The Epistle of Jared

Dear Jared,

It's 3:45 am. I can't sleep. I've been lying here for almost an hour pondering the events that are going to happen tomorrow. I am giddy with excitement. I remember going to the airport when Masen came home and the overwhelming flood of emotion that came over me as he came down the escalator. He was the last one off the plane. I'm sure he did that on purpose just to torture his family. That's just cruel. Mean. Torturous. I'm sure you would never do that to your family. Right?

Yesterday Rylee spoke in church. She did an amazing job. She made everyone laugh and cry. She recounted some spiritual experiences and some funny ones. She really kept the audience captivated. Later we headed to Spanky's to s big party in her honor. She's excited and scared as she heads off to Russia on Wednesday.

We had Stake Conference yesterday. When we sang "Called to Serve", I had a complete meltdown. I still remember singing that in the MTC many years ago and the emotion of that song still overcomes me. Mikayla was conducting the song and kept looking at me wondering what was going on. I kept hearing your words echo in my head: "Mom, pull yourself together". I did the best I could.

I remember being in your shoes as I prepared to leave Spain. For me it was harder that leaving home. I knew I would never see all the people that I had grown attached to again. All the people I  had learned to love through serving and who had been my entire life I had to say goodbye to. It seemed more permanent than saying goodbye to my family and friends back home. It's a bitter sweet day for sure. Lucky for me, this time I am on the sweet end.

I cant wait to see you again. I miss you like crazy. I know that the Lord has comforted me through your entire mission and has made me feel peace and contentment.  If I would have felt for two whole years, the way I have for he last week, I don't know if I could have endured. I have been basket case. I so excited I can hardly contain myself, yet I am scared for you as you plot out your future. I know this will be a hard adjustment as you transition back into real life. But just know that it has been done by many before you and you will eventually find your place in this world.

I will be waiting with open arms. I am expecting a great big, bear hug from you. I am counting the hours.

Love, Mom

3 John 1: 13-14       Love, Jared

Bummer of a Week

February 11, 2013

Hi Jared,

Another week has come and gone. It goes so fast.

I'm loving my job on Capitol Hill. I have learned so much. I didn't realize how much I didn't know until I started learning. It's fascinating to me. I really enjoy the people and the process from which an idea becomes a law. The House just passed a bill to raise the speed limit along I-15 to 80 miles an hour. Now we wait to see if it passes in the Senate. Dad follows along every day, following all that they do. He even streams the video of the session to see what happens and occasionally catches a glimpse of me. So fun.

Mikayla is in the middle of her play, The Little Mermaid. She loves it. We hardly see her because she is always at the school. It will be over in a week. She's pretty fun to watch. Ivan and Jenn and the kids, Nichole and her kids, and Grandma and Grandpa all came down for the weekend to watch the play. We had a good time. Grandma and Grandpa are still here and said to tell you hi. 

Here's a funny neighbor story: The other day, Laura got some Little Smokies sausages and some croissant rolls and made Pigs in a Blanket. She had extra sausages, so she just put BBQ sauce on them. When she served dinner, Oliver, who is three, said he wanted some "Crying Piggies" and pointed to the BBQ sauce. She dished him up some and then asked him why the piggies were crying. He promptly replied, "Because they don't have any blankets". Oh, so cute!

Mikayla had her first date this week with a cute boy named Zach. She doubled with Cassie Thompson. These kids have so much fun.

Did I tell you that Paul got home? He was here for a few days and then he and his family headed off to Chile for three weeks. He will speak in church on March 17th, the same day as Bridger.  Rylee will speak on the 10th of March. she leaves on the 13th. It's going to be a busy, fun month.

Happy Valentines day. I should have sent you a package, but I didn't. I'm lame. Just know that I love you very much.

Be awesome! Mom

Hey,

This has been an interesting week. Last monday we had a lesson with Adam. We met him at the church as we usually do and this time we met he just broke down. He's got a ton of struggles right now and the apartment he just moved into had some problems, so he told us that he's homeless and has no money. We gave him a blessing of comfort and after that he left for his fiancee's parents house in Noblesville for a few days. He called us the next day to tell us that he found a place to live down there, which is out of our area so we're done teaching him. We passed his information on to the other Elders and we're hoping for the best.

Yesterday wasn't very good either. We spent the day in Alexandria after church. We had a lesson set with Beth and Everett at 7:30 and we had a member from Elwood meeting us there so we called in the afternoon to confirm the appointment since they weren't at church. Everett told Elder Melchior that they have decided to go to Beth's aunt's church instead of ours. It was heartbreaking. I think we're going to try dropping by next Sunday and seeing if we can sort things out.

Hopefully we don't get dumped for a third time before Valentine's Day!

Love you,

Jared

Fifty One and a Half Hours to Go!

In spite of Daylight Savings Time, I still woke up really early. It's dark and cold outside, but inside its toasty and the smell of baking banana bread is wafting from the kitchen. 

My countdown began long ago but this morning it switched to hours instead of years, months or days. Fifty two, to be exact!

When he left. I cried my eyes out. I thought my heart would surely break. As they weeks went by, it got easier to bear. I have felt such comfort and peace during his entire mission. I haven't worried about him since he left the MTC. I knew the Lord would provide and take care of him. I know he's in the right place, doing what he should be doing. Words of praise from members in his area have been so reassuring and his letters home, short as they are, have been a constant comfort.

The last few weeks have been the hardest for me. Every time someone asks me how much longer, I get that big annoying lump in my throat, and my eyes fill up with tears. I can hardly wait until I can see him again, hold him in my arms and get one of those great big bear hugs that he is so good at. I miss him so much. How can the hours drag on so long?

Although I miss him terribly, I am scared to death to have him come home. The fear of what lies ahead now is greater for me that sending him out in the first place. What's next? Will he get a job? Go to school? Have friends? Who will he date? Will he date? Will he marry? Where will he end up? Will he be happy? Will he stay active in the church? So many unanswered questions. So much uncertainty. I'm scared for him. The worry has already begun. This is where I have to trust in the Lord. Trust that He will continue to bless him and place opportunity and good people in his path. I realize that as a mother, my influence is all but gone and he will go on his own path from here.

I miss the scared little boy I sent out twenty four long months ago. He will come home a man. Things will never be the same as they were. I'm scared. I'm terrified. I'm beside myself with excitement. Only 51 1/2 hours to go!

Mission Conference with Elder Ballard

Good Morning Jared.

We are counting the days now, and getting so excited to see you again. I do have some bad news for you though. Taylor is unwilling to move bedrooms or share a room. So it looks like your new room will be upstairs in the Jungle Room. I hope this doesn't make you want to extend your mission. :) Taylor says you can paint it. You're an artist. I guess you can fight it out when you get home.

Life is busy, so it is passing quickly. It's good I got this Capitol Hill job to keep time passing fast so I'm not just sitting home or pacing the floor anxiously awaiting your return.

Holden comes home this week, he will go to the temple and then to the MTC on Wednesday. He still doesn't know where he will be going. That will be interesting to find out.

We got the house put back together although I didn't get everything painted that I had hoped to, but it's better than it was.

We are so excited to have you home again and Hallie is excited to have you upstairs by her. 

Will you have P-Day on Monday next week so we can hear any last minute things, or is this it? We will be anxiously waiting in the airport eight days from now. Woo hoo! We are SO EXCITED!!!! I can't wait for a BIG BEAR HUG.

I love you. Finish Strong!

Mom

Hello,

 

Things are getting crazy around here. Everyone seems to be counting down the days. It's been nice lately, I've been having dinner with a lot of my favorite families. Other crazy things include, the plumbing in our apartment not working and my companion damaging the car. The house we live in is around 100 years old and the plumbing doesn't work very well anymore. We've had trouble with slow draining water the whole time I've been here, but it's been bad lately. We've had to drive to our Branch Mission Leader's house every morning so we can shower and get ready. We finally got it fixed (kinda). So that's been a headache. When we were on exchanges on Tuesday, I went to Marion with Elder Channell, and Elder Melchior and Elder Davis stayed in Elwood. We were supposed to meet half way and exchange back on Wednesday afternoon. Things were delayed when Elder Melchior hit a curb and tore a big chunk out of the tire. They had to change it immedietly, so I stayed in Marion for a few hours longer than expected.

 

When I got back though we were able to teach a new investigator named Sheila. Her son is a member who is returning to activity, and she's interested in learning about the church. The lesson with her went well, and we have another appointment set for Tuesday.

 

The big highlight of the week was our Mission Conference with Elder Ballard. It was him, Bishop Stevenson, and Elder Lansing. We got to shake their hands and they were all great, and very personable. Elder Ballard opened it up to a question and answer session with the statement, "You can ask me anything, but if you ask about where Kolob is, I'm going to have to call you to repentance. You can worry about that with your Elders Quorum when you get home." It was a great meeting.

 

In other news that maybe you've heard about, they'll be splitting the Indianapolis mission in July when they get a new mission president. The Fort Wayne Stake and the Muncie Stake (where I'm at now) will be part of the new Cincinatti Ohio Mission.  

 

Love you,

 

Jared

A Successful Week

Hi Jared.

My kitchen project dragged out all week and ended up downstairs in the family room. Now the entire downstairs is a disaster. The kitchen is still not entirely put back together, but looks better than before. I left your footprint indent in the wall that you put there many years ago. I like it there. :)

Mikayla is in love and went on another date this week. (Different boy). It's fun to watch her have so much fun. His name is Ben, and he's really cute with her.

Life is getting busier each week as my hours at the Capitol increas. I don't know how moms who work full time keep everything together. Luckily, this will only last three more weeks.

Here's a story I neglected to tell you. A few weeks ago, Taylor and I were coming home in Dads Audi, when Taylor heard a strange noise. He tore into the car and found that a piece had a hole in it that wasn't supposed to be there. They ordered a part, fixed the problem but then the car wouldn't run for more than a couple of minutes. The computer kept shutting it off. They called Josh's brother, Eli, who works at Strong Audi, and he said there were some unrelated recall items. He told them to make an appointment for the recall items and he would look at the other problems while it was in there. They put it on a trailer and borrowed Dennis' truck and took it into Salt Lake. They gave Dad a really sweet loaner car to use while his car was being fixed. They found there were metal shavings in the engine, so they said it need to be replaced, a $7000 job. The car has a 120,000 mile warranty. His car has 119,161. They are giving him a FREE BRAND NEW ENGINE! Dad says this is blessing from having you on a mission. Thanks! Can you believe it? When does this ever happen?

We're still getting more snow. There's probably a foot and a half on the grass and piles everywhere. The one by our back door is 4 1/2 feet tall. I am so ready for spring.

Have an amazing week!

Love you, Mom

Hey,

 

We had a pretty incredible week with a lot of exciting miracles. On Tuesday we had exchanges with the elders in Marion. I had Elder Davis with me in our area. We stopped by a woman named Sandra. Elder Zeyer and I taught her for a while, but life got hectic, her husband lost her job, and he didn't really want us around so we quit teaching her in November. He got a job again, so we're welcome back. We had a great lesson with her and her granddaughter Courtney. She loved having us back and she really recognizes the spirit we bring into her home.

 

On Wednesday we were able to get ahold of a member named Brandon. He was baptized about three years ago, came for a few weeks afterwards and then quit coming. Nobody in the branch really knew why. Brandon called us a few months ago asking for a ride to church. We found him one and he came that day but we were never able to get ahold of him until now. We stopped by and he let us right in. He asked us all about what he needed to do to get the Priesthood. I asked him what made him ask about it and he told us that he really felt like he needed to call us a few month ago to come to church and recently he's been reading scriptures and the topic of exaltation keeps coming up. He told us after all he's read about it he'd be a fool to miss out on it.

 

Thursday we had a pretty great lesson with a guy named Randy. We found him tracting a few weeks ago and he let us right in. This was our second lesson with him and we finished teaching the Restoration. He accepted it all really well and he even committed to be baptized when he knew that this was true.

 

Another great miracle happened on Sunday. We had planned to stop by Beth and Everett as one of our last stops in the evening. As we were driving into the town of Alexandria where they live Elder Melchior felt like we should stop there first. We followed the prompting and caught them home. They were friendly and invited us in. We asked about why he felt like he didn't want to meet with us anymore and he brought out some questions about the Book of Mormon that had been troubling him. We were able to answer his questions and he agreed to meet with us again. They're going to stick with their other church for now, but I'm really grateful that the door is open again for us to stop by.

 

So, that's been our week. I'm really excited that we're teaching Sandra, Courtney, Beth and Everett again.

 

Love you,

 

Jared 

The Last Zone Conference

Hey,

 

We've had a good week. We started the week off with exchanges with the Zone Leaders. They both stayed in our area for the exchange and we split up to cover more area. I went with one and Elder Melchior went with the other. I worked in Elwood and Elder Melchior went to Frankton. We both had a lot of cool things happen. We found a lot of great people and had a few lessons with new investigators.

 

We also had Elder Melchior's birthday on Wednesday. We got more birthday cake than we know what to do with. Brother Phillips, our Ward Mission Leader had us over for dinner and had a big cake for us, and another family, the Kings, had a nice German chocolate cake waiting for us when we stopped by.

 

On Thursday we had our Zone Conference. We got some pretty exciting news that Elder M. Russell Ballard will be coming to speak to the mission on March 2nd. On the less-than-exciting side, I had to give my "farewell testimony". It was a strange feeling. I didn't even know most of the missionaries there. My group going home is really small, so there weren't many of us up there sharing testimonies. There's only four of us going home, and there are thirty coming out next month. They're in the process of dividing areas right now so there are places for all the new missionaries.

 

 

Love you,

 

 

Jared

Staying in Elwood

Hi Jared,

Well, this week was pretty much awesome. I stared my new job at the State Capitol. I LOVE IT! I get to be right on the House floor while the legislature is in session. It is quite the hopping place. It is really fun to get to know some of the Representatives that I am assigned to and fascinating to see how it all works. 

Mikayla and I were both in the Davis County Clipper this week. Me, because I am shaking hands with Representative Nielson and Mikayla because she is in the play Little Mermaid.

The plays opening night was Friday the first. They do a great job and it is really fun to watch. Mikayla has really loved it. She spends so many hours at the school these days, that we hardly see her anymore. 

February 4, 2013

Dear Jared,

Hallie, of course, had her Birthday on Friday.  She is officially 14. Seems a little crazy that everyone is getting so old. Thanks for the letter and adorable pictures. You are one handsome cat. Not quite as cuddly as Garfield, but purr-fect in my eyes.

Sunday was the Superbowl. We celebrated with lots of food and friends. It got a little crazy around here. 

Manuela and Alice will leave today. Manuela is simply adorable. I could keep her forever. She fits right in here. She is funny, cute and really adventurous. I love that about her. I will miss her a lot.

Love, Mom

Hey,

We had transfer calls yesterday. I'll be staying in Elwood with Elder Melchior. We've had a bit of a slow week. It's been hard to meet with some of our investigators. We had a whole day planned in Alexandria yesterday and everything ended up falling through before we even got there. We did get a lot of lessons set up for this week though.

We did have some cool stuff happen though. On Wednesday we got to go to mutual. We taught the Young Women about missionary work and had a big question and answer session.

We had a pretty good lesson with Adam. He's still doing pretty well. He ended up moving again and he's having some troubles with the apartment, but he's staying with some friends right now and they're treating him pretty well.

On Saturday we had a member from Kokomo come down to take us out to lunch, which was cool. He's going to try to make it down here at least one more time in the next few weeks.

Well, hope you're doing well.

Love you,

Jared

Crazy Weather!

Hi Jared,

Mikayla got her card that you sent, and she LOVES it! Thanks for sending it. Hallie's Birthday is this week...hint hint!

This week we have had the CRAZIEST weather ever! Thursday we had an ice storm. I don't remember ever seeing anything like it. The rain instantly froze as it hit any surface. The whole county was a literal ice skating rink. There were hundreds of car accidents and lots of people fell and got hurt. We had scheduled New Beginnings on a stake level but it was so slippery, the Stake President cancelled it for fear of someone getting hurt. We rescheduled it for Sunday night. Well, Sunday afternoon came and brought with it at least a foot of new snow. We cancelled it again. There were cars stuck all over. It was a mess. Dad and Taylor were at the church shoveling and couldn't make it home. They abandoned the car and walked home.

The new snow is so pretty. I love how it looks, and it is actually about 20 degrees warmer than it has been, so that's nice. Taylor took Alice and Manuela for a snowmobile ride around the circle. I think they liked it.

We had a snow day last week...no school. Thursday morning we got another call from the district, they moved back school start times two hours to allow the plows to get the roads cleared. The kids have really enjoyed these unexpected treats.

We hope you are braving the weather well. Spring is just two months away.

I'm off to work at the State Capitol...

Have a wonderful week. I love you so much! Mom

Hey,

 

The weather hasn't been nearly as crazy as it has at home. We were supposed to get a big ice storm yesterday, but it ended up just raining. We're supposed to have more rain for the next few days and the temperature will be in the 60s.

 

We didn't have a ton happen during the week, but yesterday was great. We had another amazing lesson with Beth and Everett. They're doing so well. We taught the Plan of Salvation and he loved every bit of it. They also came to church and the branch did a great job welcoming them.

 

Love you,

 

Jared

What's with Your Sweater?

Dear Jared,

A few days ago Hallie, Dad, and Taylor went to weigh Taylor's mini and it weighs 1340 pounds. Pretty crazy! Everyone thought that it would weigh more than that. 

Hallie's birthday is in 11 days. She is super excited and hopefully she will buy an iPad mini. 

Mikayla has been hanging out a lot with a really cute group of friends. Saturday they went tubing. She and McKenzie Lundy were on the same tube going down. Everything was going well until they hit a jump! Luckily one of the guys caught it on video so we could laugh about it over and over. They both thought for a minute that they were goners. After they realized they made it through, it was okay to laugh about. It is a pretty good clip. When they were done, all 10 of them came here to spend the rest of the day. I like her friends a lot.

I don't think I told you that I spoke in church last week. My subject was "The Blessings of Serving a Mission". A subject near and dear to my heart. My talk was pretty much amazing since I had such great subject matter.

This week has been super cold, icy, smoggy and uneventful. Wish I had some amazing entertaining story to share, but this is real life here. This is the life we lead. 

I'm off to work at Spankys. This will be by last time there for a couple of months. I'm taking a leave of absence so I can go work on Capitol Hill. More about that later...

I love you more than you'll ever know! Keep up the good work!

Love, Mom

Hey,

  

This week has been pretty great. We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders on Wedensday and i got to go to Ball State University for the day. It's a whole different type of missionary work. We spent a ton of time walking around campus talking to people. We met some great people, including a girl with red hair named Ginger. It was great. We also taught a mission prep class that night, which was pretty cool. On Friday we had an awesome first lesson with a guy named Derrick. He's super cool. He looks just like a young George Costanza. He's a really open guy who's been through a lot. In the past two weeks three of his grandparents have passed away and he just went through a divorce. He likes our church a lot and he responded really well to the Restoration.

 

Adam is doing pretty well. We have a lesson set up with him today, but I'm in Marion on exchanges right now with Elder Channell, so I won't be there for it. We also have a lesson tonight with a cool part member family. We just started teaching them and they're awesome. The husband's name is Phil, and he's a great guy. They've got an old Victorian home they've restored and it's probably the nicest house in Elwood. He works for Rolls Royce, so that's pretty cool. They should be commiting him to baptism tonight.

 

Sunday was a neat day. We had a fireside at the church and we were stopping by a few people before going over there. After one of the doors we got back in the car to try by the next person. As we were sitting in the car another car pulled up and stopped right next to us motioning for me to roll the window down. He asked if we were Jehovah's Witnesses. When I told hime no he asked who we were. Turns out he's really been searching for the past few days. He said it was a "funny coincidence" that he ran into us. We set an appointment with him and left for the church. Pretty cool stuff.

 

After the fireside we had another spectacular lesson with a part member family in Alexandria. Their names are Beth and Everett. We had a great first lesson with them a few weeks ago and he's a truck driver, so it's hard to get ahold of them. We finally got ahold of them and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The spirit was really strong and we commited him to be baptized on March 30th. He gladly accepted.

 

We've had tons of spiritual experiences this week and our area is really starting to blossom.

 

P.S. Funny side note for you, on Monday we were at Kohl's buying some clothes for the cold weather we are having this week. At the register the woman working asked if my wife picked out the sweater I was buying. I just smiled and said yes.

 

Love you!

  

Jared

Garfield and Elder Wise

Jared,

So sorry about not getting you a letter sent. I have been so sick the last few days. This morning I got the kids off to school and got someone to work for me, and i went back to bed. The phone rang and woke me up, I couldn't believe when I saw the time, it was almost noon. I checked my email and you had already written. I'll send this anyway and hope you get it.

Thanks for the pictures. That's crazy about your warm weather. It has been extra cold here. It snowed before Christmas and hasn't gotten above freezing since. Thursday it started snowing and didn't stop until Saturday afternoon. We got so much over night, the school district closed all the schools. Friday was a "snow day". The kids loved that!

Yesterday we picked up two girls from Brazil who will be staying with us for a month. They are darling. Alice and Manuela. I think they will be a lot of fun.

Hope you get this today. If not, you'll get two next week. Sorry about that.

Love you tons, Mom!

Hello,

 

Things are going well for Elder Melchior and I. The Weather has been crazy here. For two days it was near sixty degrees and a few days later there was a lot of flooding in the area.

 

On Tuesday We went on exchanges and I went to Marion for the day. While I was gone Elder Melchior and Elder Channell taught Adam. The lesson went really well and they set a baptism date with him for March 2nd. He's doing really well now. He's still got a lot to overcome, but he's making big steps. He came to church yesterday for the first time.

 

Elder Davis and I had a good day in their area. We went to a little town called Fairmount, childhood home of James Dean and Jim Davis. We did a lot of work tracting there. We even got a picture with one of the Garfield statues there.

 

Other than Adam, it's been a little slow with teaching right now. We're finding a lot more people though. It's just hard to consistently meet with them.

 

Love you!

 

 

Jared

 

P.S. I'm sending a second email with some pictures, let me know if you get it.

Mikayla's Sweet Sixteen

Hi Jared,

We had an adventurous New Years Eve. We went up to the cabin and it was COLD!  We had fun snowmobiling inspite of it. But it was so cold the water inside the cabin froze up and we had to melt snow to survive our two days there, We invited Ivan and Jenn and the Thorley's. They are a lot of fun. When we left there Tuesday afternoon, it was 5 degrees.

Wednesday was back to school for the kids. It was a short vacation, and everyone was bummed about it, but they got to start school later this year.

Saturday we attempted to throw a surprise party for Mikayla's sixteenth birthday. Hallie had it all planned out right down to the smallest Pinterest detail.  We made adorable cupcakes and a cake on a three tier cake stand. All was going well until it was time for the party to start and none of her friends were here. She came home with Sammi and her mom, who were detaining her while shopping. I told Taylor to not let her in the house, to quickly take he to get a pizza for lunch. As they were pulling out, several of her friends were coming in. She knew then that something was up. They turned around and came back to the house. By then, everyone was here. It ended up to be a really fun party. She has cute friends. The last guest left at 11:00 p.m., ten and a half hours later. One boy even professed his "like" for her. What a way to start her sixteenth year of life.

Unfortunately, Mikayla woke up sick on her Birthday. She was so sad. Hallie wasn't feeling well either, so they both stayed home from church. Not a fun day for her. We put candles on her cake, but didn't want her to blow out the candles and contaminate the cake, so she fanned them out with a paper plate. Poor thing.

It's cold and icy here, 12 degrees this morning. It's been like this all week. How's the weather in Indiana? Hope your week is awesome!

We love you! Mom

Hey,

 

It was a pretty slow week for us. The highlight of the week was a new family we started teaching. Their names are John and Kathy. Kathy met with missionaries about 40 years ago and still remembers almost everything they taught. It was pretty neat, as we were teaching she was helping teach her husband. She even asked us when we taught about the Book of Mormon about "a scripture of Jesus talking about other sheep that he has". It was a great lesson. Kathy's a little stubborn though and has a few doctrinal issues she doesn't understand yet, but we'll get them sorted out. We've got a lesson scheduled with them tonight so we'll see how things go!

 

The weather's not too bad here. It's been in the 30s the whole week.

 

Love you,

 

Jared 

P.S. The cat comment was a joke.

Hi Jared,

What a wonderful Christmas gift, to be able to talk to you! That was so much fun. I love that you seem happy and you are learning and growing.  I know it was a bit crazy, with the Wheeler's coming over, and Grandpa's silly comments, but  I enjoyed it anyway. We sure do love you and are so proud of you.

This week was pretty relaxed but fun. We finally got a decent amount of snow for the first time in a couple of years, so Taylor was able to try out his snowmobile and the snowblower. What a fun day!

We are going to go to the cabin with Ivan and Jenn to ring in the New Year!  We are taking our Christmas tree so Taylor can torch it!  What could be more fun than a huge fire outside in sub zero temperatures?

Do you do anything for New Years Eve, or do you have to be home in bed?

Holden is back on a trial mission. he is serving in Wellsville.  Since we will be driving right through the pint sized town, we thought we'd take a non member with us, so we could take the Elders up to the cabin with us, but we couldn't find anyone. So we'll just have to wave to him as we drive through. If things work out for him, he'll be home the first week in March, he will go through the temple and then to the MTC and be sent someplace to serve 21 more months.  Pray for him that it will all work out.

Have a Happy New Year!

Love, Mom

Hey,

 

This week has been Crazy, yesterday in particular. It was just one thing after another. We spoke in Sacrament meeting and it went well. Elder Melchior spoke on Repentance and I spoke on Sacrifice. I brought a stray cat from off the street to demonstrate. Anyways, after church we had lunch at home and then left for a town in our area called Alexandria. It's about the same size as Elwood. We haven't worked nearly as much there so we decided to spend the whole day there and come home for dinner at 8. We spent a couple hours knocking on doors without any success when we decided to try by one of our investigators named Jim. He let us in and we chatted with him for a while. They were just getting ready for dinner so they invited us to stay. We had a great pot roast. For dessert Maudie, Jim's fiance, told us she had a few pies. Two that she made herself, and two that her aunt had given her.  We all had a slice of each. After we had all finished, Elder Melchoir was staring at the remains of one of the pies from Maudie's aunt. When Jim asked him if anything was wrong he said, "You might want to throw the rest of that pie away..." Startled, Jim asked why. "Because there's mold all over it." was the answer. We had all eaten a slice and nobody had noticed.

 

After we left Jim's, we were driving to go try a few more people. Earlier in the day I commented on how I thought it was odd that one one of the main streets they had plowed all the snow right into the middle of the street. There was a four foot tall median of snow. When we passed by it this time, there was a cop car on top of it. We pulled over to help free the car. He was furiously rocking the car from drive to reverse trying to get free. We, with the help of one other guy that came to help, pushed the car from off the mountain.

 

Our next, and final stop before heading home was to a lady named Beth. She's a member that's lived in Alexandria for about fifteen years. She was just found this spring when some other elders were tracting and found her. Elder Zeyer and I tried by her every time we were in Alexandria and never caught her. Well, last night we did. She invited us right in. Her husband, Everett joined us as well. There were lots of tears as they opened up to us about how they needed God more than ever in their lives. We taught them the message of the Restoration and they are ready to accept. We had a powerful lesson with them. At the end of the lesson we asked Everett if when he came to know that this was the true church if he would be baptized. His answer was like it was straight out of a movie. It was a "Yes,...yes I will." as he was getting a little teary eyed.

 

The night didn't stop there though. As we were driving home, close to 9:00 we got a message from a member telling us that half of Elwood was out of power, and it was the half we live in. So, we got home, packed some things, and traveled to Marion, to stay with the other elders. And that's where we are right now. On a normal Preparation day we have our prep time from 10-6, but today we have it from 1-9, so this morning we split up and I went with Elder Channel, a new missionary.

 

It's been a crazy few days.

 

Love you,  Jared

 

P.S. The cat comment was a joke.

Saying Goodbye to Elder Zeyer

Good morning,

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

First Baptism Interview

Good morning Jared,

Christmas is inching closer every day. Last week we had three Christmas Parties and we have a couple more coming up this week. What a fun month, last night, the girls spent the evening wrapping gifts and getting ready for the big day.

Friday was our Ward Party. We had a huge turnout, I'm not sure exactly how many, but I'm guessing close to 200. The primary kids did a play, "Christmas in the Americas". It was the birth of the Savior from the Nephites and Lamanites perspective. Mikayla and Sammi Soto sang a song during the program. It was absolutely beautiful. They really helped to bring the spirit. Overall the night was a success. Kevin and Amber Gibson brought in a green screen and we did family photos for everyone who wanted to. I will send you a picture. They turned out really cute!

Tammy Clayton emailed me and here is what she said: "Also, I talked with Vickie Maag the other day.  We are friends and she told me she met Jared and sent you pictures.  Have you ever met her?  You would love her.  She loved Jared and said  he was such a great missionary, I wasn't surprised." awwwww!

Well, I think that's all for now. Good luck this week. Hope you have a lot of success and you stay warm. I love you!

Mom

Hey,

 

This week was pretty good. We've had some warm weather. It got up in the 60s last Monday. I was in a town called Marion for a few days on exchanges with Elder Davis. While with him I conducted my first baptism interview. It was with a 12 year old kid named Zane that they're teaching. The interview went well, and he's ready for baptism this Sunday.

 

This week we've been working a lot in little towns. When I was in Marion we worked in a little town called LaFontaine. We were knocking on doors in a trailer park and a couple of people came out and started yelling at us for "soliciting" and told us they were going to get our license plate numbers and call the cops on us. haha.

 

On Saturday we worked in a little town about fifteen miles away called Summitville. It's a tiny town out in the middle of nowhere. Kind of strange, but as we were walking down the street we saw an Audi with Utah license plates parked on the street. I wonder who it was and what they were doing all the way out there? Weird.

 

That's pretty much all that happened this week. Most of our appointments ended up falling through.

Tell Taylor he needs to send me more details and pictures of the Mini!

 

Love you!

 

Jared

 

P.S. Tell Grandma and Grandpa Wise thanks for the package.

God Sent You To Me

Hi Jared,

It's been another busy week, and I'm sure it'll be like that until after Christmas. We went over to Holgreen's to watch Rylee open her mission call. She is going to Russia! Holy Cow! That has got to be a little scary, to learn the language, be so far from home and such a different culture. She leaves March 13th.

Jamie Wheeler got engaged on Saturday night to her best friend from High School. His name is Mason. We don't know when yet. Most likely in the Spring after she graduates from BYU.

Taylor is quite the talk of the town with his new car. Because it is so different than anything else here, when people see it, they remember it. Topher came into Spankys with his buddies and he told his friend, this is the mom of the boy who owns the Mini. He was at Home and saw Taylor's car parked in the church parking lot. Although he didn't know Taylor had bought it, he figured it out. He found Taylor and took it for a spin. He was bragging to his friends that he got to drive it. It's pretty cute.

What ever happened with Adam and Carl's sister? Are you still teaching them?

I hope you have another great week. I love you so much!

Mom

Hey,

 

We've had a great week with a lot more teaching than last week. On Tuesday we had a great lesson with Sandra. We brought over Brother and Sister Hamilton, who are awesome. They shared their conversion storeis, invited her to dinner and a church tour, and helped her dispel some fears about church. She's doing great. I'm going to be in a city called Marion for today and tomorrow with another missionary on exchanges, but Elder Zeyer will be teaching her tomorrow.

 

We had exchanges with our Zone Leaders on Tuesday and Wednesday and it was good. We started teaching a new family named Mark and Brooke. They have met with missionaries before, but they weren't really taught anything. It sounds like they were just there to hang out, so I don't know how much longer we'll be teaching them. We had a pretty good lesson, so we'll see how it goes.

 

Saturday was fantastic. We picked up the car the day before, and it's ours full time now, so we decided to work in a litte town a few miles away from Elwood called Frankton. We were tracting in a trailer park and we had someone let us in, which doesn't happen often. It was a guy probably in his 80s named Harry. We had a great lesson with him, and Elder Zeyer will be going back tonight to teach him again. The miracles kept continuing that day. We got back to Elwood and had dinner and then got out to work again. We were going to be stopping by some people on the west side of town. While driving over there I decided to park in a parking lot and walk the rest of the way, which was only a few blocks. We ended up running into a less active, part member family on the street. Without getting into details, they said that they knew that God had placed us in their path that night. They are going through a tough time and need our help.

 

We had another similar experience right after. We stopped by a woman named Judy. She had a baptism date about a year ago but kind of fell off the path. When we met her at the door she said the same thing, that God had sent us to her door that night.

 

Lots of miracles this week.

 

Also, one funny story. It's a rule that whenever we need to back the car, the junior companion needs to stand outside and direct. When we were leaving church, Elder Zeyer was standing in the parking lot motioning me out. A three year old girl named Ave was watching and started yelling at him. She yelled, "Elder Zeyer! You get in that car right now! He's going to run you over!"

 

It was pretty funny.

 

Love,

 

Jared

Three Thanksgiving Dinners

Good Morning, Jared,

We had a most unusual Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. The Priests were preparing the Sacrament and we were finishing the song when the priests looked a little distraught.  Brother Zumwalt hopped up and hustled out, then Brother Whitehead hurried out, then they summoned Sally Olea out, and then Brother Howlett left. The Bishop conversed with President Allred from the stake Presidency. The song went into overtime as we sang all the verses. When the song ended, the Bishop stood up and told us not to be surprised. We would soon find out what was going on. Then he announced the speakers. It was bizarre having thing out of order. After the first speaker, we sang the Sacrament hymn again and then had the sacrament. When Taylor sat back down with us, he told us it was because no one brought bread. Oops!

Craig and Laura had a baby girl last week. Laura was shocked! She was positive that they were going to have a boy. It was pretty funny. Craig grew his hair out the whole time she was pregnant. The day after she delivered, he came over for a haircut. I cut it into a mullet for him. He proudly sported his 80's hairdo for several days, including Sunday. Laura was mortified and mad at me for embarrassing her so much. He did look a little ridiculous, but in spite of it, got lots of compliments on his new look.

We spent four days over Thanksgiving at a Bed and Breakfast in Eden, by Pineview. Everyone was there except Vance and Sherrie and their family. We had a lot of fun playing games, doing crafts, playing pool and eating. It's good to have such neat family.

What did you do for Thanksgiving? I hope someone treated you well and you got lots of good home cooked food.

Mikayla was in charge of the Mutual activity last week. She did such an amazing job. I was really proud of her. Her activity was "Trip to Paradise". As everyone arrived, she handed out boarding passes for their "trip" to Hawaii. As the kids boarded the "plane", they each got a lei. She did the whole flight attendant spiel and then they served dinner and watched an in flight movie. The plane crashed and they all died. They visited each kingdom  where there were people telling their stories and why they ended up where they did. They finally ended up in the RS room where they were all embraced by their families. I thought it was very powerful and thought provoking. I am so proud of your sister. She is quite the party planner and organizer.

Three people in our ward died this week. All on Wednesday. Kind of bizarre. They were all elderly and you probably don't know them, but it was was a little crazy.

Holden is going back into the mission field in a couple of weeks. This time he is going to the Ogden Mission. I hope things work out for him this time.

Now, the news of the week. I was hoping that Taylor would tell you, and maybe he did. But I'd not, here goes. He found a Mini on KSL. It was in Provo. I think he was asking $4500. When Taylor inquired about it, the man said he had had such an enormous interest in it, that he decided to do a silent auction. The car would go to the highest bidder. Taylor put in his bid and anxiously waited three days. He finally got a call. The man told him there was one bid higher than his, but because he knew how badly Taylor wanted it, he gave him the chance to bid $100 higher. Taylor looked at me, and asked if he should do it. Of course, I said yes. The other bidder offered to pay even more AND give Taylor $300 to back out, but the seller stood strong and Taylor is the proud owner of the cutest car on the planet! You can get all the details from him. I have to say that I have never seen him smile more! He is so happy. He even let Grandma take a picture of him. The only downside to this is the fact that I have been evicted from the garage. My poor car is now parked out in the frosty cold. I should have seen it coming.

Keep your chin up! Work hard and enjoy the journey! I know you are a fantastic missionary. I am so proud of you.

Lave, Mom

Hey,

This week was great. We didn't get as much teaching done because of the Holidays, but it was still pretty good. Things were a little mixed up. We had our Preparation day on Thanksgiving, but emailed on Monday. Tuesday I had a Leadership Training Meeting in Indianapolis, so another companionship in the area stopped by that morning and I left with one missionary to the meeting and Elder Zeyer stayed with the other in Elwood. The elder that stayed with Elder Zeyer was sick that day, so they ended up staying inside all day.

Thanksgiving day was great. The weather was fantastic. It was sunny and in the high 60s. We had two dinners and they were both great. The first one was at noon and we had a great time there. We left for our next meal at about 2, which was way too soon to eat again, but the food looked so good that we did anyways. The second meal was with another family in the branch who rented out a church because their house wasn't big enough to fit everyone. We stayed there for the rest of the day playing games.

The day after Thanksgiving was FREEZING. it dropped about 35 degrees and we had terrible wind the whole day. The wind and humidity combination here cuts you right to the bone. It's cold! We didn't have any appointments that day, but  we were blessed with the tender mercy of another Thanksgiving meal. We went to see a family in the Branch and we were invited back in a few hours to have a Thanksgiving lunch with them. They had it the day after Thanksgiving because a lot of their family had to work the day before. It was good to get a break from the cold.

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

Love you,

Jared

A Tender Mercy!

A few days ago I had the need to call the Mission Home to get some info, and who should answer but Sister Collins? (The Mission President's wife). I introduced myself and told her who my son was and she proudly responded, "Elder Wise! I had lunch with him yesterday. I just love him. He is such a great missionary and is so much fun to be around!" She went on to tell me what a good job he is doing and how happy he is. She feels a kinship to him because they are from the same place. (They are from North Salt Lake.) I could feel my throat swelling up as she spoke and a few little tears trickled down my cheeks. I couldn't have been happier. I needed that little boost. It's always so great to hear from someone else that your son is doing well.

She couldn't answer my question and told me to call the mission office. Boy, was I grateful I made that mistake and called the mission home instead of the mission office. I am one proud mama. Thank you Sister Collins!

Just a Coinsidence?

November 19, 2012

Dear Jared, 

I came home from work today, and suddenly realized I had forgotten to send you a letter this morning. Boy, do I feel like a loser. In my defense, I was caught up in service this morning and let everything else go. I checked my email and there was nothing from you. So either you are mad that I sent you nothing and so I get nothing in return, or your p-day has changed, or your library hours. Anyway, I hope somehow you'll get this today.

I got a letter from your Mission President letting us know you have been made a district leader. I think you will do awesome at whatever job you are given. That's the kind of man you are.

Life continues to be busy. I like it that way.  I got offered a job last week at the Utah State Capitol. It's just temporary, while the legislature is in session, January through March. I am really excited for this opportunity. I will be a Page in the House of Representatives.

Taylor found a Mini in Provo that he wants to check out. He and Dad are headed down there in a minute to look at it.

I love you lots!  Mom

Hey,

 

Elder Zeyer and I had a pretty great week. Things are really starting to pick up. Last Monday had quite a few interesting events. We got a call that morning from Brother Hamilton in the ward telling us that a member named Carl who was baptized about a year ago, was in the hospital. while he was in there Brother Hamilton and another guy were giving Carl a blessing and Carl's sister and brother in law walked in. Naturally, they had questions. Brother Hamilton and the other member answered the questions and invited them to church. They said they'd love to come and also meet with us. After dinner that night we went to see Carl in the hospital. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him, so while we were there they released him to go home. When we left the hospital we decided to see Adam, one of our investigators. His phone was shut off and we hadn't heard from him in a while so we decided to stop by. He had just moved in to a bigger house across town with some friends so they could split the cost and save some money. When we got to his house, he invited us right in. Turns out the friends he moved in with were Carl's sister and her husband. We had met them a couple times and talked briefly, but they never knew we went to the same church as Carl. They had about a million questions, so we sat down with them right then and taught them.

 

Our Branch had a fish fry on Saturday, and it was great. Lots of good food, and Adam and his friends all came. The Branch did an awesome job of welcoming them all. They were planning on coming to church on Sunday, but they ended up being sick. They said they'll be there next week though.

 

We also had a great lesson with Sandra. She's doing pretty well, but she needs a little bit of a push to do things. We'll be bringing over some sisters from the Relief Society next visit, so that should help her to be able to be more comfortable with coming to church.

  

Well, that's about it. Hope you have a good Thanksgiving!

 

Love,  Jared

District Leader in Elwood

Hi Jared, 

So much for the incredible weather. The girls and I headed off to sunny California. When we returned, we were shocked to find that we had over a foot of snow. And to think that last week it was in the 70's. This morning it was 20 degrees when I went running. Winter is officially here.

We had fun in Disneyland. I thought that three days in the park would be too much, but we didn't even scrape the surface of what there is to do there. Although the weather was cool (in the 60's) it was still so much fun. They had the whole park decorated for Christmas. It looked so cute!

I heard on the news this morning, that there was a huge explosion in Indianapolis over the weekend. It killed a couple of people and displaced dozens of others. They aren't sure what happened. At first they though an airplane had crashed, or perhaps a bomb, now they are thinking that it's a gas explosion. It completely obliterated a few houses. I hope all the missionaries are alright. 

Bummer about the election. Four more years of the same. Maybe it's a good thing Romney didn't get in. He brought the church some positive publicity and now we won't be blamed for everything that goes wrong in America. The Lord is in control.

I love you, Jared, and I hope you week is great.

Love,  Mom

Hello,

 

Well, it's that time again for transfer calls. This time was different from the last few times. Elder Zeyer and I are both staying in Elwood, and I'm becoming a District Leader.

 

We've had a pretty great week. The weather has been nice. The last two days it's been 65-70 degrees. It cooled down this morning and it was rainy while we were studying. By the time we got out the door though the rain had turned into snowflakes. It's in the process of melting though.

 

We were able to pick up two new investigators this week, which is great, because we've been dropping them like crazy lately. The first is Melissa. She and her husband investigated the church at one time, but got busy and quit. We had a member with us for a different appointment, which fell through, so we stopped by and she invited us in. The lesson went pretty well. We've got another appointment with them on Wednesday, so we'll see how things go.

 

We've spent a few days in a town we cover called Alexandria. We were there last night and we met with one of our investigators named Jim. He's a neat guy. I like him a lot. He's one of those people that really takes in what you say and thinks about it. He has great comments about everything we teach. I've got really high hopes for him.

 

The second new investigator was a girl named Lindsay. She's been to tons of different churches and hasn't found one she agrees with. We taught her about the Restoration and it was fantastic. She said when we recited the First Vision she had goosebumps. She's awesome. Next time we go back we're meeting with her boyfriend as well.

 

Things are going well in Elwood!

 

Love you,

 

Jared

Trick or Treat

Hi Jared,

Your package was delivered yesterday while we were at church. We didn't open it, like you instructed. It would have been more exciting if it was for us, full of photos and video footage. Sigh. Oh well. :)

This week has been another crazy busy week. There never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything done that I would like to. I'm glad I enjoyed my long summer days quilting and relaxing. I forget how busy fall gets. We have spent the last few days on a service project for a ward member. Although it has been an ENORMOUS amount of work, it has been  very gratifying. I spent 16 hours on Friday, and quite a few hours on Saturday working. I don't ever remember feeling quite so exhausted at the end of the day as I have the last couple, but it feels good to have made a difference in someone else's life.

I am a poll manager for the Elections tomorrow. That is another long day but I also enjoy it. I'm anxious to see who will be spending the next four years leading our country. Is is possible that we might have a Mormon as President of the United States? Crazy!

I get the staples out of the top of my head on Wednesday. I'm pretty excited about that.

There is no school today, so the girls are home. Taylor is working for Ryan. That has sure been a good thing for him. He needs to stay busy.

Dad starts physical therapy on his shoulder today. He's on the mend now.

Last night we had a party to mourn the passing of your dads youth. He turned 50 yesterday. We had a bunch of friends come over and bring ridiculous gifts like a walker, shredded wheat, enemas, and other assorted old age appropriate gifts. It was funny. He was really a good sport about it.

The weather here has been incredible. The days are warm, in the 70's, and the nights are cool. We couldn't ask for nicer weather. I would like it if we had weather like this through mid December. Trick-or-treating was very pleasant. It's hard to believe there is such terrible weather in other parts of our country. We feel so fortunate.

Have an amazing week. I hope things are going well for you. We love you so much and we are really proud of you for all you have done. 

Love, Mom

Hello,

 

We've had a pretty good week, and quite a miracle. I think I talked about it last week, but we started teaching a girl named Jessica. She's pretty prepared for the gospel. The only problem is she was moving to a town called Peru soon after we started teaching her. After we taught her last week we set up an appointment for the next Tuesday to teach her one last time before she left. Our appointment on Tuesday ended up falling through, and we had no way to contact her. The phone number we had saved in our phone was disconnected. On Thursday we planned to stop by to see if by chance she was there. When we got there signs weren't promising. there was a note on the door from the electric company saying the power was shut off. We knocked and nobody was home. Later on in the day we had a bunch of plans change which led us to her area again. We felt like we should try by Jessica one more time, and we caught her home. Her and her mother were making one of their last trips to pick stuff up. We were able to get all of her contact information for the Sisters in Peru so they can start teaching her.

 

Halloween was pretty quiet for us. We had our Zone Conference for most of the day, and then had dinner with our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Phillips. We got to pass some candy out to the trick or treaters. What a surprise that must have been for people knocking on our door for a change

We had a great lesson with a lady named Sandra. I've got a really good feeling about her. We're teaching her tomorrow and we're bringing one of my favorite families in the branch, so it should go very well.

 

Love you,

 

Jared