Dear Elder,
Hi, How are you? I
hope that your week was as good as the one before. We really enjoyed your letter about that week,
and it fills us with joy to read about your successful missionary work. It is so exciting that you got to baptize an investigator. I’m so glad that your baptism
clothes got to you in time . Thanks for
sending the photo of you in your baptism clothes with the family. It is a wonderful picture! I was also happy to read about the family
that you and Elder Livingston were impressed to stop and talk to, who accepted
a date to be baptized. The work really
does move fast there, and it is wonderful to see how Heavenly Father is pouring
out His spirit and blessings on you and Elder Livingston to help you keep up with
the work.
The family is doing well.
No, of course you can’t get Katrina a present. I can’t believe that she even asked you for
one. I’m sure she was kidding. She has had friends over a few times this
week to practice Shakespeare. She has
also been going to play practice and to children’s choir rehearsals. She is one busy kid!
Miriam’s teacher asked her to be one of the leaders in DECA
or FBLA, I can’t remember which. She’s
pretty excited about that. She and Moira
Facer are planning to make and sell cookie dough as a fund raiser for school
choir tour this year. That sounds like a
nice little business.
Things have really changed for Thomas in football, but I’ll
let him tell you about that. He also
went to a school dance this week, and went to a PPT gym type place with Hayden
Boyd and they had a blast.
Cassandra and Emerson have been in Lake Tahoe, but they are
home now. I think they had fun, but
they said everything was crazy expensive, like a bottle of water was ten
dollars.
Jon got the job at Costco!
We are so happy for him! We’ve
been able to see him quite a bit this week which has been really nice. I’m excited that his work is so close to us
because I am thinking that he will be able to stop by and say “hi” quite
often. Who knows, he may even be able to
join us for dinner sometimes.
Today was a regional stake conference which included all 149
stakes in the area. We heard many
wonderful talks, and Elder Oaks spoke.
The talks really motivated me to try harder to be anxiously engaged in
the service of God. One thing that Elder Walker from the Seventy
said that really stood out to me is that in the Church we do lots of organizing
in our buildings. We organize classes
and programs and quorums, but the most important organization in the world, the
family, is organized in the most sacred place in the world, the temple, where
couples are married for time and all eternity.
I am so glad that Dad and I were married in the temple and that we can
be together with you kids and our Heavenly Father eternally.
It is a beautiful day outside. Temperatures are cooling down a bit; the high
is only about 84 degrees today, and I don’t have to water the full-sun plants
every single day any more. The plants in
the front of the house, by the way, are beautiful. The cannas are super tall and topped with
orange flowers. The holly hocks are
thriving and are covered with pink blooms.
The dense low-growing plants Dad and I planted along the fence between
us and the Peery’s have filled in the space and are growing nicely with lots of
pink spiky flowers. In the back yard, the apricot tree, that I
once thought was dying, is doing well. I
am so glad since it is the biggest, most beautiful apricot tree that I have
ever seen. The rest of the yard is also
doing well. The 4 bushes I bought on
clearance for a dollar each at the end on one year’s growing season are growing
nicely, and one is covered with constant blooms.
Dad is really enjoying his new teaching position. It’s nice for him to teach students who will
be around for more than 45 days. He is
also still doing Insanity, and is getting quite muscle-y. He has been wanting to go and do a bit of
shooting and also some coyote hunting. I
hope he gets a chance to do these things soon.
I have also been doing Insanity and I love it because I have
lots more energy and my clothes fit better.
One bad thing, though, is that my knees are giving me lots of
trouble. I had to skip Insanity
yesterday, and today of course, is my
day off. I am hoping to start up again
tomorrow and somehow turn a corner on the pain.
I’m worried that I will have to quit Insanity which I don’t want to do.
I am also still doing testing at the elementary
schools. I like it because I get to work
with nice people and with kids and get out of the house for awhile. I only will be doing it for one week more and
then not again till January. I am also
starting to volunteer at the junior high this week. I will be tutoring a student in reading
during e-time twice a week. Remember how
Mrs. Guymon helped you with
reading? Maybe I can help someone now.
I am also taking care
of Grandma, of course. She has slowed
down quite a bit and I don’t get her out of her chair as much because it tires
her out. She wasn’t saying much for
awhile and preferred to just sit and hold someone’s hand. She’s been asking for and enjoying lots of
ice cream, root beer and stuff like that, though. She even asked for chocolate in her ice cream
yesterday which has always been something she used to avoid. She’s also enjoyed pizza lately which she
never would eat before. Maybe she’s come
to the same conclusion I have which is, hey, she’s 85 years old; time to live a
little. No ill effects so far. She goes in cycles and is beginning to talk
more again and sleep less.
I got to talk to Grandpa and Grandma Haws a bit this
week. They took a nice trip to visit
a small town in the southern part of the state. Grandma enjoyed the beautiful drive and
Grandpa enjoyed visiting with new and interesting people. It was fun to hear their report. We are going to go visit them during spring
break and I’m really excited because for once out spring break is during the
time of the Easter pageant, which I loved attending as a girl and have
really missed since I moved away. It is
performed on the temple grounds and is a beautiful depiction of the life and
ministry of the Savior.
We are also toying
with the idea of getting passports or cards for the kids so that we can visit
Mexico while we are there so that the kids can get an idea of what it is like
where you are. Well, it won’t be a whole
lot like the part of Mexico that you are in, but it will still be a cultural experience, don’t you
think? We are still trying to decide
weather or not to do it.
Well, Matt. I love
you very much. Thank you for writing so
much to us because we really enjoy hearing about what is happening with you and
your investigators. Remember that I need
some pictures of you so that you will have a photo on your missionary
plaque. I love the one you sent with you
in your mission clothes, but I think it’s too small. Please send some asap! I also like the other picture you took of the
virgin Mary. Can you translate what is
written beneath? “Virgencita: plis cuida a todos pero un poquito mas a mi”
is what it said. Keep up the good work
of the Lord and remember that we love you very much and are faithfully praying
for you to be blessed.
Love,
Mom
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