Dear Elder,
Hi! It’s so nice to
write to you. I wonder if you got
transferred this week, and if you will get a chance to write to us
tomorrow. I also wonder what has
happened with the families that you have contacted lately. I really enjoyed last week’s letter. I am so happy that all of the family you were teaching is
baptized now. Thanks for the pictures
you have sent of the people you and your companion have baptized. It is nice to see you, them, and Elder
Livingston all looking so full of joy.
Today we had the wonderful experience of participating in
the dedication of a temple.
They designated the stake centers in the area as extensions of the temple
and held the dedication ceremonies in place of church meetings. We went to the 9:00 session this morning and
I really felt the spirit and lots of happiness.
Elder Packer and Elder Perry spoke as well Sister Packer and the
president and matron of the temple. Their talks were wonderful! My goal after
listening to the talks today is to re-establish good habits in my life that
have been neglected.
As Katrina told you, last week we had a conference for all
of the area and heard Elder Oaks speak.
His talk and the other ones given were inspired, and I really felt the
Spirit. We also look forward to General
Conference in two weeks. We have been so
blessed to have so many chances to hear apostles and prophets and to hear the
word of the Lord! I know I have really
need and appreciate these opportunities.
Yesterday was a nice day.
Dad got home from working at the laundry pretty early, and we decided to go
out and have some family time while Grandma was still asleep. We had some universal day passes that the
kids had earned working this summer, so we went mini golfing. We each got 20 game tokens and
had fun playing Skeeball, basketball, Deal or no Deal, etc. The kids redeemed our tickets for candy and
Thomas also got a sticky hand to play with, and some little mustaches that clip
under your nose. Next we played
miniature golf. Thomas passed out
mustaches to everyone except Dad, since he already has one, and we had fun
stroking our lucky staches before every put, and seeing people’s jealous stares
since we were definitely the hippest golfers on the course. Dad won the game and I came in second. I think after that it was Thomas, then
Miriam, and Katrina last. We all had
lots of fun. After eating dippin dots,
we went back home to take care of Grandma.
Later Dad and Thomas went to Thomas’s game, and Miriam,
Katrina, and I went to the park to see a concert. The park was really crowded, and we couldn’t
hear real well, so we listened for a couple of songs and then bought some food
from a Mexican food vendor. It was nice
and authentic and incredibly delicious.
You are really lucky to eat such food all the time. I got a taco and folded my plate taco style
to make a taco holder. It worked very
well, and we slowly walked, listened, and ate our way back to the car.
When we girls got home, Jon was here. He had a load of yard waste in Vic’s pick-up
and couldn’t drive it back to the laundry because one head light and two tail
lights are out. Troy’s parents had hired
Jon to clean up the brush from their yard and haul it off. Dad drove Jon home and will fix the lights
tomorrow and dump the waste. Jon also
came by yesterday after his first day of work.
He says it went well. The store
hasn’t opened yet, so he spent the day selling memberships at credit unions across the
valley. We met him after our date to
help him get some work clothes. They are
going to be working him 8 hours a day for the next few days, and he will be
paid on the 4th, so he’s pretty happy that he’ll have money soon.
Friday night for our date, Dad and I ate out and
then drove up the overlook road and kept driving around the back of the
mountains till we came out the Canyon.
It was a very rocky drive, and I’m surprised Dad’s little pick up could
make it, but he said it would, and it did.
The drive was full of beautiful fall-colored mountain vistas. We had fun driving and talking. Grandpa and also my brother, Tom both said
they’ve watched David Copperfield recently and really liked it. I wasn’t sure that I’d ever read it or watched
it and Dad said we have the DVD, so when we got home from helping Jon at
Walmart, we watched the first half of it and really liked it. We also watched some last night, but aren’t
done with it yet.
Last week I worked in the mornings again. I didn’t do much Insanity because of my
knees. You’ll laugh, but I exercise in
my flip flops because any other shoes hurt my feet. I’ve decided I have been having knee trouble
because the flip flops don’t have the cushioning of a tennis shoe. All the running and jumping, etc, in
Insanity is just way too jolting on my knees.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do about it all, but I’m doing other
exercises for now. Once my knees feel
better, I may try Insanity every other day.
Wednesday was a crazy day with parent teacher conference at
the high school and three parent meetings, too.
I was able to call Tom, though, and wish him happy
birthday. He’s forty six this year which
shows you where we’re all headed J It was nice to talk to him. Sarah and James are in Texas now, and I think
they are finally getting ready to move into their house. They’ve been living in a hotel for what?
About a month now? The other relatives
seem to be doing well and keeping busy.
I got to Skype with Cassandra and Lily this week and I
really liked it. Jon was there with me,
and he thought it was pretty silly the way I act when I talk to Lily, but I
don’t care J She did her friendly dance and rode her pony
and smiled lots. After Skyping, Jon was
so disgusted about how slow my computer runs that he spent lots of time fixing
it, and it has been running great ever since.
On Monday night we drove up the canyon and had a picnic
for Family Home Evening. It was fun to
eat by the stream and talk. After
eating, since we didn’t have a Frisbee to throw around, we decided to go for a
walk around the park instead. By then it
was getting cold so we hauled the blankets out of the back of the van and the
wimpy ones wore them to stay warm. We
crossed the bridge and walked along the other side of the stream on a dusty
trail. It was a fun little walk.
Well, that was our week.
I’m back to studying Preach My Gospel.
I stopped for awhile because it just wasn’t working out for me to study
it on the computer, but now I am studying again this time with books instead of
online study tools. I am learning about
the Holy Ghost, and we plan to have a lesson on feeling the Holy Ghost for
Family Home Evening tonight or tomorrow night.
I love you very much, Matt, and if you got a new area and
companion, I hope you get used to it all soon and that you will be blessed to
be able to continue on with the work of the Lord without interruption, and that
you will be blessed with all the other things you need to be happy and close to
Heavenly Father as you do His work. I am
praying for you!
Love,
Mom
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