week after Christmas.

From your last letter, I was most excited about the fact that you have been learning so much from President Olsen and specifically how to receive revelation. Modern day revelation is what sets our church apart from anything else in the world and to know that each of us can have that access is truly a gift. I have depended a lot on the Holy Ghost in my life and I know without a doubt that I am where I am and with the people that I am and have the family that I do because of revelation in my life. I don't know what I'd do without that inner compass. More importantly I've learned to recognize when I am far from the spirit and how to draw it back in. These are all things you can teach with the people you meet because you too have experienced it for yourself.

Have a wonderful week. Enjoy your warm weather. Alex and I have been trying to hold off and not wear coats yet (we're in denial), but I think it's inevitable.
Be humble and prayerful and the spirit will work through you.
Love always,
momxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxox