21 Sep 2008

Sept. 21, 2008
Dear Elder Sean,
Well, we survived Nikki's 7th birthday party (her actual birthday is Sept. 24th). She ended up with 5 friends here. It poured rain the whole night before and into the morning of the party, so we had to change our plans of going to a park and we just ended up having it here at the house. Our basement, of course, has a plethora of activities so it worked out just fine and everyone had fun. Nikki said she could hardly sleep the night before. I made a chocolate bundt cake and we had pizza. Our new favorite pizza is the bbq ranch chicken pizza from Winco. So that's the one Nikki wanted and Alex was our pizza delivery guy. It's so nice having him driving. We played some games, but mostly the girls just played with the dress up stuff and we took their pictures. I'll send a few after I finish writing.

How are things going in your zone? Did you meet your standard of excellence? Being out in the mission field again compared to being in the office must be a bit of a culture shock. You said you were working on obedience as a zone. Is that a problem there? You can see why they had to "raise the bar", but I know there's still problems. How's Pres. Olsen doing these days. You mentioned earlier that he had a lot on his plate and could use some prayers. Faithful and obedient elders are probably some of his best answers to prayers.

Money wise-I'm trying to check on your account regularly so that you have enough and more for any needs you might have or package debts, so don't worry. You've been very frugal on your mission and I really appreciate that.

Kirk called earlier this evening and is doing well. He and Rachel are still doing well and dating. The story could change every week, but for now that's the standing. He says he really feels good about taking it slowly and I know he's praying about it. These are big decisions after your mission and I can remember feeling the weight of the decisions, but it's also a very fun time of life, choosing your vocation, choosing your mate, etc. He's a coach for one of the volleyball teams there now and is looking forward to the season. He's also gotten back into swimming trying to stay in shape.

Alex is over at Yorgason's studying the scriptures and also planning for Homecoming. His date answered him by announcing it over the morning announcements at school. One plan he's thinking about is having a dinner here on our back porch, so we'll see what they come up with.

Dad said in his stake meeting this morning they announced they were going to be doing Dance Festival next May for the youth. I wish Kristina was old enough. Maybe they'll do it again when she's in Young Women. She just misses the deadline. But Alex should have fun with it. He loves dancing and going to dances.

We've been keeping up with the Wright's from our ward on their mission to South Africa. Remember they're on a church security mission and their mission encompasses the whole southeastern coast of Africa. They have a blog and so it's easy to access and see pictures and stories from their mission. I love modern technology. They sound great despite Sis. Wright having to eat strange and exotic foods which she has a real aversion to.

I didn't realize that Elder Christofferson had served a mission in your area. That's amazing that you've met people he taught. Some day a young elder will meet people you have taught too.

We had the sister missionaries over for dinner last night. The sister from Samoa, Sister Aleki, was funny when I asked her if there was anything she didn't like. She said tomatoes. Then I asked her if there was something she would like and she immediately said, chicken, fried chicken. I asked her if she ate the entire chicken including the bones and she said yes, we always eat the bones in Samoa. (Remember when Leah did that-quite a shocker!) The girls absolutely love her and cling to her wherever she is. She taught them some Samoan words and then she said the prayer in Samoan. Her village is very, very close to their village (in fact their village is part of her ward) and it's been so interesting to hear her stories. I probably love it more than the girls. Sister Aleki said she would like to keep in contact and that when she gets ready to leave her mission she's going to call me and I'll get her email address so we can keep in contact. She said when we go to Samoa that she would like to be there with us. I would love having her there since she speaks both English and Samoan. She keeps saying how lucky the little girls are to be here and she's always telling them to go on a mission like her. She said when she opened her mission letter she laughed because she didn't even know where Boise Idaho was in the world and her mom was sad that she wasn't staying in Samoa for her mission. But her brother had served in California and he told her where Idaho was and told her it would be great and that she would be eating potatoes all the time. She was worried about that. She says she never hears from her family because they don't have computers and don't even write letters. But she emails her brother who now is married and living in California. She took a picture of herself with the girls and is going to send it back home. I don't know what's going to happen here with this new contact in Samoa but I feel very calm about it and feel almost like Sister Aleki is family and I love it.

The girls just finished watching Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Donny Osmond. They liked it so much the first time, that they watched it again tonight. We used to have it on VHS but got rid of it, so I saw it the other day on DVD and bought it. I remember how much you guys liked it when you were young and thought the girls would like it. They'll be singing the songs all week now. Dad just put them to bed. He sends his love.

Here are some missionary tips from my little book before I close:
1. Have district/zone breakfasts on P-day.
2. Encourage young people to serve missions.
3. Encourage older couples to serve missions.
4. When you have one year left, serve like you have only one month left. When you have one month left, live it like you still have a year.
5. Read Nephi's Psalm in 2 Nephi 4:15-35
6. Write your family weekly, not weakly. (you don't have a problem with that one :)
7. Have new members write a letter to your family.
8. Play "Name That tune with church hymns in district meetings.
9. Make dinner for an investigator using foods and recipes from home.
10. Make use of every restroom opportunity. You never know when you'll find another one.

Have a week of hope and joy and charity. Remember each morning that I've prayed for you that day.
I love you,
momx0x0x0x0x0x0x00x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x

ps we still can't see any map that shows the names of where you are. We can't see a Parque Capital on any map. Just give a general area within Cordoba-North,South, East or West, etc.