Rainy Days and Sundays

Oct. 16, 2011
Dear Elder Alex,
Well, here we are. Another Sunday, but this time it rained all day long. We actually need the rain, so it's good. The trees are actually starting to change colors now and fall certainly feels like it's in the air. It's my favorite season.

Church was good today. A new family spoke, the Freemans. The choir sang and Jan Leifson(choir director) is really pushing us with some harder songs, but we always manage to come through at the last minute. It's fun having the McCauley's back in the ward. They're back sitting in their old row, just like they never left. Next week they are doing a fireside for the high priests and their wives in the stake.  I'm looking forward to it.

Last night Sis. Julie Beck (RS Gen. President, just in case you didn't know) was here in the valley and she spoke at a fireside at the Paramount Stake. So they broadcast it to our building so we could see it too. It was wonderful. She is an amazing woman. I love how she speaks so easily, concisely, flipping to scriptures left and right, recounting personal stories that are amazing and somehow ties everything together without any notes. She spoke for almost 2 hours straight and I could have listened for a couple more. I felt very uplifted and edified when I left and I took some notes that will be excellent to share with the presidents in our stake. One thing she talked about that I thought of for you is how as a missionary your scripture study time is carved out for you, in the fact that you are commanded to carve out that time each day. But once home, every returned missionary quickly realizes that that time is no longer automatically carved out for you. You have to actually make that time and how difficult that becomes for all of us. Just a little something to keep in your mind. I look forward to my time each day, but it certainly isn't carved out for me. I have to work hard for it, but it sure makes a difference.

So this past week or so, Kristina has been anxiously awaiting her 16th birthday. She even asked Tanner Myler to the Sadie Hawkins dance coming up in November. She asked him by rewriting the words to the Cougar fight song and decorated everything with blue and white. She highlighted letters from her name in the text. Then Tanner answered her today by leaving a jar of bubblegum on the front step saying he "would never "blow" this chance to go to Sadie's with you." I think his mom is more excited about the fact that he's going with Kristina than  anyone else. They love Kristina in that household! So she's hoping you give permission for her to go out with Tanner....

I'm so happy to hear that Benita got baptized! Tell her to surround herself in the Relief Society and to work on the following in this order: 1)her faith and personal righteousness 2)strengthening her family 3)giving relief and lifting those around her.  She will always be a strong and blessed Mormon woman by keeping those goals in her life.

So I can't wait to hear how things went with Elder Christofferson being there.  Did you get to meet him personally? What did he speak about?

For dad's birthday, he and Kristina went out golfing at Shadow Valley. Dad says she plays well but they lost quite a few balls. Hmmm. Good thing he bought a brand new box the day before. :) Since dad got his b-day present early (a new laptop), his musical cards were the highlight and his german chocolate cake with coconut pecan icing. 

I saw that your money got refunded from Paypal. That was kind of shocking to see everything gone not only from your checking account, but also from your savings. I hope you were able to talk to the bank too, because they should refund the $12.50 that they charged for covering the paypal expenses. If not, I can go in and talk with them, but these days since you're so old, I can't do much on your behalf so you might be on your own with that one. Thank Sis. Packer for being so obliging through the whole thing. 

Kirk is back at school but he is pining (that's a word my grandma would use) for Sarah. I don't know how he's even concentrating on his school work. I kind of wish they'd get married sooner rather than later, so he could settle down and finish school. Sarah is coming back down here the end of this month. Her sister Nicole plays ice hockey and her team is playing against a team in Boise, so we'll all be going to watch her play. Sarah's parents called dad and I the other night to talk about the possibilities concerning getting a visa for Sarah. I went to an immigration attorney last week and got all the info. It is so convoluted, you wouldn't believe how many hoops you have to jump through to get a visa to work here in the US even when you're married to a citizen. It's crazy and even the attorney said so. Right now the plan is for them to get married here, then apply for a visa which takes up to 6 months. During that time Sarah is not allowed to leave our country, which is not good news for her parents and they may have to have a reception before the wedding just for that reason alone. Kind of crazy, but hey, we're up for anything and so are they. We'll keep you posted on what goes on there. On our end, we got passport applications sent in for Leah and Nikki, so hopefully we'll get those back in a few weeks.

Dad's been juicing the grapes again this week. We delivered a bunch of juice to friends tonight and now we've got enough raisins for...well...for I don't know what, but we've got a lot of raisins! If you could use some raisins, let us know. Did you get your package yet from us? Let me know when you get it and how you like things, etc.

Haven't heard any news from Dakota yet, so probably this week. Can you believe that Jake will be coming home in just a few weeks?  I'm in a little bit of shock over that. I can't wait to see him and go to his homecoming though. 

I hope you have a great week, full of miracles and blessings and tender mercies. Listen to the spirit and act on the promptings-you'll always be in the right place at the right time with the right people. What could be better than that!

You're always in my thoughts and prayers.
Love you,
mom
XXOO

Homecoming

Oct. 9, 2011

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

General Conference Oct. 2011

Oct. 2, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

Can you believe it's already October? This General Conference came up very quickly-a sign of old age I'm sure. We were able to watch all four sessions and dad was home to go to Priesthood (although he had to attend all by himself...) He told me all about it afterwards over a bowl of frozen yogurt from a new place in Eagle right next to Pizza Hut. There were quite a few other men in white shirts there when we got there too. Only Dustin Simpson and dad brought their wives though.

Kirk and Sean were able to attend the Saturday morning session thanks to Sarah getting them tickets. Sarah and her mom flew down to SLC for the weekend. Kirk drove down to meet them and to "meet the mom". Sounds like she approves of him, so it's full steam ahead for their relationship. Next weekend he's flying to Canada to meet the rest of the family and spend Canadian Thanksgiving with them. He and Sarah also spent time yesterday looking at rings. Sean went to Priesthood with Grandpa, and Kirk stayed in downtown SLC so he went to the Conference Center. Afterwards, Sarah, Kirk, "mom" and sister all went down to Provo and spent the evening playing Settlers of Catan-Sarah's family's favorite game. Kirk stayed with Steve and Carolina for the weekend and even had Sarah over this morning to watch conference with them. This afternoon, Kirk and Sarah went to Grandma and Grandpa's where they had lunch with them, Charmaine and Sean and also watched the last session.  Sounds like they all had a great weekend. 

Me and the girls managed to come up with lots of handwork to do during the sessions, like usual. I knitted half a blanket, Nikki crocheted a bracelet, Leah got half an embroidery done and Kristina started and stopped several projects. I think dad was jealous of all our multi-tasking. I enjoyed several of the talks about repentance and loved Sister Tanner's talk about fathers and daughters. I also really enjoyed Pres. Monson's talk this morning and Elder Cornish's talk (partly because he was Kirk's mission president).

Here are some pics of Kristina and the dogs watching conference together. Notice the green paws from a freshly mowed lawn:

We've been busy making raisins these last few days from our humungous grape supply. There's been lots of grape juice too. Wish we could get some out to you. Dad is enjoying his new laptop which probably seems like hyper-speed after the one he's had. Kristina is getting excited for her 16th birthday party which is going to be a big bash at the Moss's where she celebrates with Mallory and Courtney Dittman. They think they want to invite about 120 kids. Hmmmm.  Us moms are putting it together for them.

I've been busy leather dying new/used seats for the Mustang. We got a pair that have a headrest on them from a '96 Mustang but they were white. So I've been dying them black and I think they look pretty awesome. Brent is going to put 3 pt. harness seatbelts in the car this week too. I'll send some pictures next week.

So how was your week and how did you like Conference? I hope some of your investigators were able to attend. Was Courtney able to watch? Also I hope Brandon and Katrina got to catch some of it. I'm glad to hear that McMinnville is starting to grow on you. There was so much talk about missionary work too in this conference and to hear the Elder from Japan speak this afternoon about his conversion was powerful.

Bro. and Sis. McCauley come home tomorrow evening from their mission in Russia. We are so sad we won't be here this weekend to hear them speak and report. We are going back down to Utah to watch a BYU football game. We planned it a long time ago, so we can't really change things. We're also going to Homecoming Spectacular. It will be a quick trip, but it will be fun to see Axel and Laura and their new little babies. One of their little girls was born with an adrenal disease that will affect her her whole life and she has to take medicine every day, and take extra medicine every single time she even comes down with a little cold.It's an extremely rare disease that affects her growth too. They will have to watch her carefully. Can't remember if I told you that Katie had her 2nd baby girl last week too. That makes 4 new great grandchildren for my mom and dad in just the last couple weeks.

If there's anything you want from Utah, let us know. We recently bought the movie, 17 Miracles and it is so well done. I don't know if you can watch things like that, but I would definitely recommend it to families you are working with. It tells the story of the Willey Handcart company and highlights 17 miracles that happened along the way. It's such a great movie.

Here are some more missionary tips for you:

1. Stand every time you greet the mission president's wife.

2. Get to church early on Sundays

3. Sing a hymn after companion study.

4. Invite companions, converts and others to write short notes in your journal

5. Cook bacon weekly, just for the smell of it

6. Always take a copy of an old talk to sacrament meetings; if the bishop calls on your without warning, you'll be prepared

7. Get to know the missionary couples well

8. Read the Book of Mormon every day of your mission.

Time to close down the house and put the dogs in the kennels. Roxy likes her beauty sleep. I hope you have a great week. As you heard from conference, there are many, many people always praying for you. Be safe, be happy and learn to recognize the spirit's whisperings every day. I'm so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost in my life.

I love you more than you know.

Mom xxoo

Fast Sunday

Sept. 25, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

We had fast Sunday today because of General Conference next week. It kind of threw me off a little to have 2 fast Sundays in a month and to pay fast offering twice, but I've adjusted.

I spoke with Diane Goodwin yesterday at the women's broadcast. She loves reading the letters from you and also Tyler Rasmussen. It's interesting to read how much your lives intertwine even though you're not in the same area. 

Speaking of our women's broadcast - everything went well on my end. We got the stake center set up in the morning so I even had time to get back and go to lunch with the family for Nikki's birthday yesterday. Nikki chose Costa Vida for our lunch spot.  She was really torn between that and the Great Wall. We were all hoping it wasn't Great Wall :)  For her birthday she got a new iPod(purple)-dad and I scored at the pawn shop! She also got some money, a DS charger, a new barbie and lots of gum. She was happy.  That night the girls all worked on a two layer cake together. I was gone for that part at my meeting.

Here's a picture of Nikki we found in one of dad's drawers. I love it!

The stake rs dinner went well, the background music was wonderful, the food was not only tasty but also was set out and decorated beautifully. Some women are so talented in that area. The broadcast was so uplifting. Pres. Uchtdorf spoke on 5 things we must never forget and likened it to the forget-me-not flower that he loves (it has 5 petals). I'm going to listen to it again on Tivo and make some notes so I don't forget.

Today dad and I subbed in the 5 yr old class. That's always fun. Some of those little kids are sooo smart. I was impressed. I was clueless as a 5 yr old.

Loved your pictures from the county fair. I can just picture you in the booth talking with people and enjoying the evening. Have you had a chance to follow up on any of those people who signed up to know more? Deep fried oreos?? really?? I may just have to take your word on those that they're good.

Nikki had her great boat float which was extremely impressive. Those parents really go all out on stuff like that. Actually a lot of boats looked like they were made largely by the kid and it was fun. Here are some pics.

Kristina just got home from the Eagle 5th ward's YW personal progress recognition. She was supporting Mallory Moss getting her award. I can hear her driving the Mustang from far away. I love it.

Funny story from Kirk-he was texting Sarah last week and when he was finished he wrote I love you very much. A few minutes later he received a text from Sarah's dad who had just received Kirk's text by mistake. He replied, I love you too but I don't know how Sarah will feel about this. LOL  Later on Kirk was skyping with Sarah and her dad walked by, leaned down into the computer and said, Love you Kirk! I'm never going to let you forget this one. 

Kirk said it was so funny. My phone does that same thing, just sometimes it has a mind of its own and even though I push one person's name, my text goes to some other random person. My text to Tracey today went to dad.

This week there was another baby in the family. Heidi and Cameron had a baby boy, McKay Smith. He was tiny, just 5 1/2 lbs. and kind of looks like Cameron a little and even Heidi already as a baby. Anyway, they are having a lot of fun with him in their family now.

We had a great football week here too. Eagle won Centennial 38-0, BYU won their game finally, and BSU, of course, won their game easily. Leah is still a big BSU fan, Dad still gets nervous/upset whenever BYU plays and Eagle seems to be on its way to a state championship.  We'll see if that happens this year.

Over the weekend I sold the swingset/slide combo and I also sold the rowing machine on Craigslist. With the money I'm going to buy dad a new laptop. The one he uses is old and is sooo slow. I may even go get it tomorrow. Now I'm looking around the house to see what else we can sell so we can paint the Mustang!!

I spoke with some women at the broadcast who had recently moved here from Kentucky. They were talking about how strong the Baptists were there and how many sermons they give about the Mormons. One sister who has been in our stake for years said she grew up there and that her parents used to be Baptist. One Sunday the preacher gave everyone a pamphlet on the evils of Mormonism. Her parents brought the pamphlet home and after her dad read through everything, he went out and got a Book of Mormon. He read it immediately and told his wife to find the numbers for the missionaries of our church, said he wanted to learn more. They were both taught and baptized shortly after that. So take heart whenever you see those marquee's talking about Mormonism or their upcoming sermons about the church. Maybe a few people each time will actually be converted because of it.

We are well here. The fall weather is finally making its way here. It's my favorite time of year. I hope you're feeling a little cooling down there too. I also hope you're feeling "at home" in your new area now. How is the ward? How's your ward mission leader? Are you in need of anything, new white shirts, socks, etc? I know you can easily pick things up there too, but just in case. We love shipping things to you too. Let us know.

I hope you enjoy Conference weekend. I'm really looking forward to it and I hope you have some investigators who will also make it to a session or two. Is it broadcast on TV there?

Here's a quote for you:

"If we choose the wrong road, we choose the wrong destination."
--Elder Dallin H. Oaks, "Be Not Deceived," Ensign, November 2004, 44

Have a wonderful week. 

love you,

Mom xxoo

Another Sabbath in Eagle

Sept. 18, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

It was great hearing from you last week, hearing all about your new area. I love that you're back in the backwoods now, the under belly of Tennessee. It sounds rather exciting to me to go into an area where you have to do all the sleuthing, exploring, investigating and phoning. You may even have to earn the trust of the members there, you never know.

Nikki gave a talk in Primary today, yes, another one.  She loves speaking and says she gets nervous up there (which was evident by her shaking back and forth while speaking) but she says if she speaks more and more then she won't get so nervous. Who thinks like that as a kid? She spoke on missionary work, well, she actually read what I wrote about missionary work since she totally forgot she was speaking until we got the call late last night. I told her to try winging it, but she said she's not ready to do that yet. I don't blame her.

We had wonderful talks about temples today. Bro. Tuttle and his wife spoke in sacrament. It was an unusual sacrament since there was no bread after we finished singing the sacrament hymn. So we moved to the youth speaker, then we had bread but it was frozen so we had to wait for it to thaw, so we moved on to the first main speaker. Then we sang another sacrament hymn and proceeded with the sacrament. I rather enjoyed hearing a couple talks first, because they really invited the spirit into the room. After the sacrament we had the concluding speaker, sang and closed. 

In Sunday School Randy Thompson taught us more about covenants. He is such a gifted teacher. When we were discussing the covenant a man and woman make when they marry, he made a point that stuck with me. In Corinthians it says, neither is the man without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord. Bro. Thompson said that God is 2, a man and a woman together, there is no other way to get to that state. I had never really thought of it in those words.

We had a fun day yesterday. We went to Mountain Home for the airshow, we went with the Billings from the 8th ward and met dad there after his shift. The show was awesome. I had never seen the Thunderbirds fly before and they were very entertaining. My favorite part was when 4 of them flew to the center and did some slow rolls upward. They had music playing in the background and it was beautiful soothing music as we watched them climb to the sky. Then out of nowhere from our left comes one of the soloists flying only a few feet above us at some super sonic speed. It caught everyone by surprise and most of us practically jumped out of our seats. It was so loud and the jet whizzed by us so fast, you couldn't help but scream, then laugh. They had totally planned to catch us all by surprise. I loved it. After that, they buzzed us unaware a couple more times. The Blue Angels have never done anything so sneaky, but I wish they would now. Anyway, it was a fun day. The girls even stayed afterwards and got autographs of the pilots.

We had our first stake humanitarian work day last week and it went really well. There was a good turnout, many donations and several projects worked on. I'm looking forward to having this day every month and for more and more sisters to participate in our humanitarian projects. We made little dresses, rice bags(can be microwaved and used as warmers), bereavement blankets for St. Luke's and St. Al's, ABC books for ESL agencies in our valley, children's blocks sanded for women's shelters, loomed hats for homeless shelters to give away and a quilt tied for LDS humanitarian center. I'm looking forward to several more projects. There is always so much that can be done.

So how is your area now that you're getting to know it better? Were you ever able to meet with the family of 8 kids? I love how this month's Ensign is all about the Book of Mormon and its power. There are wonderful articles and stories of conversion from around the world because of reading/experiencing the Book of Mormon. I hope you get a chance to read it. I loved the article by Elder Gonzalez and how he talked about how there are different ways that people will come to know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. They are 1.by hearing its teachings, 2.by reading the book, 3.by doing what the book teaches, 4.by asking God.  He said we all get converted differently which I'm sure you've noticed as you've been teaching people.

For me I was initially converted by listening-to my parents, teachers, prophet. Then I received a much more powerful conversion when I read through the Book of Mormon as an adult and I read it in just a short amount of time. It's something I'll never forget. To this day, I now have wonderful spiritual experiences whenever I read the Book of Mormon. It just keeps building on what I felt as a young person. I'm very sad for people who don't know the blessings you can receive by continuing to read the BOM over and over again. They're really missing out on a great part of life.

Well, Leah has just made brownies and it's smelling pretty nice in the house now. Nikki is testing her boat for the big boat float this week in Mrs. Bunn's class. I'm crossing my fingers that it will float. Kristina is studying history. The dogs are barking at something imaginary in the back yard, Kirk is probably skyping with Sarah in his apt in Rexburg, Sean is probably at Steve and Carolina's enjoying stories of Laura and Axel's birth of their twin girls this week, Mary and Esther. Dad is in Mountain Home working hard for the family wishing he was here. I'm home writing my missionary son knowing he's where he's in the right place at the right time with the right people and looking forward to hearing his news Monday.

Be well and remember the prayers of your family always.

love you,

mom xxoo

Writing from SLC

Sept. 4, 2011
Dear elder alex,
I'm sitting here in g & g thompson's basement writing you on the iPad. Kirk just took off with his girlfriend, sarah to go walk around temple square for a little bit. Yes, I said girlfriend. He met her on the plane from Nairobi to Uganda and they've been in constant contact ever since. She drove all the way down here to Utah from Canada to see him. We've finally met her and we all like her a lot. We'll keep you posted on how things go there.

We spent yesterday in Provo. We went on a hike to Stewart falls in sundance. You start out by riding on the chairlift, which was a beautiful ride. The hike was probably an intermediate level and I was proud of Nikki for making it the whole way. She complained that her legs were shaking, but she kept going. I'll send some pictures.

Afterwards we spent the day at steves watching byu win against ole-miss and then bsu won against Georgia. It was a good day. Axel and Laura came over. She looks like she's going to burst any moment. We were hoping the twins would be born while we were here. No such luck. They won't let her go past the 13th. Also Jen was there with little James , whose actually not so little. He has cute double and triple rolls of fat on his arms and legs. We also saw david lutz and his girlfriend, and lindee. Kassi went on the hike with us and Dakota is getting her papers ready to turn in for her mission.

Everyone says hi. Dakota wants me to start sending her your letters. I guess carolina hasn't been sharing your letters with her. She's very excited to get going on a mission.

So how has your week been? It's definitely feeling like fall now with the kids in school.  The family is remembering funny stories about you right now, like when you asked me if I was faking it when I was walking down from bearing testimony where i had cried a little bit in Hilton head. Anyway, we're having some good laughs while I'm writing. 

On Saturday Tyler trumbo got married to his girlfriend leticia. She's from Mexico and doesn't know much English, and now they're moving back to San Antonio Texas where she won't need much English. He sent a picture from their wedding and they look very happy. Tyler was in his navy dress uniform, the white one with the blue neckerchief.

Tomorrow we're helping around here, picking grapes, etc. I'm going with grandma to pick out new appliances for their upstairs kitchen which got flood damage from a leak. So they're redoing their kitchen with new cabinets, counters, etc. It will be very nice for them.

Since I'm writing on the iPad, I don't have pictures to send you, but when we get home, I'll send you some.  I hope you are doing well, finding people to teach and enjoying meeting and talking with people. It's all good missionary work.  

You're in our prayers always, you have so many people just in our trumbo Thompson family alone who love you and care about you. 

Have a great week and remember your blessings.
Love you, mom xxoo

Back to 5

Sept. 11, 2011

Dear Elder Alex,

Just writing that date brings a sobering feeling. Can't believe it's been 10 years since 9/11, many images and feelings ingrained in my mind. We watched the special on KBYU today with the spoken word on 9/11.  It was very nice.

Just got back from a stake fireside for the youth, the one that Pres. Stafford holds each year on standards.  Pres. Cameron also spoke tonight. I love how frankly they speak. It's great.

So you're in a new place! I hope it's going well for you and that you're feeling a little settled now. How was the ward?  What's the town like?  It doesn't look very large on the map, but at least we found it. Is it a completely different zone? I'm sure it will be a lot of work since you went into a whitewashed area. Do you meet with the President before you go to at least get an idea what he'd like you to do there?  I know you'll be great there. It seems like you make such good friends so quickly wherever you've gone, and when the members get to know you well, they tend to think more often about their non-member friends.

It was fun hearing that you got to split with Elder Goodwin. Send us some pictures when you get a chance.

It was interesting to hear you had an experience learning about the power of Satan. Each one of you, Kirk, Sean and now you have learned this invaluable lesson. I know it's important especially for a priesthood holder on this earth to understand how powerful and evil the forces on the "other side" can be, but to know how powerful Christ is and how wonderful it is to have Him on your side. Being a disciple of Christ comes with innumerable blessings and miracles.

So our family is back down to 5. We took the extension out of the table.  Kirk is back at BYUI and Sean is in full swing at BYU of course. Kirk is going through withdrawals without Sarah, but it's good she's a bit of a distance so he can keep some of his mind on his studies. Sarah was here with us this weekend and it was fun having her here. It's amazing how easily she fits right into the family and it sounds like that's probably a good thing since they are talking very seriously now. Her parents have been praying that she'd find a strong LDS young man despite the fact that they live in such a remote, non-lds place, so they are thrilled about Kirk even though they've only met him on skype.  

Last Monday Sarah also spent the day with us at G&G Thompson's, where she helped pick grapes (a family right of passage). Then before we took off for Idaho, we went to lunch and her sister Nicole met us there too. Nicole just graduated from BYU and is working in SLC(actually she's waiting for her visa and paperwork to go through, but she has a great job lined up). In Sarah's family there are 3 sisters then a brother, the youngest, who is getting his paperwork ready for a mission. Sarah is #2 in the family. Nicole is #1 and her younger sister is married with one child.

Kirk is trying to make some other big decisions about his school work now, whether he should just get a degree in public health with a Spanish cluster(minor) then go on and get a master's degree, or whether he should take some pretty tough extra courses that are required by optometry schools, take the entrance exam and hope to get into an optometry school. The discouraging thing about the opt. schools are how much they cost compared to how much you actually make when you start working-a bit lopsided. So he'd going to talk with some counselors at school, fast and pray and then make his decisions.

I printed out your chempal newsletter tonight(the August letters) so I'll send that out tomorrow after you send an address. Sorry it's a bit late, but for some reason Julie Warr was not getting my emails. She says Cameron is doing great and loves reading the newsletter. 

The girls are all doing well. Leah, in particular, is loving school. She says middle school is the best especially her science class. She says she loves science experiments. Who would have guessed. Nikki says math is making sense now and she even did 9 to the third power the other day. :) Kristina is just anxiously awaiting her big birthday so she can say she's 16! I hope being 16 is all she's dreamed it will be. She's already trying to figure out who to ask for Sadie's this year.

Dad and I are always just trying to make ends meet, but have fun along the way. After all these years, I still look forward to his phone calls during the day when he's working and look forward to our days off and even love our little lunch getaways each day he's home. It may seem like a simple life to some, but the great peace we feel because of the covenants we've made make life so fulfilling. 

I've got some big RS events coming up, so I'll have some fairly busy next couple of weeks. This Thursday is our first Humanitarian Work Day. So many little details to make the day run smoothly. Then we have the dinner that we put on before the General RS broadcast next week. Again, lots of little details to make it appear effortless and enjoyable. I love the work and more than that, I love the women of this stake. I watch them and learn from them and so many of them are now my good friends. It will be fun to work hard with my new presidency too.

Well, I hope you are well, busy and happy. I bet there's lots of work that needs to be done there. Can't wait to hear what you're up to and who you're meeting and working with. Tell us about your new companion too.

Looks like you might be having a little cooler weather. enjoy it and have a great week. 

love you very much,

mom xxoo