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