Dear Elder,
Hi! How happy and excited we were to get your letter on Tuesday! When it didn’t come Monday, Dad assured me that sometimes preparation days get canceled or rescheduled for one reason or another, so I didn’t worry, but I was disappointed. It was so nice of your mission president to let you have one on Tuesday instead. You write that he is a good and inspired man, and I am so glad that you and your companion got to spend some extra time with him. I know that will be a blessing in your life.
Thanks so much for writing such detailed letters; you have no idea how much we love reading about everything that is happening with you on your mission. I am soooo glad that you got your package! I prayed and prayed that you would. We are all very happy that you were able to baptize another member of that sweet family and also the other man. I hope the baptisms went well. I am praying for the family that you and Elder Livingston found through specific prayer, that they will accept the restored gospel.
I am so glad that you can be so close to the Holy Ghost and that you and Elder Livingston are so faithful in following it’s promptings. I know you are both being blessed for obeying the Lord and keeping the mission rules. I know you are studying and praying diligently. You are a wonderful example to me and the rest of the family. I am trying to study and pray diligently, too, and it is amazing how much Heavenly Father blesses my weak efforts. We work hard to have family scriptures with the family, and to talk about and teach about Christ and His teachings as we do. The kids are doing pretty well, although I really appreciate your words of encouragement to them to stay faithful and diligent and I hope you keep giving them because I know it really does help.
Thanks for sending the car-wach picture. That is so funny! The other picture of the 12 cockroaches you killed is just plain gross, ha ha. I hope you keep all your food sealed and put away. Okay, I have to stop thinking about that now.
I am so glad that you have plenty of money. Make sure you pay attention to the things that you need and buy them. Who knows when you will be transferred to some remote spot and will be unable to buy the things you need. We will keep you posted on how much money you have in your account. BTW, in your travels, if you happen to see white porcelain platters, saucers, etc. with silver swirls, silver flowers, silver birds, etc inlaid in the porcelain, will you please take a picture? I wanted some stuff like that in Cabo, but it was too expensive. I am wondering if it is less money further inland, so let me know the price, too.
Let’s see...you asked about Oktoberfest. Yes, there were lots of beer mugs floating around, I felt a bit different carrying my water bottle around, ha ha. I think I enjoyed the Greek festival last year better as far as learning something new about a culture, but we really enjoyed the food and scenery. What else...Oh, about Insanity. It is more intense that P90X. It is pretty wild. I love having Sundays off from exercising. One more reason to love the Sabbath, right?
So, what has happened this week? We kicked it off on Monday with a birthday celebration for Katrina. I will try to send you her madlibs in case you have time to read them. It details the ways she got to celebrate this year. This week Katrina also has been to play tryouts, and I will let her tell you about that in her letter. Miriam has been working of course. She gets off early on Mondays and Wednesdays for Family Home Evening and Young Women. She is done working at the end of this month. Thank Goodness! Thomas is trying to enjoy being fourteen, but I have found that it is definitely the hardest age of all for kids. It was for me, and for each one of you, so remember him in your prayers.
Cassandra and Emerson are excited about their house. They say it will take a long time to close, but I keep praying that it will close soon since then maybe Dad can come up during fall break and help them with repairs. Right now it doesn’t look like that will happen. Lily is cute and fun as always and we got to SKYPE with her this week.
I got to see Jonathan quite a bit yesterday. I went to the laundry to wash clothes, and he was there because he worked for Vic. He helped me with the laundry quite a bit, and we had a very nice time talking. Then he went to Thomas’s game and came home for dinner afterward. Miriam and Katrina were gone with friends, so we had a nice dinner, just me, Dad, and the boys. Jon stayed for awhile after dinner before he had to go. His being here sure made it a nice evening!
Dad has been working hard, of course. On Friday night we went out to eat and then we went to campus to watch people try out to be in a comedy troupe. It was lots of fun. We were at least twenty years older than anyone else there, ha ha. We also started a fun video series made by the BBC, I think. It is always fun being around Dad. We also spent some time together on Wednesday before family dinner time and then again after the kids left for Young Men/Young Women. Today I have a five o clock meeting, but that’s all. I hope we can have lots of good family time.
Today (Sunday), Ryan, Jon’s friend, spoke in church. He just finished his mission in Kentucky. We sat behind the Gledhills, and it was good to see them all there, taking up the entire row. It filled my heart with so much happiness to see the friends of my children faithful to the gospel and to their families.
Tonight we had fun making dinner together as a family and eating as a family. Then Don, Renee, Becky, and Donny came over and we had a nice visit. We read your letter out loud and also read a conference talk together. Then I put Grandma to bed. I think she liked having visitors.
Tomorrow I am beginning a two week job testing in the schools. It is only in the morning till noon, and Grandma is usually asleep at that time anyway. Miriam will come home from lunch around eleven every day, and Dad will come home from lunch, too, so they can check on her. I am looking forward to getting out of the house a bit. I love you very much, Matt. Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Mom
No comments:
Post a Comment