Hi Jared,
This week was exciting! Masen came home on Friday. We went to the airport to video the event for Ensign's. It was so much fun. He looks amazing. He just has this unbelievable glow about him and he was smiling so cute. It was fun to see everyone's reaction. He spoke on Sunday and did a great job. The best part was when he bore his testimony. He said that normally missionaries share their testimony in the language they learned, she he said he'd do his in "Okey". "I want y'all to know I have a testimony...I'm fixin' to endure to the end...etc. it was pretty cute. It got a good chuckle from the crowd.
Did I tell you that Mikayla got her learners permit? She's loving it! And she's getting pretty good. It just doesn't seem possible that she is old enough to be driving.
Well, I am off to the Seminary to do a few missionary haircuts for missionary week. Mikayla has been a sister missionary for two weeks and has been amazing doing it. No tv, no radio, dresses every day, scripture study daily, early to bed and early to rise. Wow! It's been fun to watch her transform. She'd be a fantastic missionary.
Love you lots!
Mom
Hello,
We had a great week this week. We got a referral this week to give a blessing to a nine year old boy named Nathan. He has brain cancer and he's staying in Bloomington to receive treatment. About a year ago Nathan was able to go to Utah through the Make a Wish Foundation and take part in a dinosaur excavation near Vernal. The family became good friends with someone there and he asked if he could send some missionaries to give a blessing. We happened to be those missionaries. I was able to give Nathan a blessing and it was such a powerful experience. He's such an amazing boy.
We also got to go to Zone Conference this week in Indianapolis. Zone Conferences are great. I love going there and getting new ideas about missionary work. It always inspires me on how I can improve.
Things are going better with new investigators as well. We were able to find three people to teach this week.
Love you,
Jared
Monday, February 27, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Culture in Bloomington
Hello Jared,
Hallie got the birthday card you sent her, and she loved it! Thank you so much!
It has been a really exciting week for me. Monday the carpet came and we spent all Monday evening putting the quilting room together. Taylor assembled all the new furniture and the rest of us cleaned and organized. It was so exciting. The room looks amazing. It's still not quite done, but it is getting close. It's a great little get a way. I just want to sit up there and stare at everything.
Tuesday, Valentine's day, we took a group of 16 of us out to dinner. Your Dad reserved the Pope Room at Bucca di Beppo about a month ago. It's a great place to take a group, because the room had an enormous round table with a turn table in the middle and the acoustics are amazing, so you can hear everyone in the room, which makes it really fun. When we all showed up, they told us we didn't get that room after all, someone else had booked it months ago, and they seated us at a long table. It was such a disappointment, because it's impossible to visit with the people at the other end of the table. I complained to the waiter and he took $70 off our tab, which eased the pain, but didn't change the experience. On the way out of the restaurant, I stopped by the Pope Room and asked them when they called to reserve that room. They laughed and said "yesterday". Of course, I was furious and called the manager the next day. He said he felt bad and told me to call all my friends and have them come back another time, and he would buy dinner for all of us. Hopefully it works out this time. We're going in March.
Brian and Jen Somers had a beautiful baby girl this week. They named her Emelia. she is going to change their world forever. Pretty exciting!
I neglected to tell you that Taylor brought home a certificate proudly stating that he made the honor roll last semester. I couldn't be more proud of him. That means all three of them are on the honor roll. We sure do have amazing kids.
I've lost my parking space in the garage. Taylor pulled the car in, removed almost everything out from under the hood, and put it on a table. There the car has sat for more than a week, with hundreds of parts scattered around and oil everywhere. I don't know how he can possibly remember where all the pieces go back together. But somehow, he'll do it. He's amazing like that. It's a good project for him.
I don't think I've told you this yet, sorry if I have. This semester Taylor started doing an internship class. He gets out of school a few hours early so he can go to work. He's back with Ryan Davis, and loving it. Anything is better than school for him.
Mandy got married on Saturday. We spent the entire day doing wedding festivities. First the temple, then the luncheon, then into Salt Lake to pick up her flowers, then to the reception to help in the kitchen. What a day! It was beautiful and they look really happy together. It just seems a little surreal. Wow!
Life is wonderful! Thank you for your willingness to serve. You are blessing our family as well as so many other families. I am so proud of you. Thanks for being awesome!
I love you,
Mom
Hello,
Things are just about the same here. We're still on the hunt for new investigators.
Valentines day was pretty romantic. We went and had dinner with some other missionaries and I spent the wee hours of the morning the next day cuddled up next to the toilet (Valentines date) throwing up. The flu got me! After a few hours of sleep I was fine though.
We had a fun stake activity on Saturday. We had a huge luau with a few hundred people there. There was tons of good food and fun. They had dancers and taught everyone how to dance. It was neat. There's so much culture here in Bloomington. I love it.
Not much else to report on. It's hard work here in Bloomington but Elder Santy and I love it here.
Love,
Jared
Hallie got the birthday card you sent her, and she loved it! Thank you so much!
It has been a really exciting week for me. Monday the carpet came and we spent all Monday evening putting the quilting room together. Taylor assembled all the new furniture and the rest of us cleaned and organized. It was so exciting. The room looks amazing. It's still not quite done, but it is getting close. It's a great little get a way. I just want to sit up there and stare at everything.
Tuesday, Valentine's day, we took a group of 16 of us out to dinner. Your Dad reserved the Pope Room at Bucca di Beppo about a month ago. It's a great place to take a group, because the room had an enormous round table with a turn table in the middle and the acoustics are amazing, so you can hear everyone in the room, which makes it really fun. When we all showed up, they told us we didn't get that room after all, someone else had booked it months ago, and they seated us at a long table. It was such a disappointment, because it's impossible to visit with the people at the other end of the table. I complained to the waiter and he took $70 off our tab, which eased the pain, but didn't change the experience. On the way out of the restaurant, I stopped by the Pope Room and asked them when they called to reserve that room. They laughed and said "yesterday". Of course, I was furious and called the manager the next day. He said he felt bad and told me to call all my friends and have them come back another time, and he would buy dinner for all of us. Hopefully it works out this time. We're going in March.
Brian and Jen Somers had a beautiful baby girl this week. They named her Emelia. she is going to change their world forever. Pretty exciting!
I neglected to tell you that Taylor brought home a certificate proudly stating that he made the honor roll last semester. I couldn't be more proud of him. That means all three of them are on the honor roll. We sure do have amazing kids.
I've lost my parking space in the garage. Taylor pulled the car in, removed almost everything out from under the hood, and put it on a table. There the car has sat for more than a week, with hundreds of parts scattered around and oil everywhere. I don't know how he can possibly remember where all the pieces go back together. But somehow, he'll do it. He's amazing like that. It's a good project for him.
I don't think I've told you this yet, sorry if I have. This semester Taylor started doing an internship class. He gets out of school a few hours early so he can go to work. He's back with Ryan Davis, and loving it. Anything is better than school for him.
Mandy got married on Saturday. We spent the entire day doing wedding festivities. First the temple, then the luncheon, then into Salt Lake to pick up her flowers, then to the reception to help in the kitchen. What a day! It was beautiful and they look really happy together. It just seems a little surreal. Wow!
Life is wonderful! Thank you for your willingness to serve. You are blessing our family as well as so many other families. I am so proud of you. Thanks for being awesome!
I love you,
Mom
Hello,
Things are just about the same here. We're still on the hunt for new investigators.
Valentines day was pretty romantic. We went and had dinner with some other missionaries and I spent the wee hours of the morning the next day cuddled up next to the toilet (Valentines date) throwing up. The flu got me! After a few hours of sleep I was fine though.
We had a fun stake activity on Saturday. We had a huge luau with a few hundred people there. There was tons of good food and fun. They had dancers and taught everyone how to dance. It was neat. There's so much culture here in Bloomington. I love it.
Not much else to report on. It's hard work here in Bloomington but Elder Santy and I love it here.
Love,
Jared
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
A Very Generous Stranger
February 13, 2012
Hi Jared.
I can't believe it's already Monday.
I attended a two day quilting seminar in Sandy on Friday and Saturday. I found out that the instructor lived in Bloomington for a while. She loved it there. Anyway, Saturday night we went to Ikea to get some bookshelves for my new quilting studio. I'm so excited to get that finished, I can hardly stand it. I have been working on it every free moment I get. It is going to be amazing!
Sunday didn't even come close to a day of rest for me. I attended two ward conferences and spoke at one of them. Then it was off to a fireside. (Our trek kickoff fireside) I spoke at that also. By the time I got home at 9:00 after 8 hours of church meetings, I was exhausted. Now it's time to get back in the grind.
How's the work going? Any new investigators yet?
I hear that winter has been really mild there, is that true? It sure has been here. We haven't even had to hire a snowplow yet this winter, which has saved us a thousand dollars so far. Nice! But poor Taylor hasn't even gotten to try out his snowmobile other than the one time last month. We'll probably have sno in June this year, during trek! Haha
We are so proud of you. Keep your chin up!
Love, Mom
Hello,
We had a great week. Right after we got done emailing last week we went to Walmart to get our groceries as we were getting ready to check out a man walked up to us and introduced himself quickly. Elder Santy and I didn't know who this man was but he said he served a mission in New Zealand in 1968 and thanked us for our service. He then handed us an envelope and quickly walked off. Inside was a gift card that covered the amount of our groceries almost exactly. We were so grateful for him.
Things have been going better with the teaching. We got three new investigators this week. It felt good to start teaching again.
The weather has been really mild here except for the past couple days. Mostly it's been about 40-60 degrees and sunny. It almost feels like spring. It's been pretty cold lately though. The wind here just chills you right to the bone.
Did Hallie get her card?
Love you,
Jared
Hi Jared.
I can't believe it's already Monday.
I attended a two day quilting seminar in Sandy on Friday and Saturday. I found out that the instructor lived in Bloomington for a while. She loved it there. Anyway, Saturday night we went to Ikea to get some bookshelves for my new quilting studio. I'm so excited to get that finished, I can hardly stand it. I have been working on it every free moment I get. It is going to be amazing!
Sunday didn't even come close to a day of rest for me. I attended two ward conferences and spoke at one of them. Then it was off to a fireside. (Our trek kickoff fireside) I spoke at that also. By the time I got home at 9:00 after 8 hours of church meetings, I was exhausted. Now it's time to get back in the grind.
How's the work going? Any new investigators yet?
I hear that winter has been really mild there, is that true? It sure has been here. We haven't even had to hire a snowplow yet this winter, which has saved us a thousand dollars so far. Nice! But poor Taylor hasn't even gotten to try out his snowmobile other than the one time last month. We'll probably have sno in June this year, during trek! Haha
We are so proud of you. Keep your chin up!
Love, Mom
Hello,
We had a great week. Right after we got done emailing last week we went to Walmart to get our groceries as we were getting ready to check out a man walked up to us and introduced himself quickly. Elder Santy and I didn't know who this man was but he said he served a mission in New Zealand in 1968 and thanked us for our service. He then handed us an envelope and quickly walked off. Inside was a gift card that covered the amount of our groceries almost exactly. We were so grateful for him.
Things have been going better with the teaching. We got three new investigators this week. It felt good to start teaching again.
The weather has been really mild here except for the past couple days. Mostly it's been about 40-60 degrees and sunny. It almost feels like spring. It's been pretty cold lately though. The wind here just chills you right to the bone.
Did Hallie get her card?
Love you,
Jared
Monday, February 6, 2012
Serving at the Soup Kitchen
Hi Jared,
Sunday morning I took our two girls, Anne and Melanie, to the airport. They are headed to sunny California before they go back home to Brazil.
We celebrated Super Bowl Sunday in our usual manner. Your dad spent all day Saturday smoking and preparing food for Sunday. We had a big crowd: Maxwell's, Gibson's, Wheeler's, DeVries, Alec and Michelle Thorley, Nichole and kids and Sally and Nick Olea. The guys went downstairs to watch the game and the girls stayed upstairs playing games. The kids ran wild destroying the house and having the time of their lives. There was plenty of good food and friends. We love a good party.
I spent all day Saturday, 13 hours to be exact, painting my new quilting studio. It's pretty wild: blue, yellow and lime green with a splash of hot pink. It's going to be so cute. I LOVE it and can't wait to get totally finished and get my things set up and organized. It's going to be so much fun. I've been dreaming of this for a really long time.
Registration for LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD opened up this week. That is a girls only, 100 mile bike ride. There are three thousand riders and it filled up in about an hour. Pretty crazy. I feel lucky to have gotten in. It is the first week in June. Soon it will be time to start training for it. I'll keep you posted on the results.
So how was your first week in your new area? Do you have any investigators yet? How are you getting along with Elder Santy?
Keep the faith! I sure do love you!
Mom
Hey,
Elder Santy and I are doing pretty well. Still on the hunt for new investigators. We don't have any yet, but we're close. We have a few lessons scheduled for this week. It's hard work here. It's really different from any area I've ever been in. The ward is great though. On Tuesday there was a leadership training meeting so we stayed with another missionary on the other side of Bloomington and worked in his area. We biked around a ton. We were biking up this street with gigantic hills. We ended up biking 2 1/2 miles farther than we should have because we missed a turn. That was a fun adventure. We also volunteered at a soup kitchen in the area. It was a lot of fun.
I don't really have much else to write about. We've done a lot of tracting, but that's about it.
Love you,
Jared
Sunday morning I took our two girls, Anne and Melanie, to the airport. They are headed to sunny California before they go back home to Brazil.
We celebrated Super Bowl Sunday in our usual manner. Your dad spent all day Saturday smoking and preparing food for Sunday. We had a big crowd: Maxwell's, Gibson's, Wheeler's, DeVries, Alec and Michelle Thorley, Nichole and kids and Sally and Nick Olea. The guys went downstairs to watch the game and the girls stayed upstairs playing games. The kids ran wild destroying the house and having the time of their lives. There was plenty of good food and friends. We love a good party.
I spent all day Saturday, 13 hours to be exact, painting my new quilting studio. It's pretty wild: blue, yellow and lime green with a splash of hot pink. It's going to be so cute. I LOVE it and can't wait to get totally finished and get my things set up and organized. It's going to be so much fun. I've been dreaming of this for a really long time.
Registration for LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD opened up this week. That is a girls only, 100 mile bike ride. There are three thousand riders and it filled up in about an hour. Pretty crazy. I feel lucky to have gotten in. It is the first week in June. Soon it will be time to start training for it. I'll keep you posted on the results.
So how was your first week in your new area? Do you have any investigators yet? How are you getting along with Elder Santy?
Keep the faith! I sure do love you!
Mom
Hey,
Elder Santy and I are doing pretty well. Still on the hunt for new investigators. We don't have any yet, but we're close. We have a few lessons scheduled for this week. It's hard work here. It's really different from any area I've ever been in. The ward is great though. On Tuesday there was a leadership training meeting so we stayed with another missionary on the other side of Bloomington and worked in his area. We biked around a ton. We were biking up this street with gigantic hills. We ended up biking 2 1/2 miles farther than we should have because we missed a turn. That was a fun adventure. We also volunteered at a soup kitchen in the area. It was a lot of fun.
I don't really have much else to write about. We've done a lot of tracting, but that's about it.
Love you,
Jared
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Gone South for the Winter
January 30, 2012
Dear Jared,
Unfortunately it has been a boring week. Not a single funny story to be told. Life is plugging along as usual, which means nothing exciting has happened. Although I like it that way. Life is good.
Anne and Melanie have been here for two weeks now. They are pretty quiet and mostly stay in their room when they are at home. They are the first kids that we have ever had that have not gone to church with us once. They come out just long enough to eat, that's about it.
Last night we invited Alec and Michelle Thorley over for dinner so we could get to know them. They are really fun. They stayed until 10:00 playing games with us. It is one of my goals this year to invite 14 new families to dinner. I really like getting to know new people. One can never have too many friends.
Wheelers are on a vacation this week. Dennis worked a lot of extra hours last year, so Associated game him a free cruise. They took Chris and Emma with them. Poor Mandy is home alone all week. She has less than three weeks before she's married.
We had New Beginnings this week. We did it for the entire Stake. Without boring you too much, I have to say I experienced a little miracle of my own. I had several things I needed and wanted to share with the YW but none of the four topics had anything to do with each other. I have struggled for weeks trying to get it all to come together, but up until the end, it just didn't. I said many prayers asking for help and the day of the event, I got an idea. It was almost magical as it came together. I ended up showing the video "Flecks of Gold", and tying it all into that. Basically, life is all about collecting fleck of gold (the small and simple things), and not just trying to get the nuggets. It was genius and clever and my talk turned out amazing. I am grateful for the power of prayer and for inspiration. I couldn't have done that on my own. We had over 250 people attend and I was so excited that it all came together.
Please tell us about your new place and your new companion. I'm excited to hear where you are and if you like it there.
I hope all is going well. We love you so much.
Love, Mom
Hello,
My time in Fort Wayne is over. On Monday and Tuesday we said goodbye to a bunch of people. We had a lesson with Chris and we set a baptism date for the End of March with him. It was an amazing lesson. We went to transfer meeting on Wednesday and there were a ton of changes. I'm now a senior companion and I'm in the University Ward in Bloomington, home of Indiana University. I'm serving with Elder Santy, (from Taylorsville) who was right next door in Avon when I was in Plainfield, So I know him pretty well. We got double transferred into the area, so we're both trying to figure things out. We don't have any investigators right now, so we're starting from scratch. We are getting our own apartment soon, but right now we're sleeping on the floor in the Zone Leaders' apartment. They were covering the Young Single Adult branch and the University ward, but now we're covering the University Ward.
Bloomington is a great place. It's beautiful and there are lots of hills here. It's a completely different landscape from what I've seen in other parts of Indiana. There is a ton of culture here and people from all over the world. The ward is really different too. It's mostly all young grad student couples and some older families. Because of the university it's a really transient ward. People are moving in and out all the time.
The ward had a Culture Night activity on Saturday where everyone showed their talents. There was a lot of art, music, and even a magician. It's a really fun ward and they're all pretty into missionary work. I'm excited to be here. It's going to be tough starting from almost nothing, but I'm excited for the journey.
Love you,
Jared
Right now we're staying at the other Elders' apartment until we get our own. Their address is...
2305 E. 2nd St. Apt B1
Bloomington, IN 47401
We'll only live a mile or two away if we get the apartment they're looking at. If we get that apartment it'll be in about two weeks. We see the other missionaries all the time though so getting the package from them wouldn't be hard.
Dear Jared,
Unfortunately it has been a boring week. Not a single funny story to be told. Life is plugging along as usual, which means nothing exciting has happened. Although I like it that way. Life is good.
Anne and Melanie have been here for two weeks now. They are pretty quiet and mostly stay in their room when they are at home. They are the first kids that we have ever had that have not gone to church with us once. They come out just long enough to eat, that's about it.
Last night we invited Alec and Michelle Thorley over for dinner so we could get to know them. They are really fun. They stayed until 10:00 playing games with us. It is one of my goals this year to invite 14 new families to dinner. I really like getting to know new people. One can never have too many friends.
Wheelers are on a vacation this week. Dennis worked a lot of extra hours last year, so Associated game him a free cruise. They took Chris and Emma with them. Poor Mandy is home alone all week. She has less than three weeks before she's married.
We had New Beginnings this week. We did it for the entire Stake. Without boring you too much, I have to say I experienced a little miracle of my own. I had several things I needed and wanted to share with the YW but none of the four topics had anything to do with each other. I have struggled for weeks trying to get it all to come together, but up until the end, it just didn't. I said many prayers asking for help and the day of the event, I got an idea. It was almost magical as it came together. I ended up showing the video "Flecks of Gold", and tying it all into that. Basically, life is all about collecting fleck of gold (the small and simple things), and not just trying to get the nuggets. It was genius and clever and my talk turned out amazing. I am grateful for the power of prayer and for inspiration. I couldn't have done that on my own. We had over 250 people attend and I was so excited that it all came together.
Please tell us about your new place and your new companion. I'm excited to hear where you are and if you like it there.
I hope all is going well. We love you so much.
Love, Mom
Hello,
My time in Fort Wayne is over. On Monday and Tuesday we said goodbye to a bunch of people. We had a lesson with Chris and we set a baptism date for the End of March with him. It was an amazing lesson. We went to transfer meeting on Wednesday and there were a ton of changes. I'm now a senior companion and I'm in the University Ward in Bloomington, home of Indiana University. I'm serving with Elder Santy, (from Taylorsville) who was right next door in Avon when I was in Plainfield, So I know him pretty well. We got double transferred into the area, so we're both trying to figure things out. We don't have any investigators right now, so we're starting from scratch. We are getting our own apartment soon, but right now we're sleeping on the floor in the Zone Leaders' apartment. They were covering the Young Single Adult branch and the University ward, but now we're covering the University Ward.
Bloomington is a great place. It's beautiful and there are lots of hills here. It's a completely different landscape from what I've seen in other parts of Indiana. There is a ton of culture here and people from all over the world. The ward is really different too. It's mostly all young grad student couples and some older families. Because of the university it's a really transient ward. People are moving in and out all the time.
The ward had a Culture Night activity on Saturday where everyone showed their talents. There was a lot of art, music, and even a magician. It's a really fun ward and they're all pretty into missionary work. I'm excited to be here. It's going to be tough starting from almost nothing, but I'm excited for the journey.
Love you,
Jared
Right now we're staying at the other Elders' apartment until we get our own. Their address is...
2305 E. 2nd St. Apt B1
Bloomington, IN 47401
We'll only live a mile or two away if we get the apartment they're looking at. If we get that apartment it'll be in about two weeks. We see the other missionaries all the time though so getting the package from them wouldn't be hard.
Transfers Next Week
January 23, 2012
Dear Jared,
I didn't tell you one piece of news from last week, I thought I'd give Taylor the opportunity to tell you, but since he didn't, I will. Last week, he got a letter in the mail from the West Bountiful District Court. It is a summons to appear in court in February. He will be a witness to testify against the man who crashed into him while he was in the Audi. Everyone thinks it's pretty exciting. The girls, including Sally want to take the day off from school to hear him testify in court. Poor Taylor. What a scary thing for a kid to have to do.
Anne and Melanie are really fun to have. They are so excited about everything. They love the snow! We got a few inches on Saturday, so they went over to Boulton to go sledding. Later that night, Taylor fired up the snowmobile. You should have seen the girls lined up to get a turn. He just kept telling them to hold on tighter. Hahaha Dad and I watched from inside the house, we could tell he was eating it up. Mandy's fiancée's family is here from California. He has a 17 year old sister, Katie, who is pretty cute. She'd never seen snow before either, so Taylor was showing her a good time. She liked the snowmobile a lot, but pretty sure not as much as Taylor liked it.
Dad, Taylor and Hunter finished the drywall in he garage upstairs room. Now it's time for the dirty work...the mudding and sanding. Not a fun job, but I am anxious to get that room done. My goal is to have it done before my birthday.
Anne brought you gifts from Brazil. I guess they didn't know you don't live here. There is a pair of flip flops and a Brazilian soccer shirt. Would you like me to send them to you? (I went over to Topher's house this summer wearing a pair of Brazilian flip flops and he was coveting them. He asked me to try and get him a pair. Apparently they are popular and very expensive here. Who knew?)
I woke up early Sunday morning before any one else was awake and was pondering a few things, when I heard a very quiet, but sort of creepy sound. Kind of like a monster. I was a little freaked out and was just about to wake up your dad when I realized it was Bella, SNORING! Silly dog.
Sunday night we went to Dale and Brenda's house for dinner. Uncle Jay was in town and Grandma likes to take every opportunity to get the family together. We had a good time. I really like Anna's husband, Riley. He's a good guy and very friendly. He seems to fit right in and take the family in stride. Everyone except Uncle Paul and his family was there. We brought Emily home with us for the week. She has a friend in Bountiful that will drive her to school every morning. Always a party at our house.
Mikayla got the card that you sent her. She was hugging it and had tears running down her cheeks and then she held it out for me to see. She loved it so much. You can't even begin to know how much it meant to her! Thanks for doing that. It's usually the simple things that mean the most. (I mustache you to send Hallie a card for her birthday, too.)
Mikayla just told me that Steffi, Tim's girlfriend, is coming to student teach at Foxboro Elementary next month. Tim will be coming to visit while she is here. Pretty crazy.
Have a fantastic week. We love you so much and are very proud of you. We are grateful for your example and the blessings we receive because of you.
Love,
Mom
Hey,
I got a call from President Collins this morning. I'm getting transferred on Wednesday. I was pretty sure it was coming but It's still sad. I'm a little bummed I only got to spend six weeks with Elder Long, he's been one of my favorite companions. I'm pretty sad to leave Fort Wayne too, I really like it here.
This week has been a neat one. Last time we met with Anna we committed her to ask her father about baptism, which he has said no to time and time again. This time he said yes...and then no...and then yes, so we still don't have a clear answer. We'll see if things have changed when we go back over there tomorrow. We taught Sister Tyler for the first time that day too. We talked to her a few weeks ago and she told us to come back. We went and had a great lesson with her about the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson she told us it was just what she needed. She had been thinking about reading through the Book of Mormon again. We had a cool experience the next day too. We had dinner with an awesome family, and we had planned to share a message about missionary work. When we got into the door Sister Ramos told us her mom was coming to dinner, and she's not a member. Elder Long came up with a new spiritual thought right away. We ended up sharing some scriptures about faith from the Book of Mormon. Sister Ramos' mom told us that the message we shared was just what she needed to hear. She's going through some medical problems right now and this really comforted her.
We also got to help out with a Relief Society activity. They had an activity all about missionary work and we gave a short presentation and helped them with ideas on how to share the gospel with their friends. It was a lot of fun.
Love you,
Jared
Dear Jared,
I didn't tell you one piece of news from last week, I thought I'd give Taylor the opportunity to tell you, but since he didn't, I will. Last week, he got a letter in the mail from the West Bountiful District Court. It is a summons to appear in court in February. He will be a witness to testify against the man who crashed into him while he was in the Audi. Everyone thinks it's pretty exciting. The girls, including Sally want to take the day off from school to hear him testify in court. Poor Taylor. What a scary thing for a kid to have to do.
Anne and Melanie are really fun to have. They are so excited about everything. They love the snow! We got a few inches on Saturday, so they went over to Boulton to go sledding. Later that night, Taylor fired up the snowmobile. You should have seen the girls lined up to get a turn. He just kept telling them to hold on tighter. Hahaha Dad and I watched from inside the house, we could tell he was eating it up. Mandy's fiancée's family is here from California. He has a 17 year old sister, Katie, who is pretty cute. She'd never seen snow before either, so Taylor was showing her a good time. She liked the snowmobile a lot, but pretty sure not as much as Taylor liked it.
Dad, Taylor and Hunter finished the drywall in he garage upstairs room. Now it's time for the dirty work...the mudding and sanding. Not a fun job, but I am anxious to get that room done. My goal is to have it done before my birthday.
Anne brought you gifts from Brazil. I guess they didn't know you don't live here. There is a pair of flip flops and a Brazilian soccer shirt. Would you like me to send them to you? (I went over to Topher's house this summer wearing a pair of Brazilian flip flops and he was coveting them. He asked me to try and get him a pair. Apparently they are popular and very expensive here. Who knew?)
I woke up early Sunday morning before any one else was awake and was pondering a few things, when I heard a very quiet, but sort of creepy sound. Kind of like a monster. I was a little freaked out and was just about to wake up your dad when I realized it was Bella, SNORING! Silly dog.
Sunday night we went to Dale and Brenda's house for dinner. Uncle Jay was in town and Grandma likes to take every opportunity to get the family together. We had a good time. I really like Anna's husband, Riley. He's a good guy and very friendly. He seems to fit right in and take the family in stride. Everyone except Uncle Paul and his family was there. We brought Emily home with us for the week. She has a friend in Bountiful that will drive her to school every morning. Always a party at our house.
Mikayla got the card that you sent her. She was hugging it and had tears running down her cheeks and then she held it out for me to see. She loved it so much. You can't even begin to know how much it meant to her! Thanks for doing that. It's usually the simple things that mean the most. (I mustache you to send Hallie a card for her birthday, too.)
Mikayla just told me that Steffi, Tim's girlfriend, is coming to student teach at Foxboro Elementary next month. Tim will be coming to visit while she is here. Pretty crazy.
Have a fantastic week. We love you so much and are very proud of you. We are grateful for your example and the blessings we receive because of you.
Love,
Mom
Hey,
I got a call from President Collins this morning. I'm getting transferred on Wednesday. I was pretty sure it was coming but It's still sad. I'm a little bummed I only got to spend six weeks with Elder Long, he's been one of my favorite companions. I'm pretty sad to leave Fort Wayne too, I really like it here.
This week has been a neat one. Last time we met with Anna we committed her to ask her father about baptism, which he has said no to time and time again. This time he said yes...and then no...and then yes, so we still don't have a clear answer. We'll see if things have changed when we go back over there tomorrow. We taught Sister Tyler for the first time that day too. We talked to her a few weeks ago and she told us to come back. We went and had a great lesson with her about the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson she told us it was just what she needed. She had been thinking about reading through the Book of Mormon again. We had a cool experience the next day too. We had dinner with an awesome family, and we had planned to share a message about missionary work. When we got into the door Sister Ramos told us her mom was coming to dinner, and she's not a member. Elder Long came up with a new spiritual thought right away. We ended up sharing some scriptures about faith from the Book of Mormon. Sister Ramos' mom told us that the message we shared was just what she needed to hear. She's going through some medical problems right now and this really comforted her.
We also got to help out with a Relief Society activity. They had an activity all about missionary work and we gave a short presentation and helped them with ideas on how to share the gospel with their friends. It was a lot of fun.
Love you,
Jared
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