In California

Mar. 27, 2011
dear elder Alex,
So I'm sitting here in our best western motel room with my iPad on my
lap,the girls are fighting over who gets the top bunk bed(yes,we
actually have bunk beds), Sean and dad are watching espn,and Kirk is
texting someone. Same old vacation stuff. We left Friday afternoon and
drove to Utah where we picked up Sean from the airport where he was
leaving his car so he had something to drive home Monday when he flies
home so he can get back to school.
We all spent the night with grandma and grandpa and charmaine came up.
In the morning after a tasty waffle breakfast we took off for Vegas.
We stopped along the way in st.George and saw Tyler and the kids and
also tyler's fiancé. She's a girl he met at a Mexican club. She
doesn't speak any English so we didn't have a big conversation with
her, although I did try a bit(you know me and my baby spanish). Tyler
is still going into the navy next month but is hoping to get married
in the fall. His fiancé is not Mormon but has started taking the
lessons. We'll see how this turns out. Allen and Lisa were on a
painting job so they couldn't meet us. We'll see them on the way back
up to Utah.
In Vegas we went to the Lion King at the Mandalay Bay. It was
awesome. The whole thing was a visual treat and so creative and we
had great seats. We stayed outside of Vegas in Henderson and we went
to church there this morning. What a great meeting this morning. The
theme was missionary work and the speakers were so good. A woman in
the ward spoke about her experiences being part of Gladys knights
traveling choir, a choir she just at the last minute decided to try
out for. She thought it was just for a choir for a special fireside
but it turned out to be a choir Gladys was putting together to go on
the road and do missionary work through music. She related a couple
miraculous experiences. One is that a woman she roomed with was
anxious to go to mobile Alabama where she had previously served her
mission, but she had been having a difficult time in her life lately
and was lamenting the fact that she didn't even think any of her
missionary work had made any difference in anyone's life. She was just
feeling down about a lot of things in life and really struggling.
While at a fireside in mobile, they had just finished performing and
the local stake president announced the closing prayer saying that
this brother was the first African American to have received the
Melchizedek priesthood. The man came up to pray, but then said he
felt impressed to share his story before he prayed about how 2angel
sister missionaries had changed his life many years ago when he was a
pastor of another church. He not only joined the church but also took
most of his congregation with him as they also joined the church. He
was still being a great missionary today as he was responsible for
many of the people who were showing up to these firesides and he was
even renting vans to take them all over the south to the different
firesides. The speaker's friend realized as he was talking that she
was one of those 2 sister missionaries who had taught him many years
ago and she immediately felt a spirit of renewal in her soul which she
had been badly needing.
This was just one of the miraculous stories that she related. Then
she sang a song which means a lot to her and has become a way for her
to share her testimony.
the next speaker introduced an idea to the ward. They will be
fasting for forty days as a ward starting April 1. They have a sign
up for families and 1 or2 families will each take one day during the
forty days in which they'll fast for missionary experiences and
opportunities in the ward. Then every Monday night they would like
each member of the ward at 8pm to have a kneeling prayer where they
will ask the Lord for missionary opportunities specifically in their
ward. I just thought it was an awesome idea. He said fasting without
the prayer is just starving. Then one of the elders closed the
meeting with his testimony. It made me want to be a member of their
ward!
Then we drove to southern California to our hotel. We then went to
susans for dinner and games. Grandma and grandpa were there, Toni and
her kids all came over, along th jan, jeff, Mary and david, also my
brother david and his kids, and Maria and James and Hudson(he's
pulling himself up on things now and almost walking). I'll send
pictures next week since I'm not at home.
How has your week been? We got another letter from Wendee Truman with
some pictures. I also ran into Seth millers dad this week and he said
Seth is doing well in Canada but he's freezing and has a lazy
companion so he's struggling a little right now. Kirk got rear ended,
so I had to take his truck into treasure valley collision for an
estimate.
Can't wait to hear about your new comp. From what you've told us
about elder McDermott he'll make an excellent AP. I hope you are
doing well and working hard. Dad sends his love and we'll be sending
some vacation goodies to you in the mail. Everyone here asked about
you and said they love getting your letters each week. Keep the faith
and expect the miracles.
I love you very much,
Mom
XXOO