Dear Elder Alex,
First off, happy spring! We are definitely looking forward to some better weather here. It's been a bit crazy and a very wet March. Wet being everything from rain, to sleet, to hail, to snow.
Sounds like you are doing well and acclimating quite well in Goodlettsville. (BTW, the American Idol girl from Goodlettsville got voted off last week) We were rooting for her, but she wasn't quite the same caliper as the other contestants this year.
I have to say that I was very moved by just a small portion of your last letter, in fact it brought tears to my eyes. It was your story about when Elder McDermott took his phone out of his pocket and said he needed to call Stacy and how the timing for that was most assuredly a strong prompting from the spirit. Stacy's got to know from that that Heavenly Father is very aware of her, her trials, her desires, etc. What I also learned from that was how easily Elder McDermott received and acted on that prompting. What you guys do each day to spiritually prepare yourselves, i.e. gospel study, companionship study, prayers, fasting, strict obedience, etc. reaps such immense blessings and the most powerful of all those blessings is being able to have the spirit as a constant companion. What I've been thinking about through the week is that we can all have that same blessing. We don't have to be full time missionaries to experience that. I'll admit it's tough when there are so many worldly endeavors pulling at us, but the preparation for the day is the same and should be the same. It's given me so much insight into who I am and who's work I always want to be a disciple for. It's very motivating, so thank you for sharing that in your letter.
So today I had to pay penance for something I did a couple days ago. I got a call from someone who's name I won't divulge, but he wanted to have a few minutes of my time to sell me on a multi-level marketing opportunity. Red flag! But he's a friend, so I listened for a bit and then told him I didn't want to do something like that, I'm not a good salesman and with my current calling in the stake, I didn't feel it would be appropriate either. So he eventually understood, but still sent an email with info, called back again, offered to have me just try the product in case I'd like to order it and then asked if I could give him just a name or two of someone he could call. I had already said no to him about the company, so I thought maybe I'll just give him one name. So out came Myles McKell. I didn't think much about it. Then my friend called back a couple days later to get Myles' phone number. Now I was stuck and I had to give it to him. Not 5 minutes later, the phone rings and I look to see Myles McKell calling me. I thought, oh no! Then I answered the phone and I started laughing so hard that I could barely talk, I was laughing so hard I was crying(you know how I get). Myles said, "You can't even talk about this, can you?" He was teasing me of course. I told him how sorry I was that I had sold him out. Myles hates multi-level marketing as much as me, calls them all Ponzi schemes and gets calls all the time, so he was able to hopefully say no firmly although he's not sure the message got through. I told Myles that I owed him one and we just had a good laugh over it.
So today I made some cookies and attached a paper that said "Ponzi Penance" and took it over to the McKells. Dad went with me and Myles laughed so hard when he saw it. We ended up visiting with them for over an hour and we had a great time talking and laughing. Myles is like a brother to me and I love having him here in our stake. So remember cookies always seem to soften the blow.
BYU is now in the final 16 after a great win Saturday against Gonzaga. They played the best I've seen them play. Kristina had Scott Beckstrom here to watch the game with us. They have become good friends, but I'm hoping that's all it is. Don't worry, I'm keeping a close watch on this.
This past week I spent in several doctor's offices, not fun. Nikki had an ear appointment. Looks like she has to have tubes put back in her ears again, they are just not healing properly and it will cause hearing loss if we don't do anything about it. The same doctor took a look at my vocal chords too. He said they looked good, so I need to drink a lot more water and keep them hydrated especially while singing or when I'm speaking for a long time. I tried it today at choir and it helped a little, but I still went a little hoarse. I think it's the dry air of Idaho that's doing it. Then I went to the hand surgeon so he could look at my finger. It's not healing because there's still some gauze in the wound. So he wants me to soak my finger each day in soapy water and scrub it to see if it will help. If it doesn't, he's going to have to numb up my finger and do some aggressive scrubbing and possibly a little cutting, cleaning out the wound so it will then heal. Having my finger hurt all over again does not sound very fun to me, but I'm very tired of it not being healed yet and I'd like to use it. I'll keep you posted.
This week Kristina has a couple lacrosse games and a choir concert. Nikki and Leah had a choir concert last week. Leah and Nikki both go to ward choir now, but somehow I think it's just because there's always treats there for whoever comes. We sang If You Could Hie to Kolob today and it was kind of a miracle that we were able to pull it off. It wasn't the easiest to sing.
The Pinders spoke in church today and they did a great job. I could listen to Randy Pinder speak every week. He's very funny, very real and then can also be serious when he needs to be. I loved both their talks today on agency. Sis. Pinder introduced me to her mother-in-law as the one who has a son in Nashville. Sis. Pinder is just dying that you get to be there and they would love to get there especially while you are there.
We got the letter and pictures from Sis. Truman. It was so good being able to see you in action, so to speak. She's so nice to send those to us and we really appreciated it. I wrote her back, and I'd love to get to know her better and keep in touch.
Kirk just got home from a trip to Rexburg for the weekend. He had appointments with his school counselors about his major and getting ready to start an internship, etc. He also had a couple dates, which is always good. So he'll decide this week about an internship in Uganda.
Uncle Steve called to let us know about an opening in the BYU health dept. for a doctor. His friend who is a doctor there hasn't advertised the job yet, but said if dad was interested he'd like to talk with him. I don't think this is the time to move and dad's still pretty happy with his jobs in Mountain Home and Ontario, but some of the benefits sure sound good (like free tuition for all our kids!)
I hope your work is going well there, that Stacy (hopefully baptized by now) and Rick and Jerry are all moving forward. I hope your zone is working hard, enjoying the hard work and learning how to stay close to the spirit. We learned in RS today that if we don't respond to the promptings of the spirit in our lives, then the next time the spirit speaks to us, it will be even harder to hear. So learn to listen and to act.
You're an awesome example of faith and good works. They go hand in hand. Keep sharing your testimony and your sense of humor-they also go hand in hand. My prayers are always with you, my heart is always with you.
love you much,
Mom
XXOO
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