2 Nov 2008

Nov. 2, 2008
Dear Elder Sean,
How are you doing Sean? November seemed to sneak up so fast, I can't believe it. I didn't even realize it was fast Sunday until I was going to bed last night. Probably because we just had fast Sunday the week after conference. We turned our clocks back last night, so we all got an hour extra sleep. Alex still managed to sleep in until 2 minutes before leaving for church though, and only he has the unique ability to actually crawl out of bed and be in the car within 2 minutes. There's something about teenagers and sleep that go hand in hand.

I just sent off the letter to Mitch's mom for November's newsletter. I hope by now you've gotten the one for October. I love reading the letters from all your friends and I'm sure you really enjoy it.

Did you get a pkg from us this past week? So much time goes by between when we send it and when we hear that you get it that I can't even remember what we put in it. Anyway, let me know what was in there and any other comments about it. We have lots of Halloween candy to send to you thanks to the generosity of your sisters. This was Alex's first year that he didn't go trick or treating (and it was only because Eagle had a football game, which they won in the second overtime. The QB broke his knee in the first overtime and Dallas had to take over. So it looks like Dallas will be QB for the game this weekend.) Oh and BYU won in a nail biter and BSU won easily.

Since Halloween night was busy, we had our deadman meatloaf today for dinner. Mmmmm. He was tasty as ever. I also made twice baked potatoes which was a unanimous hit. This year Leah changed her mind and was a martial arts person, Nikki was a renaissance princess and Kristina was the green part of a rainbow. I'm supposed to be getting pics from the Cameron's with the entire rainbow, but haven't gotten them yet. So I'll have to send them to you later. It was beautiful weather and we really enjoyed walking through Countryside subdivision seeing all the ward members out in the streets.

Alex is leaving tomorrow for a choir trip to Washington. He's gone until Friday, but the kids have school off this Thurs and Friday. He's also getting the last of his paperwork for BYU finished.

In the ward--the Purnells go into the MTC this Wed. They are anxious and ready. Lindsay Gill unexpectedly came home from her mission in Sweden. She got sick and couldn't really keep food down and nothing they tried helped. So they felt it best if she come home and get checked out here. The hard part about coming home is that you can't go back out internationally when you get better. So she will have a decision to make, whether or not she will go back out when she's feeling better or whether she feels she is done with her mission. Either way, I hope she knows and feels she's made the right choice and doesn't look back. Life takes turns in ways you never could predict and sometimes years later you can look back and see the hand of the Lord in an otherwise miserable situation. But at the time you just have to have faith and feel like you're making the best decision you can and trust in the Lord.

Tomorrow Leah graduates from her Learning Technics course. Yippee!! She and I have been doing it for 30 weeks now. The exercises and practices we have had to do each day have taken anywhere from 30 minutes to 90 minutes and it's been A LOT of work, but Leah and I really feel like we've accomplished something and she's learned so many great techniques that she can apply in her school work now. She's had to do things that even Alex has had trouble with. It's a lot of multi-tasking to help the right and left sides of the brain work better together. Some day we'll show you some of the wild things we had to do.

Kristina is doing well. She loves modern dance and is very tired after her workouts. She's not crazy about the piano, but you know how I feel about that (the new Rivendell place is up and running. They actually call it Arts West Academy now, but it's a beautiful place and she's also singing lead in her band for a couple of songs which she is enjoying. In her technology class at school, she made a model 66 Mustang. She had to put the engine parts together, the body and paint it. She painted hers light blue with a dark blue stripe. The other day the fuel pump went out on the Mustang, so we were looking under the hood and Kristina was so amazed that it looked just like her model. She got pretty excited about it. We took the car over to Brent's and he showed me how he could see there was a leak in the fuel pump. Now I'll know for future. He had it fixed in about 2 hours. I love that we live so close to him.

Nikki told me the other day "Don't you know that Samoan girls are hungrier?" I asked how she knew that and she just said, "Cuz I'm a Samoan girl." Makes sense to me. She's bigger than Leah now and it always worries me, but she truly does get hungry way more often than the rest of us and she loves all kinds of food. Food brings her true joy.

Speaking of food, are you still enjoying the Argentine food? I was reading an article in LDS Living that was talking about the kid from the BYU football team who went to Argentina on his mission and when he returned he was 30 lbs heavier. He just said the meat was so good. The coach wasn't happy with him, but he worked hard all summer and dropped the weight.

Caryn Trumbo wrote me this week and said her nephew just got to the Phillipines and his companion is Elder Goodwin from Eagle Idaho. How fun is that? She was asking if I knew him.

It was great to hear that Maria Cristina got baptized and for her miracle after the baptism. I don't know why more people in the ward don't come to the baptisms here. they happen so infrequently that you'd think it would be a big deal. Maybe the word just doesn't get out. Our newest member in our ward is doing well. Dad said he had a good talk with him today and he's so willing and able to be a part of our ward and the Lord's church.

How is Maxi? Have you guys had your guys night with his dad yet? That was very funny.

Here are some pix from the last week. The quilt is my latest completion. And Kristina made a cute pillowcase for her Young Women in Excellence evening. The fabric has the YW values on it.



Well, I better sign off. I am always anxious to hear from you, to hear your stories and to feel the spirit of your mission. We will be sending a package this week, so if there is anything in particular you need, let us know. As always, I hope you know how much we think of you here and how much we pray for you and your companion and the people of Argentina.
Love you very much,
momxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxooxoxooxoxoxo