Dear Elder,
Hi! How was your weekend? I hope it was a really good one. Ours was pretty good. We had bad news on Friday, though, when Dad went to the doctor and was officially diagnosed with diabetes. It came as no surprise, but is still pretty hard on us.
Friday evening, Dad and I went out on a quick date. Grandma had slept all day long, Thomas was gone at the Varsity rendezvous, and Miriam was at Preston’s uncle’s birthday party. Katrina was home alone with ice cream and a movie. Dad and I ate at a deli at the point of the mountain. After that, we went to the hunting store which is NOT my idea of a date destination, but we had just gotten word that Grandma was awake, and we needed to be home too soon to do much else anyway, so we made a quick stop there.
Dad wanted to go to the hunting store because he wants to hunt coyotes. They just increased the bounty on coyotes to $50 a dog. Like I told Jonathan, Dad likes the idea of it because it won't cost much, involves long drives, shooting, wearing camo, spending time with who ever in the family goes with him, not bringing home any game, and doing a service. He also likes the idea of earning a bit of money to pay for the experience. The worker we talked to at Cabelas had gone many times, so it was nice to get his advice. We bought him a small kit with a how to video and a couple of callers. It’s good because it gives Dad something else to think about besides his diabetes.
Saturday involved Dad taking kids into work and working at the laundry and me doing some much-needed cleaning at home. Grandma slept a lot again, so we were able to get lots done. In the afternoon, Dad and I went into Provo, but in the evening we went out as a fam and spent a nice time together. It would have been fun to be outside doing a barbecue, but the wind was crazy. Remember how windy it was that day? Anyway, that was our Saturday.
At church, all the young women sat on the stand, and some of them, including Katrina, gave talks on girl’s camp. They all did a wonderful job and we all felt the same spirit that the girl’s felt at camp this year. All of the young women stood and sang “Live It,” their camp song which is based on D&C 15:4 which says “Arise and shine forth that thy light may be a standard to the nations” which is the young men/young women theme for this year. It was so nice to hear the song that I learned to love at camp be sung again by the beautiful young women in our ward including my own daughters.
After church, Dad went for a walk, Miriam and Thomas took a nap, and Katrina and I played scrabble. She wanted to have it so that we could only use terms and names from the Book of Mormon. It was really hard and I had to get pretty creative in order to use any word. For example, one word I made was “toupee.” when Katrina challenged me on it, I thought quickly and said that when the servant of Moroni took off the scalp of Zarahemna, he was really creating the first toupee. Even with my genius in finding words, Katrina won. Then she and I made dinner—corn fritters, beans with meat, and salad. By then, Dad was home and Mir and Thom were awake, so we had a nice family dinner. After that, most of us adjourned to the living room where Thomas and I played Scrabble and Dad talked to Jon on the phone. Playing scrabble with Thomas was kind of like playing Scrabble solitaire since I usually had to look at his tiles and help him spell a word. Anyway, it was a nice time.
Before church, Grandma was actually awake, so I got her out in her chair to be with the family during breakfast time. That must have really worn her out because we couldn’t even get her to wake up to take the sacrament after church. She did wake up later around 6:00, however, just about an hour before Don, Renee, Donny, and Becky came to visit her. We got her out in her chair again and had a nice visit with everyone. Thomas got his trumpet out for Donny, since they both play, so much of our conversation was punctuated by loud blasts coming from the bedroom. Becky took Grandma out on the deck, which I think she really liked, although it made her cold. She’s always cold.
Jon called Dad a lot yesterday, and the gist of it all is that he is coming home. We will see him on Tuesday, I think. It will be nice to see him again. He will be staying at Troy’s since Richard, Celeste, and Sarabeth will be coming here for a visit. I think Jon’s plan is to get an apartment and job in Logan so that he will be ready to start at USU in the fall. I think it’s a wise plan, and hope that everything works out well for him. I hope we can have a barbecue while he is here! He’s the one who likes to have barbecues and use the fire pit and I miss doing that with him.
Dad talked to Cassandra recently, and I think they are all doing well—I only heard half of the conversation. Dad is the Lily hero because he’s the one who picked out Pooh Bear for her at Disneyland. I told him that he is going to have a hard time topping that gift this year. I’m sure he’ll try, though!
Thomas went to work out with the high school football team early this morning. It made him so sick he was dry heaving. Fun time, eh? He really wants to be a part of a sport, though, so he’s sticking with it. I told him he’ll have to talk to Dad about it to make sure Dad will let him, and that he has to commit to a whole year without quitting unless it turns out to be a bad environment. It is a big money and time investment, so we’ll have to see what happens.
I’ve been having a wonderful time studying Preach My Gospel. I love the following statement from the book: “...the Church is not just another religion, nor is it an American church. Rather, it is a restoration of the “fullness of [the] gospel” (D&C 1:23), the same as was revealed and taught from the beginning.” I love it because I know it is true! It also said that when people make commitments to do things that increase their faith in Christ (scripture reading, daily prayer, church attendance, etc), they are preparing themselves to make and keep sacred covenants in the temple. So, making commitments prepares us to make covenants. That makes so much sense. After all, the things we covenant to do in the temple are basically things that a righteous member of the church has already committed to do—a covenant cements those commitments and qualifies us for greater blessings from God. I love the temple and the gospel!
Last night at scripture time with Grandma, Dad talked about you and what you said about scripture reading. He encouraged all of us to use what you said to make our scripture reading more effective in drawing us closer to Jesus Christ. We started our family scripture reading with a prayer to help us feel the spirit more. After reading, we had a wonderful discussion about what we can learn from what we read and Dad encouraged everyone to reach out to others in forgiveness and love. I told the kids that the people we have the hardest time getting along with are the very people that God has placed in our lives to teach us how to love unconditionally.
Well, that’s all the news for today, Matt. Thanks for your letters and encouragement and your love. We hope that you work hard and do your best—Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will do the rest!
Love,
Mom
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