Dear Elder Alex,
It's official now that we've seen him in person, Graham's actually home. We went to his homecoming this morning and he spoke for 30 minutes and did an awesome job. You can tell he was so humbled by his experience and kept talking about how much he changed because of it. He only told a couple stories of other people on his mission, but talked a lot about the change within himself and how he can see the big picture of the gospel. Here are a couple things that stuck out for me from his talk. He said that it definitely was the best two years of his life, but more important than that he now knows that it was the best two years for his life.
He also said that he learned two main things from his mission:
1. He said he really came to know who the Savior is and how much he means in his life.
2. He said he remembered a talk from Elder Holland in the MTC where he told them that after your mission, you must never go back to who you were before the mission, that you should be forever changed, and that's how Graham said he felt. He also had a visiting authority come to his mission and tell them that they must always feel their missions right down in their bones (emphasis on the word bones said in a southern drawl).
After church, Graham came over to our house and stayed for a couple hours. His plans now are to go to BYU Hawaii. I asked him why there, and he said because that's where he got accepted. So he's off in a month to Hawaii to start college. After we talked for a while, Nikki challenged him to a game of Super Smash Bros to see if he could still play and of course, Graham took the challenge. He hadn't even played yet since he's been home. But Kristina said it came back for him very fast and he won most the games. It was fun hearing him whoopin and hollerin down in the basement just like the old days. Pres. Stafford asked me to text him when Graham was here so he could pop over and see him, so Graham also got to have another exit interview here at our house with Pres. Stafford. They met in the piano room. Graham said after this semester he's coming back to Idaho and most likely will be staying with us. But I think he'll miss you by a couple weeks, cuz then he has to start his next semester. Anyway, I'm sending him copies of your letters now so he can keep up with what you're doing.
We had a ward party, luau, on Friday night. The food was great. All of us girls wore the lava lavas from Samoa. It was fun, but didn't really get to meet too many new people like I was hoping. We have two elders who were both born in the same hospital that Nikki and Leah were on Samoa. One of them is Samoan and the other is Tongan, so they provided the singing entertainment with a ukelele and said the opening and closing prayers in Tongan and Samoan.
The rest of the entertainment and games were for the kids mainly. Nikki won the jello eating contest, hands down, not even close! It was so funny and she was so determined to be part of that contest.
We've had lots of rain this week, which is good for the area, but I'm very ready for spring. On the dry days, we've actually been getting out in the yard a little bit and doing some work. Dad has a plan for that area right when you come off the porch, so he's excited to have a big project.
Tomorrow night we are meeting the Smacks at Tangos, that Argentine restaurant in Boise so we can chat with Jay and so Jay can get his fill of empanadas.
How was your week? Have you had some more storms rolling through? How's your 40 day fast coming along? The youth in our ward kind of did the same thing. They wrote something down on a piece of paper that they were willing to give up, then they had a bon fire where they through their papers in.
This week on Thursday I had my stake humanitarian work day. But in the middle of it, I told them I had to leave and go meet someone. I went home in hopes of meeting up with Maria when she came to clean the house. I hadn't talked with her for 2 weeks and was really thinking about her. So I stayed at home for a couple hours just waiting around, then I just decided I better get back to the meeting and told Kirk I was leaving. I was getting my purse when I saw Maria's car pull up. When she came in, she said she really wanted to talk with me, so we went into my quilt room. Turns out she was on her way to get lunch, when she told the girl she was with that they should skip lunch and "get right over to Kathi's". If she hadn't skipped lunch, I would have been gone and missed her again. If I hadn't felt strongly about leaving my meeting right in the middle and come home, I would have missed her. I love how many miracles happen when there is missionary work going on.
She told me that the missionaries had been coming to their house and they had a couple lessons with them that were really good. She said she loved reading the scriptures and how she felt when she read them and loved the feeling she'd get when the elders came over. But then on their last appointment just before the elders showed up, her husband said he wasn't going to stick around, that he didn't want to have the meeting. Maria knew she couldn't have them there without her husband and she was very upset. They got into a fight over it and she told me how sad she's been and has spent time even crying about it, because she really wants to hear more and start going to church with her children and wants her husband to want the same thing. He had been so interested for the first couple lessons, so she was shocked. She found out that when he told his mother about it, she, being very Catholic, told him to stay away from the Mormons. I felt horrible for Maria and told her that her marriage was very important and to be patient, to pray for her husband, to keep reading, etc. I also told her that her husband was just respecting his mother. I told her I would pray for her husband, Gil, also. She has an older cousin in Portland who is a strong member, so she called him because she realized she didn't have my number, and he suggested maybe having sister missionaries come teach her, but we don't have any Spanish speaking sisters here. I'm thinking her cousin should come over here and talk with Gil. Maria also called the elders and told them she wouldn't be able to meet with them because her husband wouldn't be there. I later called the elders to explain the whole story so they have the big picture. I told them to try just popping by if they felt inspired, to call Maria occasionally and not give up.
So I told her to maybe ask her husband if it would be okay if she went to church, because Maria said she tried telling him that learning about our church meant a lot to her. She said every time she comes to our house, she thinks about how much she wants her family to be like ours and wants her children to know what we know. I was very touched by so many things she said. I really feel for her and want so badly for her husband's heart to be softened. She would be a good member and it breaks my heart thinking about her children too and the possibilities they are missing out on. So if you could include Gil (pronounced "heel") in your prayers, I would appreciate it.
Well, that's about it. We heard this week that Dakota is out in the field now, but she got sent to Bosnia where they are the first missionaries there. Of course, Dakota learned Croatian, not Bosnian, so she's got some work to do now. We'll get her first letter from there tomorrow. Allen is down in Mexico now picking up Cole. They will be flying into LAX the week we are in California during spring break, so we should be able to see them then. We leave for Cali this coming Friday. Sarah flies in Wednesday and will make the trip with us. We are renting a 15 seater van from Ryan for the trip-should be interesting! I'll give you updates next week.
Have a wonderful week. I really appreciate the example you set in missionary work. It helps me. :)
Love you,
Mom xxoo
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