April 20--Dear Elder--Happy Easter!

Dear Elder,

Happy Easter! 

“He is Risen, He is Risen! 

Tell it out with joyful voice. 

He has burst his three days prison;

let the whole wide earth rejoice! 

Death is conquered.  Man is free. 

Christ has won the victory!”

  This Easter morning I have been thinking again about your questions concerning Mosiah 15:9-15.  I am thinking about how it is not only very important to know that God the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate and distinct persons, but how it is just as important to know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are one, as in united and agreed.  I think this is true for many reasons, one is that God would like us to strive for the same unity in our relationships with our fellow man.  I think another reason is so that we will not be confused about their separateness. 

The Book of Mormon tells us that King Noah and his priests, to whom Abinadi was preaching in Mosiah 15, were idol worshippers, and that the people of King Noah became idol worshippers as well (Mosiah 11:6,7).   If King Noah and his people were anything like the idolatrous nations of the Old Testament, they probably worshipped many gods.  All the false gods Old Testament that I looked into were believed to be totally separate from each other with different dominions, goals, and requirements and they were even sometimes oppositional.  In fact, some pagans of the Old Testament taught that the god, Mott killed the god, Baal who then came back to life. 

Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, on the other hand are completely united.  When we obey Christ’s commandments, God the Father blesses us.  When we pray to the Father, Christ’s intercedes for us.  The Holy Ghost testifies of both the Father and the Son.  Christ did nothing except those things that His Father would do.   As the Encyclopedia of Mormonism pointed out, they are completely united in their desire to “bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” 

Not only that, they are all one in righteousness.  Immorality, murder, etc were a common part of pagan worship, and the gods themselves were notoriously wicked.  We know that King Noah and his people were participating in whoredoms and other evils, probably spurred on in their idol worship.  Our Heavenly Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, on the other hand are perfectly righteous in how they behave and how they require us to behave.

How marvelous is our God!  No fabrication of the human mind, religious or otherwise, has ever come close to the beauty, perfection, and love found in the truth.  The truth is that there is a loving God in heaven, and He is the father of our spirits, that His Son and our elder brother, Jesus Christ, is our Savior, who came because His father sent him, and died for us because of His everlasting love and kindness towards us, and rose on the third day with healing in His wings, and that the Holy Ghost is real, a personage of spirit, bound by loving covenant to testify to the children of men that God the Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ live!  I know these things are true, Matt, and they fill me with joy and gratitude on this beautiful Easter day!

It has been a good week.  Heavenly Father is helping me be more focused on the Savior.  He is also helping me to see my many weaknesses I have worked hard this week and have gotten a lot done.  I felt very blessed today as I took the sacrament and pondered on Jesus Christ and His atonement.  I know that He lives and loves me even when I falter.

Miriam's rice crispie bunny

Thomas's traditional alien bunny, this time done with rice crispies instead of bread

Bread Bunny--Whole wheat version for Dad

Tuesday, for family home evening, we did all the Easter goodies stuff because we knew that Miriam would be out of town today.  It was a fun evening.  Katrina and I made bread bunnies, and then when Miriam came home, she and Thomas made rice crispy bunnies because they can’t eat wheat.  Then when Dad came home, we all colored Easter eggs together.  While I cleaned up afterward, Dad and kids went into the bathroom and did our weirdest family Easter tradition which, as you know, is to dump the die into the toilet as it flushes and watch the different colors of swirl around and flush down.  May I just say, that is a tradition of Dad’s invention?  He and his brother used to do that as kids.  It’s one of the few traditions that Dad had growing up, poor guy. 

Then Dad and I hid the Easter baskets and then the kids found them.  It took less than five minutes, ha ha.  Jon came over, too, awhile later, and we had some more fun visiting going on.  I sent him home with his Easter chocolate and also rice cripies which he shared with his room mate.  He texted me the next day to tell me he was totally out of chocolate and needed more candy.  He was totally kidding.  I gave everyone waaaaaay too much Easter candy this year.

I also had fun sending an Easter package to Lily.  Dad and I bought her a sugar Easter egg with a bunny scene inside.  I also enclosed a little stuffed ducky wearing a raincoat and hat.  When Lily was a baby in newborn ICU, and I was staying at the Ronald Macdonald house with Cassandra and Emerson, they were giving out free toys, so I took the duckie and saved it to give to Lily when she was older.  Well, she’s older now.  Cassandra said she loves it.  I also made her an Easter card and sent her a Noah’s Ark board book with cute pictures.  Cassandra was planning to give her the book for Easter today.

Other than that, we have just done boring stuff like yard work, putting in a new bathroom faucet upstairs, etc.  Wednesday, Katrina and Miriam went to see Les Mis again, and now Miriam is out of town, so Thomas and Katrina have been the only kids at home.  Thursday night, Dad, Katrina, and I went walking along the river.  The weather was perfect and the air was fresh and smelled like trees and water.  I love spring! 

Friday Dad and I went out on a date, and on Saturday we bought some Mexican food from a lady who has three kids.  Her husband was deported, and she is trying to survive.  The food was fantastic, and we enjoyed talking to her and encouraging her.  I hope everything works out for her family, and I hope we can buy some of that good food from her again soon!

Today we are going to walk around the temple and then sit in the grass and talk about the resurrection.  We are also hoping to Skype with Cassandra and Emerson.  Jon called today.  It was sure nice to talk to him for awhile.   

I love you, Matthew, and hope that your Easter is one filled with joy and love for the Savior and with the Spirit of God.

Love,

Mom

2014 04 15--Letter From Matt

I'm going to write a general letter this week. Yesterday was transfer day and things got really crazy. I'm grateful for all of the help that we received from the Spirit and from God. Things just barely worked out, but they worked out, and we never got into a situation that we couldn't resolve with help and inspiration from heaven :)
My companion and I are in the same area and haven't changed, but we had to help a lot of other Elders and Sister missionaries get to their new areas.
I've got some good news! On Sunday we found out that Rocío got baptised! Also María s and her husband Cezar got baptised too! That's truly amazing! I was so glad to hear about them.
I also go to hear from Manuel and Anahí, a young matrimony from Los Cabos. They are now living in Puebla (a different city in a different state) and are still active in the church. They are planning on being sealed as a family to their two wonderful children later this year.
We are currently teaching Jesus Abitia and his wife Lupita. Lupita is a member of the church and her husband is very interested in learning about what we believe. Right now we are teaching them about the Restoration of the church. Today we have an appointment with them and we are going to teach about the Great Apostasy and about the Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith. It's going to be awesome.
We still haven't gotten to see Rosa María. She seems to be discouraged about something but every time we try to teach her, she says that she's busy and doesn't have time. We are praying for her and we hope that this week we'll be able to talk to her.
Yahir is doing well.
Omar is pretty much in the same situation that he's been in for a while now. We didn't see him last week but we are going to teach him the Restoration this week because we have a sneaking suspicion that although he's been going to church and receiving the missionaries off and on for six years now, that he hasn't been taught the Restoration yet...... Hmmm....
I've been working to strengthening my testimony of Jesus Christ. I try to testify of Him in every lesson and I try to follow all of His commandments even when it's hard to do. I feel like my testimony of Him is growing gradually . I need to be persistent. I don't think that it's going to be strengthened all at once. Just as a tree does not spring up all at once full grown from the ground.

I love you all and I hope that you have a great week, I'm sorry that this letter is going to a large group of people and that I couldn't write specifically to  every single one of you as I usually like to. I'm praying for you all and I hope that you have a wonderful week.

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

Dad, Thomas, Katrina at a cowboy town

Thomas, Great Grandma, and Katrina at the temple

Thomas singing with street singer

Grandma and Grandpa

Julie

April 7--Letter From Matt

hey, tell me if you don't like it when I send letters like this ok? I think it's helpful and I might keep on doing it like this, so tell me what you think.
Thanks so much!

nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!! I spelled prepare wrong in my letter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April 6--Dear Elder

Dear Elder,

Hi!  Thanks for the hand-written letter!  It was fun to get it, and, yes, your hand writing has improved!  I appreciate you thinking ahead like that and taking the time to write.  Thank you, also, for telling me about your investigators.   I’m so glad that you could get a birth certificate for Rocio.  That is a wonderful service you for her!  I’m also glad to hear that you and your companion are working so well together.  I liked your bowling video.  Too bad the camera wasn’t rolling when you got your strikes, ha ha!

You asked me about Mosiah 15:1-4.  Doctrine and Covenants 93:4 further clarifies the concept of Christ being the father and the son:  “And that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one—The Father because he gave me of his fulness, and the Son because I was in the world and made flesh my tabernacle, and dwelt among the sons of men. “  Also Mosiah 5:7 explains another way Christ is the father as well as the son.  “And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.”  We are all children of God the Father, but those who take upon themselves the name of Christ, also become His sons and daughters.

As far as God the Father and Jesus Christ being “one god,” these words from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism help clarify their “one-ness”

“The unity prayed for in John 17 provides a model for the LDS understanding of the unity of the Godhead-one that is achieved among distinct individuals by unity of purpose, through faith, and by divine will and action. Joseph Smith taught that the Godhead was united by an "everlasting covenant [that] was made between [these] three personages before the organization of this earth" relevant to their administration to its inhabitants (TPJS, p. 190). The prime purpose of the Godhead and of all those united with them is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39; Hinckley, p. 49-51).”

I hope this helps, Matt.  Let me know what else you are thinking, and we can think about it together.

We are doing well.  In fact, Dad, Katrina, Thomas, and I are traveling to  see Grandpa and Grandma.  It is our spring break, so we thought we’d take advantage of the time off and visit them.   General conference was this weekend, so we waited till it was over and then took off.  We are staying over night at the half way point, so the drive won’t be so bad.  I decided to read an abridged version of Les Mis to the family as we drive, but it’s very badly abridged, so I’m ending up looking things up in the unabridged and reading to them from that.  Good thing I had them both on my Kindle!  The funny thing is that the unabridged version was free, but this stinkin’ abridged version cost me five bucks, ha ha.

Did you get to see Conference, Matt?  I hope so.  Wasn’t it wonderful?  I loved the talks, and many of the speakers said things that seemed to be just for me.  I can’t wait to re-read them!  I hope I’ll have time to study at Grandma and Grandpa’s, but we’ll see.  I also thought that the talks were very good for the kids, and I know Dad enjoyed it, too.  I especially loved the talks about Joseph Smith, and I thought there were a lot of them.  Matt, I love the gospel of Jesus Christ so much, and I love The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, His church!  I appreciated all the counsel we received, and I want to reread the chapter in “Preach My Gospel” about inviting others to come unto Christ and following up on invitations.

We didn’t do much on Saturday besides watch conference except that while Dad and Thomas were at the priesthood session, Miriam, Katrina, and I went out for a treat and to do a little shopping.  It was fun to be together.

Friday night, Dad and I saw Les Miserables…again!  It was so fun.  We left right after work, so we thought we had tons of time to kill.  We bought me some shirts and walked around and had lots of fun together.  When we got to the theater, however, we found out that our tickets were for 4:00, and we’d missed the showing!  We were both in shock.  They sent us to a different window where they said they’d just gotten a cancellation, and that they could seat us.  We were so relieved!

We went in and sat down, and all these men in suits and their wives and dates sat all around us.  All of them were holding little white boxes with bows on them, and then the governor came in and sat down, too.  They were all big wigs who had come to see the play.  The man in a suit next to me gave us his little white box because he and his wife had gotten extra.  The box had three meringue cookies in it—one red, one white, and one blue, like the French (and American, ha ha) flag.  It also had coupons for free drinks.  It was really nice of him to give it to us, and he told us a bit about why they were there which was basically to see about funding for a new theater.

The play has two casts, and we were able to see the other cast that we hadn’t seen yet.  They did a wonderful job.  Dad was smart enough to grab some tissues in the bathroom, so we were able to cry to our heart’s content as we watched.  Afterward, we were able to greet and thank the staff.  We never did shake the governor’s hand because there were so many people who wanted to.  That’s okay.

Let’s see, other than that, this week I finished sewing the parachute for Thomas’s Eagle Scout project.  I also did my finances, and went on a couple of walks with Dad.  Pretty exciting, huh?  Katrina got home at 3 am Tuesday morning, and Tuesday night we had family home evening.  Thomas gave a lesson on preparing for conference, and then we all drew pictures for Great Grandma to hang on her wall to cheer her up.  It was a good family home evening.

Lily is potty training this week, and I got to talk to her and Cassandra quite a bit.  Lily’s doing pretty good with it, I think.  I sent her a package with a princess shirt and some new unders.  It also had a little toy chicken in it that lays candy eggs.  I also talked to Jon this morning.  He’s doing good, and it was fun to visit.  Miriam isn’t going with us on this trip, btw.  She couldn’t get the time off.  I hope she isn’t too lonely without us!

Well, we are at our hotel, now, and I really need to get to bed.  Good night, Matt.  I love you very much.  Thanks for remembering us in your prayers, we are praying for you, too.

Love,
Mom  

March 31--Letter From Matt

Anticipating that we were going to be busy today an unable to write, I wrote my weekly letter on paper and took pictures of it! Here it is:

March 31--Dear Elder

Dear Elder,

Hi!  How are you doing?  Did you have a good week?  How is your companion?  Did you find any new people to teach?  How are the families that you have been teaching doing?  I am so glad that Rosa Maria wants to raise her children in the gospel.  I know that it will really bless her life.  I am sorry that Carlos and Rosio haven’t been progressing much.  I will try to remember them specifically in my prayers.  I am so glad that you are teaching Jose’s whole family so that they can all live the gospel together.  It sounds like things are going really well.

It is wonderful that you are studying about the atonement.  There sure is a lot to learn, isn’t there?  I’m glad you work so hard to not only learn of Christ but also to be like Him.  You are a good example to me and the rest of the family.  Thank you so much for that, Matt.

We have had a nice week although the weather has gotten cold again.  Right now the wind is blowing really hard, and I’m glad that I’m inside, ha ha.   Some specific things have made this week so nice.  For one thing, Dad and I went to the temple Friday, which was absolutely wonderful.  There were five young missionaries in our session from the Marshall Islands who were going through the temple for the first time, and it was wonderful to be in the session with them.  

Another thing that made this week so good is that on Saturday I went to the General Women’s meeting of the church.  Katrina is on choir tour, so I went to Elizabeth’s ward and watched it with her and Esther.  Two of the speakers spoke on keeping our covenants with the Lord.  All of the talks were inspiring and the music and videos were beautiful.  I came away from the meeting feeling comforted in my sorrows and also inspired to be more loving of the women around me.  I am so glad I got to go with Elizabeth and Esther!

Besides all those wonderful things, it was also Fast Sunday today, and I am so grateful that I can fast for strength and blessings.  Not only that, but, as you know, conference is next week!  What a wonderful and much-needed time of strength and renewal.  What a blessing!  

Besides those things, we also have been doing some fun things.  Dad hasn’t had to work as much after school, so he and I got to spend some extra time together when Thomas and Miriam have been gone, and also, all four of us went to the nickle arcade this last week and had a total blast.  I had a ton of fun playing “Tubin’” and “Burger Time” with Dad.  We used to play those two games at the Wilkinson center together when we were dating and first married.  We looked around for “Bubble Bobble,” another of our faves, but it was gone.  So sad, ha ha.  Miram, Thomas, and I had fun doing basketball hoops and air hockey together.  It was great; I really didn’t expect to have so much fun.  

Katrina got her ACT score while she was gone, and it is a 31.  Her last score was a 30, so she’s happy with that.  I told her that she should take it again and study this time, ha ha.  Katrina has been calling periodically, and she says she is having tons of fun in Seattle.  Last night she called me just before they went in to see the Lion King.  She also texted Miriam earlier and asked if anyone wanted souvenirs and stipulated that they would have to pay for them or convince me to.  That made me and Miriam laugh.  Saturday, Miriam and I went shopping together and then we got frozen yogurt.  I’m glad we got a bit of girl time.  Dad and Thomas worked at the laundry and then went off on another adventure.  

After the conference last night, I got to talk to Cassandra on the phone.  They are doing good.  Cassandra’s friend gave her a super hero baby shower.  I think that is so cute!  Emerson and Lily went and did a service project together Saturday morning, I think it was, and they had a fun time.  I love those guys so much!  They are always doing something good.

Dad and I saw Jon and Costco once this week which was nice.  He’s very busy, but seems happy.  I sewed a shirt for him and helped him get a doctor’s appointment.  My favorite thing to do after work is to go to Costco, eat samples, and see Jon, ha ha!

At work we took the kids bowling again, and then we ate at the mall afterward again.  One of our students who is a real Disney fan didn’t want to go with his group—he wanted to go to the Disney store instead, of course, so I volunteered to go with him.  We were in there for a whole hour.  I’ve had my fill of Disney for quite awhile.  I did find a book for Cassandra’s baby.  It has tons of sound effects that you play as you read, and if he’s anything like my boys, he’ll love love love sound effects.  It also has a steering wheel to turn while you read.  I think Lily will like it, too.   I found out this week, also, that Elizabeth’s baby is a boy.  It is all so exciting.  Not only that, but the lady I visiting teach is having a boy.  Lot’s of boy babies to spoil.  Hooray!!!

Tonight we stake young women and young men leaders are putting on a fireside with Steven Kapp Perry.  I wonder if we will have anyone there since another stake is having a fireside tonight with the University football and soccer teams.   Dad is coming with me, but I don’t know whether Thomas will come with us or go to the other one.   It’s really pouring out there, Matt.  Dad pointed out earlier that we’ve totally lucked out this winter with lots of rain in the valley and snow in the mountains.

I’m sure Dad told you, but he is making real headway on family history I am really hoping that we will soon have some family names to take to the temple.  That will be so neat!  I tried to get on to puzzilla.com to find cousins, but I can’t figure out how to do it, even with the video they have on family search to help me.  Luckily, they have a phone number that I can call with questions, so I guess that is what we’ll do.

I love you, Matt.   Have a wonderful day.  

Love,

Mom

March 24--Dear Elder

Now I remember what a flibber is! Haha, I also remember those bear thingies very vaguely. I don't really remember them too much.

Anyway, I really enjoyed your letter this week mom, and i would love to comment on the things that you wrote there, but, as usual we are pressed for time, and I only have a half hour to write. I think I'm getting better at writing letters on the fly! haha.

 

This week we found a woman named Rosa Maria, she's a grandma now and has a lot of little Nietos (Grand children) An RM brought us to her house and told us to teach her. She had gone to church before in the past but had stopped coming because she got disappointed with life and as she would say she: "let the devil win" and decided that it was easier not to go to church. We invited her to read, pray and come to church this week, which she did. She wants to be a good example for her little grandchildren and bring them up in a "God fearing" way (I really don't know how to say that in English) I respect her a lot and we have a lot of hope that we can help her become a member of the church and be able to be the example that she wants to be.
We have an appointment with her tomorrow. It's fun to teach her. We haven't gotten to know her that well, but we are going to care for her as much as we can.

Carlos and Rocío haven't been progressing as much these past weeks, although we hope that we can help them and their family to progress. 

José is doing good right now. We are trying to teach his family because we want to help them to re-activate so that José doesn't just go inactive if he gets baptized. It's slow going but with a lot of help from the ward, I'm sure that they can come back.

This week, I started looking at the Atonement of Christ more in my studies and I noticed that the Atonement is extensive..... And that the Atonement is only one of the things that Christ did, the most significant for us was the Atonement, but there are still a lot of other things he did for us. So, I have a lot to study! Man do I have a lot to study, and a lot to put into practice. 

Other interesting things about this week: I got stung by a bee this Saturday in a ward mission activity. I survived don't worry. :)

Imagine your son, sitting in Mexico, in a small room jammed with computers, sweating to death. Yup. That's about what's going down right in this moment.  

I love you Mom thank you so much for everything you do! I hope that you and the family have a wonderful day today and all during the week.

March 23--Two Photos to Matt

      

Wheat Grass, Bear Village

March 23--Dear Elder

Dear Elder,
How wonderful it was to get your last email!  I love reading about the people that you are teaching and what is happening in their lives.  I am so sorry that Jose's uncle died, and I hope that you will be able to talk to everyone that you want to this week, including all of the smiling families you encounter while you are walking in the street.

I think that is wonderful that you were able to apply what you learned in D&C 58 to your life and that doing so blessed you so much.  I hope that you have lots of success contacting the people that the members at the activity referred you to.

The clay pots that you described sound really neat.  It will be so fun to see them!  The best thing, though, was reading that you really love me.  I love you, too Matt.  Thank you so much for being my boy.  My love for you wouldn't change no matter what, but the good things that you do in your life bring me a lot of happiness, and there isn't a nicer thing you could do for me than to be such a faithful missionary.


We have had a very nice week this week.  It was the last week of the term, so I spent a lot of time at work helping students to finish up their assignments and get the turned in.  We have had a lot of substitutes lately because my one co-worker is still out after being in a car accident, and my other co-worker took some time off to be with her daughter who had a baby this week.  They will both, hopefully, be back to work tomorrow.  Their being gone didn't increase my workload or anything, but I miss having them around.

Neither Katrina nor I can remember what we did on Monday night, but I do remember getting to talk to Lily on the phone Monday after work while I did my grocery shopping.  Cassandra was making pizza, and Lily was pretty excited about that.  She had fun telling me all about stuff, and I had tons of fun listening.  I think we had chicken soup for dinner that night.  It's weird that I can't remember what we did that evening.

Tuesday Thomas's track team was doing a fundraiser at the school.  It was a hypnotist, and Thomas wanted to go, so that is what we did for family home evening.  It was kind of a boring thing to watch, but I think the students on stage were having fun.  Anyway, we did our duty and supported the track team.

Wednesday night, Thomas did most of his eagle scout project.  He had 10 kids and 9 adults all over at the church working hard to clean and repair PE equipment for Hayden's mom who is the PE teacher at the elementary school.  We cut, filled, and sewed beanbags, scrubbed stuff, and tried to repair the big parachute, but we didn't finish that yet.  Sister Spotten I are going to work on that some more this week.  Thomas worked hard going door to door and calling on the phone getting people to help out, and everyone really came through.

Thursday was the last day of school for the term and for the week, so Dad and I took advantage of the long weekend to book a 2 night get-away.  We left Thursday after Dad taught night school and didn't get back home again till 4:30 in the afternoon on Saturday.  We had lots of fun together.  We didn't really have any plans of what we wanted to do.  It was just fun to spend time together doing whatever we felt like at the moment.  Let's see... we ended up touring the state capitol, going to a museum, visiting a family history center, watching the new Muppet movie, eating lots of good food, and kicking back and taking it easy.  The state capitol is so cool.  If I had realized how beautiful it was, I would have visited it much sooner, ha ha.  It was a very fun weekend.

While we were gone, Thomas had a track meet.  He participated in a co-ed relay, and he handed off the baton to Abby, but she wasn't running fast enough and he almost ran her over.  Luckily there was no on in the lane next to them, so he dodged her, and for some reason they weren't disqualified for that, so that's good.  Thomas has been doing a lot of reading lately which is good since he has a hard time falling asleep at night.  First he read "The Other Side of Heaven," and now he is reading Brandon Sanderson books which he really seems to enjoy.  In fact, everyone seems to enjoy Brandon Sanderson's books, so I think that when I finish reading Les Miserables, I am going to read one of his.  I'm at the part in Les Miserables where Jean Valjean has emerged from the sewers of Paris, bearing Marius on his shoulders and is again accosted by Javert.  I'm glad I'm reading it again because I'd forgotten how detailed and gripping the story is, having only watched the play these last few years.  I'm reading the unabridged version, Matt, but I have to admit that I skip some of the parts where Hugo goes off on tangents, ha ha.

Saturday after that, Dad went off into the boonies and had a ton of fun.  Katrina, Thomas,and I made and ate dinner together and had fun talking.  After that, we decorated for Easter, and the kids got a surprise.  Matt, do you remember the mini bear village that we'd bring out at Easter time when you were little?  Well, I found one on Ebay and bought it.  I put the little pieces in medium and small plastic Easter eggs.  A couple of weeks ago I began growing wheat grass, and it is now tall and green, so yesterday when we decorated, I put the plastic eggs in the grass. After all the decorating was done, I told the kids that they hadn't inspected the decorations good enough, so they started examining things and found the little bears, cars, swings, houses, etc, in the eggs.  They were pretty excited, especially Katrina.  Now we have a little bear village in the living room for Easter.

Jon just came by for a minute and I showed him the village.  He remembered it, and thought it was cool that I found one on Ebay since we'd lost all the bears from the original village and I had gotten rid of it.

Katrina gave a talk in church today, and did a wonderful job.  She chose for her topic "Individual Worth,' and shared with us Doctrine and Covenants chapter 18 verse 10 which says, "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God." She asked the question, why, when we are so weak and fallible, and God is so great and perfect, are we of worth to him.  She reminded us of Christ's words in Moses 1:39 which says "Behold this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." and again asked why are we worth so much to God and His son that they make it their entire work and glory to bring about our eternal happiness.  She said that she thinks the answer is love and quoted John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son."  It was a wonderful talk, Matt, and I am so grateful to know that we are God's children and that He is our father and loves us individually and infinitely, enough to give us His son to atone for our sins and bring to pass our immortality and eternal life.

After church, we had family home evening, because Dad has a meeting Monday, and Katrina and I might have a meeting on Tuesday.  Katrina gave a lesson on the atonement of the Savior, and it was wonderful.  She read some of the talk that Bruce R. Mckonkie gave about the Savior, and she asked dad and me if we remember when he gave the talk and she gave us the opportunity to share our feelings about it, which we really appreciated.  It was wonderful to spend some time talking and rejoicing in Christ.  We also had a bit of a family meeting afterward where we discussed the calendar for the next couple of weeks.  It looks like we may celebrate Easter early in order to include the whole family.

In about an hour and a half, we are going to Skype with my Aunt Ida who takes care of Great Grandma.  She is going to have Grandma on Skype, and it will be good for the kids to get to see her since who knows how long she will be around.  She's not always very lucid, so we'll see if she'll even get that we are Skyping.  Whether she does or not, it will be good to see her.

After that, I have about three hours of meetings and while I am gone, Dad and the kids are going on a drive.  It was so wonderful yesterday when it was seven o clock at night and still light outside.  Yay, spring is here!  Popcorn is starting to pop on the apricot tree, and Dad and I saw a couple of robins while we were walking together this weekend.  Katrina said she saw some weeks ago, but the point is that after a long winter, spring is here.  We wanted to have family home evening outside today, but Katrina said it was too cold.

Welp, that's just about it, Matt.  I hope that we get to hear from you tomorrow.  Have a wonderful prep day and a wonderful week sharing the gospel!

Love,
Mom

PS I attached a picture of flibbers for you,  Now do you remember them?   :)

March 17--Letter From Matt

Ok, I'm sorry this is going to be another short letter!

We are still trying to help Rocío and Carlos but we haven't been able to see them too much this last week because Carlos started helping his dad out with his sushi business.
Leticia is another person that we are teaching. She is an amazing person and has been progressing a lot in the Gospel, she's gone to church, she reads her scriptures and says her prayers, but she is living with a man. They can't get married because he's married in the U.S. and hasn't been able to get divorced. I really hope she can eventually get baptised.
We haven't been able to talk to José at all this week, because his uncle died. How sad. They had a wake for him on Saturday and the barriul this Sunday.
We haven't been able to find Berenice yet! But we are still going by her house, Maybe this week she'll be able to see us.
Our mission president has told us to contact all of the smiling families we see walking in the street. We are going to do that this week!



My studies this week have been focused on Rendir Cuentas, or in other words,  Accountability. It talks about D+C 58 which says:

 "For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.
 "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
 "For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
 "But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned."

 This Saturday, we had a stake activity, and as part of it, us missionaries were supposed to give tours of different booths and at the end of the tour, we were to ask: "Do you know anybody that could benefit from hearing the message that we have to offer?" and then take down addresses and names to visit them later.

Well, the activity was not very organized, and we missionaries only received vague instructions as to what we were supposed to d. I had read those verses that morning before leaving home, and they ran through in my mind again and again while we were in the activity. No one was commanding us, we were our own agents. If we didn't want to work, we didn't have to work. If we wanted to be successful, we had to work by our own free will, and do a lot of things without anyone to tell us to do them.
So we worked! Hahah, It was a great activity, and we received many names and addresses to visit, but it wouldn't have been that way if we wouldn't have been self motivated!

Thanks so much for your letter this week mom. I loved reading it. It's nice to hear that Missionary work is still a family focus. If we do it constantly it will change our lives for the better. How are you doing with Family History? I noticed that Katrina was reading about one of our ancestors, is that part of family history?
I love you mom, I think I'm going to buy some clay pots for you. They are large mouthed and look like huge frying pans with handls. They look like your style. I love you so much. Thanks for everything you do for me and for the family.

Tell everyone that I love them.
-Matt

March 16--Dear Elder

Dear Elder,

How are you?  It was so nice to get your letter after a bit of a dry spell.  I really like reading about the people you are teaching, and I hope that they will fill the Spirit, become truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and be baptized.  Thank you, also, for sharing with us some of the things that President Velez taught you.  I can tell that he is an inspired man.  Was this last week as difficult and awesome as you hoped it would be?  I hope so.  I hope you have some time to tell us about it.  Before I forget, I deposited $100 spending money into your bank account.  Sorry it took me so long to remember to do it.

We have had a very nice week this week.  Sunday night we tried cheese fondue again and it didn't work out so well again, but we ate it, and I know what to change about it, so we will try it again sometime in the distant future.  On Monday I took Thomas to the doctor.  He has a sprained sternum and can't do push ups or bench presses for awhile.  When we got home, we had my sister Elizabeth, Daniel, and her kids over for dinner and family home evening.  We ate curry, which most of her kids ended up really liking, although I'm not so sure the two youngest were very impressed.  We also had a nice lesson given by Moroni, and we had root beer floats for dessert.  It was a very fun visit, and they only left for home a half hour later than they wanted to which isn't too bad, really. 

Wednesday after school and work, we said goodbye to Dad who left for a two-day teacher's conference.  After that, Katrina and I dropped Thomas off at gymnastics and then went to give blood.  Turns out that I am still anemic, so Katrina gave blood all by herself.  I am really proud of her for doing it with such a positive attitude.  It was very fun to spend time with her.  When I got home, there were enough leftovers, etc, that I was able to take a break from dinner making which was really nice.  That night, Thomas went swimming with the young men, and Miriam and Katrina and I had a fun girl's night watching a movie and eating ice cream.  

On Thursday, Katrina and I made chicken roll-ups for dinner.  We took some to a family in the ward whose mom was not feeling well, and we ate the rest.  It was a good dinner, and it was good to eat it with the kids. When they brought our dishes back, the family asked for the recipe.  That always makes me feel like my meal is appreciated. After that, Thomas went swimming with his friends, and Katrina and I went to see a play at the university.  It was wonderfully done, and we really enjoyed ourselves even though we got home much later than we both would have liked.  Dad had called me earlier and asked me to come up to the conference and go out to eat with him, but I couldn't because of bringing dinner in and because of the play.  

Friday at work I was busy helping the students get caught up in their classes for the mid-term.  I think everyone is fairly caught up.  I am teaching one of the students earth science, but yesterday first period, I learned that he still doesn't know how many days in a week, month, year, etc even though they spent all last year trying to get him to remember these facts, and he knew them for awhile.  Anyway, I spent the rest of the day brainstorming a way for him to make a poster that models these facts.  I don't know if it will help him remember it or not, but last week he made a model of how the earth rotates around the sun and the moon rotates around the earth, and it helped him remember facts about that stuff, so maybe a visual will help him remember these other facts, too. We'll see.

When I got home from work, Dad was home from his conference!  Yay!  We went out pretty early.  We ate early because we had both had small lunches.  After we ate, we went to a running store and bought me two pairs of shoes, so I don't have to wear shoes with holes in them to work anymore.  My old shoes cost $100 and lasted two months before they got holes, which I was very unhappy about, so I wore them around for about five months with holes in protest, ha ah.  After that, we went on a good long walk together, and I think the shoes I bought are going to work out fine which is a relief.  It was such a pleasant walk, and we had so much fun being together.  I missed Dad while he was gone, and I am very glad that the conference ended up being a good one for him.

Saturday was fun because Dad and Thomas went on an adventure together, and the girls and I went out for lunch and shopping.  After Dad and Thomas got home, Dad, Katrina, Thomas, and I all went to the Saturday session of stake conference.  I said the opening prayer, and the conference was on...missionary work!  It was very inspiring, Matt, and we are going to try harder to reach out to other people.  It sure is a hard thing to do!  After that, it was 8:00 at night and we were all starving, so we went out to eat as a family.  It was wonderful to do those things together!

Today was stake conference again, and the talks were very good.  I also had a meeting with the stake youth planning committee.  I had the 14-15 year olds.  I helped them brainstorm and plan an activity for their age group to help them prepare to date when they turn 16.  I think they chose some fun and informative activities for the youth to do.  Later, we went for a drive as a family which included stopping at Renee's to drop something off.  We talked about temples and read scriptures on the ride.  Back at home, I made dinner, Dad wrote to you, Thomas indexed, and Katrina read some of Great Grandma's life history.  Dinner was cabbage with cheese sauce, muffins, and salad.  Now Katrina is driving Thomas around so that he can ask people to sign up to help with his eagle scout project on Wednesday.  He was just going to send around a sign-up sheet in church, but it was stake conference, so he couldn't do it there.  He needs to get 5 people to bring sewing machines and lots of people to donate other stuff.  The teacher's quorum is going to help him do the project.  

I love you, Matt. We are praying for you to stay well and have the Spirit with you.  I am studying 1 Nephi chapter 8, and I know that it is important, once we partake of the fruit of the tree of life, to love others enough to share that fruit with them.  I'm sorry our efforts are so small and slow.  I hope that I (and we) can do better.

I love you, Matt.

Love,

Mom

March 11--Email From Matt

I'm writing today because yesterday we were in the hospital from 11am to 8pm. An Elder had to get a medical tube taken out of him

What is a flibber???? I have no idea. What is it?

Sounds like you guys did have an adventure! I slightly remember going to the little canon. I really don't remember it though.

Ok, about me,
Who have we been teaching this week? Well there is a matrimony that we are teaching. Carlos and Rocío. They are parents of 2 little kids, and they do sushi in their house. It's hard to explain, they have a large, open covered porch, and they make it there. Carlos started talking to the missionaries first, but afterwards, Rocío got interested too. We haven't really gotten to know them, but they seem to be great people.

We prayed to be able to find someone to teach, because there aren't many investigators here, and we both felt impressed that we had to go and talk with a lady called Berenicia that we found in the area book. We've gone to her house, but we haven't been able to talk with her, but we have talked a little bit with her kids: Raul and Ivana. Today we have an appointment with her. Let's hope that she's there.

Today we had a muti zone conference. It was most excellent. I wrote down a few things that President Velez said: "We cannot be successful if we are prideful," Later he gave us a promise: "The missionary that loves his companion as himself, will have the success that he has always wanted to have in his mission." Wow. That's a pretty darn good promise! He said a lot of really good things that I just couldn't write down, but basically he invited us all to follow verse 74 from D+C 88
"And I give unto you, who are the first laborers in this last kingdom, a commandment that you assemble yourselves together, and organize yourselves, and prepare yourselves, and sanctify yourselves; yea, purify your hearts, and cleanse your hands and your feet before me, that I may make you clean;"
Sister Velez also gave an excellent section of the training.

This week, we are going to be working really hard! I'm loving it! It's been a hard week last week, but I think that this week is going to be a fuller, possibly more difficult week, but it's going to be amazing!
I hope that you're all doing well. I'm going to finish up right now but if I had time, I would write more.

I love you Mom, Thanks for your faithful letters! Even though sometimes I cant write!
-Matt

March 9--Dear Elder

Dear Elder,

Hi!  How are you?  How was your first week back in Culiacan?  I hope it was good and that you are feeling well.  I also hope that you and Elder Toledo are getting to know each other better and are working well together.  It was fun to chat with you last week, although I like getting a nice email from you better, I think.  I am very glad, though, that you were able to chat with Jon and Miriam.  I can't wait to get your letter tomorrow.  It will be the first "real" email from you in two weeks.

Let's see...Last Sunday ended well.  We did, indeed, have a food-fest and watch the Church Educational System fireside.  Sister Linda K Burton spoke about having the Holy Ghost in our lives, and it was a really good talk.  Each person made one type of food to share.  We had guacamole made by Miriam, deviled eggs made by Katrina, and cowboy beans made by Dad.  Also we had chips, sauted mushrooms, and little smokies.  Thomas, who couldn't find enough ingredients to make 7-layer dip, helped by bringing it all downstairs.  We got set up and were mostly done eating by the time the fireside started, which was nice because we could concentrate on what Sister Burton was teaching.  It was a very nice experience.

On Monday, which is not our family home evening day anymore, Thomas went to Hayden's church's youth group and had tons of fun. The rest of us didn't do much.

Tuesday, Thomas's astronomy teacher was giving out credit for kids who would go to a planetarium show, so we all went to the planetarium with him.  We had a fun time learning about the stars, and a couple of us also got a good nap, ha ha.

Wednesday Katrina and I drove Thomas to gymnastics together and then went to Walmart to buy a cake mix to make a cake for the Relief Society birthday party on Thursday night.  Later, after Dad got home, he and I went to pick Thomas up, and then all three of us went to the laundry to pick up some materials to fix something.  We ended up staying there forever because the cable guys were there installing the new cable, and they had all these questions for Dad.  After that, he had to set up all the parental controls.  When we got home, Katrina and Thomas went to young men and young women and Dad and I went to KFC.

On Thursday, I took Thomas to the DMV and he got his driver's permit.  He begged me and begged me to let him drive home and just could not understand why I wouldn't let him, ha ha.  After we got home, I let him drive around a bit and he realized very quickly why letting him drive out in traffic would not have been a good idea.  He got better as we drove, but he was a humbler kid for the experience, ha ha.  Later, while Katrina and I were at the RS birthday party, Dad let him drive on the stick shift for awhile.

Saturday, Dad wanted to have an adventure, so the kids hauled their lazy carcasses out of bed, Dad put on his Indiana Jones hat, I stuck some snacks in a bag, and we headed off for the boonies.  It was beautiful weather and a beautiful drive.  We drove along a river, hiked up a couple of hills, and followed a wash.  Then, while Katrina and I slept in the back seats, Dad let Thomas drive for a good long time.  We also went to a little canyon that was very beautiful.  We went there once when you were younger, Matt, but I don't know if you remember it.  We really enjoyed the beautiful sight, and after that we headed for home.  We didn't get home till 8:00 pm.  Jon and Miriam were gone out to dinner, and it was nice to see them both for awhile when they got home.  We haven't seen Miriam much this week, but I have visited with Jon at Costco a couple of times.

Now it is Sunday.  Church was good, Dad's in bed, and I am writing to you.  We plan to have fondue again tonight.  Remember how I told you that the fondue pot I bought didn't work, well, I had the cast-iron base upside down.  The base looks like a three-legged stool, and I thought that it should stand like a stool with the pot sitting on the "seat" of the "stool."  Later, I looked at the picture on the box more closely, and I found out that the "seat" was supposed to be on the counter, with the legs sticking up.  The pot rests on the three legs.  This is important because the way I was doing it made two layers of cast iron for the fire to heat through--the cast iron of the pot and of the base.  The right way to do it only makes one layer of cast iron for the heat to penetrate.  Anyway, I have high hopes that it will work better this time, ha ha.

I hope that we can Skype with Cassandra, Emerson, and Lily today.  That would be awesome!  I sent Lily some clothes and a little sicker activity, but I don't think she's gotten them yet.  Cassandra posted a really cute video of Lily waving around a flibber and dancing.  Trivia question of the week:  What is a flibber????  On her Facebook page Cassandra wrote, "I didn't realize that parenthood would involve so many requests to "please speak whale."  So cute!

That's about it for the week, Matt.  I have been having sleep issues this week, Matt, but I think I have an idea of how to fix them.  The last few nights have been better.  Anyway, that has really been adversely affecting my scripture study, although I have been reading scriptures every day, just not studying them in depth.  Now, just when I have the sleeping thing possibly licked, my little notebook laptop thingy is all messed up and my documents aren't opening, etc.  This will really mess up my scripture study as well. I'm not sure what to do about it.  If I tell Dad, he'll buy me a brand spanking new expensive thingy to use, but I really want to fix this one and not spend the money.  I guess I'll take it over to the neighbor to have him look at it.  Well, long story, Matt, sorry.  I haven't been spiritually productive this week, and I really need to get my act together.  I hope that next week will be better.  I love you, Matt.  Please write and tell us about everything!!

Love,
Mom

March 2--Dear Elder

Dear Elder,

Hi!  How are you?  Thanks for sending the scholarship essay to us.  I sure hate to bug you about that kind of stuff when you are busy serving the Lord.  You will be happy to know that all the applications, etc have been sent off, so we shouldn’t have to bug you again for awhile.  It was hard not to get letters from you last week, but I was glad that you got to read some from us.  I was the one who had Dad tell you not to send us letters because I figured you wouldn’t have time to do that and the scholarship essay.  I hope, however, that you did have time to read our emails.  That is what matters to me most.  We heard on the news about the capture of the drug czar, and have been praying for your safety because we figure things might be more violent where you are, now.  We have faith that you are in the Lord’s hands and He is watching over you.

This has been such a wonderful week.  We have family home evening on Tuesdays instead of Mondays now, so Tuesday we all, including Jonathan, went out to eat for Miriam’s birthday.  She didn’t really want any birthday money spent on her, so I asked her if she wanted to go to the movies or out to eat with the family instead of getting a present, and she liked that idea.  The plan was to go Thursday, but Jon wasn’t available then, so we went out for family home evening instead.  It was so wonderful to be there surrounded by the kids and Dad and laugh and talk.  I’m so glad that Jon could come; we see him so very seldom.

Wednesday Thomas went to a young men activity at the church.  Katrina missed her young women activity because it was on Tuesday night, and she needed to be with the fam.  I went to bed early, and Dad read scriptures and said prayers with the kids.  It was very nice of him, and appreciated the extra sleep.

It rained a lot on Thursday, which was kind of a surprise after many days of sun, even though the weatherman had predicted it.  I went on a field trip with my class.  We went bowling and then to the mall to eat lunch.  The field trip went well.  Later when I was back home and Dad got home, he wanted to go for a drive, so we took Katrina with us for a drive.  Dad wanted to go into a sporting goods store, and Katrina and I wanted to check out the scented candle outlet, so we split up for awhile.  Katrina and I bought a candle warmer and scented wax for Miriam’s birthday to make her room smell good.

That night, Miriam gave the family home evening lesson that she had planned for Tuesday.  She showed us all how to scan a document and save it as a pdf.  I guess Dad didn’t know how to do that and had been asking her to show him.  She also showed us some stuff on Excell.  It was very informative.  After that, we had cake and ice cream for her birthday.  It was a fun little celebration.  I hope that she liked it.

Happy Birthday, Miriam

Friday, Katrina and I got to talk to Lily on the phone.  She was in a very loud mood, ha ha.  She sang Camptown races for us with lots of “doo da’s,”  At that point, Katrina told me I could take the phone off "speaker;" she could hear just fine without it, ha ha.  Lily also treated us to an ear-splitting rendition of the chorus to “Angels We Have Heard on High.”  You know,  “Glooooooooooooooooooria!”  sung over and over with an even louder and very long-drawn-out note at the end.  It was the cutest thing ever, and we totally loved it.  I told Lily that it was nice and lound and that I liked it.  I wonder if someone was telling her to sing softer, because I heard Lily say to someone, “Grandma likes it.”

Later, Dad and I went to see the Lego movie.  We ate at the theater first, which is always fun, and then went out for frozen yogurt afterward.  It was so good, that we went out for frozen yogurt again on Saturday.  We found a place that always has one low-carb flavor and one no-carb flavor, so we like to go there sometimes when we’re in the area.

On Saturday, we decided to get some things done around the house, so we went to some stores to get the supplies we needed.  When we went to Auto Zone, Dad showed the kids how to change the tail light on the van.  The weather was cold and windy, and Dad couldn’t get the tail light off, so we bought a manual to make sure we were doing it right, and we were.  When he finally got it off, the casing broke.  The van is getting old, Matt, and the plastic broke before the pin snapped out like it was supposed to.  Anyway, we replaced the light, and also the windshield wiper blades and then headed to Home Depot to look for some clear epoxy to fix the broken light.  Dad ended up repairing it with super glue.  We’ll see how long that lasts, ha ha.  When we finally got back home, we hung a couple of pictures and then Katrina and Thomas were through.  Thomas went to Hayden’s house, Katrina exercised, etc, and I took a nap.

Later that night, Dad wanted to go buy some stuff from a guy so he and I drove up to meet him.  We made another date of it and had a delicious dinner at our favorite teryaki place.  It was fun to drive and talk.  On the way home we stopped at the candy outlet and bought sugar Easter eggs for the kid’s Easter baskets and then went for frozen yogurt like I said.

The kids have been indexing and reading family history, Matt, isn’t that nice?  I didn’t sleep well last week, so I wasn’t real productive, but I did do visiting teaching, and I took some prints of the museum paintings to the one sister I’d invited to go with me to the museum.  I have been reading Les Miserables, which I love.  It is so nice with a smart phone to have a library of books with me always in my pocket.

Today, as you know, is fast Sunday.  I am fasting for you, Matt.  I don’t have meetings on fast Sunday which is nice.  Besides, ward conferences are now over, so I will have less meetings now.  That is good since I don’t think my poor aching back could have taken much more of it, ha ha.  We just got home from church.   Dad is doing some family history, I am writing to you, Thomas is taking a nap, and I’m not sure what Katrina is doing, but she has a family home evening lesson to prepare, family history to do, and a letter to write to you, so she’s probably busy doing one of those things.  There is a church educational system devotional at 6:00 which we may watch.  I want to ask each person to make a snack to eat while we watch it.  That will also be our dinner for the evening.

Well, that’s about it.  I have had a harder time staying focused on Jesus Christ and feeling the Holy Ghost than the week before.  I am trying to figure out the reason, and I think that one reason is lack of sleep, another one is less focused prayer and scripture study, and also, I think that different experiences bring out different sides of my character, and this week’s experiences did a good job to show me where my weaknesses are.  It seems like Heavenly Father intersperses unsuccessful times with successful ones so that I stay humble, but don’t get too discouraged.  I know His hand is in my life and in your life, Matt.  I hope that you feel His guidance and spirit with you this week as you go about His work.  I love you very much and look forward to receiving your email.

Love,
Mom

Feb 24--Email From Matt

To make up for the lack of letters, here are some pictures!

Waking up with sushi

I made this little house while waiting around for a bus

Blog note:  Matt's comment on the picture of Miriam, Katrina, and Thomas in the last post: "Thomas looks really creepy!"

Feb 23--Dear Elder

Dear Elder,

Hi!  Thanks for the letter you wrote last week.  I’m sorry that some sad things happened, and I hope that Guillermo isn’t doing drugs after all, Lizeth is able to get married, and that Elder Sullivan will soon restored to his previously awesome state.  I am so glad that Grandpa and Grandma sent you another package.  That really warms my heart.  I am also glad that you liked your Valentine.  Do they celebrate Valentine’s Day in Mexico?

Thank you for the picture of your zone.  I couldn’t pull it up on my phone earlier, but now I can see it because I’m on my little notebook, and may I say that you are all a very handsome group, especially the elder on the upper right!

I sure am glad that good things happened this week and not just sad ones.  I am so glad that your are testifying of the truthfulness of the atonement to your investigators, although I think that the message of the atonement and the restoration go hand in hand.  It’s awesome that you are learning so much!

Well, I don’t know if it is helping the missionaries, but I did invite my visiting teaching sister to go see a museum exhibit of sacred paintings.  We didn’t end up going, but I think inviting her was a good thing.

Francisco sounds like a nice guy and I’m glad that you had a good conversation, even if the only ones who were helped were you and your companion.  It sounds like meeting him was a blessing.
Thanks for sharing with me your question about Amulek’s conversion.  It is a good one and I hope I will remember to study it when I get to Alma 11.  I am still in first Nephi, so it will be a long time to remember!  I hope that you can teach Benjamin’s wife and the rest of his family and that they will be baptized.  Nick said that in Columbia there will be tons of baptisms, but the attendance at church doesn’t increase all that much.  Is that how it is where you are?  I hope not.

Wow, Matt, I always think that I’m going to remember everything that happens in the week, but when I sit down to write I realize that I’ve forgotten most of it.  One thing that I did this week was to try very hard remember Jesus Christ and do what he would have me do.  I taught the kids, invited a friend to an art exhibit, indexed records on Family Search, talked to loved ones on the phone, studied, shared memories,  etc.  The Lord made much more of my week than I ever could have.

As I told you in my last letter, we had Monday off.  Here is some of what I wrote about Monday in my study journal:

02 18 2014

"Thomas and Katrina went with us on an outing to the temple visitor’s center where we watched videos about prophets and saw the Christus.  As I gazed at that beautiful statue, I marveled at its perfection.  The folds and curves of Christ’s garment look as if the marble were draped about Him instead of carved from a massive piece of rock.  His form seemed soft and real instead of cold stone.  I contemplated Christ’s perfection and felt the comfort and peace in Christ.

Queene Katrine

We also visited Brian’s aging aunt, and I visited my co-worker and friend in the hospital.  Later, I was able to talk to my sweet neighbor and visiting teaching sister to further our plans to attend a museum exhibit.  It was a wonderful day, made better through the grace and guidance of God."

A Valentine for Dad

I’m glad I wrote that down, Matt, because my memories fade so quickly!  On Tuesday I grocery shopped and we had soup with left over spaghetti squash and roasted red peppers in it.  I’m not so sure it was the best soup in all the world, but it used up leftovers…kind of.  I hate it when I make a dish with leftovers and then there are leftovers of the dish I made!  If I’m not careful, it can go on and on forever.  The next night I made barbeque chicken salad to go with the leftover soup, and luckily the rest of the soup got eaten so I didn’t have to make something with the leftover soup made from the leftover vegetables, ha ha.


Thomas would not make a normal face, so he deserves this picture.

Katrina got her driver’s license on Wednesday.  She’ll probably write to you about it.  It’s kind of scary to let her drive the van.  Ususally we’ve had a kid car for the kids to drive, but Miriam drives the kid car to work everyday, so if Katrina wants to drive, she takes the van.  On Thursday she drove herself to voice lessons which was nice for me although, like I said, I was a bit nervous.  I’m sure thankful for prayer.

King Dad

I also got to talk to Lily on the phone sometime last week; I can't remember which day.  She is talking really good these days, and it is so wonderful to be able to have little conversations with her.  Emerson also posted a video of her singing "Protocolligorically Correct."  It was the cutest!

Wow, Matt, I need to at least take notes as I go along because I really can’t remember much of went on last week.  Happily, I had no church meetings, though, but I am making up for it today.  I was in meetings from 9-2 and will be having more meetings from 4:30 to 9:00.  This should be the last week of so many meetings, because ward conferences are over, now.  Hooray!

Nick is home from his mission and talked in church today.  He said that God lets us be born free and then gives us commandments to keep us free.  He also said that he hopes the we can have faith stronger than the cords of death.  He talked a lot about the atonement, and his talk was very good.  He didn’t share any experiences from his mission, though, so that was sad.

Work has been good.  I have a student who wants to graduate with his graduating class but doesn’t have enough credits, so I am working with him to help him get Earth Science credit.  We have a special needs earth science textbook, and I take lessons from that.  I brought in a globe and an atlas to help him learn about maps, and I made cards with pictures and simple words for him to match together.  This helps him remember what he learned.  Friday he took his first “test.”  We went to the teacher and he showed her how his cards matched together to explain different earth science fields and different map symbols.  He did a great job, and the teacher was impressed, so that is nice.

Dad and I went to the temple Friday, and we took Katrina and Thomas with us.  They did baptisms while we did sealings.  It was a wonderful experience.  Afterward, we took the kids to eat in the temple cafeteria.  After we dropped them off at home, Dad and I went out for awhile and then came back to watch a movie and eat….ice cream.  Saturday I got to see Jon at Costco, help Thomas do some indexing, and watch a movie with the kids.  That night we read a conference talk and 2 Nephi chapter 12.  It was a nice day.

Well, Matt, I know it’s short, but I also know you need to take some time to do some scholarship stuff, so I guess it will be good enough.