Quinn's Home

April 29, 2012

Dear Elder Alex,

Well, another elder safely home. Dad and I went to the airport Thursday and greeted Quinn as he came home. Only his immediate family was there and dad and I stood off to the side and waited for a bit. I was crying and he wasn't even my son. It's just so good to see him and to see you missionaries as you return. Melanie was there and she's getting married in 2 weeks, Joel came and he had a full beard and a mullett. He was quite the site. Last night we went to Hugentobler's for an open house. I took care of the food for it, so it was fun to be there the whole time and see everyone who came by. Then today we went to the 6th ward for his homecoming and Quinn did such a good job with his talk. He didn't actually tell us much about his mission, but he did call us all to repentance. :)  He and Joel are taking off in 3 weeks to go to Kansas to sell security systems (who isn't?). They'll be selling with Oliver Erickson.

Also this week I went to Melanie Hugentobler's bridal shower given by Melanie Cameron. It was a kitchen shower which means all our gifts were something for her kitchen. She got lots of good stuff. Danielle Viehwig was there and her wedding was this weekend, which was a bit hard on Quinn. He got home on Thursday and went to her reception Friday night. 

It was fun going to the old 6th ward. It basically seemed the same especially with so many of us returning for a visit today. I'm still not used to our new ward yet. I'm trying to meet one new person each Sunday. I sat by someone today who just moved here from Dallas. They adopted all four of their children and just returned from the Congo with their most recent adoption. So we exchanged adoption/Africa/new ward stories.

Today we had Jared over for dinner and games. Kendra is out of town, so he's batching it. Scott Adcock and some of his kids came over also later on and flew airplanes in our backyard, so that was pretty entertaining for all of us. While we were out there, the Hansen's came walking by including Derek and Kimmi, so they stopped in also. Then just after scripture reading tonight, Mel and Quinn stopped by. I love having people stop by especially on Sundays.

Both Kristina and Leah's lacrosse teams are still undefeated. Some games have been pretty close, but they are all fun to go to. Nikki says she definitely wants to play next year. We have another week of games.

Kristina had a date Friday night with a guy that has a crush on her. Sounds like it was a fun date. They went back to his house and did Iron Chef with the other couple. Then they went ice skating and then to a pizza place (which his family owns) where they practiced throwing pizza dough and made monkey bread and breadsticks. 

Then on Saturday night, I guess there was a huge game of Fugitive in Eagle, at least a hundred kids showed up from a facebook invite. We let Kristina go but warned her that people would most likely call the police. They were starting at Seven Oaks and had to end up at the Middle School. About an hour and a half into it, dad and I just happened to be driving down Floating Feather back home and we saw tons of kids running and walking down the street and a police car pulling over a truck with lots of kids in the back. I thought for sure we'd see Kristina in the back of the truck, but when we didn't I decided to call her and warn her. She was back aways on Floating Feather and said she was so tired that she wanted a ride back to her car, so we went and picked her up. Turns out the police just wanted to know when the game was going to end and then they let them all go. Kristina says the police even do a fugitive game of their own once a year in Eagle with a cop car looking for the fugitives. That would probably be fun. It seems like I remember you playing that game once.

I loved your letter from last week. It just sounded like it was a wonderful week. Those pictures from the upper room at the Methodist church were cool too. Pretty impressive that you got to meet there. I also love hearing all the little miracles that are happening around Drew taking the lessons. I hope she is doing well. I love hearing your Bro. Potter stories. There's always Bro. Potters in every ward.

Can't believe this next week is May already. I know Kirk and Sarah are really getting antsy about their visa situation. It better come this week! It's also the last month of school for the girls. That's crazy. Nikki will be in middle school!! No kids in elementary. (actually I'm pretty happy about that)

I'm loving the new wood floor dad put down in my quilt room. The carpet was getting so old and dirty. Everyone likes it except for Roxy who refuses to step on the floor. Eddy could care less though. Good ole Eddy. Also we have a new screen door on the family room door that is magnetic (As Seen on TV) so Roxy and Eddy can just walk through it and let themselves in and out of the house. Eddy, of course, walked right through first thing, but it took a couple days for Roxy to realize it was a safe and good thing. Eddy would always walk through first and open it and Roxy would then run through. This is where Eddy has the advantage of not being much of a thinker.

Jared said Austin and Cameron are signed up to live at Liberty Square for next fall, so I was thinking of putting your name in there too since I haven't heard any plans from Dallas at this point. I think it would be better to at least get your name in somewhere. Let me know if you have any big objections to that.

That's about it here. We're all just plugging along trying to do our best. I hope you are well, happy and always in tune with the spirit. There's a scripture that says it all, "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." D&C 82:10  I love that He has made a promise to us that He is bound when we do what He says. I believe that He truly loves us and wants to be bound to His promises so that He can bless us as any loving parent would be. I can totally understand that kind of love being a parent. 

Have a week of faith, hope and joy.

I love you very much.

Love you,

Mom xxoo

Sean's Home

April 22, 2012

Dear Elder Alex,

Well, we shipped one son off and got another one in return. Kirk is all situated in his married student housing in Rexburg, living all alone with only a couple pieces of furniture, a mattress and a folding table. He went to his ward today and said there were a lot of fun people in the ward and met the Bishop, so he said he'll like living there even though he has no roommates (as of yet). He likes his classes a lot. I guess they get a lot more interesting when you're just about to graduate.

Sean came home this week and has now taken over the basement as his domain. He's working at the Blue and Orange store. In fact, his first day was Saturday and it just happened to be the day that Kellen Moore was coming in to sign autographs. So Sean had to go in to work at 6am. People had started lining up two days before. They passed out 400 tickets for the first people in line and the tickets were gone in the first few minutes at 4:30am. So the people who came at five thinking they'd be pretty early were not happy. Sean took the picture of Kellen and Leah (the one I took of them when we ran into him at Best Buy a few months ago) and had him sign it. He signed it personally for her. Sean said it was the only one he signed personally with her name on it. The rest were all just his signature. Sean then took it and had it framed before he brought it home.Leah is very happy with it.  Here it is:

Today we went to Ryan McKell's homecoming. His dad spoke first, so it was a really nice meeting. Ryan did a great job and told some stories from his mission and lessons learned. He's here for the summer and will be working with his dad. He told me to tell you hello. I also spoke with Bro. Borup who said he's looking forward to your date and will be planning it.

We had a good Sabbath day today, even though the little girls thought we went to too many church meetings. I hope you had a great day too. Did you have any investigators show up to your Stake Conference-like Drew?  Our home teacher came tonight too. Mike Roberts, around the corner with the tennis court, is our home teacher. We all sat out on the back porch on the couches. He said he didn't want to leave because it was so nice out there. I'm loving this spring weather except for the wasps.

Still no word on the fiance visa. According to the government timeline, we should hear something by May 6th. I sure hope we do. It's hard not knowing when things are going to happen for Kirk and Sarah. Keep them in your prayers.

This coming week I'm going to a bridal shower for Melanie Hugentobler. She's getting married on May 11.  Then on Thursday, Quinn comes home so dad and I will try to get to the airport. I'm also helping Jodie with an open house for him at their house this Saturday night. We'll go hear him speak on Sunday. It seems like we're going to homecomings and farewells almost every week now. I love it.

Megan Tanner got her mission call last week. She's going to the Richmond Virginia mission and leaving in August.

Kristina is still in the midst of auditions for next years' choirs. She got call-backs to Sonous, Acapella and Premium Blend.

I'm glad to hear that you're having fun with your "roadshow" to all the different stakes. Are there speaking parts with it too, or is it just music?  The group picture you sent last week, was that the mission choir group?

In my scripture study this week, I ran across something I had written down a while back and thought I'd share it with you. It's in Alma 19 where it's talking about Abish, who was a lone convert in her area, and I wrote down a quote by Melvin J. Ballard (he was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve) about why there are sometimes one or two people in an entire city who has accepted the gospel. He said, "Why is it that sometimes only one of a city or household receives the gospel? It was made known unto me that it is because the righteous dead who have received the gospel in the spirit world are exercising themselves  and in answer to their prayers, elders of the Church are sent to the homes of their posterity that the gospel might be taught to them and through their righteousness they might be privileged to have a descendent in the flesh do the work for their dead kindred."   You are obviously working in concert with many on both sides of the veil.

I told my friend Maria that I got her a subscription to the Liahona and she was so excited. I'm hoping that her husband will just happen to pick it up and read it occasionally to start softening his heart. We talked about Family Nights this week. She loves hearing anything to do with keeping the family together.

About our plans for August. Yes!! dad and I are planning on a trip to Nashville. We were just kind of waiting to hear if you have a release date yet. Then based on that, we can start making plans, reservations, etc. I tried to figure it out and by my calculations, you will be released the week of Aug. 6.  Is that right or do you know yet? About how many days would you like to tour around your mission after you're released? Once we make plans, then we call Salt Lake and let them know when our flight home is and they either book you on the same flight, or they just reimburse us. That's the way it was with Sean and Kirk anyway. So just let your side know that we will be coming there. We can get into more specifics later, but I'll be watching airfares, etc. Let us know if there's anything else we need to do on our side.

Better send this on its way. I hope you can always feel our prayers for you. There's never a day that goes by that I don't pray, think or speak about you. Have an awesome week!

Love you,

Mom xxoo

Tax Day

April 15, 2012

Dear Elder Alex,

Yes, it's tax day, but we got ours sent in a few days ago, so it's just a nice Sabbath day. I was going to be taking off today after church with Kirk to help him get set up in his married student housing apartment, but he got an email just yesterday from the school saying that they wouldn't allow him to live in that housing since he doesn't have the visa yet. I'm not so upset about the decision as I am the fact that they waited until two days before school starts to let him know. He's already put money down and signed a contract with them, so now we have to figure things out. I have to make some mean mommy phone calls tomorrow to the school and see what we can do about it. So he's going to wait to leave until tomorrow since he doesn't even know where he's going to live. It's a little bit of a mess.

I had a nice Sunday. The weather's great. We just went on a walk. Kristina and Leah are at a youth fireside. Bishop Bingham has those once a month, so they come up frequently. Every other one, he just has the 14 and up gang. Today at church all the priests sang. There were 18 guys up there singing. It's an impressively large group.

Kristina had a great time at her first prom. The guys really did a good job planning it. For the day date, they came and blindfolded the girls for the first 45 minutes of the date. Kristina had no idea where she was. Then all of a sudden they picked her up and set her into what she thought was a sled on an incline. Two girls were in the sled and their dates got in and pushed off. Down the hill they went when all of a sudden they were in water. Kristina said the girls were screaming. Then they could hear the guys rowing when they ran into ground again. The dates picked them out of the boat and set them on some rocks. Then all of a sudden they could hear police officers on their megaphones yelling to them that they weren't allowed to be there. So the guys took the blindfolds off. Preston Tiegs then rowed back over and spoke with the officers telling them that his dad owned land in there and he had to get hold of one of his parents to prove it. Then all was well and they all had a picnic lunch on this little island. Afterwards they rowed back over and took the girls home.

That night they all met at our house for pictures. Most of them as you can see were outside. From there they went to PF Chang's and then to the dance. After the dance they went to Myler's for pazookies (which are now a crowd favorite) I think we were the first ones to have them at our house after a dance. 

We had the missionaries over to our house last night too amid all this. One is from Samoa and the other from American Samoa originally. It was fun having them for dinner and dad gave them cans of Spam as a going away gift. They were pretty excited about that. I told them they could come by our house any time when they ran low on Spam. They said they would.

Last night we also went to Jake and Kayla's wedding reception. Devin and Dallas were both there and pretty much most of the 6th, 8th, 9th wards. Dallas says he's now going to Hawaii to sell security systems because his dad is going there to do the same thing. I guess Royce is having a hard time with jobs with now. They will be there for a couple months and the entire family will even go to Hawaii for a few weeks of that time. Sounds pretty fun to me.

At the reception I talked with Bro. and Sis. Borup. He's so funny. He told me to tell you that he is planning on having the first date with you when you get home, so he's keeping the third week of August open for you. He says to count on it! I told him I'd tell you so that you can put it on your calendar.

Last week we spent a lot of our time going to lax games. Both Kristina and Leah have great teams this year and win most of the time. At one of the games I got to see Jill Erickson. She looked really good and happy. She said she's engaged and will be getting married in December and showed me his picture. Eli is frustrated because he hasn't been able to get his travel visa yet. I think he's being sent to Texas.

Were you able to get answers to your questions about signing up for classes?  Let me know if there's anything I can do on my end.

Sean is coming home this week for the summer and has a few more finals to get through first. So we'll switch out Kirk for Sean this week.

How was your week?  Have you been able to make any progress with any of your investigators? I know that must be frustrating when people aren't responding. I'm frustrated that I can't make any headway with Maria, but I'm learning patience. Have you been able to teach Drew?

I love that you're doing so much service for people. I think about how Christ served so many people yet many of those people were not converted, they were just loved. You're doing what Christ would do and being a disciple of Christ should be our goals. It's all a part of our mission as members of the tribe of Israel and more specifically the tribe of Ephraim.

I asked the elders this question when they were here yesterday...how often do you run into people who have never heard of our church?  Just curious.

Well, Kristina and Leah just got home. They had a fun time. They had to act out one of the talks from conference. They said their team didn't do too well but they still had fun. 

Just so you know, right now Kirk and Sarah have a date set of June 22nd. They changed it since last week, but we're really hopeful that they will get the visa and be able to move forward. Our family and Sarah's family all fasted today asking for the visa to move along quickly. I'll keep you posted on that and on Kirk's BYU-I housing dilemma.

I hope you have a great week. Keep the pictures coming. We love those! Let me know if there's every anything I can do on my end to help you...pray, email and chat with someone, etc. I love feeling a little part of your mission.

Love you,

Mom xxoo

 Nikki relaxing on the porch with a wet towel and rocks over her eyes.

Easter!

April 8, 2012

Dear Elder Alex,

How was your Easter Sunday? I hope it was enjoyable and that you had some great talks and lessons and choir numbers to listen to. Dad and I sang in our choir even though we hadn't been to any rehearsals for the songs. We practiced each song once before the meeting and I think they turned out nice. We have a pretty good size choir in this new ward. 

Today we also had Pride Oryang report his mission in our ward today. He did a nice job, was short and sweet and bore his testimony in Spanish. 

Hope you enjoy some of the pics from our Open house for Dallas this past week. Our house was full and it was mainly the old 6th ward people. It was great seeing everyone and they all said we need to do something like that every couple of months so we can all have a reason to get together. I told Jodie we could have an open house for Quinn in a few weeks since he comes home the end of the month.

Dallas was so funny about being back in our house. He wanted to see the basement to see if anything had changed. So he walked around down there for a while, then he asked if he could go see your room. Kirk left it a bit untidy on his way out to the door to Canada last week, so I guess it brought back lovely memories for Dallas in that unkempt state. Anyway, he felt very at home here. He said when he decides where he's living next year, he'll let me know so we can put money down for you too. At first Dallas was going to go to Utah State and try to walk on the basketball team and get a scholarship, but he said he's changed his mind now. This summer he's going to go to Knoxville (just up the street from you  :) and sell security systems. He's, of course, hoping to make thousands of dollars. Actually some guys have made some pretty good money doing it, so he said if it works out well, he'll try and talk you into doing it with him next summer.

The Pinders told us they are seriously considering making a trip to Nashville this summer for their anniversary. They've been jealous that you're there ever since you got your call. I'll let you know if they plan a trip.

Today we had a very small Easter dinner, only the three girls and dad and I. We tried to get the Braithwaite's but then decided just to go over to their house afterwards for dessert. The Campbells met us over there and we played games. Lots of fun and they actually liked the new game we took over with us. It's called Time's Up.

We've had a beautiful warm weekend and it's supposed to be in the 80's tomorrow. Seems like we've been waiting for this weather for a long time. Dad actually has the day off, so I guess we'll be working out in the yard tomorrow. Today we actually sat out on the back porch, first time for the season. I loved it. Dad and Nikki even took a nap out there.

Sounds like Kirk is having a fun time in Canada. Sarah's family was having 30 people for dinner so Kirk will get to meet just about all of her side of the family this weekend. Also Sarah and her 19 yr old brother are going through the temple for the first time this Tuesday, so Kirk will be able to be there when she goes through. He comes home this Thursday, then has to pack up and head back to Rexburg next weekend for hopefully his last semester of college. We'll see. He won't know if he has all his credits until he actually gets there and gets the classes he's hoping for. I'll keep you posted.

Sean is taking finals this week, so hopefully he's spending a lot of his time studying. He feels pretty good about all his classes this semester and says he's going to get really good grades.

Kristina and Leah are in full swing in their lax season. In Leah's last game, she really did well. She scored a goal, ran hard and played well. I think it's all starting to kick in with her. Kristina's varsity team actually won BK last week and they were the state champs last year. It was a hard fought game and there were quite a few people in the stands for it. It was a fun game to watch.

Nikki is still singing in Cantus, loving Activity Days and still making plans for her restaurant in the future. She still loves food and loves to cook. The girls only have 31 days of school left, can you believe that? After that we won't have any more kids in elementary school. Someone's getting older and it might be me.

We got a picture of Hudson today from Maria. This is his dapper Easter outfit. Can you believe how big he is now? He's so cute too.

I spoke with my friend Maria this week and she's trying to gently persuade her husband to listen to the missionaries. He keeps saying, "Are you sure about this?" She said she still reads the Book of Mormon and loves it. Baby steps...

Thanks for the funny stories about Tater Days. Our little Eagle Fun Days seems to pale in comparison. Have you been able to meet with Ramon DeJabon again ( I really like his name)? That's a small world running into someone from the DR. 

Well, better get the dogs in the kennel for the night. Have a great week Alex. Can't wait to get your letter and hear from you. I look forward to Mondays. You're always in my heart.

Love you,

Mom xxoo

Fun Day

April 1, 2012

Dear Elder Alex,

Okay, how fun was that hearing your distant voice in the background. My heart almost stopped when she said who she was and that she was from Paducah. That made my day! I can remember contacting moms of the elders in Hilton Head and it was so fun to let them know how much we loved being around their sons. So please thank that family (can't remember the name now because I went into momentary shock) for that fun surprise.

I hope you like the pictures I sent. It's just a smattering of the things we did on our vacation. After I wrote you last week, here's a brief synopsis of our trip. Monday we met up with Mary and drove to San Diego where we thought we were going to go kayaking, but it got too windy and frankly it was freezing. Mary said she was secretly happy that we didn't have to put on the lovely wet suits that are so flattering. Instead we walked around the coastline, visited the sea lions, then went downtown to the newly renovated Mormon Battalion museum. Remember how dinky it was last time? Well this time it was actually very nice and at the end there was a movie where we got to see Carolina as an extra. She played the part of a latino woman in California having a party with the Mormons. It was very brief, but we saw her. She's a star. Here's a pic from the museum:

We also made a trip to the temple, to a mall and swam. Then on Tuesday, we headed back up north to OC where we stopped for lunch at a Jewish deli called Jerry's because the girls were craving Monte Cristo sandwiches. From there we went to Angel stadium for a tour-picked you up a little souvenir from there that will be coming shortly. Then up to Jan's where we stayed for 2 days. Jan took us to the Brea mall and helped us know how to put on make-up correctly. Apparently I've been doing it wrong my whole life, who knew? Then dad and I took Sean to the airport so he could get back home. That night we had dinner in Brea at Fresca's, the mexican restaurant we all love and then we went to the movies to see the Hunger Games. Kristina and I have been reading the books.

On Wednesday, we took Mary to the airport, then headed down to Balboa Beach where we walked around and played for a bit, had lunch and a chocolate covered banana in honor of Arrested Development's banana stand, then we went back to Jan's where she cooked us dinner. Afterwards we went to Downtown Disney where we met up with Toni, Sam and Cammi and also Ben, Alyssa and their daughter Belle.  Here's a pic (I know we look a bit scary):

Then on Thursday, we went to the Winn and visited then headed back up north to Vegas for the night. We walked around the strip, M&M world, etc. The next day we went to St. George and met up with Allen and Cole who had just returned from his mission last week. We met them at the temple. Then Allen told us about a good Mexican restaurant so we had lunch and Lisa, Maggie and Malcolm, along with Jessie and her friend Jessie met us for lunch. We had a fun visit.

We drove from there to Steve and Carolina's where we stayed for the night. Dad and I stayed up til almost 2 talking with Steve and Carolina. We also had to privilege of listening to Kassie report her date from that night, every detail of it. She just broke up with a guy and is still miserable about it, but she did the right thing breaking up with him, so I'm proud of her. Dakota sounds like she's doing well in Bosnia opening up the country. We also got to see Axel and Laura and their twins the next morning because they came over to listen to conference. Axel is really doing well in law school and got some kind of reward Friday night. He says he's really starting to like litigation law.

On Saturday we drove up to G&G Thompson's for lunch and listened to conference. After lunch we headed into downtown SLC where they have now officially opened City Creek, that large new shopping area across from temple square. It was very crowded but it was very beautiful. We'll definitely go back again when it's not conference weekend.  We drove home Saturday night.

All in all, it was a great trip because we got to see so many family members and since we made so many stops along the way, it made the driving less painful.  

So what did you think of conference? There were so many talks that I really liked this time and luckily I recorded the whole thing so I'll start watching a talk a day for the next few months like I always do. I love doing that and it really helps the talks sink in. There were so many talks this time about families and I particularly enjoyed Elder Nelson's talk about the human body and the human soul. Dad had to work today, but I told him about it. I was sad to hear Sister Beck getting released because I have enjoyed everything she has said these past few years. She was an amazing leader. How did the priesthood session go? We were on the road, so no one was able to attend and we haven't heard any report yet.

Did any of your investigators get to conference? I hope so, because there were so many talks that I was hoping Maria was there listening to. It would be nice to get CD's of conference for you to take around to appointments and listen to portions of them as part of your lessons.

Have you performed in any more stakes with your musical roadshow? When the choir sang "Come Thou Fount" today, I couldn't help think of you the whole time. Then right in the middle of it, I got a text from Myles McKell saying "thinking of Alex". Did you get to see David Archuleta in the MTC choir yesterday? He just went into the MTC last Wednesday. We think he's going to Chile. Apparently the video of him singing in the choir is all over facebook now. I got this from Carolina right after the session:

Can't believe it's already April. We're having an open house for Dallas this week on Thursday. They were going to do it at the Rasmussen's, but she just had a baby and said it would be too difficult, so Dawn asked me. That will be fun to have them all here and to get to see everyone. I'll take lots of pics.  I guess he hasn't decided where he wants to live at BYU yet, so I'll just let Sean find a lovely place for you.

Hope you enjoyed your Hawaiian feast. The girls would be very jealous. Leah has her first LAX game tomorrow and she's very excited, so we'll keep you posted on how she does. Kristina is in the family room with Caleb 'studying' for a big math test tomorrow. She's worried about it, he's not. Kirk and Sarah are watching TV in the basement, dad, leah and Nikki are all asleep already. 

We are all well here and think of you often. It always sounds like you enjoy the work and love the people. That's what it's all about, but also remember to record your tender mercies and miracles so that as you look back upon them and they will continue to lift you in life, and as one of the speakers said today continue to seek after spiritual missionary experiences (and I will add to that, any spiritual experiences) even after your mission so that you will continue to progress in the gospel. I'm so thankful for conference talks (our present day scriptures) and for our scriptures from prophets of old. I am continually re-converted to the gospel when I listen and read them. I love it.

Have a great week. You're the best!

Love you,

Mom xxoo

Graham's Home

Mar. 18, 2012

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

Sunday Eve

March 11, 2012

Dear Elder Alex,

This week seemed like it went by really fast. I feel like I was just writing you yesterday. Probably because last week I had a traumatic writing experience. After I wrote your letter, I accidentally sent it off to everybody on the list that usually receives your letters instead of sending it to you. I didn't even realize I had done it until I got first a phone call from Dawn Y. and then an email from Heather Pinder telling me thank you for sharing my thoughts with her. I didn't know what she was talking about until at the end of her letter I could see the letter I had written to you. Then I screamed, which woke dad up, and ran to the computer to re-read my letter to you to see if I had said anything sketchy. Then I got an email from Axel asking if I meant to send your letter to everyone. Then the next morning I got a letter from Diane Goodwin telling me she probably should have stopped reading the letter when she realized it was meant for you, but then she wanted to tell me how much my letter meant to her and how good it made her feel by some of the things I had said. So in the end, I guess if a few people felt better because of the letter, I shouldn't feel like hiding, but I tell you, that's a horrible feeling realizing something so personal has gone out into cyberspace for many to see. You better believe I will be extra careful from now on.

First off, congrats on your 201 bowling score. Makes a mother proud!  

Second, your story about the well all of a sudden appearing in  Daniel's yard was so weird and thanks for the pictures. You guys were really watched over. Sometimes miracles in our lives are very obvious, but most often they are subtle and I hope you can see them each day in your life as a missionary.  I hope Neil is doing well too.

So Dallas came home this week and it sounds like he's been chilling out at his house for a while. I think this week he's going to Provo to look for places to live with Devin. Devin said he's planning on you living in their apartment too, so I'll let you know what place they find and I'll just go ahead and sign you up unless I hear differently from you. What should I tell Austin and Cameron?

I had my last ward conference today and it was wonderful. The Bishop in the 7th ward gave an amazing talk and so did Jen Black (RS president) and so did Pres. Shaw who spoke in the Relief Society. You know when you go to some meetings and it just seems like the talks are meant just for you, that's how today was. In fact, I'm going to find this one article that Jen spoke about by Brad Wilcox called My Grace is Sufficient,  and send it to you. It's really given me a lot to think about. We are so blessed to live in an area of the world where there are so many strong members of the church whom I learn so much from.

Dakota leaves for Croatia this week. We sent her a little package in the mail last week to wish her the best. By the sound of her letters, she will be an awesome missionary and is very ready to preach.

This last week Dad's uncle Jim passed away. Do you remember him, grandma Thompson's sister Elizabeth's husband. Sean went to his services and then according to Jim's will he wanted everyone to go to Chuck-o-Rama afterward, so that's where they went. That's the first time I've heard a request like that...it made me smile.

Our ward, the 8th ward, (just trying to get used to saying that) is having a luau this weekend and we're supposed to feature green jello in honor of St. Patrick's day. Should be quite the interesting mix of cultures, but dad is going to carve some spam into the shape of a pig and I'm making coconut rice (which we had today for dinner and loved it) and some spicy, honey chicken. We're supposed to dress in polynesian attire too and the elders from our ward who are both polynesian are excited about the party and are even going to play the ukelele. They asked Leah and Nikki if they knew how to dance Samoan style, but they both declined.

Kristina had her first lacrosse games yesterday. She found out on Monday that she made varsity and was very excited about it. She's also going to be a ref and earn money for each game which she is looking forward to. Leah has been practicing, but no games yet. 

Sean went out with a girl named Juliet last week which we are all excited about since how rare is that that there would actually be a Sean and Juliet when we're all such big Psych fans. Anyway, we'll keep you posted there if they strike up a relationship...

Kirk and Sarah fasted today that their visa paperwork would go through. I know they're feeling a little anxious now to at least hear something from the visa people.

I'm visiting a few wards this week because March is RS birthday month and the wards have a special celebration and have invited the stake to come. I'm also meeting with Anita Kjar who is the new 9th ward RS president this week. That will be a fun visit. She will be wonderful for that ward.

Dad said to tell you that BYU is playing Iona this week in the tourney. I've never heard of them, but maybe that means something to you. :)

This Sunday we'll be going to the 7th ward to hear Graham speak. He said he'll be coming back here in the summer and would like to stay with us then. He's always welcome here. Next week, I'll report to you about Graham.

So that's about it here. I hope you are doing well, staying safe, having fun, sharing your testimony often and most important feeling the love of our Savior with you every day. It's a very tangible feeling when you are in tune. My prayers and thoughts are always with you.

I love you very much!!!!

Mom