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

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 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 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 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.

Jan 19--Dear Elder

Dear Elder,

Happy Birthday!!!  Do you realize that in less than a day after you get this, you will officially be twenty one years old?  Yay!!!!  So...did you get the SD card.  If you've gotten it already, it's a miracle.  Also, please, please, please tell me if you got our Christmas package.  It was not the one Grandpa and Grandma sent you, it was another one.  I really need to know if you got it.  Please, right now, before you read any further, send me an email telling me if you got the package or not.  Do not read any further till you DO THAT!

Whew.  Okay, back to my email.  Thank you for your last letter.  It was very informative, and I really enjoyed reading it.  To keep me from having to ask the same questions in every letter, just remember one "who" and two "what's"  Who did you teach last week?  What else did you do?  What are you studying?  Ha ha.  I hope that your week was good, Matt. I am glad that you are teaching Ellery, and I hope you keep me posted on how it is going.  I'm glad that you are working up a storm!  Are you still the Zone leader, or are you in a different zone now?  As a Zone leader, how do you choose topics to teach about?  I'm sure it has something to do with a still small voice, ha ha.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Mosiah 4.  I like how your words about the scripture put into perspective our total dependence and utter reliance on the pure love of Jesus Christ.  None of us deserve any blessing, any help, and certainly none of us did anything to deserve the atonement.  We are all beggars, unable to earn any part of His suffering, and yet He gave it freely.  No wonder King Benjamin also says that if we spend every minute of every day praising God, we would still be unprofitable servants.  There is no way we can repay him!  All we can do is to use the gift He freely gave to become like Him and, when we return to Him, to find that we know Him because we have become like Him.

It has been a good week, except for the middle where I had to stay home sick from work one day and go to the doctor and get antibiotics, but on the bright side, I was back to work the very next day, and during that one day at home, I got a lot of sleep and I read a lot.  I finished reading North and South the day after.  I think I told you that it's not a book about the Civil War, but about a young woman who moves from Northern England to Southern England and how she overcomes the prejudices she has of her new southern neighbors, and how her associates have to overcome their prejudices of her.  You know, even though those who shout "prejudice" the loudest would flatly deny it, prejudice is rarely one-sided.  Anyway, because of being sick and because of having a good book to read, I didn't get much done this week, ha ha.

I need to backtrack a little and tell you that Monday night we went over to the Taggs for a neighborhood get-together.  It was really fun.  We watched the video of the neighborhood's productions of "Scrooge" which you were too old to be in, Matt, but Miriam, Katrina, and Thomas were all in it.  It was so cute!  Miriam had an overbite because it was when the orthodontist had just finished over-correcting her under bite, Katrina had the fanciest costume in the play, and Thomas was supposed to pass out candy canes during one of the songs, but somehow never got around to it.  I loved seeing all the kids of the neighborhood the way they used to be.  I couldn't even recognize some of them.  They also wanted to watch their production of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," but Thomas violently opposed the idea of everyone seeing him on stage in green tights as Grinch Jr.  For whatever reason, we didn't end up watching it.

On Thursday, Katrina took luggage to school and she with the others of her drama group who were going headed off to the theater association's workshop thingy.  She didn't bring a phone, and I didn't hear a thing until about 4 on Saturday.  On Friday I was still taking it easy and Thomas was at Hayden's, so after work, Miriam and I watched a documentary about how horrible all the food we eat is.  She likes to watch documentaries, and it was fun to watch it with her and try to separate truth from scare tactics.  After watching it, we both vowed to go to the farmer's market every Saturday when spring comes along, ha ha.  I think Thursday she and I also went out on an ice cream run.  It was fun to spend time together.  After watching the documentary, I drove in to the laundry where I had the great privilege of helping Dad seat a new toilet.  After that we ate out and then...you guessed it. We came home, ate ice cream and watched a movie--a John Wayne movie, which we were too tired to finish, ha ha.

Saturday I cleaned and also worked hard on compiling stuff about you, Matt, for the ward history.  I had started it earlier, and only had to add pictures and captions, but that took me a long, long time.  I really felt impressed to do it, though, and I got it done.  I also cleaned the house, and Dad and I went to Thomas's game.  They didn't do so well.  They were missing their "star player," and were playing tenth graders for the first time instead of ninth graders who have been easy for them to beat.  Anyway, those two facts kind of freaked them out because they were playing no where near their abilities.  If they had been, they would have given those guys a run for their money.  After that, Dad, Miriam, Thomas and I went to the mall.  Dad and I mall walked while Thomas and Miriam dinked around.  Well, before that we went to the car wash, which ended up being good because we waited at least 15 minutes for our turn, and had fun talking together.  After the mall, we got dinner at Wendy's and ate it together at home.  Katrina got home around 9:00 and it was fun to hear her tell us all about her trip.  I hope she writes about some of it to you, Matt.

Today I went to five hours of church, and now I am home writing to you.  I went to lots of church because it is ward conference time again, so I join the other members of the stake young women presidency and visit wards for their ward conferences.  We had two today.  I taught part of the lesson given to the youth, and I got the best part to teach because I get to talk about an amazing article from the New York Times.  I love the article and the whole lesson topic which about the importance of sharing family stories.  Other parts of the lesson were on gospel-centered aspects of the subject, but it was nice to also bring in this article to find out what a major publication was saying about it.

Basically, Matt, kids who learn family stories are better equipped to handle the ups and downs of life.  They are able to better deal with stress and to overcome trials.  They also have a more positive outlook on their family's past.  What this last point means to me is that, though their pasts may be no better than other people's pasts, they have a more positive memory of it.  It's pretty cool, Matt.  And what is also totally cool is that if you get on family search now, you can add family photos and stories, AND you can see the photos and stories of your ancestors that other people have added    Later on we will be having family home evening.  Miriam is giving the lesson, so I look forward to that.  Tomorrow is a holiday, so we are all off work and school.  How cool is that!  We haven't decided what we are going to do.  We'll probably talk about it during family home evening.

Okay, Matt, now it's Sunday night.  We did a Mattlibs for you, but this time Dad wrote it and inserted the changes, so when you read it, don't blame me.  Just kidding.  He did a good job for a rookie.  I hope you like it, Matt, and that you have the best of birthdays serving the Lord and our fellow man.  I love you!

Love,

Mom

Jan 12--Dear Elder

Dear Matt,

Hi, and thank you for the wonderful letter that you sent last week.  I really enjoyed hearing about what you are doing.  I don't ask as many questions in my letters than maybe I should because I think that you know the questions I have in my mind.  How are you doing?  Who are you teaching?  What are you studying and pondering?  How is your companion?  I love it when you tell me about all those things and whatever else is important to you.  I am glad that you and your companion could go on splits with the other missionaries and help them to get along with each other.  I hope that they are doing better.

I really don't have much to say about this week.  Sunday evening we tried to make a video to send to you for your birthday, but it didn't work out.  Monday night, we were able to make the video and I sent it to you via snail mail on Thursday.  I really hope that you get it.  I don't even care if you get it for your birthday, just so long as you get it at all, ha ha.  It is a long, kind of boring video--74 minutes, so you can watch it bit by bit if you want.  We just wanted to send you something more than usual.  If you do get it by your birthday, that would pretty much be a miracle.  Also, Sunday night we had a family home evening lesson given by me.  It was on keeping our covenants.  Dad is giving the lesson this coming week.

This week I also did monthly shopping and other vague, uninteresting things.  I worked very hard at the high school to help the special needs kids that I track to get good grades.  Thursday was the last day of the semester.  The great thing about that is that the kids and I got Friday off.  The sad thing is that Dad didn't :(  Still, Friday was very fun.  Elizabeth and her two little girls came to visit me and Katrina.  Katrina was so sweet and played with the girls and kept them happy while Elizabeth and I painted plaster nativity figures that I got Elizabeth's family for Christmas.  Thomas hung out with Jon till five.  They shopped and did errands and then barbequed pork chops.  I had a little taste of one, and it was delicious.  When Dad came home, he and I went to the temple and it was a wonderful experience.  After that we went home and watched North and South which is not a movie about the civil war, but a movie about a young woman who moves from south England to north.  We really enjoyed it.  Miriam, Katrina, and Thomas went to the movie theater and watched "Saving Mr. Banks" which is a movie that I really like.

Also this week, I have been going over your letters for the year, Matt, and compiling excerpts of them to give to Brother Sales to put in the ward history.  The excerpts I am choosing are the ones about your missionary work and your thoughts about missionary work and the gospel.  It is slow going, and I am now in September of your letters.  It is good to skim through your letters, Matt, and see your growth and the lessons you have learned.  Thank you so much for taking the time to write to us.  I know that it must be very hard to do.

Tomorrow we are going to Rick and Kelly's ward to hear Ben's pre-mission talk.  He goes into the MTC on Wednesday, I believe.  We have to leave at 7:00 in the morning to get to their 9:00 church in time.  Today I made soup and a nice green salad to bring to the farewell.  I have also cleaned, worked on your history, and even read a bit.  I am reading North and South because the series was so good, I wanted to try the book.  Now I think that I am going to cut Thomas's hair.  Oh, we also went to Thomas's basketball game which they won, but he says that's because they were playing ninth graders and that when they play their fellow tenth graders, they probably won't do so well, ha ha.

Ben's Farewell

Other random things.  I've been getting more sleep lately, hooray!  Oh, Miriam broke up with Preston.  It looks like it's for good this time, although you can never be real sure.  She works less, now, and just started a new semester.

Okay, now its Sunday evening and we are home from Ben's farewell. I drove up to their house while Dad slept because he didn't get much sleep last night.  Ben gave a very good talk about spiritual learning and worldly learning, the importance of each, and reconciling the two.  After their meetings we went to their house for lunch and to visit.  My cousin, Wallace's oldest daughter, lives fairly close to them now, and she and her family were there, so it was nice to reconnect with them.  Jessica and Henry were there. Sadly, Elizabeth and her family couldn't come.  Still, it was a very enjoyable time.  When we got home, everyone slept for an hour or so, but we are all awake now.  I think we will probably have a family home evening lesson given by Dad tonight.  That will be nice.  Elizabeth is planning a family reunion in July.  The cabin we will all be staying at is very nice, so that should be fun.

Well, Matt, please tell us what you've been thinking, teaching, and doing over this last week, and have a wonderful week to come.  Remember that Heavenly Father and your family love you very much!

Love,
Mom

Jan 5 Dear Elder

Dear Elder,

Hi!  How are you doing this week?  I hope that things are going well, that you are really hitting your stride, that you are declaring the work without fear and with power from on high. I really enjoyed your last letter, so thanks for writing it.

I am so glad that you at least had the package from Grandpa and Grandma to open on Christmas.  Also, before I forget, what kind of SD card does your camera have.  Please tell us in this very next email because we need to know.  I am so happy, and also jealous, that you got to eat tamales on Christmas.  Do you know how to do any Mexican cooking, or do people always cook for you?  You'd better learn all you want to know quickly so that you can do some awesome cooking for us when you get home, ha ha.  You may want to get some recipes of your favorite dishes if you don't know how to make them. We have some pretty good Latino markets around here, so hopefully you'll be able to get the ingredients you need.

I am sorry that you didn't feel the Christmas spirit as strongly this year.  I am happy, though, that you were able to listen to some devotional talks and read about Jesus' birth.  I am also glad that you found an internet cafe to write letters in.

Yes, Lily really is getting big, isn't she?  It was so fun to hear her talking and see how much she's grown.  It's sad, though, because it's hard to understand what she's saying over the phone, and I bet that's frustrating for her to have us not understand what she's saying.  The other day she called me up on the phone, and it was really fun to talk to her.  She also left the family a nice long cute message on the answering machine. As far as I can make out, she said, "Oh, hey! Hey, hey, hey.  I got's it...Hi, Mommy.It's not working. Oh...Uh oh...No..hold it...Bye ya'll!  Bye y'all...She's going to the movie.  Uh oh.  She's sad.  She sad, Mommy.  She needs hugs."
I think she was talking about her baby doll there at the end, ha ha.  Anyway, we sure had a nice visit with them when they came.

Emerson, Cassandra, and Lily left last Saturday at 4.  They loaded up, and Lily yelled, "Bye. Bye. see ya soon!"  Not soon enough!  Cassandra called the next day to let us know that they got home okay, and it was really good to hear her voice.  Monday night I dreamed that Cassandra was back here again.  I knew that for them to be here, they would have had to turn around and driven back here the same day they got home, and I knew they couldn't do that, so I kept asking Cassandra if they really were here, and she kept saying, "Yes," but when I asked her to promise, she wouldn't answer.  I woke up crying because I knew they really hadn't come back.

Monday we had to drive 2 and a half hours to a national park so that Thomas could become a junior ranger.  Yes, Matt, you will be proud to know that your baby brother is an official, sworn-in, badge-carrying junior ranger.  He had to do it for history in order to get an "A."  We had a nice time there and back visiting and talking, and we learned a whole lot.  It was not the way we would have chosen to spend our Monday off, but it turned out to be fun.

Thomas, The Junior Ranger

Tuesday, of course, was New Year's Eve, and I think Dad and I did something together during the day.  That night, Thomas went off with friends, and Miriam, Katrina, Dad, and I played "Mormon Bridge" together.  I won.  We watched a movie after that, and I went to bed early.  I did wake up close to midnight long enough to text Jon a "Happy New Year," because I figured he'd be awake, and to hear all the fireworks and noise outside.  Dad told me later that Katrina came down and told him that they had to watch the ball drop, so Dad and Katrina did that.  I figured that, unlike many things around here, the New Year was perfectly capable of doing it's thing without my help, and that's why I went to bed, ha ha.

The days run together in my mind, but Dad and I walked in the canyon a couple of times during the break, which I really enjoyed.  Katrina drove us to Cabela's to get some hours of driving in.  I think that may have been on Monday.  Also, Katrina and Thomas went to the movies New Year's day.  Whatever we did, it was a good break from the old grind.

We had to go to two days of school and work last week, Thursday and Friday.  We all felt cheated for having to go to those two days of school, I tell you.  So now we are back to the old grind, but we have new memories, new resolve, and new clothes, ha ha.  I got a hair cut on Friday, so now it's short.  Saturday I had a meeting and then I worked at home, and so did the kids.  Dad went to the gun show.  Saturday night, we were able to have the sister missionaries over for dinner.  It was pretty exciting because that opportunity doesn't come around much here.  We fed them roast and vegetables, salad, and rolls.  Afterward they gave us a wonderful message about looking forward, not back, and we had ice cream for dessert.  I'm so glad that they came.  They left us with a wonderful spirit.

My Haircut

Today was a nice day at church.  It was Jordan's mission farewell, and also we had two baby blessings.  In Sunday School we had a lesson about God the Father, and in Relief Society our lesson was on following the prophet.  We are fasting today, but I have a meeting at 6:00, so we are going to eat at 5:00.  We are also making your birthday gift today, and will send it off tomorrow.  I sure hope it gets to you before the big day!  It isn't much, but we wanted to send you something besides the birthday money Dad sent.  I hope that you like it.  Remember to tell us what kind of SD card your camera takes.

I love you, Matt.  You are doing an awesome job.  Don't let Satan tell you otherwise!  We are all praying for you and love you very much.  Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Mom

Dec 29 Dear Elder

Dear Elder,

Hi, how are you?  It was so wonderful to Skype with you!  My watched had stopped, so I still thought it was 2:30 when I saw you'd tried to Skype us.  No wonder Dad kept saying that we had to get on Skype, ha ha!  I'm so glad you didn't have to wait long before I saw you'd been calling.  Like I said, I really enjoyed the time we had to Skype with you.  I thought it was the best Skype session ever.  Was it fun to see Lily?  She's getting so big, isn't she?  How did the rest of your Christmas day go?  I hope it was wonderful.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the movies.  It was a Christmas present from Cassandra and Emerson, and we had lots of fun.  In the evening we all got in our pajamas and did gifts from the heart before Lily went to bed.  Jon had Lily and gave her her own set of keys to play with.  Lily gave Katrina some bookmarks with pictures of her on them.  Cassandra gave Jon some certificates for Skyping sessions, Dad gave Miriam a certificate to detail her car inside and out.  I gave Cassandra a "year of Cassandra" book with journal entries of her from Dec 1989 to 1990, Katrina gave Thomas three hours of her time to do whatever he wants to do, Thomas gave me a sweet note that I will enclose because I loved it, Miriam scraped ice off Emerson's windshield the whole time they were here so he wouldn't have to, Emerson gave Dad a shooting outing, They were all sweet gifts, and we had a wonderful time.  After Lily went to bed that night, we ate our Christmas dinner which was steak, potatoes, broccoli, and salad.  Also each person had their own bottle of Martinelli's sparkling apple juice.  It was a very fun evening.  Before bed, we read the Christmas story and sang a couple of carols.

We really enjoyed having Cassandra and Emerson over on Christmas day.  It was wonderful watching Lily open her toys.  She got a music box record player.  She calls the little plastic records that come with it "DVD's."  We also got her a bath tub for her baby doll which Cassandra put in the car for her to open when she got home.  Since then, Cassandra says she's played with it and loves it.  Jonathan bought her a Darth Tater, too.  She was in gift heaven.  We also got a gift for a little baby boy that they are expecting, too.  It was fun to buy a cute little baby boy outfit.  Everyone had lots of fun opening presents.  Miriam gave everyone a gift, wasn't that sweet?  After we opened presents, Jon made us a delicious breakfast of egg and sausage bagels.  We opened Christmas crackers and ate our breakfast, and had a wonderful time.  Of course the highlight of the day was Skyping with you, Matt.  That evening, Dad, Emerson, Cassandra, Katrina, Thomas, and I all played a board game and Preston came over and he and Miriam watched a movie together.

On Thursday, we got to take care of Lily while Cassandra and Emerson went to the temple.  Dad and I took her to Costco, and then Katrina played with her, and then she went down for a nap.  It was so fun!  That evening, Emerson and Cassandra treated us all to dinner.  We had a wonderful time, the ten of us including Jon and Preston.  Lily was so cute, when Cassandra told her that her meal was macaroni and cheese, Lily cried, and said, "I want pasta!"  She wasn't happy until Cassandra called it pasta, ha ha.

Friday was our anniversary, and that morning, Emerson's brother came to visit so that he and Emerson could spend some time together.  After his brother got here, the guys went target shooting.  Preston and his step dad, Chris, came, too.  Miriam was the only one of us girls who went. While the were gone, Cassandra and Katrina cleaned the house for me for an anniversary gift while I played outside with Lily.  She loved the hammock, and the slides, but most of all she loved the "airplane" swing.  We had so much fun!  I also got out the little picnic table and we'd take little breaks to eat snacks at it.  We were out there for about an hour before she wanted to go in.  It was awesome!

After the guys got home, Dad and I went out on a date.  We watched "Saving Mr. Banks," which we both loved, and ate a late lunch together.  It was a very nice date.  Emerson, his brother, and Thomas played board games most of the day.  We also had lots of fun visiting with each other after we got home.

Saturday, Emerson, Riley, and Thomas played games again while Dad and we girls went to lunch and visited campus.  Lily had fun running around all over the place.  She also liked the driving video game at the bowling center.  We really enjoyed ourselves.  When we got home, I played outside with Lily again while Cassandra and Emerson finished packing.  After that, Riley left for home, Dad left for the gun show, and Emerson, Cassandra, and Lily left for home, too.  As they got ready to leave Lily yelled, "Good bye, good bye, see you soon!"  I wish we could see her soon.  It was very hard to see them go.  That night, Dad didn't feel well, and he still feels unwell today.  In fact, he stayed home from church. We got to talk to Cassandra a few hours ago.  They got home safe and sound, and Lily sang me a song on the phone.  She is very happy to be home.  I wanted to do something as a family tonight, so we are watching The Christmas Carol which is all Dad is up to right now.  We hope to have a New Years family home evening lesson tonight or tomorrow night.

I hope you liked hearing a bit about our week, Matt.  I hope that you will tell us a bit about yours, too.  I love you very much!

Love,
Mom

Dec 8--Dear Elder

Dear Elder,

Hi, How are you in sunny Mexico?  I hope you are warmer there than here, ha ha.  We have had storms and freezing temperatures.  I think the storms may be over for awhile, but the cold temperatures are going to stay :(  Are you having a good December?  Are you feeling the Christmas spirit?  What have you been doing to preach the gospel these days?  I just read about missionaries in Harlem where they all went out together and passed out hot chocolate and shined shoes.  It became a big event; lots of people gathered, and the missionaries were able to preach the gospel.  In New York, the missionaries and members got together and drew a huge sidewalk chalk mural of the plan of salvation in the middle of Union Square. Lots of people stopped to talk and learn.  It was so successful that they decided to do it again.  This time they drew Lehi's dream in Central Park, I think it was.  Pretty cool, huh?  I'm so glad that you are creative and that you know and love the people of Mexico so well.  I am sure that you find interesting ways to talk to people.

I am still reading "Jesus The Christ," and I have also been reading the writings of some of the modern day prophets concerning Jesus Christ.  It really puts me in the Christmas spirit and helps me to be more like Him.  For family scripture reading this month we are reading from the 4 gospels.  I went through the "Harmony of the Gospels" in the Bible Dictionary and picked out the most complete accounts of different events in Christ's life and then divided them up into segments of about 40 verses each.  We read a segment every night that we can.  We are also going to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional tonight. We are calling it a "Devotional Celebration" and eating snacks and (hopefully) trimming the tree.  Monday we are having family home evening with the old folks at the rest home.  I think that you are right, Matt, this will be one of the best Christmases we've ever had.

Thank you for sharing those words from a "very wise person."  It took me awhile to figure out who that wise person was, ha ha.  Ya, I really appreciate the reminder. Thanks for sharing the stories from President Monson!  They left a firm picture in my mind, and inspired me to be like the shepherd who leads.  I have noticed that my excitement and joy about the "real" work and other activities of the day inspires the kids to want to do those things more and virtual things less.  I know that getting angry wasn't the best way to unify the family, but it helped, and I am back to my happy lovable self, ha ha.

I am so excited about the progress that Gregorio is making!  We have seen the movie that you mentioned, and i love it.  It is a very powerful witness of the truthfulness of the restored gospel.  I am glad that he wants to share it with his friends.  You are helping that young man make a true and lasting change for good.

Yesterday was a wonderful day.  We had tickets to see Rick and his family perform the Nutcracker Suite near their house which, as you know, is about two hours away, but there was a big snow storm coming.  Another sad thing was that Miriam wasn't going to be able to come because of school.  I woke up in the morning, and the storm hadn't hit yet.  I noticed that Miriam was home.  The stinker hadn't gone to class.  I asked her to come to with us even though we didn't have a ticket for her.  I hoped and prayed that something would work out.  As we were beginning to leave, we couldn't find the tickets.  Dad and I said a prayer, and Dad. a little while later asked if they could be in the car, and I realized that maybe we put them in the glove box.  Yep, they were there.  What a blessing!  I told Rick and Kelly that we were a ticket short, and they had another ticket which was another blessing.  The last hour of the drive was stormy, but we got there safely and on time.  I really loved the production, Matt.  Rick's family did wonderfully well, and so did the rest of the performers.  It was such a nice thing to do at Christmas time, and I think that we were very blessed to have it all work out.
 
After the Nutcracker, the snow was really falling down, but we made it out of the storm, got some food because we were starving, and went to a Christmas festival which was really fun.  We also did some shopping.  The driving was hard and stressful for Dad, but he did it willingly without complaint.  He made sure we were all safe and sound before leaving again to work at the laundry (by that time it was about 8 pm).  Dad is beginning to wonder if he is a workaholic, and I do to. Working at the laundry sure doesn't help, but Dad says we need the money he makes doing it.





Friday Dad and I went out to eat at a Mexican place that I used to love, but now I don't because they have modernized it and everything is really sweet.  I can't stand sweet Mexican food, but most people around here love it.  We also watched a really good movie on Netflix called "Under the Greenwood Tree." Despite not being able to figure out why it is named that, we really enjoyed it.

Everyone is doing pretty well.  Miriam went to all three meetings today, which hasn't happened in awhile, so that is awesome.  We read a conference talk that encouraged Sunday meeting attendance and I think that had something to do with it.  She is really burned out these days because she works and goes to school so much.  She won't tell me what she wants for Christmas!  It is driving me crazy.  She says I'm not allowed to get her anything.  That is very sweet of her, but I'm going to get her something.  I wish I knew what!

Thomas received a blessing last week, and is feeling better.  He is going to begin working out with the wrestling team in the mornings again even though he is no longer on the team.  I think we wants to do it in order to stay fit. He also may be trying out for a play.  He finally gave me a Christmas list yesterday, but I'm not so sure he's very excited about anything he put on it.

Katrina is definitely trying out for the play tomorrow.  The play is Emma, and I hope that she gets a part.  She is not longer is taking piano lessons, but gets paid $2 every time she practices, and she is doing pretty good at it.  Unlike her siblings, Katrina is never at a loss as to what she wants for Christmas.  In fact, she is in danger of going over budget, ha ha.  Right now she and Thomas are good naturedly teasing each other.  Katrina just told Thomas that life is better for women because the rewards are better in the end, and he just replied that she wouldn't even be here without men.  The whole thing started when Katrina objected to the way Thomas was dressed.

I got to see Jon at Costco for a sec on Monday when I was doing my monthly Costco shopping.  He showed me some really cute snowmen that were on sale and also some beautiful decorative trees.  I could only buy one, and bought the snowmen.  Later that night, Jon came by and gave me the trees for a Christmas present.  Isn't that sweet of him?  They look beautiful up on the mantel.

Cassandra called last night, and it was fun to make Christmas plans with her.  Emerson is doing turn over again, so they won't be seeing him much for awhile.  We sent Lily an advent calendar with our pictures inside each door so that when she opens the doors, she not only gets a piece of chocolate but also gets to see a picture of one of us.  Cassandra says she loves it, and gets very excited about the pictures.  Isn't that sweet?  I can't wait to see them.

Dad's truck has been in the shop for a long time, but he got it back on Thursday or Friday.  The repair cost us $900.  Right after that the emergency brake refused to stay down.  He is beginning to wonder if it will nickle and dime him to death to keep it, so we talked about it and came up with how much more we are willing to spend on it before we get a new vehicle.  Dad is more settled about things now that we have a plan.  He decided he can put in a bolt and a hook or something to keep the parking break down.  He sold a bunch of stuff the other day, so the car repair is paid for, thank goodness.

Work has been going well, and on Friday we went to see folk dancers from different countries perform at the university.  It was a fun field trip.  Besides that I have been doing my monthly inventory and shopping.  No much more than that is going on right now, Matt.  I love you very much.  Thanks for reading my letters.  I hope they are not too boring!  I love you.

Love,
Mom

Thanks for the wonderful pictures.  That is the biggest bag of Cheetos that I have ever seen!

Sept 8--Dear Elder

Dear Matt,

Thanks so much for your letter.  I am so glad that you are not sick anymore, and I hope that you will stay well and also safe.  We have been praying for that and for the members to help you find people to teach.  Have you found anyone?  I hope so.  Wow, Matt.  You know that when you almost miss the hot Mexican weather, you have been in Mexico too long, ha ha.   I am glad that you no longer take air pressure and drainage for granted.  Maybe you will become an engineer some day, ha ha.

Today is Sunday and may I say, what a week.  Monday was Labor day, and Thomas had to labor, ha ha.  He is now done with the water park for the year.  Dad went to work at Wash Hut, and Miriam, Katrina, and I went out to do a little shopping.  We didn’t buy anything, and our trip was uneventful.  Later on, when we had all gotten back from our various pursuits, we did something together as a family, but I cannot remember what it was.  I hope it was fun, ha ha!

Tuesday I worked on doing a monthly inventory of what food and household items we needed.  After dinner on Tuesday, Thomas had Young Men.  They were meeting at the church to go rapelling, so Dad and I drove him to the church.  I have no idea why we didn’t have him walk (probably because he was a bit late), but I wish we had, because after we dropped him off and said “hi” to the leaders and everything, I went to back out of the parking space, and we heard a loud “wham!” hit the side of the van, and then Thomas and the other boys were yelling “get off, gett off!”  I figured I’d run over someone’s foot, which I had, so  I drove forward a bit, we stopped the car and got out.  Daniel was laying on the ground, moaning.  He had been walking backward and had hit into the side of the van.  I’m still not sure how his foot got under the wheel, he must have turned around before I ran over it.  Anyway, Daniel’s dad is one of the leaders, so he was there, and between our dad and Daniel’s dad and the other leader, they tested the foot and decided it probably wasn’t broken.  It was hard to see Daniel in pain like that.  He was pretty brave, though.  They had Daniel walk around a bit, and then his Dad took him home.

I called their house a little later, and the first time, no one was home.   Daniel’s mom is a nurse and I was afraid that she’d found out that it may be broken after all and had taken him to the emergency room.  I called again, later, and the phone was busy.  When I went to call the third time, I was interrupted by a knock at the door, and there was Daniel’s mom and sister, whom I visiting teach, with beautiful roses in a vase for me.  Can you believe how compassionate, Matt?  They stopped to think about how I may have felt after running Daniel’s foot over and had come to comfort me.  They smiled and hugged and reassured.  Matt, I don’t know if I've ever felt so blessed in my whole life.  Their love and example mean the world to me.  I want to be like them.   I am still so touched that they would think to do that.  It is what the Savior would have done, I know it.

The next day, when Thomas and I went to check on Daniel and bring him a couple of candy bars, he came to the door using a cane, and with a smile.  Daniel worships the ground Thomas walks on and was thrilled to get a visit from him.  He told us that he’d gone to school (without the cane), survived just fine, and even walked home.  He was barefoot, and I could see no bruising or swelling.  Matt, if you had asked me about Daniel's before this all happened, I’d tell you the same thing I tell you now, they are some of the sweetest, most humble and kind people I know, and this experience has just served to drive home the point.  I am humbled to know people like them, and I am so glad that their boy was not hurt any worse.  I know Heavenly Father was blessing them, and I feel very unworthy to have been blessed so much, myself.

Wednesday was Katrina’s birthday, and she was pretty excited because she’d bought a comforter with her birthday money sometime last month and wasn’t allowed to use it on her bed until today.  She was so excited to try it in her new bedroom with her new chair.  It looks beautiful, by the way.  On Sunday Thomas and Miriam had given her a throw pillow for her new bed, and that looks awesome, too.   I delivered cupcakes to her before lunch so that she could share them with her friends, but I didn’t need to since one of her friends had baked some for her.  Still, in a lunchroom full of kids, you can never have too many cupcakes, right?  She also got birthday cards from Cassandra and Grandma, so in all, I think it was a good birthday for her.

On Wednesday morning I had a job interview.  I, once again, realized something that I could do better in an interview and that was to find out as much as I could about the job and tailor my interview to the needs of that job.  Matt, you may say, “Duh, everyone knows that,” and I guess I did, too, but knowing and doing are two different things since I am never quite sure how to get more info on a job.

But this time, Dad was familiar with the job and is good friends with the teacher I would be working under, so I called him and asked him to tell me everything he could about the job.  Dad was really excited about this job and told me I would love working there.  Instead of telling me much about the job, Dad gave me the phone number of an associate who’d worked in the same program for years, and that good man told me a ton about the nature of the job.

In the interview I concentrated the skills and understanding I possess that would make me good for the job.  When I finished interviewing, I still thought of things I could have said better, but I felt better about how I’d done than ever before.

Wednesday afternoon, I got a call from the district head of the special ed. Department telling me that I didn’t get the district job I applied for last week.  He said, however, that he had recommended me for the job I’d just interviewed for that morning.  That meant so much to me!  I had interviewed and interviewed, and interviewed, and until then had no idea how I was doing, and I appreciated getting that feedback, although I knew that a recommendation did not mean a job.

Thursday morning I got the job!  I asked them when they wanted me to start, and they basically wanted me immediately.  After I got off the phone, I dropped to my knees, scared to death.  After praying, I showered, dressed, went down to the district office to fill out papers, drove to the high school, got there at 10:00, and began my day. It’s such a nice high school, Matt.  You should see the kids in the halls, no PDA or bullying, respectful attitudes towards adults, and an unbelievable amount of kindness to the students I work with.  I think all high schools around here are like that, although I’m sure that they also have problems, some of which I’m sure to discover as time goes by.

 So, what is this job that I’ve been hired to do?  It is five days a week, from 8 till 1:45.  I am working as a technician in a class for moderately physically and mentally challenged students.  Our goal is to teach them reading, math, social skills, and basically help them have a happy and positive high school experience.  We also take them out in the community to teach them life skills.  They are such sweet students, although sometimes they struggle.  As a tech I help teach them, take them to lunch, drive them to places, and support the teacher.  I liked the teacher when I interviewed, and now I like her even more.  I also like the other aids that work there.  Mainstream-peer tutor students come in to help the kids, and are an amazing group.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my first two days at this job.

Matt, I feel very blessed to get such a job.  I feel like Heavenly Father’s hand was in it as I blundered and learned through all those interviews.  Another thing that makes me know His hand was in it was that I apparently applied for a different job at the high school than the one I got—a very demanding job and Dad knows a lady who’s been transferred there who cries every night because it is so physically and emotionally demanding and exhausting.  I knew all about the job from Dad and thought I had steered clear of it and applied for this one, but I did just the opposite.  Luckily the man from the district office recommended me for the one I got, so they pulled my application and interviewed me for it.  I hope that all made sense, Matt.  The gist is that I know Heavenly Father answered my prayers.  I also know that no job is perfect, ha ha.  I hope I can do a good job for them.

Thursday night, Dad went to Thomas’s game.  They were ahead at the end and let Thomas play.  He made a tackle and we are so happy about that.  The girls and I bought baby outfits for Preston’s new little sister and delivered them.  We had lots of fun being together.

Friday after work I put away some of the monthly shopping that had been left out when I had to go to work on Friday and I slept.  That evening Dad and Thomas went out on an outing, Miriam went to a college dance with her friend and coworker, Brooke, and Katrina went to the laundry to wash some clothes.  After we got the laundry in the washers, we went out to eat for supper, and afterward we dried and folded.  On the way home, we bought ice cream which Dad and I shared when he and Thomas got home around 9:00.  Miriam seems to have had a fun night with her friend, so I think everyone was happy.

Saturday, Dad and Thomas went on another outing out in the boonies and I did lots of house cleaning.  When I Dad and Thomas got back, Thomas went to a birthday party and the rest of us went to a movie.  It was Despicable Me 2, and I thought it was sweet and funny.

Katrina started throwing up around bed time and kept throwing up through the night.  Dad gave her a blessing around 1:30, and later around 3:00, I thought to do a search on the internet to see how to stop dry heaving (throwing up when there’s no food in your stomach), and I found out that Dramamine, a motion sickness medicine, inhibits the vomiting reflex.  I can’t remember anyone in the family ever taking Dramamine, but I said a prayer that we had some, went to the bathroom cupboard and dumped out the medicine container.  Close to the bottom, there it was.  I crushed it between two spoons and had Katrina lick a finger, pick up some powder and eat it over and over slowly till it was gone.  She was fine the rest of the night and hasn’t thrown up since.   I know it was a result of the blessing Dad gave her and prayer.

This morning I was supposed to go to the assisted living home and give a lesson, but I began to feel sick while writing this letter.  I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to give the lesson, so I said a lot of prayers and sucked on lots of Pepto Bismol.  I was able to give the lesson just fine, with lots of silent prayers,  but after that, I was pretty much toast and wasn’t able to go to church.  Katrina and I laid here and watched Peter Pan, etc.  Now we are watching Little Women.  Katrina started feeling better and I was able to sleep off and on between stomach pain.  I never threw up and now feel much better which is how I can write this letter.  I feel guilty for staying home from church, ha ha, but not really because I felt awful.  I have every hope that I will be able to work tomorrow.  Katrina, however, seems flushed and bleary-eyed like she has a fever and she gets hot and cold and has a headache.  Weirdly, she’s not hot to the touch--maybe because she has wet hair from a bath.  I’m pretty sure she has a fever.  I hope she can go to school tomorrow, and so does she.

Tonight I think we are going to watch a CES fireside talk given by Elder Nelson, and I look forward to that.  In the meantime, Dad and Thomas are going to home teach the Jewels.   Wow, I’m not as “better” as I thought.  I probably should ask Dad for a blessing when he gets home.
Well, Matt, this was our week.  I want to get today because who knows how the morning will go.  Thank you for being an obedient missionary and for seeking the spirit.  I know that Heavenly Father is blessing you.  Please don’t get discouraged, Matt.  You are exactly where you are supposed to be and are doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing.  I love you with all my heart.

Love,
Mom