All Things Marsupial: April 13--Dear Elder

Dear Elder,
How are you today? I am fine. Thank you for sending me letters. You can do the picture-letter thing, it's not a problem. I'm glad that it gives you time to write to others. I hope that you are enjoying your week, and that you are able to teach more people than last week. I'm sorry about Rosa Maria getting Dengue fever. That is a scary thing, and I'm glad that you told me about it, because it helps me know what to pray for--for her to get better and for you not to get it! I hope that you and your companion will be inspired to know how to help Omar and his family. That was pretty funny what you said about Alma 31:5 and the sword. It made me laugh out loud.

You said you heard President Faust speak in Conference. Either you were listening to an old conference, or you are much more in tuned than me, ha ha, because Elder Faust passed away a few years ago. Anyway, I will look for a talk about fortifying our testimony of Jesus Christ. I like how you are focusing on Christ, and I am going to try and do that, too, this week. I also want to read about following up on things in Preach My Gospel like Elder Ballard tells us to.

Matt, I am so glad that you and your companion get along so well and appreciate each other so much. Unity makes all the difference, doesn't it?

Last week was Spring Break and, after conference, we went to visit Grandpa and Grandma. The weather was beautiful, and we did lots of fun things with them. We visited Great Grandma and took her to see the new temple. We also went to the desert and tromped around in the cactus for a couple of hours. It was a fun hike, and we saw a lizard, a frog, a hawk, and even some water. Dad wanted to go to a cowboy town on Wednesday, so we did that, too, which pretty much took up a full day. They had a nice museum at the old county courthouse, which was very interesting, but I could have done without most of the rest of it. Thursday I helped Grandma digitize some old family pictures and Dad helped Grandpa fix a leaky pipe in the ceiling. Later we joined my sister Julie's family and had a fun time swimming with them. It was fun to talk and visit with them and Celeste and Jacob. It was their pool that we went to.

We got to see Julie and Kelly and family quite a lot while we were there, which was awesome. Also, my brother, Tom joined us on many of our adventures, and it was really fun to visit with him so much. We also got to see his boy, Michael which was very nice. We ate at a place called Huauchinangos which sold delicious, authentic Mexican food prepared the way the do it around Puebla. Dad and I couln't get enough of it, and we ordered tamales to go another time as well. The kids discovered Thrifty ice cream, which is the ice cream we would buy when I was a little girl, and is about the best ice cream around. We also ate at Dad's favorite barbeque place--Dad ate there twice. It was a fun visit, and I am very glad that we went!

We got home very late, and had to go to the laundry and wash and go through everything to make sure that not hitchhikers (roaches) came home with us. We were done by midnight and got to sleep by one o'clock. Nine o'clock church this morning was a bit hard to get to, but it was nothing that we couldn't handle. This evening Jonathan came over for dinner, and we ate roast and vegetables. We really enjoyed visiting with him and Miriam who didn't go on the trip with us, and it was hard for me to leave for my meeting at 6 instead of staying to visit, but it couldn't be helped. It don't think Jon stayed too much longer until he had to go home, himself.

So, that's our week in a nutshell, Matt. I am struggling a bit with my weaknesses these days which include pride, selfishness, and slothfulness, just to name a few. I want to do better this week, and I am so grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ that helps me to repent and for the sacrament that I can take to help me renew my covenant to always remember Him and stand as His witness. You are a good example to me, Matt, and I love you very much. Have a wonderful week, your mommy is praying for you!

Love,
Mom