Dear Elder Alex,
Hi. We just pulled in from our trip to Utah. We had a lot of fun in a short amount of time as usual. We left Friday morning after dad got back from his 11 yr old scout campout to Frost's land on Thursday night. Before we left town though, we made a stop over at Pres. and Sis. McCauley's to welcome them home from their mission and have a little chat with them.
The McCauley's had a wonderful and tough mission. I asked them each to tell us 2 things they learned while on their mission. Sis. McCauley said she learned that Heavenly Father truly knows and loves all of His children no matter how far in the middle of nowhere they live and also she learned that she wasn't able to put her pride aside while serving her mission. She said some things were very difficult and her pride got in the way, so she will probably have to serve another mission to try and overcome that tendency. Pres. McCauley said he learned that the Lord really is in charge of His church and that it is really His church. He also learned that no matter who is called to the work, the Lord qualifies them. They reported their mission today, but we had to miss it since we were in Utah. They will also be speaking at a special High Priest fireside later this month, so we will get to hear them then. They said to say hi to you.
We then drove to Utah and went straight to Provo because we had tickets for Homecoming Spectacular. The Men's Chorus did a great job. In fact, they did quite a bit more dancing moves this year, even tap dancing, mouth harp, spoons and acrobatics by a few.Quite the diverse group! It was a good show and we ended sitting right next to the Dumas's just by coincidence.
We spent the night at Steve and Carolina's. Dakota has put in her papers for her mission and is expecting her call sometime this week. So if you want to make a guess for both a stateside and a foreign mission, you can join in the pool. She's very excited.
Saturday dad and I got up early and went to the Provo temple for a session. It was so nice to be in the temple again and the Provo temple feels so huge compared to our petite Boise temple. But since our temple has been closed, we will try to go to the temple whenever we visit another city. Then we all went to the bookstore, of course and then headed to SLC and visited my uncle Marv and Aunt Jerri where Marv gave Kristina some pointers on playing the upright bass which she is dying to learn. Then we met grandma and grandpa at Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. Charmaine and Sean were with us the whole time too. From there we made a quick stop at G&G's house where we got to inspect their torn up kitchen. All the cupboards have been torn out of the upstairs kitchen and they should be getting a brand new kitchen in just a couple weeks. I'm excited for them to have something nice.
Then we headed back down to Provo, rested for a spell at the Trumbo's and eventually took off for a late night 8pm start-time game. It has been so cold especially in Utah, even some snow, but last night the weathered tempered just enough to make the game enjoyable. They won and even started and played with a new quarterback, Nelson, who everyone calls "Samson" because of his long locks. Some of the girls call him Fabio. Anyway, he did a much better job than Heaps so most people were very happy about that. We got home around midnight after a long day.
Today we went to Steve and Carolina's home ward where we are beginning to feel right at home, then went over to Axel and Laura's to see their little twin girls. They're very cute and very small. Lots of baby gear all over their apartment.
After a yummy lunch at Carolina's and a fun chat with Steve and Carolina about life, we got on the road and headed home. That's it in a nutshell.
I'm hoping to hear something from Kirk tonight about his weekend in Canada, not to mention I don't even know what time he's flying in tomorrow. He had such a difficult time getting to her, I'm sure he doesn't even want to leave now. On Thursday morning he flew from Boise to Spokane where Sarah, her mom and brother were waiting to pick him up. However, the plane, after circling for quite some time, could not land because of fog and was diverted to Portland. After several hours, they finally got to board again and flew back to Spokane, but once again, they got even close enough that Kirk could see the runway, but all of a sudden the plane jolted upwards quickly and the pilot said he was not able to land. Again, they flew back to Portland. This time, Kirk contacts me while flying and asks me to call Sarah's mom and let them all know what was happening. Her family is being extremely patient and says they will even stay there overnight so they can pick him up the next morning if they need to. Kirk is now frustrated and learns that Spokane airport has closed for the day. He has to stand in a huge long line and get new flight plans for the next day. Meanwhile, he is calling me and I'm looking into other routes. Then I check into rental cars, call Southwest to see if he will still get credit for his missed flight (which he does) and then let Kirk know. Kirk now has 2 other guys who were sitting next to him in the plane who want to drive with him. Next time I hear from him they've rented a minivan and a family of 3 has also joined them and they are on their way (a 6 hour drive). Sarah's family knows some people in Spokane, so they decide to drop in and visit them until Kirk gets their which isn't until around 2am. Then they all take off and drive another 3 hours to their home in Canada and get in around 5:30am. I'm sure Kirk was just so happy to finally be with Sarah.
Just before Kirk left here, we went ring shopping and he found one he really likes, so I think he'll be getting it this week. But now we hear that Sarah can't get married to an American and start working without getting the proper visas which we've heard take anywhere from 6-9 months. It's a very convoluted procedure which I have been researching like crazy. Tuesday afternoon I'm meeting with an immigration attorney to see what can be done and what can be done quickly. We'll keep you posted. :)
I learned through all of this that our desire to be "home" and to be with those we love is a powerful yearning and even stronger motivator. For about 15 hours on Thursday, I literally couldn't think of anything else other than trying to help Kirk get to his proper destination. I know he was feeling the same thing and for that matter, Sarah and her family were also feeling the same way. So many factors were out of our control, but the strong desire was still there and all we could do was pray and lean on the Lord for His help. Family is everything, home truly is where our hearts yearn to be-both our earthly home and our Heavenly home, and sometimes all our efforts need to be turned to the "lost sheep".
So, how was your week? I hope things went much smoother than some of our adventures. After you mentioned last week how much you loved Pres. Uchtdorf's talks, I went back this week and re-listened to his talk on Saturday. For some reason this time his talk really struck me powerfully and I'm even going to use some of it as a basis for my talk at my upcoming training meeting the end of this month. So thank you for inadvertently inspiring me.
So how is Ricky doing? Has he been able to quit smoking? And what about Benita? Did she listen to conference? I'm anxious to hear what she thought and how she's doing.
I was wondering about the MTC trainers. Who was it that came out to your mission and is it something they do for all the missions? That seems like it would be a nice treat to hear them, not to mention a great reminder of what you're doing and why you're doing it. I have thought often about Pres. Uchdorf's talk to the women at our broadcast and the point he made about never forgetting the "why" of what we're doing when we're working in the church. It's so easy to get caught up in the what's and when's, but the "why" is what truly matters. It's really helped me keep focused as I've had to make some RS decisions in the last couple weeks.
Sean is doing well, just finished with mid-terms. He's still got his job with BYU security and juggling all his classes quite well. Kristina is still on countdown towards the big "16" and I'm helping with her big party. Met with a DJ last week and it sounds like it will be a lot of fun. Leah is growing up fast. I can't believe how much girls change as they get ready to go into Young Women. Nikki is loving being a double digit number (10), but she still hates being the youngest and isn't enjoying being bossed around by everyone. Dad is getting ready for his birthday this week. Not sure what we're going to do for him yet, but we'll try to pamper him!
I hope you have a wonderful week. Enjoy the fall weather and the new music rules!!
Love you,
Mom xxoo
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