I'm sure you heard about the horrific school shooting that happened over the weekend. It's been all over the news. Here's a clip from the newspaper, if you're interested.
Key facts related to the Connecticut elementary school shooting:
THE GUNMAN: Adam Lanza, 20, was described as a bright but painfully awkward student who seemed to have no close friends. In high school, he was active in the technology club. The club adviser remembered that he had "some disabilities" and seemed not to feel pain like the other students. That meant Lanza required special supervision when using soldering tools, for instance. He also had an occasional "episode" in which he seemed to withdraw completely from his surroundings, the adviser said.
Lanza committed suicide after his killing spree.
Newtown education officials said they had found no link between Adam Lanza's mother, who was killed before the school massacre, and the school, contrary to news reports that said she was a teacher there. Investigators believe Adam Lanza attended Sandy Hook Elementary many years ago, but they had no explanation for why he went there Friday.
The HISTORY: The Newtown massacre is the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history and one of the deadliest mass shootings around the world. A gunman at Virginia Tech University killed 33, including himself, in 2007. Only Virginia Tech and the mass killings of 77 in Norway last year had greater death tolls across the world over the past 20 years.
The gunman allegedly killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children.
Obviously, it has been a gloomy weekend for many. On the upside, I hear that many have turned toward God looking for answers and comfort. Hopefully something good comes out of this travesty.
And a bit more depressing news from home: Kay Henrie passed away this week. I don't know if you remember her, but the Henries lived in the ward for probably 40 years. They moved to St. George about a year and a half ago. She had a stoke a few months ago and apparently never recovered. She was a wonderful woman.
On the upside, things at home are going well. We are enjoying good health and loving the Christmas Season.
Dad and I went to a Jazz game last week and had a blast. It was a good game and the Jazz won by 3 in the last 6 seconds. It was intense.
We also had our circle party in the top of the garage. It was a good place to host it. It worked out perfectly.
We are continually praying for you and hope all is well. We are really looking forward to talking to you on Christmas.
Love you!
Hey,
I got the package from Grandma Mott a few days ago. It was great.
Well, we got transfer calls last night. Elder Zeyer will be leaving and I'm staying.
This week was cool. We had our Christmas Conference on Wednesday. It's always good to get to see other missionaries. After conference, we did exchanges, so I went with Elder Sorensen in Marion. He's a neat guy. He's been out for about four months now and he was trained in Westfield when Ryan was getting Baptized, so that's a pretty neat connection.
On Saturday we had a cool little miracle. We've been trying to track down a few former investigators lately, and one of them ended up showing up to the Branch Christmas Dinner on Saturday. Her name's Kelli and she's friends with a member that used to live in the branch, but moved to Illinois. The member ended up moving back (to a different ward) and came to the dinner and brought Kelli along. She's awesome! She came up to us and told us she was interested in taking the discussions. She ended up coming to church on Sunday and also the Why I Believe fireside. She loved it all. Also on Sunday we had the Relief Society President tell us that a less active member who is working her way back wants us to start teaching her nine year old daughter the lessons. Two Christmas miracles!
Also, we had two run-ins with Santa this week. Once, when we were walking down the street and he pulled over in his big red truck to talk to us and the second was on a bicycle. Photo evidence of one of these incidents is attached.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Jared
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