Dear Elder Alex,
We had a wonderful Sabbath and hope you did too. I know you mentioned in your last letter how much you enjoyed Sunday. So you're in Marion, IL! All this time I'm thinking of you being in Tennessee and it's hard to switch gears and know that you're in Illinois. But we found you on the map and Kirk even google-earthed your area. Sounds like many of the people there are still close descendants from the mobs. I hope you've been able to have a good week and had some good appointments. With so many churches preaching about our church, maybe for some people that will actually draw them towards us instead of against.
Dad and I went over to Dave and Shirley Clegg's this week to visit with Shirley. She hurt her leg pretty and bad and has been laid up for a while and is getting bored. We told them about your letter last week and Shirley was telling me about their mission in Nauvoo. She said your letter sounded very familiar. Even though they were in Nauvoo there were areas around them that the mission president told them to not go near because the hatred was so bad. She said she can remember going into a store one day and a couple salespeople walked up to help them. But then they looked at their name tags and just turned around and walked away and never came back to help them. She said stuff like that happened all the time, but she just started feeling sorry for them. Most people they talked with on the tours had really warped ideas about things that went on in the church and they learned those things from their pastors. It's hard to believe other churches can use up so much energy on hatred or meanness towards something.
An interesting thing Shirley told me about too was they drove through one of the towns that missionaries were not supposed to go to. they didn't stop, but just drove through it. She said it was such a run down place. Just bars, tattoo parlors, etc. It was the town where many of the mobs originated from and she said it was now a run-down, nothing town. To contrast that, just up the road 10 miles is another town (I think she said Quincy) where the saints were welcomed and helped from the harassment of the mobs. Many families were taken in by people in this little town. Today the town is flourishing, lots of businesses and activity and a growing area. Shirley said the difference in the 2 towns was amazing but such a testament to her about how much the Lord blesses those who are on His side.
You sound good and I'm so glad you have such an amazing attitude-it's truly a gift and now I hope you can see how it will help not only you, but those around you.
We are well here. I got to teach in the Eagle 2nd ward today and I really enjoyed it. I thoroughly enjoy being with the sisters even when I don't know them. My 1st counselor and I team taught. I taught from an article in the Ensign called "Don't be in a Hurry." It's based on Brigham Young's dream he had shortly after Joseph Smith was killed where Joseph appeared to him and said, "Brigham, don't be in a hurry." He repeated the words pretty sharply 3 times. The people in Nauvoo at this time were hurrying to get the temple completed, going out and serving missions, getting ready for the exodus west and many other things and Brigham was leading the way. The article talked about that sometimes when we hurry all the time, it becomes just busyness and that's not how the Lord works. Our work should always be contemplative and prayerful. It also mentioned the prophecy how in the last days they would be filled with commotion. We had a good discussion about how to slow down, listen to the will of the Lord, and that this is how conversion happens throughout our lifetime. So my part was titled "Be still." Then Michelle talked about our relationship with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost and her part was titled "And know that I am God."
As usual, me the teacher, learned the most. My favorite quote from all this was "When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives." Pres. Ezra Taft Benson.
So the girls already have a day off school tomorrow. Dad is working, so I don't have anything big planned for the day off. We are going to watch the opening season BSU game tomorrow night though, so we had family night tonight. The town's going a little BSU crazy. Even Walmart had to bring in an extra cash register just for selling the BSU stuff. I'm happy for the Hawkes family. Kirk is leaving for Rexburg in the morning. It will be interesting to see how things play out with him and Laura. They have been in constant contact these past 7 weeks.
Sean finished his first week at BYU. His hard class is Chem 105, so if you have any hints for him, let him know. He loves his new apartment and his ward so far sounds good. He said it's 70% girls. He went to the first BYU game yesterday and they won 23/17. So far so good.
Kristina tried driving dad's white car to church today-stick shift for the first time/or stick fish as Nikki calls it. I wasn't in the car, but sounds like it was a rocky ride. She kept stalling cuz she was in 3rd gear instead of first. I'm sure you can remember your first few attempts in a stick shift. It's not a pretty sight, but she's a trooper just trying it.
We are having a constant influx of new families into our ward. You will not recognize it when you get back. We had 2 more families today. I can't keep up and since I'm gone a lot, I'm really out of touch. The Gills announced today that they are moving the end of the month to west Boise. Heather and Stacey Lee moved into our ward a couple weeks ago from the 2nd ward.
The Taylor twins are turning in their mission papers this week, so they should have their calls in a couple of weeks.
Austin and his family came by the house last Tuesday evening to say good-bye after he'd been set apart. Here's a couple pix (Terri was reading your letter) (The other pic is self-explanatory):
By the sound of Cameron's last letter, he's going stir-crazy in the MTC, so I hope he can hook up with Austin. Starting in October, I'll be sending you a newsletter with snippets of their letters.
EHS had their opening game last Thursday and they won it easily against Centennial. I heard EHS's quarterback played awesome.
Last night we went to Ann Morrison Park for a Balloon fest. It was pretty impressive seeing all those balloons lit up at night.
Well, that's about all the news from here. We still haven't heard if you ever got the package we sent to the mission home right in the beginning. Let us know. Also dad is sending letters snail mail, so let us know if you get them at your place in Marion.
You're always in our prayers and Nikki in particular is praying extra hard for the people of Illinois because that's what you asked for in your last letter. We read everything you say and want to help in any way. So please always let us know if there's anyone or anything you want us to pray about. We all love you very much and we know that Heavenly Father is with you every day. I learned from my lesson research this past week that when you pray, you should ask that you may do something that day that will be beneficial to the kingdom of God and always ask to have the spirit with you.
Have a spirit-filled week.
love you much,
Mom xoxoxooxxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxooxoxoXXoo
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