Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Missionary Sunday

 May 30, 2011
Dear Jared

This week went crazy fast. Monday morning a group of us went to Collard's cabin for three days for a scrapbook retreat. We were having a good time until Laura went up to the bedroom we were staying in, and found a LOT of tiny bugs crawling a all over the beds. Luckily I took my iPad and was able to google the bugs. They looked exactly like bedbugs. Everyone was really freaked out and hysterical. I thought it was pretty funny and had a good time with it. We eventually found out that they were bat bugs. They actually hitch a ride on bats which consequently the Collard's have had problems with. We sterilized all of our personal belongings and moved to another bedroom, and we were fine.

Friday we went to Vernal for the annual family reunion. We came back Saturday night (or early Sunday morning).  That was pretty much my week.

Mikayla sang in sacrament meeting with Sammi and did a beautiful job. She has such a pretty voice.

It's good to know you are staying busy and you are seeing results. It's so nice to have baptisms and actually get to see some of the fruits of your labors.

I am sorry about elder Moore's parents moving. That would be hard. But, the climate probably won't be that different from here, since it is still RAINING every day!

Mike Carter got his call to Concepcion, Chile. He's pretty excited about it. I'm not sure when he leaves, but I think it's this fall, either August of September.

Well, I'm off to work.  Have an amazing week. We are just trying to get through the last few days of school. Hopefully Taylor passes all of his classes!

Love you,
Mom



Hello family,

This week's been really busy, especially with service. We've helped two families move this week and we helped do some yard work outside of the church.

This Sunday was great. Every fifth Sunday here is "Missionary Sunday", which is really cool. Brother Horman got a calling to be a Varsity Scout leader and Sister Horman gave a talk on her conversion story. It was neat hearing about how she said she would never give up coffee because she worked twelve hour days at a hospital, and it was the only thing that got her through the day. But, when Elder Moore and the other missionary before me taught the Word of Wisdom lesson she gave it up the next day. She has a ton of faith, and I think her talk helped some of the other investigators we had at Sacrament Meeting because they're kind of struggling with faith right now, thinking they need to know absolutely everything about the church and know everything about the Book of Mormon. They're going off facts instead of faith. Hopefully her talk made them realize something.

Hope you're having a good time in that rain, because it's over 90 degrees here. I wish it was raining.

Have a good week,

Jared

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Sunlight after the Storms

May 22, 2011 

Dear Jared,

Is it still raining in Indiana? We have had six days of rain and one sunny day. One morning at 3 am it was raining and it turned into hail. It was so loud it woke every one in the house up. There was crazy lightning and thunder. It made me wonder how you were doing, being out in the rain all the time. This has been the craziest weather.

Taylor was ordained a Priest today. Can you believe your little brother is getting so old?

Taylor and Dad went test driving a sports car yesterday. It was an Audi TT. Cute car. It was like driving a rocket. I think it's a bad idea to get such a speedy car. We can't afford all the speeding tickets. I think Dad's in love. Oh, Taylor is too.

Yesterday was the Ogden Marathon. Sherisse, Laura, Jeanette and I all went. We had to leave home at 4:00 am so that we could be on a bus by 5 am in Ogden. We were bussed to the start line where we waited for an hour and a half for the race to start. Laura and Sherisse did the full, Jeanette and I did the half. Our goal was to run the entire thing, no walking. We did it! That is such a neat feeling of accomplishment. Jeanette and I hugged and cried after we finished. It was a  pretty emotional experience. I waited at the finish line for Laura and Sherisse and watched as other runners came in. It was interesting to watch. As soon as the runners crossed the line and stopped running, some started throwing up, many of them collapsed and were caught by the medics, a couple of them collapsed on the ground unattended and were rushed off to the medical tent. One girl made it almost to the finish line  and passed out. She did a face plant on the pavement right in front of Laura. It's amazing how people can push themselves that far, where they have absolutely nothing left to give.  Crazy! Anyway, I'm thankful  that was the one sunny day last week and we didn't have to run for hours in the rain and I'm glad to have that behind me because we have a 100 mile bike ride coming up in two weeks. I'm really excited for that one.

Run your marathon, Jared.  give it your all. Don't walk. Push yourself and give it everything you have. When you cross the finish line exhausted, you can come home and rest and know that you worked as hard as you possible could.

No regrets!

I love you,
Mom


Dear Mom,

The rain has mostly quit and the sun has come out this week. We've had a couple short storms though. The thunderstorms here are LOUD.

It's weird to think how old Taylor is getting. By the time I get back he'll almost be done with High School.

I look forward to seeing an Audi parked in the driveway for me when I get home. It'll be great to have something with a little more power than the Ford Escort.

My companion's a little jealous about you running the Ogden Marathon. He misses running. A few weeks ago there was a marathon ran all through Indianapolis that ended in the Indy 500 track that he wanted to run, but he couldn't because it wasn't on Preparation day. Speaking of Elder Moore, he got some shocking news this morning. First thing in his email from his parents he got told that they'll be moving to Seattle in a few months for a new job. His reaction was pretty funny.

Other than the news of the move, this week's been great for us. We set two baptismal dates for next month, and we're hoping to set two more this week. Our area's doing great. We've been having lots of success in our "marathon". At this rate, we're running like a two minute mile. Time is flying by.

Love, 
Jared

PS Thanks for the package!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

An Uneventful Week



May 16, 2011

Dear Jared,

Thank you so much for the fantastic Mother's Day present. I love it. You look so happy. It truly is a cute picture. Who took it for you? Pretty much the best Mother's Day Present ever! I've had so much fun showing it to everyone.

Taylor will be ordained a Priest next Sunday. It seems pretty crazy that he is already sixteen. I love that he can drive and that he likes to.  It helps me out so much.

We had our regional dance Saturday night. There was a good turnout. We had over 160 kids come. It was fun to be there and watch Mikayla. She is the life of the party.

Hallie has been at Nichole's for the last three days, so it has been really quiet around here. Luckily we have Sally and Mckenzie to keep the place livened up.

Bridger left the MTC Sunday morning. Tammy was so excited to get to talk to him from the airport, because he didn't get to call home on Mother's Day. He's pretty funny. I read his letters on his blog.

Jess and Josh blessed little Stella yesterday. She is pretty cute..

Have an awesome week. Keep the faith.

Love,
Mom


Dear Mom,

I'm glad you liked the gift. We have a member in our ward who has a photograpy buisiness that took the photos for us while we were at their house for dinner.

This week's been a little rough. It was one of those weeks where we thought we had solid plans for each day, but everything fell through. It seems like we didn't get anything accomplished this week. There's not really a lot to write about because it seems like nothing really happened this week. Hopefully next week will be better.

Some good news though, transfer calls happened today, and we didn't get one, so Elder Moore & I are staying together in Plainfield for another six weeks.

Hope everything is going well for you.

Jared

World's Best Son



Here is a cute picture of me.
Included is a plaque that you can hang right below the picture to give it that extra classy look.
Just cut on the dotted lines.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Cinco de Mayo

Mon, May 9, 2011 

Dear Jared,
It was so fun to be able to talk with you yesterday. I am happy that you seem to be doing so well. I'm glad that you like your companion and that you are getting along.

We had our Ward Cinco de Mayo celebration Friday night, and so of course we had two piƱatas...someone whacked it, and a couple of pieces of candy fell out, Nick dashed in for them and took a bat in the face. It broke off part of his front tooth. The poor kid seems to get hurt at every ward party we have. Remember last summer when he took a bottle rocket in the gut? It left a welt the shape of a pop bottle on his belly. Ouch!

It's raining again today. It sure is pretty and green though. Saturday was beautiful and sunny, so we all went for a long bike ride. Now all of us have the geeky bikers sunburn. We compared at church yesterday. Me, Sherisse, Alex, Laura and Craig all got fried. We wore gloves and short sleeve shirts, so we have a line at the wrist and and sleeve. Then we went swimming this morning and looked like complete geeks. Pretty funny.

Have a great week. I love you tons.

Mom





Dear mom,

It was great talking last night. Nothing new has happened, so I don't really have anything to say this week. Next week I'll have more to share.

Love you,

Jared

Sunday, May 8, 2011

A Magical Mother's Day

I got a special treat for Mother's Day today. My day went from ordinary to EXTRAORDINARY! Jared got to call home! We got several cordless phones and put them all on speaker. We all gathered around and spent the next hour chatting with him. It was pretty exciting to hear his voice. He sounds great. He said that he loves the area and has met a lot a really neat people. 

He was interested in what was going on at home. We didn't have anything too exciting to tell him. He also wanted to know how his album collection was doing. It is in the tender loving care of Josh Sims.

We asked him how it was to be completely weaned off of music. He said it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, but he does miss it.

He gave the kids some advice: pay attention in Seminary and learn some fun magic tricks. And then he asked us to send him instructions for some simple tricks that he can do. He says it helps get the attention of little children.

It was really fun to get to talk to him and ask some of the questions I had been wondering about. He is doing ok riding his new bike. At first it was a little hard, but now he's used to it. He wanted to know how to get mud out of a white shirt. He eats dinner with a member family every night which he is grateful for because he doesn't know how to cook. And he met my friends parents and brother who are in his ward. They take turns with some other Elders using the mission car. They ride bikes for a week and drive for a week. That way, if they have appointments that are too far away, they can do it when they have a car. And this April has been the rainiest month in Indiana history, over eight inches!

The minutes passed quickly and soon it was time to say goodbye. He told me that he loves me and he promised to call again in seven and a half months. What a fun day.

Happy Mother' Day!

Bunnies, Turtles and Squirrels

 5/2/11
Dear Jared,
    How are you? Do you like the food in Indiana? What is your favorite
part about being on a mission so far? Are you allowed to email me?

    I am super disappointed because the Easter bunny did NOT come :(, but I
am happy because I lost my first molar just over a week ago.

    Hey Jared just to let you know, the FHE thing that Mikayla taught, on
the plan of salvation,  just to get things clear, I was the one that asked
megan where she thought her mom would go.

    On Thursday, grandma Mott took us to the play Annie. It was so cute. I
loved it. So if mom lets me, I am going to try out for the play "A Christmas
Carol".

    I miss you and can't wait for you to call, just make sure that you
don't call while we are in church (11:00-2:00).

    Please write me a letter soon, and draw me a little picture, and send
me some pictures too, PLEASE.

        Love,
            Hallie



Hallie,

    I'm doing great! The food is pretty much the same here as it is
back home. I sure am getting fed a lot of it though. My favorite part
of the mission so far is how many amazing people I've gotten to meet.
Yes, I'm allowed to email you.

    The Easter Bunny didn't visit us either, but that's ok, we got
some candy from members. Speaking of bunnies, they're ALL OVER here.
There are wild bunnies, turtles, and squirrels running (not the
turtles) all over the place. It's like a zoo out here.

Hope you're doing good.

Love,

Jared

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Mushroom Hunting Season

Hello,                                                                              5-2-11

This week's been pretty busy, and rainy. April was a record month for
rainfall in Indiana. It's rained almost every day for the past two
weeks. I've given two blessings this week, and we've got a couple more
baptisms hopefully coming up soon. We've got an investigator named
Bob, and he's progressing so well. He's kept all the commitments we've
given him, and he's at church every week. Hopefully he'll take the
Word of Wisdom lesson well when we teach it this Friday. He's a
smoker, like everybody else in Indiana. Hopefully quitting that won't
be a struggle for him.

We had a meeting at the mission home in Carmel last week, and I
learned that Elder Moore and I will be together for at least another
transfer. I'm pretty happy to be staying in Plainfield. I love this
place. They've got bike trails going through forrest woods everywhere.
There are always people on the trails, and it's a great place to talk
to people. Especially right now during mushroom hunting season. There
are people looking for them all day. Some people have told us that
some of the mushrooms around here are worth $25-60 a pound. Pretty
crazy stuff.

Well, I've got to go.

Love,

Jared

PS If you could send me some of that prescription exzima cream, that'd
be great. Regular lotion's not working well. I'm starting to look like
a leper.





Dear Jared,                                                                        

Another week has flown by. I can't believe that it is already May.

Tuesday was a landmark day here at our house. Taylor got his Drivers
License. What a happy kid. It's pretty sweet for me. Now he can help run my
errands. He and Mikayla took Hallie to Girl Scouts in Farmington the very
night he was legal. Sweet action!

This week, my mom came out to spend some time with her girls. We had a lot
of fun. Thursday, we went to see Annie at the new Centerville theatre. She
took me, Nichole and all of our girls. It was fun to watch Gracie and Oakley
watch the play. When it was over, they all wanted to be little actresses. It
was pretty cute. Taylor stayed home to tend Dash and Bransen.

Friday night we went to a Theatre up at the U. We saw Sunset Boulivard. It
was a good show too. After ward, Nichole, my mom and I went to Hollywood
connection where we had dropped off Mikayla, Hallie and Mariah. We got there
around 11:00 pm. The girls were having such a fun time, we decided to stay
and join them.  We had pizza and soda at 11:30, rode the rollercoaster and
crashed into each other on the bumper cars. We went to a movie that started
at 1:00am. We watched "Soul Surfer", which is a true story about a girl who
gets her arm bitten off by a shark. It was really good. I loved how
optimistic the girl was and she went on to become a professional surfer.
Anyway, we drove home at 3:00 am in a snow storm. I slept for a couple of
hours and then I had to get up to meet Laura and Sherisse to run ten miles.

Saturday evening was the best. We went to see Yanni in concert. It was
really neat. He is an amazing musician and very charming. It's so fun to see
them perform live. I see why you love it so much. I though of you the whole
time knowing how much you would have enjoyed it. Each member of the
orchestra got to have their moment of fame when they did a solo. The drummer
went on for five or six minutes,  and the crowd went wild. The harpist
picked up the harp and went to town.  The violinist and cellist both did
awesome. It was all quite entertaining.

Sunday is never really a day of rest. Three hours of church, choir practice,
fixing dinner for the masses and a 7pm girls camp meeting. I am exhausted.
It's amazing how missing a night of sleep can really throw off your
schedule.

My dad used to tell me, "busy people are happy people". I believe it.

Dad and Taylor spent Friday and Saturday at the Larry Miller Sports Park
watching races. They had a really good time. You know how much Taylor loves
cars.

World news: Last night the United States found and killed Osama Bin Laden.
Finally! After a decade of trying.

Here's your quote for the week :
"This cause will roll on in majesty and power to fill the earth. Doors now
closed to the preaching of the gospel will be opened. The Almighty, if
necessary, may have to shake the nations to humble them and cause them to
listen to the servants of the living God. Whatever is needed will come to
pass."
- Gordon B. Hinckley

Jared, I love you so much. I really look forward to your letters to hear how
you are doing. Keep up the good work. Don't waste a minute of your precious
time there.

I'm excited to talk with you on Sunday.

Love,

Mom