Sad News from Home

Dear Jared,                                                                  Halloween 2011

Last Monday, sometime between when I wrote you, and you wrote me, Steve Meske passed away. He was struggling to breathe so he called Michelle at work. She hurried home and tried to help him get more oxygen, but it wasn't enough. She called their home teachers so they could give him a blessing, but he died before they made it over. It has been a very emotional week. Michelle has been pretty strong, but I know that it has been so hard for her. She told me that a couple of days later, she was thinking of him, and she heard him say that he was happy and in a good place. This has helped her to feel peace and know that he is doing all right. She is glad that he is not suffering anymore and knows that she will see him again. It's just crazy how fast it happened. I went over last Sunday night and took them some dinner. He was sitting on the couch. He told me to come in and sit down and visit, which I did. We talked for about twenty minutes. He seemed to be doing alright. When I got up, I gave him a big hug and told him I loved him. I had no idea this would be the last time would ever see him again. He was gone just a few hours later. It seems so surreal.   The funeral was on Saturday.

I ran another half marathon this week.. This time it was for Amber Gibson. She just started running in June and we talked her into running the Halloween Half down in Provo. We trained faithfully all summer and fall and soon enough it was time for the race. There were five of us who ran it, me Amber, Laura, Sherisse and Sally. Amber made us all costumes and together we made a rainbow. I must say we looked pretty cute. About mile 11, Amber was getting pretty discouraged, but she hung in there and did not quit. It's kind of amazing when you accomplish hard things after you've told yourself so many times that you can't do it. She hung in there and met her goal. I'm proud of her. That is such a great feeling when you are done to be able to look back and see all your hard work and know that you've done something great.

Dad taught the fifth Sunday lesson in church yesterday. He did an amazing job, (like he always does when he teaches). it was on diversity and accepting other people and their differences. He just really brought it home with visual aids, class participation, poems and beautiful music. He really does have a gift to teach. I am so proud of him. 

Mason Fenn got his mission call to Lima Peru.

Katie Brooks and Rebecca Johnson both had baby boys this week.

Mandy Wheeler is getting married to a guy from California, named Kevin. Your dad actually likes him and APPROVES! They will get married in the Spring. Wierd!

Saturday, Taylor was driving the Audi when some guy crashed into the side. Fortunately no one was hurt (but the car) and it was NOT Taylor's fault, so we should be able to get the car fixed with no cost to us. It's just a bummer that it happened to the only really nice car we own. Dad and Taylor were pretty bummed.

Wow! That was a lot of information this week. The most important though, is for you to know how much we love you, we think of you every day and pray for you several times a day. I am so proud of you! You can do hard things and not give up. Keep up the AWESOME work you are doing and tell Elder Empey goodbye and thank him for his diligent work and for taking good care of you for us. :)

Good luck with the changes that will happen this week. Happy Halloween!

Love you!

Mom


Hello,

Sorry to here about Steve. That's so sad. It seems pretty surreal to think that he's gone.

It seems like a lot has happened at home this week. We had a busy week as well. We're still teaching a lot of neat people and they're all progressing a lot. We've got a ton of appointments for this upcoming week. Me and my new companion are going to hit the ground running. We have two baptisms scheduled for the 17th of December. 

We got transfer calls this morning. I'm staying in Fort Wayne, but out of the six of us here, only one other is staying. It's kind of sad, and a little scary because I don't know the area nearly as well as I need to. There are a lot more streets here than in Plainfield! It's a busy place. 

We had dinner with a family on Saturday night. They're a young couple that went to BYU Idaho, and we were talking about music. Turns out they met at a concert in Kilby Court in 2008 and I was there for that show. Crazy stuff. The world's a really small place. Also, I found out two bands I like a lot broke up. Hearing that was kind of like a Dear John letter, but worse.

Our preparation day today is 1-9 instead of the regular 10-6 because it's Halloween, but Elder Empey is leaving at 1 so we're doing our email now, but I'll be staying with another set of missionaries between now and transfer meeting on Wednesday, so I should be emailing with them too later today. If you want, you can email me and I can send you another email. 

Love you,

Jared