O be wise; what can I say more? Jacob 6:12

Jul 18, 2011

Hello Jared,

Last Sunday, our stake did a fireside with Carmen Rasmusen as the guest speaker. She went to Woods Cross a few years ago, and made it on to American Idol. She was so cute and did such an amazing job talking  to the youth. She talked about how the For the Strength of Youth book helped her keep her standards high during her time on the show. Afterwards, she gave everyone a book that she had written. Mikayla and Hallie even got her autograph. It was really cute. Hallie was so excited to meet someone famous. Deseret Book was there and they did an audio recording that they are going to sell. It will be fun to buy that and hear our own voices laughing in the background. She is going to do a concert next week in the Bountiful Park. We are all now fans of Carmen.

Craig and Laura have been looking for a new car for several months. This week, they went to a car dealership to compare the Honda Pilot to a Honda Odyssey. They did NOT want a mini van. They drove both and decided the odyssey was a much more practical solution. It has more cargo space and easier access to the seats. They ended up buying the van! Hahaha. They went home that night and looked on the Internet, and wondered if they had done the right thing. Then they found a van in California for $10,000 less. They decided to buy that instead, but the dealership would not let them out of their contract. Craig planned a quick trip to California and took Taylor with him. We got a buddy pass from Mark for $50 and they were on their way. They even ended up in first class! They bought the van and drove it home, stopping in Vegas along the way. Now they have two minivans. They are going to sell the first one and keep the less expensive one. What a crazy adventure.

Friday night we had a ward party. We did a street carnival. We had a really good turnout. I borrowed Marion's shave ice machine, which was a big hit. We also did a fishing pond, pie throwing, hot dog stand and Mikayla did face painting. The pie throwing got out of hand and it ended up being an enormous food fight. it was a good time!

Topher and Natalie have put their home up for sale. It is the saddest thing ever. We do not want to lose them, but what can we do?

Funny story from Nichole: Shane was eating a piece of fudge. Dash said, "what dat?" Shane replied, "medicine". Without missing a beat, little Dash said, "I sick!" hahahaha He's so adorable.

We are just watching the weather. It looks like there is a heat wave in Indiana. I bet you are melting!

We still haven't made your missionary plaque to hang up at the church. We need to know your favorite scripture.

I am so proud of you Jared. I hope things are going well.  Do your best. Work hard. Keep the faith.

I love you,

Mom

Hello!

It's been a HOT week this week. On Monday it was 95 degrees with 95% humidity. We were dying in our apartment. We had dinner with some members, and they loaned us an air conditioner that they didn't need anymore. When we hooked it up it had a little screen telling the current room temperature it read 89 degrees. This was at 9:30 at night with both of our other air conditioners running all day!

After a little bit the temperature cooled down to a nice 68 degrees. Our apartment is pretty bearable now.

It's been a pretty crazy week. We've had stuff going on all the time. There was a leadership conference this week, so we had an extra missionary with us for two days and two other missionaries staying in our apartment at night.

This week's been crazy for investigators too. We've had a few drop us or move out of our boundaries, which was tough, but we've also been able to commit one of our investigators to baptism. She's really ready, so it's looking like she's going to be baptized sometime around August. It's cool seeing the influence ward members have on nonmembers. This girl got interested because a member just had the courage to open his mouth and share his beliefs. It's neat to see the impact it has on people.

If you want, you can put Jacob 6:12 on my plaque.

I love you,

Jared

P.S. I really need some music!

"Why I Believe"

Jul 10, 2011

Hello Jared,

What a week! Last Sunday we picked up Ana and Maria from the airport. They are super cute girls, very outgoing and eager to experience America. We fell in love with them instantly. They are a lot of fun and are excited to try everything new.

We took them to Vernal with us over the weekend. It was our annual trip with friends. Maxwell's,  Burt's, Wheeler's, De Vries, Gibson's, Olea's, Johnson's, McKenzie Lundy and Mikayla's friend, Maya, all went with us. As we were driving out there, Friday afternoon, it was pouring rain all the way. We got into Vernal and Main Street was completely flooded. I was really nervous because we had brought all these people to camp with us and it was pretty miserable. The sky was dark in every direction. It looked pretty hopeless. We fixed dinner and hung out for an hour or so on the patio and the sky slowly cleared. It ended up being a perfect evening. It was a comfortable 68 degrees. Saturday was hot and sunny. Six of us went on a fun bike ride around the valley. The kids rode the train, ate shave ice, played on the monkey bars and the adults played games and visited.

Ana and Maria said over and over again how much they loved that place. They said it was like a dream, or it was like being in the movies. I think it must be very different than the life they live. They have big tall fences around their homes to keep out the criminals. The crime rate is very high there.

Anyway, it was really fun although I came home exhausted from cooking and cleaning. Not to mention the fact that we stayed up half the night Friday night and didn't get home until almost midnight on Saturday night.

Mikayla started voice lessons last week and loves it so much. She has wanted to do this for a really long time. Its kind of funny how it came about. A couple of months ago, Grandma Mott came out and took all of the girls to the play, Annie, in the new Centerville theatre. I was reading the bio's in the playbill and noticed that Daddy Warbucks, Chuck Gillmore, was a voice teacher and had a studio. Becca told me a while back that her dad owns a voice studio in Bountiful. After the show I waited until he came out and met him. Sure enough that was her dad.

Not too long after that, he offered an online coupon for super cheap lessons. I bought a whole bunch to get her through the summer and to see how she likes it.

He says she's a natural and has great potential. I love that it makes her so happy and that she is so passionate about it.

Ana and Maria both play the guitar, so we got mine out and dusted it off. That made Hallie interested in learning, then Mikayla wanted to learn. I taught them both a couple of cords and they have been fiddling around on it all week. Mikayla has already learned a few songs. Her goal was one new song a day.

Taylor is working full time for Ryan and he really likes staying busy. But he really LOVES the money. Grandpa Wise gave him a welder and he has really enjoyed it too. He is practicing all the time. They other day, Cole asked if he could help Taylor weld. I looked out, and there was Cole, out in the garage welding. Hahaha He is so cute. He's a lot like Taylor.

Sorry to ramble on. It's been a fun week. Life is good here. We are all healthy and happy. Thank you for serving the Lord. I am so proud of you!

Thanks for sending Hallie pictures. That made her day!

I love you, Jared.

Mom

Hello,

Not a lot of new stuff is happening right now. It seems like this week we've been the replacement for the moving company this week. We helped two families move. It's a bit of a bummer, because one of the moves was for a family of investigators and it may have moved them out of our ward. We're not completely sure yet.

Yesterday we took Bob to a fireside called "Why I Believe". It's a testimony meeting for new converts to the church to tell their story and why they believe. It was a neat experience hearing all the testimonies, and I think it really helped him out.

I really can't think of anything else to write about.

Hope you're having a nice week.

Jared

Photos

Date: July 5, 2011

Hey Hallie,

Here are some pictures of some of the animals in Indiana. I thought you'd like them. They're everywhere!

The work is going great in Plainfield

Jul 4, 2011 at 1:17 AM

Hey Jared,

I am so excited to hear about your new companion. How is he? Where is he from? Are you getting along?

This week we had a boy from Brazil stay with us. He was an interesting kid. His dad picked him up Sunday morning and then we went to the airport and picked up two other girls. They are darling. I think we will get along just fine. They are really outgoing and super cute. They will be with us for three weeks.

We went to Vernal for our family reunion. We went to Flaming George and ran the river. It was a really amazing day. It was super hot and sunny and the water was icy cold. The river was running really fast and high and I didn't dare get in, so it was a pretty quiet ride. I didn't push anyone in, because I didn't want to get in myself. Mikayla was asking the whole ride down if she could get in, but I was a little nervous so I kept telling her no. Then I saw Hallie, who was on the other boat, jump in. Then several people followed suit.

What are you going to do to celebrate the 4th? I hope you have a really fun holiday. We missed all of the festivities here at home, because we were out in Vernal, so we are just staying home tonight.  We will light a few fireworks and make s'mores. I'll roast a marshmallow in your honor.

Happy Independence Day!

God Bless America and God Bless YOU!

Love,

Mom

Hello,

My companion and I are getting along great. His name's Elder Bair, and he's from Blackfoot, Idaho. He worked as a potato farmer, but what else is there to do in Idaho? I miss Elder Moore, but I really like Elder Bair too. Elder Moore got transferred to Muncie to train a new missionary. We've been doing really well this week. We've gotten tons of new people to teach. We got a call from someone in the mission presidency that has been talking with one of his employees, and he says their family is ready to be baptized. He said that missionaries taught them in the past, but when the missionaries were double transferred out of Plainfield, the family kind of got forgotten. But, President Hilton referred them to us, and we'll start teaching them in the next few weeks. We've had a few other strange encounters, like a few days ago, we were teaching someone on the grass outside of the library and a lady walked up to us. She said the missionaries taught her when she lived in Arizona a few years ago, and she really liked our church. She said she'd like to learn more, and invited us to come over sometime.

We've been having great lessons with our current investigators too. Bob is doing great. He really loves the church and he's working on quitting smoking right now. I'm positive that this is something he's going to stick with. I really love this guy and have seen huge changes in his life. We've got another investigator named Mike who's making great progress. We just finished teaching him the Plan of Salvation and he pretty much knew it all already. We were able to set a baptism date for next month with him.

The work is going great in Plainfield

Jared