A Birthday Celebration

Hi Jared,

You package never came. You should check with the place you sent it from. Perhaps they can track it and see where it ended up.

On Friday the 19th, while I was at the cabin scrapbooking, I got a call from the dermatologist. The biopsy came back positive. She told me I had cancer, but the good kind, that's slow growing and doesn't spread to other places. It was right on the top of my head. Most likely caused from too much sun as a kid. Within a few minutes, the doctor who would perform the surgery called to schedule a date. It all happened so fast. Thursday I went in for surgery to get it removed. On the outside, it was the size of a pencil eraser. When he got in there it was much bigger, like the size of a fifty cent piece. The surgery was strange, just in his office and because they just use local anesthetic, I was a wake during the procedure, which is so bizarre. I could feel the sensation of cutting and hear the sounds amplified through my head, but it was completely painless. When he finally finished, I had a fairly large hole in my head. He cinched it together and closed it with 15 staples. It sounds creepy but it's honestly not too bad. A mere flesh wound. I'm grateful he was able to get it all and be done with that.

Two days later I was feeling pretty good, so I ended up running a half marathons. The Halloween Half. Mikayla and Laura did the first part of it with us. We had a good time with our cute little costumes.

I'm watching the news and it looks like there is a terrible storm on the East coast. The New York Subway is shut down and thousands of flights have been canceled. Ironically, we are enjoying beautiful weather here. It is supposed to be the warmest Halloween in history. It should be in the mid 70's. 

Thank you for your willingness to serve a mission. Our family has been richly blessed because of you. We are so grateful for you and we are praying for your success. Keep the faith and continue to work hard. I know that there are so many more blessings in store.

I love you so much!

Mom

Hey,

 

The package should get there pretty soon.

 

On Monday, I had a pretty good birthday. We share a car with the elders in a city called Noblesville, which is right by the stake center for northern Indianapolis. It was our turn for the car, so we got a ride down there to pick it up. We decided to spend our preparation day down there. All the Elders in the Indy North Stake (Carmel, Westfield, etc.) get together to play dodgeball. We had a lot of fun there. When we got back to Elwood we met the Marlers, an awesome family from Kokomo. They drove down here to take me out for my birthday. It was great to see them again.

 

It's been another pretty difficult week. We haven't been able to meet with many people. It's just one of those weeks where every appointment fell through. We did get a new investigator this week though. We met a girl named Jessica who's pretty cool. She's really looking for guidance in her life right now. We caught her at the perfect time. She's great, but she'll be moving soon, so we'll have to turn her over to the missionaries where she'll be living.

 

Other than that, not much has happened. We've found some pretty cool people lately, so hopefully we'll be able to teach them soon.

 

Love you,

 

Jared

 

 

Happy Birthday

October 22, 2012

Happy Birthday Jared,

Do you get to do anything fun for your Birthday? Did you get your package?

It was so fun to talk to you on the phone, even if it was just for a few minutes. Did you get the medicine that you need? How much was it?

Amber Gibson was home Monday night with her two kids, Kevin was still at work. She heard people upstairs, so she went up to see who was in her house. She found four teenage boys coming out of her bedroom. She asked what they were doing and they said they were looking for "Mike ". They apologized for getting the wrong house. She didn't think too much about it, but later posted the incident on Facebook. People around the ward started calling her and told her they had seen the same four boys. Larkin's home was missing a couple of iPods and some other small items. This continued on all week adding to the list of victims. Topher heard on the police scanner Saturday night that the police found the boys and a huge stash of stolen loot in the attic of a nearby home. (Behind The Square). We are all relieved to have those delinquents in custody. 

Dad is recovering well from his surgery. He will see his doctor this morning and get his stitches out. He just has four more weeks in the sling.

I went on another scrapbook retreat this week and spent three days trying to get caught up on all the pictures that I've taken this summer. I had a good time, but now it's back to reality.

I was asked by the Bishopric to be in charge of our ward Christmas Party. I think we will do "Christmas in Zarahemla", and do a reenactment of the events in America after the birth of Christ. I'm kind of excited about it. We've never done anything like this before. I'll have to let you know how it turns out.

Did you get to baptize Ryan on Saturday? I'm so excited to hear about it. Have a really great week. Keep up the good work., and have a super Happy Birthday!

Love, Mom

Hey, 

This week has been pretty good. Elder Zeyer has still been sick, so we've been inside a lot. I got the package on Wednesday. Thanks. I loved the no-bake cookies. I wish I could say that they lasted longer than a day. Haha. 

We had a great lesson on Thursday with a woman named Sandra. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and it went very well. She's really seeking truth in her life right now. She's really open and loves everything we teach. We also taught a woman named Angel. She's going through a really rough time. Really rough. She said she felt really good about what we taught. This is exactly what she needs in her life right now.

On Friday we had a good lesson with Adam. He didn't show up to church this Sunday like we were hoping, but he's still doing pretty well. I think his wife might be holding him back though. We had the Trunk or Treat later that night. I really like being in a branch. It's got a unique feeling. Everybody knows everyone here. It was a fun night. 

Saturday was great. We got a ride down to Carmel for Ryan's baptism. It was a small event. Not many people there, but that's the way he wanted it. I was able to baptize him, and it was a great feeling. I like Ryan a lot, and I was happy to see how far he's come. He'll be a great member of the church. 

Love you,

Jared

The Sun Came Shining on a Gloomy Week

Hello Jared,

This week has been a little out of the norm. Dad had shoulder surgery on Tuesday. It was supposed to be a pretty simple procedure with a fairly easy recovery. After nearly three hours in surgery, the doctor came out to talk to me. It was worse than he thought. He ended up fixing a tear and it turned into six weeks in a sling instead of 5 days. He's doing great though and has had a really positive attitude. He will most likely take one more week off of work and go back next week. 

Josh Sims is a new Sunday School teacher. He does a good job but seems a little nervous. He has taught twice now and both weeks he has done a little opener, once with an optical illusion, and yesterday with a little slide show about a horrible earthquake in Chile that happened in 1960. Both weeks, Good old Brother Casper belts out, "What does this have to do with the gospel?" Josh patiently responds, " Give me a minute. I'll tie it in". Which he does, quite well. I just think it's funny, and Josh seems to take it in stride.

Is there anything you need/want for your birthday? I feel really out of touch, and I'm not sure what to send you. I would love an idea or two.

Hope your week is awesome! I love you!

Mom

Hey,

It's been a bit of a roller coaster of a week. We didn't get much teaching done, and it seemed like everyone we stopped by this entire week wasn't home. Monday was our Preparation Day, so we're not out and about a lot. On Tuesday Elder Zeyer got sick, so we spent all day inside. It was possibly the most bored I've ever been in my whole life. Wednesday we had a Zone Training Meeting in Muncie for about half of the day. On Thursday morning we met with Michael, who had a baptism date for next month. Well, things went really downhill for him. He used to be excited about everything we taught, but when we went over this time he didn't agree with most of what we taught him. He said he won't come to our church. He's committed to his. So that was a pretty big letdown. Friday night though was where things started picking back up. We taught a guy named Adam. He's been taught for about a month and a half, but it's been pretty sporadic and he's been lacking commitment. Things changed when we went over this time. He's been reading and praying almost every night. He's been so excited to meet with us that he bumped it up to two meetings a week. He's doing awesome. Saturday though, is when the sun really came shining on this gloomy week. We were walking around a little town called Frankton in the rain when the phone rang. It was the missionaries in the Westfield Ward. They asked if I'd be available to come to a baptism on Saturday. Ryan is getting baptized, and he wants me to baptize him! This is pretty exciting news. From what they told me, he's been doing great. He's just finished reading the Book of Mormon for his second time, and he's been at church every Sunday. I'm pretty excited for him. 

To be honest, I really don't know what I want for my Birthday. I really don't need anything right now.

Love you,

Jared

Welcome to Elwood

Hi Jared,

I'm really excited to hear how your transfer went. Did you stay with Elder Joos? Make sure you give me your new address. 

This week we had some strange things happen. First, our mama hen turned up missing. Gone, without a trace. A couple days later, Mikayla's favorite baby chick, Suzanne Gimperton, turned up missing. We searched and searched, but to no avail. A few days ago I saw Bella over at the Wheelers, digging in the dirt. I went over to investigate, and found that she had just buried a baby chick. We are assuming that she has done the same to the other three. I never knew she was a serial killer. 

The next crazy thing that happened was on Friday morning. I went out to take care of the chickens and found to my amazement that there was a pheasant in the chicken coop. He is really beautiful and has stayed there ever since. I think he likes his new home. He's had many visitors so far and nothing has scared him off. It'll be interesting to see how long he stays here.

Can you believe the crazy missionary announcement Saturday morning? We asked Taylor if he would be ready to leave on his mission as soon as he graduates and he said, "no way". He wants to wait another year. I can't blame him, that is a huge change. That means Mikayla could go in just over three years. That's pretty cool.  I think we'll see a lot more sisters serving now that the age is only 19. It's pretty exciting. What do you think about it?

I had a super stressful moment...Mikayla asked me to wax her eyebrows. We heated the wax and I started to apply it but a big glob dripped off the applicator and right onto her eyelashes. I about had a stroke. I hurried and googled how to remove wax from eyelashes, but there wasn't much. We tried several things, but nothing really worked. She ended up pulling out a huge chunk of her eyelashes. It was pretty much horrible, but she was good natured about it, and even saved the hairy clump of wax for her scrapbook. She thought it was funny. I still don't see the humor in it. Maybe when they all grow back in.

Other than that, it's been a great week.

Love you. Mom

Hello,

My new companion is Elder Zeyer from Spanish Fork. He's been out for just about three months. We're in a little town of about 8,000 people called Elwood. There's not much here. This is the first branch I've served in. Everything's so different here. The chapel is pretty small and doesn't have any pews. There are only chairs set up. We live in a tiny house owned by one of the families in the ward. There are factories all over town. Red Gold ketchup is made here, so the air here smells like ketchup once in a while. The Branch here is really nice. They're pretty close-knit. I've made a lot of connections with a lot of them because I know family members that live in other places I've served. It's pretty neat. 

The missionary work is going pretty well here though. We're teaching a lot of people, and we have someone who's getting baptized next month. 

General Conference was great. I really loved it. We were pretty much the only ones there on Saturday, but yesterday a lot of the ward showed up. Between sessions we all went to dinner at the home of one of the sisters in the branch. there were about thirty people there. It was a great way to get to know the people here. 

My new address is

2816 S. K St.

Elwood, IN 46036

Love you!  Jared

Ground Breaking for the Indianapolis Temple

Happy October,

Can you believe that it is already October? Where does the time go?

We pretty much enjoyed the best Sacrament Meeting of the year yesterday. It was the Primary Program. The four of us sat there laughing throughout the entire program. During "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus", specifically the verse where it says, "be gentle and loving...", Kiara shoved the girl standing next to her. Haha The Nelson boy pulled his name tag off his chair and put it on his chin, where it bobbed up and down while he sang. In general, the kids were super entertaining. Some yelled into the mic, others were too shy to even say their part, and others were just down right ADORABLE. But I think the biggest show stealer was Dane Anderson with his most charming facial expressions. He was so cute. He would have his angry eyes on for a minute, then he'd let out a big sigh and rest his head on his hands. So cute. It's too bad they don't allow video recording. That would be a hoot.

In the way of news: Holden was sent home after only 10 days due to health problems. The family, as you can imagine is devastated. They think it's due in part to his poor eating practices and the fact that the Elders had no food in their apartment, so he just wasn't eating enough. He sees a doctor today, and hopefully they can figure things out and he can try it again.

Dad is scheduled for surgery next week. His shoulder has been bothering him a lot and he's finally going to get it fixed. Hopefully all goes well and will be back in the saddle before long. 

Other than that, things are going well. Keep up the good work. We love you so much!

Love, Mom

Hey,

Well, the unexpected happened today. We had transfer calls and Bother Elder Joos and I are leaving. There's a lack of missionaries, so they're temporarily shutting down a few of the areas, Kokomo being one of them. The other Elders in our district are in a town called Logansport, which is the largest area in our entire mission. It's only a branch there with about sixty people attending weekly and their ward boundaries are bigger than some of the stakes around. They'll be taking over Kokomo for a while and teaching the investigators here. I don't know how they're going to do it, because it's about thirty miles from here to Logansport. 

It's a bummer we're being shut down because we had a great week. We've been teaching a lot. The last lesson with Larry and Jane went well. We'll be meeting with them again tomorrow.

There's a family in the ward that I really love, and they have us over for dinner about every two weeks. They're from the Philippines, and they're great. We might be eating with them again tonight to say goodbye. It's funny because they knew Elder Moore, my trainer, when he was a brand new missionary and they lived in the Logansport Branch. 

We met a pretty cool member this week. His name's Aaron, and he's a paraplegic. He hasn't been to church in about four years. We talked with him and he shared a scripture with us that his friend shared with him the other day. It was in Ephesians 6 about putting on the armor of God. We talked to him about how it opened his eyes. He showed up at church on Sunday, which was neat. 

On Saturday we got to go to our church building and watch the groundbreaking ceremony for the temple. It was fantastic. Elder Hallstrom from the Presidency of the Seventy presided and All the Stake Presidents and Bishops in Indiana were there. I spotted a few people from Carmel, which was neat. They said the temple would be finished in about two years. It will be a huge blessing for the people here. 

Well, that's really all for now. I'll let you know where I'm at next week. 

Love,  Jared