Dec. 5, 2010
Dear Elder Alex,
It was so fun to hear that Jessica got baptized last week. What a nice opportunity for you too to be able to actually baptize her. We loved seeing the pictures. Keep them coming! How is Samantha coming along with her lessons?
Today was a good Sabbath. At choir practice we had a full orchestra practice--well, before you get too excited about that, our entire orchestra consisted of Ellen Hullinger on flute, Coleman Madsen on violin and Spencer Madsen on cello. But it sounded awesome. Next week is the Stake Choir fireside and each ward is singing one number for it, so we're preparing for that first and then of course the sacrament meeting where we sing lots of songs will be on the 19th. It's fun meeting at Dustin Simpson's house.
Sean called earlier and reported back about his big interview with the group Imagine Dragons who were performing in Provo. He did the pre-concert interview with them back stage. His roommates were jealous and Sean said they were all cool guys and very talented. He said the lead singer was mesmorizing to watch. Then he said that they were really starting to feel like a full-fledged band because they got to do a pre-concert interview.
I'm glad you had a great Thanksgiving. We sent your package to you last week, so let us know when you get it and what you think. Sorry we couldn't get any footage of Steve and Carolina and their gang. We really missed having them here. You can tell I'm still trying to get over it. I really look forward to having Steve here each year.
It's still bitterly cold here but it's supposed to warm up to the 40's this week. I'll gladly welcome the 40's. According to my widgets on the computer, it looks like you're having some pretty cold weather too, at least cold for the South. The snow has not melted here, but at least the roads are clear. Kristina's getting in some good driving in the snow practice time.
We had the biggest snow storm here last Wednesday since around the 90's sometime, according to the old timers. Here are a couple pics:
I think we got about 8" of snow and just about everything shut down. A snow day from school is always good times! I was awakened about 5:30am by a recording from the school district tell me school was canceled, however the whole message was in Spanish. Thank goodness they were speaking slowly and very clear. And once again thank goodness for high school Spanish.
I had to cancel an RS luncheon that day and it was a hard call for me to make because Julie Rasmussen was in charge of the whole thing and had put a lot of effort into it's preparation. I felt really bad for her but I couldn't insist that the older sisters in our stake all try to get out on the roads and make it to the stake center and back. YM/YW also got canceled.
Our ward seems to be growing still. We had yet another couple move in this week. They bought Jeff and Audra Davis's house. They moved from Houston. We've had about 10 families move in since the summer. I also noticed there was a big sold sign on the Kent's house last week, so we'll see who moves in there. Speaking of the Davis's, they went to Ethiopia and adopted a little boy. He is so cute and it's so fun to hear him talk. He doesn't know very much English, but when he does talk he has somewhat of an Italian accent. He rolls all his R's. He's 5 years old and has a great big smile and his name is Sam. We all call him Sammy but Audra didn't want to call him Sammy for obvious reasons, but he just looks like a Sammy, so he's going to have to live with it. Hope he sings! He broke his collar bone the first week he was here. He fell off the couch and got a hairline fracture, then the next day he slipped on the ice and broke it more. Welcome to America.
Will you please send us a Christmas wish list today. Thanks. That will help us get things to you on time. Garments, shirts, ties, books, pencils, pens, under armor.....whatever you can think of. Anyway, dad says he wants your Christmas list by Monday night when he gets home from work. He loves working on your packages and has a lot of fun with them.
Football report-BSU was back to it's old self again. They won 50-14 and played like the BSU we all know and love. It was a fun game to watch and it certainly helped Brotzman feel a bit better. There were banners up everywhere in support of him and he played great. BSU has been invited to the bowl in Las Vegas to play against Utah. Not quite the BCS invitation, but we'll just have to get past that.
I was talking with Grandpa Trumbo this week and he was saying what an awesome outlook you have on life and how much he enjoys and looks forward to your letters each week. I often wonder what some of my brothers and sisters think, the ones who don't go to church any more and I pray that they will have experiences that will help them feel the spirit in their lives. I'm hoping your missionary spirit will carry into their hearts too.
I had a nice, somewhat small but meant a lot to me, missionary experience this week. On my quilting blog, feeddogsdown I showed a picture of our Christmas tree and talked about how we always put a picture of Christ on the tree and I said"We always put a picture of Christ on the tree so He doesn't get lost amid all the glitter and glam of Christmas." A woman from Michigan wrote back that she loved that idea and wanted to borrow that tradition for her own home. She's not a member, but has been reading my blog for some time now and I always make sure to include our religion in any way that I can. I may put your picture on my next post and talk about your mission (hopefully that's ok with you) so she can know there are missionaries everywhere, etc.
Your influence is greater than you know, so stay true to your covenants and be obedient so you can receive the great blessings that come through obedience to the laws and principles of the gospel. They are real.
Here's a quote I like and used for something I did for the ward RS presidents: "He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree." Roy L. Smith
I know as a missionary you will get to have Christmas in your heart every day for 2 years, but my prayer is that you will help those you teach to know where to look to find that same feeling. He stands at the door (everyone's door) and knocks.
I love you very much and hope you have a warm week filled with many teaching appointments.
Mom
XXOO
Say hey to Elder Jolley!
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