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

Feb 8--Dear Elder: My Testimony

Dear Elder,

 I loved your last letter!  In it you asked me two questions that I want to answer, and then I will answer the rest of your letter tomorrow.

The questions were, "How did you gain your testimony of the gospel?" and "How has it grown to what it is today?"  It is very important to me that you know some of the many experiences I have had that give me the firm assurance that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and that President Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today.

First, Matt, I have always had a deep desire to do what is right.  I never doubted that Heavenly Father and Jesus live and that I wanted to please them.  My parents and siblings, especially my big brother, were good examples to me of choosing the right, and I wanted to be like them. I found very quickly that I wasn't very good at choosing the right, but I cheerfully forged ahead, being naughty at times, but trying for the most part to be good.

 When I was a very little girl, I sat in Primary and sang songs that filled me with the Holy Ghost and firmly cemented the desire to do what is right deep into my heart.  Two of the songs we sang were particularly moving to me. One was "Dare to do Right," and the Other was "Stand for the Right."

Dare to do Right

Dare to do right.

Dare to be true.

You have a work that no other can do!

Do it so bravely, so kindly, so well,

Angels will hasten the story to tell."

I didn’t know much about the Holy Ghost, but the music and words stirred my heart.  It’s hard to explain, but they filled me with longing and I knew that the words of the song were true.  I knew when I sang it that I did have a work that no other could do, and that I must always dare to be true to what is right, kindly, bravely, no matter what.  The beautiful music and words of "Stand for the Right" had a similar effect on me and filled me with the determination to follow God’s prophet and stand for the right.

Stand for the Right

Our prophet has some words for you,

And these are the words: Be true, be true!

At work or at play, in darkness or light,

Be true, be true,

And stand for the right.

As I type the words to these songs here, I imagine them with the music, and my mind goes back to those days and I can still feel that longing, a longing to be with God, and a determination to always be true to Him.

When I was fourteen, I began taking seminary, of course.  That first year, we studied the Book of Mormon.  I will never forget the feeling I had as we studied Lehi's vision of the tree of life, Matt.  I felt very strongly the desire to reach that tree and partake of it's fruit. I knew that if I held fast to the iron rod which represented the word of God, I would be able to stay true, gain eternal life, and have a fullness of joy.  I reasoned that reading the scriptures daily was a very small and simple commandment and that even I could do that.  I determined then to study the scriptures daily, especially the Book of Mormon.  That determination has made all the difference in my life.

I read the Book of Mormon faithfully after that, and although I can't say I never missed a day, I hardly ever did.  Since then I estimate that I have read the Book of Mormon more than 30 times, at least once a year since the age of fourteen.

As you know, Matt, at the end of the Book of Mormon, In Moroni chapter 10, verses 4 and 5, Moroni makes a promise to whoever reads the Book of Mormon.

"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.  And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."--Moroni 10:4-5

I didn't have much understanding or experience with the Holy Ghost, or so I thought.  I wish I could go back in time and remind my younger self of the experiences I have related to you so far, Matt, and say to the younger me, "That was the Holy Ghost!  You have felt the Spirit of the Lord!" 

Because of my supposed inexperience with the Holy Ghost, Moroni's promise caused me a bit of consternation, and I would almost dread arriving at the end of the Book of Mormon, knowing I would need to obey Moroni’s exhortation to ask of God.  Still, I trusted in the Lord's promises, and always got on my knees to pray for a special witness when I got to that point.  I remember crying at times when that witness didn't come, I also remember at other times assuring the Lord in prayer that I would wait upon Him and His timing.  I must have read the Book of Mormon at least 5 times without receiving the witness I sought. This didn't stop me from reading, Matt, because, even at that time, I believed and was sure that the Book of Mormon contained the words of Christ, the Son of the Living God, and I felt the truthfulness of its words every time I read.  Still, I hoped that some day I would receive further witness that it was true.

When I was about 21 years old, One-year-old Cassandra and I were living at Grandpa and Grandma's house because Dad was in basic training for the US Army.  One day, I finished reading the Book of Mormon again.  It was a fast Sunday, Matt, and after church, while I was still fasting, and had been for nearly 24 hours, I left Cassandra with her aunts and uncles and went in to my room alone to finish the book and to pray.  As I knelt in prayer and fervently asked my Heavenly Father the question, "Is the Book of Mormon true?" I was overcome with the Holy Ghost.  It flooded me with an overwhelming feeling of joy that lifted me.  That's the best way I can describe it, Matt, I was lifted with joy, and my heart sang with the words, "Yes, It is true!"  I have felt joy since, but never like that, and I knew what it was to taste of the fruit that is sweet above all that is sweet and pure above all that is pure, and I knew that the Book of Mormon is true.  Heavenly Father took a long time to answer my prayers, but He sent me a witness when I needed it most—when I was only just embarking on my life’s mission which is to be a mother in Zion and raise an eternal family.

Matt, after I received a sure witness, and even before that, the Book of Mormon strengthened my testimony of Jesus Christ, and I know without a doubt that it is a testament of Him.  As you may know, over half of its verses speak directly of Christ, and it contains the fullness of His gospel.  It stands with The Holy Bible as an undeniable witness to me that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  I know He lives!  I rely daily on His Grace and His atoning sacrifice.  It gives me comfort in my weaknesses and it assures me that if we stay faithful, we will one day see His face, hear His voice, and live with Him forever.

Matt, because I know these things, and because of further witness from the Holy Ghost from time to time, I also know that we are children of God, that He answers our prayers, and that He has a work for us to do.  I know that Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and restored to him the gospel of Jesus Christ from ancient times.  I know that we have a prophet and apostles with us on the earth to day who speak for God.  I know God's promises are true, His commandments are just, and that if we stay faithful, you, your siblings, your Dad and I can be together forever "to go no more out, but to dwell with God eternally in the heavens."

Matt, I am very sorry for your sake, and for your siblings' sake, that knowing all these truths hasn't made me perfect.  I shutter to think where my mistakes and sins would have taken us if not for the power of repentance through the atonement of Jesus Christ, and His power to heal, to save, and to redeem.  I know that staying faithful to Jesus Christ and His holy word has made all the difference in our family.

 "Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man [or family] of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked" --Helaman 3:29

I hope that somewhat answers your question, Matt.  As to how my testimony has grown into what it is today, I refer you to Alma 32, which likens the word of God to a seed that, if it is planted by faith and nourished by patience and diligence, springs up into a tree of everlasting life.  Now I need to remain faithful, diligent, and patient till the end of my days.

"And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.

 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." --2 Ne. 31:19-20.

Nov 3--Dear Elder

Dear Elder,

It was exciting to hear that you are now a zone leader, and I am also glad that you are not in Culiacan any longer.  I hope this little town is safer.  Is it?  I am so glad that the little girl is okay after being run over.  That is such a wonderful miracle!  Say “hello” to your new companion for us.  How is the work going?  Tell us lots more about what’s going on with you.

If you make pie, make sure that the squash it cooked nice and soft.  You don’t want it hard at all or you will have yucky tasting lumps in it.

We had a very nice week this week.  I told Dad that we needed a fun meal to eat in honor of Halloween, and after putting his great brain to work, he came up with the idea of chili, cornbread, and salad for dinner and apple crisp for dessert.  It turned out to be a fun and delicious meal, and we saved the dessert for after pumpkin carving.  Sometimes things like pumpkin carving seem not worth doing because the kids are so old, and they are not very into it, but I have been realizing lately that ignoring traditions is not a good idea.  I am sorry that we didn’t do madlibs at birthdays this year and that we didn’t take kids out for their birthdays, either.  I want to start traditions up again.  I know that they are important to family unity.



 Anyway, Dad cleaned out all the pumpkins, and Thomas got a pattern for a witch pumpkin carving off the internet.  He worked very hard on his pumpkin, and I will include a picture of it for you.  I had Dad get out the power tools and made a moon on our pumpkin with a dremmel tool, and then Dad drilled holes of different sizes streaming out from the moon.  It was fast and fun.  The girls weren’t as in to carving their pumpkins, but doing it really put them into the Halloween spirit, and they got out the costume box and rummaged around in it till they each found a costume.  Katrina chose to be a samurai, and Miriam decided to be a fairy.  After we were done, we ate the apple crisp with ice cream on top which was delicious, especially because we had apples from the neighbor’s tree to use.  It was a very fun night, and I’m glad we did it.

On Tuesday, the Church broadcasted a 100 years of scouting event live from the conference center which Thomas, Dad, and I attended.  It was really cool, Matt.  It had those log towers that scouts lash together on either side of the stage, and it started a flag ceremony that had scouts rappelling down from the ceiling.  It was pretty cool.  My favorite part of the program was when they had lots of little cub scouts come on stage to sing the National Anthem.  The program recounted the history of scouting and highlighted some of the most important aspects of scouting in fun way with lots of music.  They sang a cute song to the moms.  The chorus said, “Ma, you earned your Eagle.  No one can disagree.  Ma, you earned your Eagle, but they gave the badge to me.” It was really cute.  The BSA presented President Monson with an award, too.  It was all pretty cool.

Wednesday night we did a Stake harvest activity for the young men and young women.  I started doing decorations for it at 5:00 and worked with the other leaders till the activity started at 7.  I will send pictures.  Each ward had a booth for the kids to do activities, and they got root beer floats to eat.  Our ward did a photo booth which I thought was a great idea.  I wondered how they would get the pictures to everyone, but they just took the pictures with the kids’ own phones.  Genius.  We also had a DJ, so after the booths, those who wanted to could dance.  Katrina seemed to have lots of fun, and Thomas did too, I think.  It was worth all the work.



Thursday was Halloween.  At work we had a Halloween party in every period.  We showed two movies and fed the kids root beer floats, popcorn, and pumpkin pancakes with syrup and whipped cream.  It was a really fun day.  Miriam wore the fairy costume to her work, and I got to see her in it because I stopped by there after my work.

After work I went to Costco and, along with my monthly shopping I bought mini tacos and sweet potato fries for everyone to eat before their Halloween activities.  While at Costco, I saw Jon who had just gotten off work, and we talked for quite awhile.
 
When I got home, Dad was home early which is unusual and so nice.  He had some work to do for school, so I visited with Jon who’d come home for awhile.  He and Thomas hung out and ate mini tacos and sweet potato fries.  Jon helped Thomas spray his face and hair black as night with black hair spray the way you used to and then after Jon went home, Thomas put on all black clothes so he couldn’t be seen in the dark and then went to the Taggs to be in their haunted house.  He enjoyed scaring people who couldn’t see him.  After dressing up, Katrina left for Ashtyn’s Halloween party.  She was a bit hesitant because she wasn’t sure about what kind of scary movie they would be showing, so she warned us that she may be coming home early.  Turns out that they were having so much fun talking that they didn’t show a movie at all.  She had a fun time.



Dad and Miriam and I had such a nice evening at home!  First, Dad and I sat on the bench outside and passed out candy to all the little kids who were trick or treating.  It was fun to see the costumes and visit with the neighbors.  Sylvia and Kellie were out on their doorstep, too.  The weather was perfect, and it was a fun, neighborly thing to do.  When it got dark, Dad and I went in and we watched a movie and ate ice cream with Miriam.  It was a cute, funny movie that made us laugh a lot.  It really enjoyed it even though we had to keep jumping up and answering the door to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, ha ha.

Friday, Dad and I went on a date.  We started out buying tamales at a place owned by the parents of one of our peer tutors at school.  They were delicious, but HOT!!!  After the first couple of bites I couldn’t taste anything anymore, ha ha.  Dad and I each snarfed up three of them and then went on a date where we walked around some gardens which I really loved.  Then we watched a movie.  There are lots of good movies out right now which is nice.  We ate a huge bucket of popcorn and then after the movie we got our free refill to take home to the kids, but only half of the bucket was full by the time we got home, ha ha.  After that we had fun eating ice cream and making fun of the old movie on Sci Fi Friday.  It was so fun to be with Dad!  The kids had a good time, too, I think.  They also had ice cream along with left over sweet potato fries and the movie that they didn’t get to see with us on Thursday.

Yesterday was Saturday, and Thomas was dreaming peacefully when the subject of wrestling came up in his dream, and he jumped straight up out bed.  He was supposed to be at his wrestling coach’s house at 8:30 that morning to pick up potatoes to sell for a fund raiser for the wrestling team.  Luckily, it was before 8:30, and I got him there on time and also Katrina on time to play practice.  The coach said every boy was expected to sell at least ten 50 lb boxes of potatoes, so Thomas got ten loaded up in our van.  I was not very happy about it, imagining having to keep the potatoes and pay the $200 ourselves if they didn’t sell.  I left for the church to do crafts with the women of the ward and told Thomas to go door to door and not to come back till he sold all his potatoes.  But when I got to the church, I realized that everyone was there instead of at home, and no one would be around to buy Thomas’s potatoes, so I had him come over to the church and let the ladies know he was selling potatoes.  From that he got 8 orders, and was able to get 2 more after that, so the potato fiasco wasn’t a fiasco at all.  Like I told Thomas, potatoes are pretty cool.  When you guys were little, if I was low on money for the week, I’d buy a big bag of potatoes and serve them all week in the form of mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, scalloped potatoes, potato soup, fried potatoes, etc.  No one’s going to go hungry with potatoes around, ha ha.

I had fun doing crafts at the church, and Miriam came over after awhile.  She wanted to go shopping with me, so she helped me by finish making a candy cane wreathed while I finished the greeting cards I was making.  After that we went shopping.  Miriam ordered an evening gown online, and it came on Thursday.  Luckily it fit and looks great.  It is a long black Ralph Lauren gown with long sleeves and rhinestones on the shoulders.  Anyway, we were shopping for shoes and accessories, but after looking around she decided to wear shoes she already has and no jewelry.  We also ate at Subway which was fun.

Dad worked most of the day and also went to Salt Lake to see about selling some stuff to his friend, Ray.  At dinner time, the kids bought themselves Wendy’s and we had a nice time sitting around the table visiting while they ate.  Now we are all fasting for fast Sunday.  This morning, Dad, Miriam, Katrina, and I went on a drive before church.  We left Thomas home because they always want his help to collect fast offering.  It was snowing on our drive—the first snow of the season.  We drove up the canyon for awhile before we headed back home to get ready for church.  When we got home we found out that Thomas was there the whole time because for once they hadn’t needed him to help out the Deacons.  I was sad that we hadn’t taken him, but I think he was happy because he had promised Katrina earlier that he wouldn’t play Christmas songs until December, but with her gone on a ride, he could play Christmas songs through the house and watch it snow.

During church, Cassandra and Emerson tried to Skype with us, but I had to tell them we were in church.  We were really sad to have missed talking to them.  They wanted to try and Skype later, but I guess it didn’t work out.  I’m hoping we can Skype during Family Home Evening tomorrow.  That would be so great!  I got to Skype with Cassandra and Lily on Friday, and Lily waved around her wand with a star on the end and sang “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” to me.  She also got real interested in a dead bug she found in the corner.  She is so cute!  Cassandra says she hasn’t gotten any emails from you.  Have you written her?  Could you write even a short one to let her know you get her emails?  That would be awesome.

Now it is Sunday evening.  It feels very late, but it is only 7:16 because we are now off daylight savings time so it got dark an hour earlier than last night.  Yuck.  We have to go off it every year, though, or the kids would have to walk to school in the dark during the winter.  We may not be the same time as you anymore, either.  We had a nice family home evening and read from Grandma Haws’s life history in honor of her birthday which was yesterday.  Yesterday we and Elizabeth’s family gave her flowers which Julie and her kids delivered for us and we also sang “Happy Birthday” to her as a family over the phone.




Work has been going well.  I love my job!  I work one-on-one with a couple of students, and being a mom of teenagers really helps me relate with them and enjoy teaching them.  I also did monthly inventory on our food and household items and did most of the monthly shopping.  It’s quite a big production, but this month was easier for some reason, which I am very grateful for since I have less time these days.

  I get Wednesday off of work and so does Katrina, but not Thomas or Dad.  I’m going to call Elizabeth and ask her if she wants to do something with me and Katrina.  That should be fun.   I am trying to remember Jesus more, and reach out to other people, but have not done as good a job at it as I committed to do, and so I am sad about that.  I will keep trying, though.  I hope that you have been able to do lots of good things and I look forward to hearing about them all.  You are in our thoughts and prayers, Matt.  We love you!

Love,
Mom

Dear Elder--Oct 13

Dear Elder,

Hi!  How are you today?  I hope that you are well and happy and full of missionary spirit.  I am well and happy and full of missionary spirit, too!  Thank you so much for the letter you sent.  It was short, but we will take whatever you can give us!

I’m so sorry that the people you have been teaching have either not been around or not been available.  I have been reading a book called “The Power of Everyday Missionaries,” and I learned that we need to ask people a lot of questions to know what questions they have and listen with the Spirit to what they care about so that we can teach them the things that will benefit their individual lives so that they will keep their interest.  I know that Preach My Gospel also talks about that, right? 

This has been a good week. Monday night we went to the laundry again so that Dad could work on the furnace.  We made dinner and brought it with us to eat with him.  Jon came to the laundry, too, and it was very nice to visit with him.  We also got to see him last night because he was doing something with friends and they met at our house to begin their activity.

Grandpa and Grandma were in town this week, and they stayed over night at our house on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  Tuesday evening, none of the kids were home because Katrina and Miriam both had a class and Thomas had a game, but I took them to look at the temple.  The spire is on it now, and since they went to see it with me, they have also put the angel Moroni on the spire.  Wednesday, Grandpa took Thomas to gymnastics and stayed to watch him.  That night, all of the kids were home, but Dad wasn’t because of the furnace.  The kids and I ate dinner with Grandpa and Grandma and then went to the dollar store and the grocery store to buy pumpkins.  After that, we watched a “Get Smart” episode.  Dad came home while we were watching it, and it was nice to have him back home.

Thursday, Grandma, Katrina, and I went shopping to buy Grandma some clothes.  It was fun to shop and eat lunch together.  Grandpa and Thomas went bowling, and Dad worked on the furnace.  After that, Grandpa and Grandma left to stay with Rick and Kelly for the weekend.

Friday, Dad took off to work on the furnace and the rest of us cleaned the house and stuff.  Later on, Thomas and I took in our laundry to keep Dad company while he worked.  While we were there, Dad found out he needed a  part that he couldn’t get around here, so he needed to go to the big city.  I told him I should go with him and that he should take a break from working and that we should make a date of it, so we did.  We left Thomas at the laundry and Miriam picked him up after work and drove him home.  On our date we visited an Arnold Frieberg art exhibit.  He is the artist that painted all the Book of Mormon pictures where the men have giant muscles.  He also painted the famous picture of George Washington at Valley Forge, where he is kneeling by his horse, praying.  It was an amazing exhibit, and I am glad we paid the money to go.  We also got dinner which we really enjoyed.

Saturday, Dad worked on the furnace all the day, and the rest of us drove up to Rick and Kelly’s for Jesse’s baptism.  I am so glad we got to go see him be baptized!


Jesse and his family

We also enjoyed eating lunch at their house afterwards and visiting with them and Grandpa and Grandma.  On the way home, the kids wanted to visit the candy outlet, so we did.  We had a crazy time getting there, because Google Maps failed us, but we finally arrived and had fun buying candy.  Miriam and I got some cute suckers for our co workers and I also bought some for my visiting teaching sisters.

After I took the kids home,  I went to the laundry to keep Dad company.  He was able to finish the furnace, and when he turned it on to test it, it worked!  We were so relieved and happy.  After that, we went home and ate ice cream and watched a movie.  It was a film Noir, and it was a very good one.  It even had a happy ending.  I’m glad it was good for Dad’s sake.

Today we went to church and then came home and ate together.  It is gloomy and wet outside, and I am tired.  It is only 5:45, but I am very tempted to call it a night and go to bed.  I think I will. 

I love you very much, Matt, and cant wait to hear from you tomorrow!  Love, Mom

Dear Elder--Oct 6

Dear Elder,

Hi!  How are you? I sure hope you are feeling better than you did last week!  I am so sorry that you have been feeling sick, and we are so happy that Heavenly Father helped you to know to eat something so that you could feel better that night.  After reading your account, we decided that your parasite must have needed a midnight snack, ha ha.  Actually, having a parasite is no laughing matter, and we sure hope that medicine does the trick, but I have my doubts, so make sure you get more help if the problem persists, okay?  We are praying for you to be healthy, Matt, so that you can do the work of the Lord!

We watched the Saturday sessions last night, and I am so excited to be watching again soon, today.  Grandpa and Grandma are in town and they will be watching the morning session with us.  As a family, we will listen to the afternoon session of General Conference on the car radio as we drive to my brother Rick and his wife, Kelly’s house for a get-together.  Their son, Ben, is going to read his mission call, and we are going to celebrate Grandpa’s seventieth birthday.  Can you believe that he is seventy years old today?  I told him that seventy is the new sixty, ha ha.

Did you get to watch Conference?  Wasn’t it wonderful?  I have to admit, Matt, that I was a bit concerned going into conference that I would be overwhelmed with more things I need to incorporate into my life because I am still trying to incorporate my goals from the last general conference into my life.  Instead, conference strengthened me and reaffirmed the importance of my goals and gave me insights on how to go about meeting them.  As I listened, one of the impressions I got was to buy the book that my sister, Elizabeth recommended to me called “Every Day Missionaries.”   I bought both the Kindle version and the hard copy version which should be here by Monday or Tuesday.  Anyway, I have begun reading the Kindle version, and I really love it.  I am learning how we as members can be missionaries every day of our lives.  

The reason that Grandpa and Grandma are here is because my sister Sarah’s husband, James’s mother passed away this last week.  Do you remember her, Matt?  What a sweet lady!  She has been suffering from cancer, Matt, and has been sick for quite awhile.  James was able to be in town when she passed away which is a real blessing.  She died Wednesday, I think, and Sarah and the kids flew in Thursday for Friday’s funeral.  Grandpa and Grandma were going to come up for my brother, Rick’s son, Jesse’s baptism next week, so they came up early to attend the funeral as well.  I missed the funeral because of work, but Elizabeth also attended.  Grandma says the funeral was a very sweet experience.  I wish I could have been with them, and I am so happy that we get to see Sarah and James and their family at Rick and Kelly’s today.

Yesterday was a wonderful day, first, because of Conference, and also because Grandpa and Grandma and Elizabeth and her kids all came over for a visit.  We didn’t know whether or not we’d see them yesterday, but Julie’s son Richard called them and told them that he’d be opening his mission call at 5:00 pm and that they could watch him do it on Facebook.  When they tried to set it up at Elizabeth’s house, it didn’t work so Grandpa and Grandma came over here.  It was total chaos as we talked to Rick, Sarah, and Elizabeth on the phone while Richard’s family was on video.  The video ended up failing, and we heard the mission call over the phone after all.  Richard has been called to serve in the Rapid City South Dakota mission.  Richard was really excited because ever since Jacob got his call to Singapore, Richard has joked that he would be going to South Dakota.  He even told his stake president he would be going to South Dakota.  He was joking, but when the call came, it was official.  It is wonderful the ways Heavenly Father lets us know that He is in the details of our lives.  After Dad and Thomas and Grandpa left for the priesthood session, Elizabeth and her younger kids came over to join us and Grandma for a little party.  We ate pizza and talked.  It was so fun!

Well, Matt, we just finished watching the Sunday morning session of Conference.  Grandpa and Grandma joined us for conference because Elizabeth and her family had another family over to watch this session of conference with them.  I have to ask Elizabeth about the family they invited over.  I suspect it came about because Elizabeth had read the book she recommended to me.  She is pretty excited about it.  

It was nice to have Grandpa and Grandma over, and we really enjoyed this session of conference.  Now we are writing letters to you and eating and getting ready to drive to Rick’s during the afternoon session.  It makes me so happy that you are watching Conference, too.

Katrina missed conference yesterday because she was at the Shakespeare festival.  She had an enjoyable time, and got home while the guys were at the priesthood session.  Last year, she missed Saturday, too, but watched them between the Sunday sessions.  This year, because family has visited, and we have Grandpa’s birthday to go to, I don’t think she will be able to do that, but I have confidence that she will find a time to view it.  

Dad has worked every spare moment installing the furnace at the laundry.  He took time off to watch both conference sessions on Saturday because I begged him, too, and of course he’s not working today on the Sabbath, I’ve been praying that it will be a good day of rest for him.  He is really getting burned out.  He says he never wants to accept a job just for the money again.  I hope not.  Its not worth it.  If he hadn’t said he would do the furnace, Vic would have just hired someone else, but Dad saw dollar signs, poor guy. He also has been working very hard teaching.  I think that things are beginning to get better, though.  I am so glad for that answer to prayer!

Since Dad was working so much, I went to Thomas’s football game on Thursday in his place.  Because he misses football for gymnastics every week, Thomas is not allowed to play in the games even though he makes up the absences by doing twice as many monsters as required. Well, Thursday night, one of the coaches obviously didn’t get the memo that Thomas isn’t to play in the games, and he played Thomas!  It was so wonderful to watch him out there giving his all to the team, and I was very happy for him.

Besides working, Miriam has been going shopping and also a co-worker couple invited her over to their house for dinner.  She and Preston have cooled it off for awhile, maybe permanently—we will see.  I know it is hard for her because she has spent so much time for him, the rest of her social life has suffered.  I know she’ll make it through.

I also got to talk to Cassandra and Lily this week and Skype with them.  When I called, Lily was in bed after her nap and didn’t want to get out of bed.  Cassandra was trying to convince her to get out.  Finally, it was Lily’s desire to “show” me her toys (we were only on the phone at the time, not Skyping) that got her out of bed.  She is so cute!  She sang songs to me including “Hip, Hipooray for the Piglet and the Pooh” and “Let’s Go Fly a Kite.”  She put her owl pajamas on over her clothes to show me how they looked.  I am so glad she likes talking to me on the phone.  Cassandra is very patient to hold the phone for me to talk to Lily and to talk to me, too.

I got to visit with Jon on the phone for a couple of hours this week, too.  He is doing well.  He also helped Dad with the furnace for a few hours which I know Dad really appreciated.  He is lookin so good!  He has an awesome goatee and ‘stache.  When I went to Costco on Saturday to buy pistachios for Conference, he was there, which I always love.  He was wearing some very cool shoes which turned out to be slippers he’d bought there at Costco, so I bought some for Thomas for Christmas. Shh…, don’t tell  

And what have I been up to?  Hmm…well, have I mentioned that I love my job?  I love my job!!!  I had such a rewarding week teaching and tracking amazing students.  Besides that, I’ve been home being a mom.  Did I mention that I love being a mom?  I LOVE being a mom!!!  And that includes being a grandma.  I’ve Skyped with Lily, driven with Katrina, eaten dinner with Thomas and Miriam, and done various and sundry mom things that make life worthwhile. I also love being Dad’s wife!  Dad was going to work all Friday, but he was so burned out, he decided to only work till 5 and then go out on a date with me.  We had such a wonderful time!  We drove to the ski resort and ate at an incredibly delicious barbeque place that Dad discovered the last time he was there.  We also walked up and down main street and it was really fun and really cold.  We had lots of fun talking on the drive up and back, too.  When we got home, we ate ice cream (surprise, surprise) and watched TV.   Life is beautiful, Matt.

That is our week and our life.  How was your week and how is your life?  Please tell us everything.  Have you found Christina?  What about Jesus?  Is Erik totally out of the picture?  I really really hope you have been feeling well.  If you haven’t, don’t just suffer, GET HELP!!!  I love you, Matt.  

Love,

Mom

Sept 22--Dear Elder

Dear Elder,

Hi.  How are you?  How was your week?  I sent you a package a couple of weeks ago.  Did you get it?  I hope so.  I enjoyed reading about what you are up to and am so glad that Erick came to church.  I pray that you will find Jesus and Christina.  How is your companion?  I hope he is doing well.  Please tell him "hi" for us, and share your package with him (I know you would do that anyway).  I know it must be very hard to rely on member referrals to find people to teach, but I know Heavenly Father will bless you for listening to your leaders.  As you ask members for names of people you can teach, maybe if they can't think of anyone, you can then ask them if they know of anyone who is not a member who could use some service.  Service opens many doors, and you know.  I'm glad you could repair a door for that single mom.  I know as you pray for inspiration, Heavenly Father will bless you to know what you can do to find people to teach and serve.

This has been a very busy week because I am not yet used to being away from home so much.  As you know, last weekend Dad, Miriam, and I were in San Diego.  Our trip home was good.  I am so sorry that I didn't answer your last email--I lost service.  By the time I got back on, you weren't there anymore.  Dad drove the whole way.  I read a short book to them, and we talked a bit.  It was nice to spend the whole weekend with Miriam and to see Preston, too.  We got home at 5:45 Monday night, just in time for Miriam's 6:00 college class.  It was good to be home.  Dad, Thomas, Katrina and I went to the laundry so that we could keep Dad company as he worked, and then we met Miriam at the frozen yogurt place afterward.  

My job is going well, Matt.  I feel very blessed to be working with such wonderful adults and students.  The teacher has given me five of the higher functioning kids to track.  I meet with their teachers in their mainstream classes and make sure they are keeping up, etc.  It has been hard to catch them all up, and the work load is a bit overwhelming, but once we get everything caught up, it shouldn't be too bad. The teacher is happy with my work and everyone is very helpful.  I really enjoy working with the students. The fact that I love my job is a source of great joy to Dad.  His own job is more stressful because as a teacher, he has tons more responsibility and also has to work at home as well as school, but he is delighted that my job is so nice.

 I call this my first real job because, although I've done doctor surveys, the Dept of Agriculture survey, subbing and assessment testing, this is my first traditional job.  It is nice to work with the same people every day.  One of the reasons that I am so happy I got a job is that Dad believed in me so much, I didn't want to disappoint him.  He's always said that if I were working and he were home, we'd be rich, ha ha.  I don't know about that, but he sure has lots of confidence in my ability and can't even imagine people not being delighted to hire me, so it was nice to not let him down.

Katrina has been doing well.  She made the Shakespeare team with the dialog that she does with Ashton.  She did the cut for the scene, and her teacher and his wife were really impressed.  I talked to them at parent teacher conference on Wednesday, and they said the scene is one person doing most of the talking and the other character not saying much at all, but Katrina managed to cut it so that the parts were quite even.  Can you believe it, I forgot to ask them what play the scene was from!  Here other teachers had nothing but good to say about her as well.  A couple of them commented on the fact that her participation in class discussions encourages other kids to contribute as well.  I have been driving a lot with Katrina a lot lately.  She started drivers ed earlier this month, and just got finished with "range".  She had driven with us only two hours before she started, but she did well, and passed easily.  That gave her more confidence and she is happier to go out driving now.  We got some time in this week, and she is up to four hours, one half hour of which was night driving.  That's a long way from the 60 hours she needs before she gets her license!  Katrina is the designated lawn mower for the family this year, and I think she is really glad that the weather is getting cooler and she won't be mowing much longer.  That reminds me, I have to tell Dad that the mower died while she was doing the backyard yesterday.  She and Thomas tell me its not the gas or oil.  I hope it is not gone forever.  We spent more money to get a Husquvarna so that it would last longer.

Thomas is a very busy guy with football, gymnastics, and homework.  I am so glad he is good friends with Hayden because Hayden works hard to keep up in all his classes and does homework during lunch and after school.  Thomas is keeping up much better because of it.  He is even enjoying some of his classes, particularly English and Chemistry.  He and his chemistry teacher enjoy talking about astronomy, and she says he picks up on what she is teaching in chemistry much more quickly than most of the other students.  All of his teachers say he makes them laugh.  Last night was the big rivalry game between BYU and U of U and he wanted to watch it with Hayden, but a girl his age was having a big sweet 16 party, and we wondered if many kids would be there because of the game.  Thomas had told her that he would be there before he realized that the party would be during the game, and his friends wanted him to stay home and watch it with them, but he said no, he'd made a commitment.  I was proud of him for that.  Dad was the one who picked him up from the party and he said he had a fun time.

Miriam has been taking Katrina and Thomas shopping lately.  She and Katrina went earlier in the week, and she and Thomas went on Saturday.  She bought Katrina boots and Thomas a jacket.  I need to pay her back!  I am so glad that they got to spend time together.  It was very nice of Miriam to do that especially because she is so busy.  Preston sent Miriam two dozen roses for the anniversary of when they first met and they are very pretty.  Now that I think about it, I'm not so sure that Miriam got to talk to Preston at all yesterday.  I'll have to ask her about that.  I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but at work we go out into the community with the students and they collect recyclable paper from businesses to earn a little money for the classroom.  Miriam offered to arrange for them to come to her work and pick up paper there.  I thought that was so sweet of her!

Thomas and I got to Skype with Cassandra and Lily this last week, and that was so sweet.  She dragged in her mom's bright pink bathrobe and put it on for me to be pretty.  She sang me a song, and visited for quite awhile before she got distracted.  Cassandra says they are doing well, so that's good.  Jon was over yesterday and changed his oil in the driveway.  It looked like a pretty messy job, but he got it done.  I also worked with Jon to get you a Costco card which I sent to you yesterday.  I have no idea if it will get to you, but I hope it does.  If it doesn't, you can go to Costco and they should have you on their computers as a member and they should be able to give you a card.  If you do get the card, take it in to Costco with an ID or passport, and they will be able to put your picture on the card.

Dad has been crazy busy this week, but he took time out to watch Thomas's game Thursday night.  Thomas didn't get to play, but I know he was glad that Dad was there.  Dad graded papers as he watched.  Friday Dad and I went out.  We did some errands and also got a bite to eat.  When we got home, we ate ice cream and watched Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone, Dad's favorite Sherlock Holmes actor.  It was fun to be together, and we also got a lot done.  Yesterday he was at the laundry till after dark working to put a furnace in, and he's not done, so he gets to work on it again tomorrow.  He got home so tired, but still did the dishes before he rested.  He and Katrina and I watched some of a Disney documentary before having scriptures with Miriam.  After that I went to bed and Dad stayed up to get Thomas home and have scriptures and prayer with him.  I really hope today is a good day of rest for Dad.

Yesterday I drove with the other stake young women leaders to check out an LDS young women's Campground in preparation for next year's camp.  I drove eight of us up there.  It was a nice trip and fun to visit with everyone.  It's the first time I've been up to the camp, and it's amazing!  I can't wait to have camp there.  They have a staff of 150 couple missionaries to run it, and somehow manage to allow family reunions up there as well as girl's camp.  It is an amazing place!  I love how much effort the church put in to this facility to bless our young women and give them a wonderful nature and gospel experience.

Besides that, I have mostly been playing catch up this week.  I did get to talk to my brother, Tom on the phone Thursday and wish him a happy birthday.  He seems to be doing well.  He does independent civil engineering work, and lately he has also been doing some programming work on company websites.  He is really enjoying the programming, and it was nice to talk with him.  I also got to see my sister Elizabeth for awhile on Thursday to drop some stuff off to her.  Isaac had a birthday party yesterday and I wonder how it went.  Elizabeth is planning the family reunion for this summer, and I am so excited!.  Also I got to hear Sarah's voice yesterday, but only to ask her to look something up for me since Dad needed some information, and I had no data at the girl's camp.  It was very nice of her to help me out.

Thursday my new visiting teachers came over.  One is Sister Brinkerhoff.  It was nice to visit with them.  I also visited the family who lost a son a month or so ago.  They are so fun to talk to!  Britttany has applied to do an internship at Disney World.  Katrina wants to do that, too, in college.

I have been studying Helaman 5 lately, and also about the evils of contention which has really blessed my life.  I'm learning that when Dad and I don't agree on how something should be done, if I avoid contending, and pray instead, a resolution that we both agree on presents itself or the subject isn't an issue after all, or something else happens to help us.  It is amazing to me the different ways that Heavenly Father answers our prayers!

I also studied about pondering the other day and I need to do that more often.  It brings the spirit into my life and is a precursor to revelation.  I need to ponder with prayer.  I can ponder on the scriptures I've read and the words of the living prophets, the spiritual experiences I've had, and the questions that I need answering.  I need to be sure I ponder on things of God and not of Man.

Today I have a meeting and hopefully we will have some good family time between church and the meeting.  Other than that, I can't think of much that is happening today, which is good.  Tuesday our school class is going to the zoo, and I am really looking forward to being there with the students.  They act like they aren't that excited about it (much like my own teenagers through the years, ha ha), but I think they will love it.

Matt, thanks for writing to us every week. I hope that your week this week goes well, and that you will have a nice preparation day today.  I look forward to reading about how things are going, and I will be praying for the efforts you tell us about to be blessed.  I love you very much.  We all do!

Love, Mom

July 1--Dear Elder: Sarah and James Visit, Cassandra and Emerson Arrive, Jon Barbecues and has a Birthday

Dear Matthew,
Hi, how are you?  It is so nice to write to you today.  Thank you so much for your last letter.  Thanks for answering my questions for the talk that I might give.  I’ve decided that if I do talk, it will be not only about your mission, but about member missionary work, because that is what I think you would like me to talk about and I think it would please Heavenly Father.  If I get asked to talk, I will share the steps you wrote that we can follow.

I am really praying hard that the spirit of missionary work will fill our family’s hearts and that Heavenly Father will fill us with so much love and gratitude to Him, and so full of the Spirit that we will be like Ether in Ether 12:2 who “could not be restrained because of the Spirit of the Lord which was in him.”  I am praying to be filled with desire.  I am praying that God will help us turn our weaknesses to strengths and remove our stumbling blocks so that we can become instruments in His hands.  I am praying for help in overcoming pride, slothfulness, selfishness, enmity, worldliness, and fear in order to become an instrument in His hands.  I want so much to be who Christ needs me to be in order to further His work.  I did invite the neighbors to the Fourth of July breakfast, but I think it’s way too early on a Holiday for them.  I totally understand that!

As far as studying PMG, there is so much to study!  There is my daily Book of Mormon reading, the Bible, the conference talks from our Prophet had Apostles, not to mention church magazines, Relief Society lessons we are supposed to read before they are taught, and lds.org messages.  I feel a bit overwhelmed.  I was reading PMG, but lately I have been concentrating on the scriptures and conference talks.  I kind got through most of PMG, but I could start it again.  It is hard to know when to stop reading up on things and get to work.

Thanks for answering my other questions, too.  It is good to understand more about what is going on.  I heard that your mission is being split.  I guess you stay in the Mexican Culiacan mission instead of becoming a part of the Obregon Mission, right?  Keep us up to date on all the changes, okay?

Well, it has been a wonderful week.  It was so nice to come home and get into the swing of summer.  I love waking up early, praying, studying the gospel, and going out to water the plants.  I have been working outside and cleaned up both sheds, which makes me very happy.  After I got the yard under control, the plan for the second half of the week was to work inside to get the house under control, but Thursday I was home alone a lot, which was so nice that I ended up wasting lots of time instead of working on the house and got behind.  I am very unhappy with myself about that!

Yesterday morning, Sarah, James, and family stopped by on their way back home to Texas.  They were still up at his parents house this whole last week and I didn’t even know it!  I told them they were stinkers for not telling me, ha ha.  It was very fun to visit with them.  Dad and I told them about our trip, and they got to see my new kitchen.  It was a short visit, but I’m so glad they were able to stop by!

After they left, I worked on the house, and Thomas helped me get the computer upstairs.  It has been down in the family room sitting on the wood burning stove ever since we started the kitchen remodel.  We got it set up, and it really looks nice, but we haven’t gotten the internet up yet.  Mostly, I’m excited to have the hymns playing on Sundays again.  Later, Dad and I went on a date.  It consisted of going out to eat, going through the car wash, and shopping at Walmart, but we had fun because we were together.  I didn’t even get to talk to Katrina yesterday.  I texted her and asked her if she had time to call, but she never texted back.  I hope that is a good sign and not a bad one!  Miriam spent the evening doing laundry and texting Preston.  It was a good day.

Matt, I have found a video game that I like, but don’t worry, it is not very time consuming and it helps me connect with people I love.  It is called “Draw Something,” and I just draw a picture for the other person and then they draw one for me.  I have been playing with Jon, Thomas, and Katrina, and this week I got Grandma on board, too.  She is a good drawer and it is hard for her to do quick, easy drawings instead of awesome detailed ones, but I think she enjoys the game.  I am also playing with my Aunt Emily.  It is a fun way to stay connected.

Guess what???  We are picking up Cassandra, Emerson, and Lily today!  Yay!!! We are leaving before 10:00, and will be home again around noon.  Jon is going to barbecue for us.  I can’t wait!  I still have a bit to do on the house before we leave, so I’d better get busy!

Now it is Sunday morning, and I am waiting for Katrina to get home from tour.  It’s 5:00, and she just called to let me know that the buses are here.  She is getting a ride home and should be here any minute.  She had a blast on tour!  She hardly called home at all, and when she did call, she was very happy.  Before tour, she had planned on quitting the choir after tour and just taking high school choir, but last night she texted and asked if she can take it next year.  I said yes.  I’ve been praying that she’d have a wonderful tour experience, and I’m so glad that she did!

Yesterday was a wonderful day!  Dad and I went and picked up Emerson, Cassandra, and Lily at their hotel by the airport.  Lily was so cute when she saw us, and she loved the little Minnie Mouse that we gave her.  It was fun to sit by her on the way home.  Jon barbecued some incredible tasting steak for us for lunch and we had a wonderful time eating it and visiting.  Lily loves our back yard, especially our slide and our swing.  Later, Cassandra went out with her friend, Jen, and the boys went shooting, so Miriam and I got to watch Lily.  We took her out with us to water the plants, but that never happened.  Instead, we watered the Lily!  She grabbed the hose and proceeded to douse herself thoroughly.  Miriam accidently squirted her in the face, which she loved, and so she started squirting herself over and over.  It was very cute.  I also got to take her on and walk, which was more like a run, and she was very good to hold my hand as she ran down the sidewalk.

Today Courtney and her husband are coming over for dinner to visit with Cassandra and everyone.  That should be fun!

Now it is Monday.  Yesterday was such a wonderful day. We went to church and it was fun to be there with Cassandra and family.  We sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic for the opening song in Sacrament meeting, and after the song, Lily yelled, “Yaaay!”  It is a very stirring hymn, ha ha.  After Sacrament meeting, Cassandra and Emerson took Lily to nursery, and when Dad found out, he went to get her out because he wanted her to be with us, but when he saw how much fun she was having in nursery, he left her there.  Later, Cassandra caught Thomas and Lily out in the hall.  He decided he’d rather be with Lily that go to Sunday School.  Cassandra sent him back to class, ha ha.

After church, Courtney, Justin, and their two little girls came over for dinner, and we had a wonderful time.  Lily was exhausted and went to bed at six thirty.  The girls and I had fun taking care of Courtney’s little girls while the men played Axis and Allies, and Courtney and Cassandra went for a walk, etc.  After they got back, everyone went outside to roast marshmallows and make s’mores, but I went to sleep, ha ha.

Today is Jonathan’s birthday and we are all probably going to go out to eat before we take Cassandra and Emerson to the airport.  I hope Miriam will be able to get off work to join us.  Cass and Em are going to Seattle and will be back home on Wednesday.  We are taking care of Lily while they are gone.  That will be fun!  Right now, Thomas and Lily are watching Robin Hood while Dad and I write to you, Matt.  Miriam is at work, and no one else has emerged from their lairs for the day.

I hope you like this letter, Matt.  You have $183 in your account right now.  If you will tell me how much more you will need for shipping, I’ll deposit it.  I hope that you had a good week last week, and that the one to come will be even better.  I love you!

Love,
Mom

June 23--Dear Elder: Home Again

Now its Sunday and we’re home!  It is so nice to be back.  Even Dad said we were away too long, ha ha.  We enjoyed visiting the Animal Kingdom, especially the safari, which we went on twice, and the Finding Nemo musical.  The next day we went to the Magic Kingdom and it was fun to see how the same rides differed from their California Disneyland counterparts.  It was much more spread out because Disney has more land in Florida.

We had a wonderful vacation, Matt.  Dad is so fun to be with, and he always took care of all the arrangements.  He planned and navigated, and scheduled, leaving me free to just enjoy.  He is such a selfless and amazing husband.  I loved spending two whole weeks of one-on-one time with him.  He’s fun and thoughtful and makes anything we do together a blast.

While we were away, Thomas and Jon did a lot of barbecuing.  In fact, they bought a new barbecue.  Thomas also worked a couple of times while we were gone, and he also, according to Grandpa, saved the house from serious smoke damage one day when they left and forgot to turn off the beans.  Thomas came home, smelled something over cooking, and turned off the stove.  If he hadn’t, Grandpa said that the pan would have smoldered dry on the stove for six hours.  We feel really blessed that that didn’t happen.

We feel really blessed about a lot of things, Matt.  The kids were safe and happy while we were gone, and made good choices.  These things are answers to prayers.  I am so grateful to Grandpa and Grandma for staying with them and helping them to have full, safe, and happy days.  They got to see Elizabeth’s family a lot, and Rick and Sarah’s family.  It couldn’t have been any better for them.  Dad and I were also blessed with good weather, safe travel, and wonderful experiences.  Grandpa and Grandma seem to have enjoyed their stay, and got home again safely.  So many answers to so many prayers.

Coming home, our flight was delayed an hour and a half, so we weren’t able to see Katrina before she left on choir tour, which is really sad.  She took a phone, though, and we were able to talk to her yesterday.  I got a text from her saying that she now has bad phone service, so I don’t know how much we will be able to talk to her.  I have been praying that she will be happy and make friends, and have a nice host family and be safe.  I hope we can talk to her soon.

How is Miriam?  She is sick today.  It looks like she has tonsillitis.  Her boss gave her and her coworker iPads for passing the test, and she is really excited about that.  The local paper did a front page story about Preston graduating from Marine training and it quotes Miriam.  Pretty cool, huh?

Last night, Dad and I did a barbeque in the back yard with Thomas, Miriam, and Jon.  I really loved it.  The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed visiting and eating together.  Have I mentioned yet how good it is to be home? ha ha.

Today we only have sacrament meeting, and then at 4:00 we are going to watch the MTC broadcast put out by the church.  I don’t know if it is nationwide or world wide, but I think it is world wide, so maybe you will see the same broadcast, too.  I really look forward to seeing it especially because I think it will be about missionary work.  You can see it online already, but I will wait and watch it today with the fam.

Emerson, Cassandra and Lily will be here next weekend for a visit.  Woo hoo, woo hoo!!  I can’t wait, but I have a lot to do till then.  Yesterday we were able to buy a pack and play from the want ads for $25.  It is almost brand new, and it will make a good place for Lily and future grandkids to sleep.  Hopefully we will be using it tons in the years to come.

After Cassandra and Emerson have been here for a few days, they are going to Seattle to see Emerson’s grandma, and they are leaving Lily here for us to tend.  Woo hoo, woo hoo!!  I want to buy a little wading pool for her.  Wouldn’t that be fun?

June 2: Dear Elder

Hi, Matt.  Today is fast Sunday and I am fasting for you that you will bring souls unto the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  I'm fasting and praying that you will be filled with the Holy Ghost, and with righteousness, and with a deep and abiding love for God's children.  I love you!

What have I been up to?  Camp, camp, camp.  I'm having girls over today after church to work on a big banner we're making.  They want to burn the edges to make it look like a pirate map and at first I thought it would take forever, but in the night I realized that we can tear the edges, roll it up, and hold it over the burner of the stove.  I hope we don't burn down the house ha ha.  It's weird how hard our brains keep working even when we are asleep.  I've heard that in our deepest dreams, we are problem solving.  I have noticed that Heavenly Father also sometimes uses dreams to answer our prayers and give us guidance.

Yesterday I washed all my clothes.  My goal is to pack totally different clothes for camp and cruise, and I think I have been able to do that for the most part.  I also organized and packed for camp.  It was lots of hard work!  Today I will make up a calendar, menu, etc for Grandpa and Grandma.  They are so nice to come!  You kids are very blessed to have a couple of younger grandparents that can still be a part of your lives.  I had the same blessing growing up, and it is comforting to know that I still have two grandmas going strong.  Well, going feeble might be a better description, ha ha,  but they are amazing!  I got to Skype with Cassandra and Lily just a bit.  Lily wanted to show me her bunny shirt.  She calls me "Grammy."  She has a name for Miriam and Katrina (the same name), but I can't remember what it is.  I sent off Emerson's birthday present early since we will have just been home a couple of days before his birthday and won't have time to get anything off then.  He is the awesomest son-in-law!  Lily went a couple of days not seeing him because he got home so late from work.  I know that was hard on her--she loves her daddy so much!

Katrina has a pre-tour concert this evening and we are looking forward to hearing the songs that they will be singing on tour.  I paid the last of her tour money yesterday, and she is all set.  Thomas worked yesterday cashiering and he also hung out with Garred a lot.  Katrina mowed and helped me a bit with camp stuff.  Miriam worked and got her hair cut.  She hates the cut.  They made the bangs really short on one side.  She posted a comment on the salon's facebook page asking how she could get her money back.  They called her and are giving her money back and are going to fix her hair.  They were very nice about it, and she is happy.  Dad worked on the roof of the laundry all day till very late.  I got to see him as I did my laundry.  When he got home late, he went to the store for me.  I can't even remember what I needed, but he did it to save me time tomorrow.

Matt, I love you so much!  Stay faithful and work hard.  I know Heavenly Father will bless you.  As you train your new companion, ask yourself, what would Elder Livingston do?  Ha ha.  Never postpone a prompting and never never never ignore one!  Thanks for being who you are.  I'm sure you are very aware of your own weaknesses right now, but with you and the Lord together, it is enough.  With God, all things are possible.  Be of good cheer, Matt, you are on God's errand and whom the Lord calls, the Lord blesses and I know that He will bless you with every needful thing.

Keep up the good emails.  We love hearing about your experiences!

Love, Mom

June 1--Dear Elder

Dear Matt,

Thank you so much for your last letter.  I am so glad that Arturo got baptized!  Where did the flowers in the picture come from?  I liked hearing about how you listened and responded to Pablo with love and didn't tell him how he was wrong.  I am trying to work on my listening, too.  I am trying to look beyond what is being said and focus more on the meaning and feelings behind the words.  Your experience helps me see that I need to focus on who the speaker is as a child of God, and try to see them and love them the way Heavenly Father does.  Then I can interact with them the way he would like you did with Pablo.   Thank you for sending pictures.  It helps me imagine where you are a bit more.

Did you hear about that Mormon mom from Arizona who was put in a Mexican prison for drug possesion.  She was coming home from a relative's funeral in Los Mochis, and police made a raid on the bus.  They found 12 lbs of drugs stashed under her seat.  At first they were going to arrest her husband, but she begged to go along as an interpreter and they decided to release him and arrest her instead.  Our government put lots of pressure on the Mexican government to let her go, and at her trial, they showed a survelance tape that showed her and her husband boarding the buss carrying very little; there was no way they could have carried on the drugs.  Anyway, she is free now, thank goodness.

Well, today is Saturday and it is the first time I've written because the week is so busy.  I have been getting ready for girl's camp and for the cruise, and doing my monthly Costco, Walmart, and Macey's shopping so that the house will be well stocked when Grandpa and Grandma com to take care of the kids.  I have been working hard since Monday and still have laundry, packing, phone calls, and a ton of other things to do before I leave for camp on Monday.

At camp we are doing an MTC activity so that the girls can get a feel for what it is like to be a missionary in the missionary training center.  They will rotate through classes and each class will be about one of the chapters in Preach My Gospel.  I volunteered to do a class on chapter 6, the attributes of Christ.  Remember that talk by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ"?  I used it in planning my lesson.  I am excited to talk about Jesus Christ and share how he always put the needs of others above his own.

I have also been asked to do a devotional called "Rise to the Rock"  the rock being Jesus Christ, of course.  For that one, I decided to show the girls the big wall hanging that we had in the entry way before we painted the house.  In case you don't remember, it is of Jesus standing on rocks above a stream holding a little child in one arm and reaching down with the other to help a young girl climb up.  It is called "Be Not Afraid" and it is by Greg Olsen.  It definitely illustrates rising to the Rock of our Redeemer.  I thought of the idea in the middle of the night one night and had it all figured out what questions I would ask the young women in order to discuss the picture with them, but when I sat down later to organize my thoughts and write the questions, nothing would come.  I expressed my frustration out loud, and Jon, who was in the room, told me exactly what I could ask and say.  I was so impressed I told him he should come up and give the devotional and he said he would and now that's the plan.  He'll do a great job!

I am over many of the youth camp leaders, including Katrina, who are in turn over groups of younger girls.  We call the YCL's "Big Sisters" and they mentor their "little sisters."  They have planned activities for their little sisters to do, quotes for them to read, journals for them to write in, and time for them to study scriptures together.  It is amazing to watch these girls make plans and carry them out.  They are learning lots about love and leadership.

I'm writing to you about camp stuff because that's pretty much my life right now.  Let's see...what have I done besides camp?  Well, I got to Skype with Cassandra and Lily.  She is really growing up.  Cassandra wrote a few of the things Lily says in her blog.  Here are some of them:

"You dropped the oatmeal." She said this to me after she dropped some oatmeal.

"YOU dropped the spoon." She said this to me very sternly--you guessed it--after she had thrown her spoon on the floor.

"Sorry" after bumping into someone.

"You OK?" after someone gets hurt.

"Wanna bite?" She said this to a dog today, while holding out her hand...yikes!

"Bless you." after someone sneezes.

"Ready?"

"Oh, yeah!"

"That's a lot of poop." during a diaper change, of course.

"Dat's da rule." When she's in trouble and broke a rule.

"I eat the food."

"I was...snack." when asked what she did at nursery.

"Night, night...tight!" trying to say "sleep tight."

"Stay awake!!!" this when she's tired.

So cute!  She is really liking nap time these days because it is one of the few times in the day when she gets to have her binky, ha ha.

Thomas worked only once this week, the other two days he was scheduled to work got cancelled because of weather.  He and Katrian helped me out a ton yesterday as I did inventory and shopping for the month.  They helped unload the car, put stuff away, refill stuff, etc.  Even with all that, they managed to waste plenty of time as well, ha ha. Katrina will be singing with the children's choir this Sunday at a pre-tour fireside.  I know it will be wonderful!

Miriam is gearing up to go to San Diego with Preston's family to see him graduate from Marine boot camp or whatever they call it.  She is very excited, but first she has to take that test for work again Monday.  She has been taking an online class to study for it.   She found a "detox" online.  It is a 5 day eating regime that is supposed to detoxify your body whatever that means.  Anyway, it is a pretty good diet because it has lots of fruits and veggies, nuts and legumes, and she asked me to do it with her.  The deal is that I paid for the food we need and she prepares it.  Today is our last day, and it has been fun to do it with her.  I guess we will end our detox with a fast since tomorrow is fast Sunday.  I plan to squeeze in all three meals before 4:30 which shouldn't be hard to do because they are very low calorie and then start fasting.  Anyway, Miriam has been so busy that it is nice to do this with her, and I have been so busy, that I don't have much time to prepare my own meals anyway.

Dad has been so nice about everything!  Last night was supposed to be our date night, but he asked me if I needed to do camp stuff instead and asked what he could do to help.  We couldn't even go out to eat or have our Friday night treat because of the detox.  It was really hard for me to miss out on Tamale Thursday at Cafe Rio with Dad, ha ha.  By the way, he asked a hispanic lady and she said that there is a little tamale place locally that makes delicious tamales.  Can't wait to try it!  Well, I'd better get busy!  Actually, I think I'll go back to bed instead, ha ha!