When I got home from work yesterday, there was a wonderful surprise on the answering machine. Sister Melton had called from Plainfield to give me a quick update on Jared. She said he is doing incredibly well. She said his personality is really blooming. :) She told about Deborah's baptism and how neat it was and also about one coming up today. The members are happy about the success in their area.
What a fun surprise to come home to! I love knowing that he is doing well and I am SO grateful that he is seeing success and that he is happy. I absolutely LOVE seeing his testimony grow. I love that he is serving the Lord and serving others. There is no better place on earth for a young man to be than in the service of his fellow beings. Of course we miss him, but it is going by so quickly. He just passed his quarter mark, which seems so unreal to me. It's passing by in the blink of an eye.
Thank you, Sister Melton for your thoughtfulness. It's obvious that you have had missionaries of your own and must understand the joy, peace and satisfaction that a quick phone call can bring to a missionary mom.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Deborah's Baptism
Dear Jared,
Here's the latest news around town: I was at Spanky's last week and Cadence's mom came in. She told me that Cadence is doing a study abroad in Austria. She will be there for six months. Also, Connor Newbold got his mission call to Indiana. He leaves in November. Ryan Nielsen got married on Saturday. And last, but not least, Mikayla got her braces off. She looks so beautiful.
It's been a pretty quiet and uneventful week. Your dad spent three days fishing at Spirit lake with some friends and I stayed home with the kids.
We hope that Deborah got baptized. We are anxious to hear how that went.
We love you to the moon and back!
Love,
Mom
Howdy,
This week was great! we didn't have a ton of teaching opportunities, but Deborah got baptized! It was a great service and she had a ton of family and ward members show up to support her. All in all, she's doing excellent.
We went to the "Why I Believe" fireside yestderday to hear Gabby speak. She gave a powerful testimony about her conversion. It was amazing. It's really great to see the fruits of our labors here in Plainfield. It was a great experience, and it's also going to be great to hear Deborah speak there next month.
This week we've been preparing for Andrew's baptism. We just need to get an interview with him and he'll be ready for his baptism on Friday. Exciting stuff!
Love,
Jared
Here's the latest news around town: I was at Spanky's last week and Cadence's mom came in. She told me that Cadence is doing a study abroad in Austria. She will be there for six months. Also, Connor Newbold got his mission call to Indiana. He leaves in November. Ryan Nielsen got married on Saturday. And last, but not least, Mikayla got her braces off. She looks so beautiful.
It's been a pretty quiet and uneventful week. Your dad spent three days fishing at Spirit lake with some friends and I stayed home with the kids.
We hope that Deborah got baptized. We are anxious to hear how that went.
We love you to the moon and back!
Love,
Mom
Howdy,
This week was great! we didn't have a ton of teaching opportunities, but Deborah got baptized! It was a great service and she had a ton of family and ward members show up to support her. All in all, she's doing excellent.
We went to the "Why I Believe" fireside yestderday to hear Gabby speak. She gave a powerful testimony about her conversion. It was amazing. It's really great to see the fruits of our labors here in Plainfield. It was a great experience, and it's also going to be great to hear Deborah speak there next month.
This week we've been preparing for Andrew's baptism. We just need to get an interview with him and he'll be ready for his baptism on Friday. Exciting stuff!
Love,
Jared
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
A Russian Miracle
September 5, 2011
Dear Jared,
Last week I was working at Spanky's. Two guys came in and I started helping them. One guy said to me, "Hey, aren't you Jared's mom?" I told him I was and he started asking about you and how you were doing. I asked his name and he said it was Weston. Then I asked him who his friend was. He was in a motorized wheelchair. It was Gates! I was a little surprised to see him out and about, because last I heard he wasn't doing so well. He looks good and seemed to be pretty upbeat. He said he knew you as the kid who never missed a concert. :) Anyway, I finished making their sandwiches and they went to a table. A few minutes later, I looked over at them, and there was Weston feeding Gates his sandwich. My eyes instantly filled up with tears and I was so choked up I could hardly speak as I watched one friend serve another. He was doing something for Gates that he couldn't do for himself. What an amazing friend.
When I came home, I got your letter about you working at the special Olympics and thought how you are devoting your whole life to service. I am proud of you!
Saturday night I got a call from Grandma. She asked me if I would call the Bountiful temple and put Gracie's name on the prayer roll. Nichole was at a friends house, Gracie was sitting on the floor petting their dog. He turned on her and bit her in the face. They took her to Primary Children's Medical Center to get her stitched up. He bit through her nose and several other places on her face. Nichole said it wasn't as bad as it looked once they got her cleaned up. She says Gracie is going to be ok, but it was still pretty scary.
I am training for yet another half marathon, The Halloween Half, where every runner dresses in costume. Anyway, we decided that we wanted to do a canyon run, for our Saturday run, so we had Taylor drive us to the top if Emmigration Canyon and drop us off. Little did we know it was the Salt Lake Half Marathon going on. It was pretty funny. We just joined them in their race. Today my legs are so sore I can hardly sit down. That downhill running can be tough on the body!
Life here is good. The weather has finally cooled off a little bit and the nights are a lot cooler. I find that I am less grouchy when the weather is not so hot. I hope we have a really long, beautiful fall.
Keep up the good work. We pray for you every night, and we are praying for Deborah!
Love, Mom
Hey,
We've had an exciting week. Last monday we had dinner with a family in our ward. Their son just moved back in with them. The son was telling us about a few people he wanted us to teach. One of them was a Russian family that lives by his grandmother. The family barely speaks any English, but he went to Russia on his mission, so he's able to communicate with them. He told us if we could get a copy of the Book of Mormon and Bible in Russian, he'd go over with us and teach them. We called the mission office about it, and they said they might have some, but they'd have to check and call us back. Elder Bair and I prayed that night that we'd be able to find the books. So anyways, the following day, we were teaching Deborah in the church. and when we were leaving the church there was the answer to our prayer, sitting right on the chair in the foyer...a Russian Book of Mormon and Bible, plus some pamphlets about the first vision. It was such a strange experience. I have no doubt in my mind that prayers are answered.
Yesterday we had a fun holiday. We had a ward pancake breakfast at the park. They were the best pancakes I've ever had. Afterwards, we played some football (I had someone that played for the Colts on my team) and then went fishing. Tons of fun!
Everything here is going great. Saturday's going to be an exciting day. We are moving into our new apartment, and Deborah's getting baptized!
The Work's going great!
Love,
Jared
Dear Jared,
Last week I was working at Spanky's. Two guys came in and I started helping them. One guy said to me, "Hey, aren't you Jared's mom?" I told him I was and he started asking about you and how you were doing. I asked his name and he said it was Weston. Then I asked him who his friend was. He was in a motorized wheelchair. It was Gates! I was a little surprised to see him out and about, because last I heard he wasn't doing so well. He looks good and seemed to be pretty upbeat. He said he knew you as the kid who never missed a concert. :) Anyway, I finished making their sandwiches and they went to a table. A few minutes later, I looked over at them, and there was Weston feeding Gates his sandwich. My eyes instantly filled up with tears and I was so choked up I could hardly speak as I watched one friend serve another. He was doing something for Gates that he couldn't do for himself. What an amazing friend.
When I came home, I got your letter about you working at the special Olympics and thought how you are devoting your whole life to service. I am proud of you!
Saturday night I got a call from Grandma. She asked me if I would call the Bountiful temple and put Gracie's name on the prayer roll. Nichole was at a friends house, Gracie was sitting on the floor petting their dog. He turned on her and bit her in the face. They took her to Primary Children's Medical Center to get her stitched up. He bit through her nose and several other places on her face. Nichole said it wasn't as bad as it looked once they got her cleaned up. She says Gracie is going to be ok, but it was still pretty scary.
I am training for yet another half marathon, The Halloween Half, where every runner dresses in costume. Anyway, we decided that we wanted to do a canyon run, for our Saturday run, so we had Taylor drive us to the top if Emmigration Canyon and drop us off. Little did we know it was the Salt Lake Half Marathon going on. It was pretty funny. We just joined them in their race. Today my legs are so sore I can hardly sit down. That downhill running can be tough on the body!
Life here is good. The weather has finally cooled off a little bit and the nights are a lot cooler. I find that I am less grouchy when the weather is not so hot. I hope we have a really long, beautiful fall.
Keep up the good work. We pray for you every night, and we are praying for Deborah!
Love, Mom
Hey,
We've had an exciting week. Last monday we had dinner with a family in our ward. Their son just moved back in with them. The son was telling us about a few people he wanted us to teach. One of them was a Russian family that lives by his grandmother. The family barely speaks any English, but he went to Russia on his mission, so he's able to communicate with them. He told us if we could get a copy of the Book of Mormon and Bible in Russian, he'd go over with us and teach them. We called the mission office about it, and they said they might have some, but they'd have to check and call us back. Elder Bair and I prayed that night that we'd be able to find the books. So anyways, the following day, we were teaching Deborah in the church. and when we were leaving the church there was the answer to our prayer, sitting right on the chair in the foyer...a Russian Book of Mormon and Bible, plus some pamphlets about the first vision. It was such a strange experience. I have no doubt in my mind that prayers are answered.
Yesterday we had a fun holiday. We had a ward pancake breakfast at the park. They were the best pancakes I've ever had. Afterwards, we played some football (I had someone that played for the Colts on my team) and then went fishing. Tons of fun!
Everything here is going great. Saturday's going to be an exciting day. We are moving into our new apartment, and Deborah's getting baptized!
The Work's going great!
Love,
Jared
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Special Olympics
August 28, 2011
Dear Jared,
Sunday was a busy day for missionaries. Mike carter and Rob Thompson both had their farewell talks, and Stephen Sellers returned home. It's exciting to see all these missionaries going out and coming home. Steven, who used to be really overweight has lost over half of his body weight and he is so skinny now. We went somewhere in South America. He looks so different.
The bad news of the week: Steve Cox, our snow plow driver, died suddenly and unexpectedly. Wow, we just never know when it's our time.
The Cache Valley Century Bike ride was Saturday. A group of eight of us, including Taylor, rode it. It was a brutal ride. It was in the high 90's, with a strong wind for much of the ride. Taylor and I called Dad at mile 73 and he came and picked us up. We were done! I hope Taylor will try another ride when it is not so hot. He did great and I am so proud of him. Everyone else was able to finish, but they all said it was pretty rough. We did learn a lot from all of our mistakes so hopefully it will be better next time. But hey, there were no accidents, so I am pretty happy about that. :)
We are already planning trek for next summer. It's going to be a lot of work and planning to pull that off, but I am really excited for that. I love having things to look forward to.
I was reading in the Ensign and came across this quote that I just love:
"A good character is something you must make for yourself. It cannot be inherited from parents. It cannot be created by having extraordinary advantages. It isn’t a gift of birth, wealth, talent, or station. It is the result of your own endeavor. It is the reward that comes from living good principles and manifesting a virtuous and honorable life."
We are happy that you are having success. Have an awesome week!
Love, Mom
Hey,
We had a really busy week. We had a lot of meetings, exchanges, a Zone Conference, and we volunteered at the Special Olympics. It seems like this week we were in Indianapolis longer than we were in Plainfield. After all the meetings and cancelled appointments (lots of them this week) we only taught three people this week. We got a new investigator though! Her name's Deborah. Some of the other Elders found her and started teaching her, but turns out she's in our area. She is awesome. On our meeting with her on Tuesday she had the pamphlet for the lesson we were teaching and it was filled with notes. She could have taught the lesson to us! We set a baptism date for September 17th with her. She's ready for baptism, so ready that she sent us a text last night saying she wanted to get baptized on the 10th instead! It's really exciting, but we've got a lot to teach still. We're going to have to meet with her three or four times this week to teach the rest of the lessons.
On Friday we had our Zone Conference, where Elder Lynn G. Robbins spoke. It was fantastic. I learned a lot about missionary work from him. I look forward to implementing some of the things he spoke about. It's been a lot like Christmas this August. At Zone Conference, we got new phones and a portable DVD player, and we're moving out of our apartment in the next few weeks. Hallelujah!
On Saturday we got to volunteer at the Special Olympics in Indianapolis. It was a lot of fun. Elder Bair and I helped with the skill tests, like how far they could throw and hit a softball. There was one guy named Ronnie that was running as fast as he could around the bases, and he tripped. He fell like a board and hit the dirt flat on his face. I felt so bad for him... He got up though and kept playing. I guess that's what counts.
Hope everything's going well
Love,
Jared
Dear Jared,
Sunday was a busy day for missionaries. Mike carter and Rob Thompson both had their farewell talks, and Stephen Sellers returned home. It's exciting to see all these missionaries going out and coming home. Steven, who used to be really overweight has lost over half of his body weight and he is so skinny now. We went somewhere in South America. He looks so different.
The bad news of the week: Steve Cox, our snow plow driver, died suddenly and unexpectedly. Wow, we just never know when it's our time.
The Cache Valley Century Bike ride was Saturday. A group of eight of us, including Taylor, rode it. It was a brutal ride. It was in the high 90's, with a strong wind for much of the ride. Taylor and I called Dad at mile 73 and he came and picked us up. We were done! I hope Taylor will try another ride when it is not so hot. He did great and I am so proud of him. Everyone else was able to finish, but they all said it was pretty rough. We did learn a lot from all of our mistakes so hopefully it will be better next time. But hey, there were no accidents, so I am pretty happy about that. :)
We are already planning trek for next summer. It's going to be a lot of work and planning to pull that off, but I am really excited for that. I love having things to look forward to.
I was reading in the Ensign and came across this quote that I just love:
"A good character is something you must make for yourself. It cannot be inherited from parents. It cannot be created by having extraordinary advantages. It isn’t a gift of birth, wealth, talent, or station. It is the result of your own endeavor. It is the reward that comes from living good principles and manifesting a virtuous and honorable life."
We are happy that you are having success. Have an awesome week!
Love, Mom
Hey,
We had a really busy week. We had a lot of meetings, exchanges, a Zone Conference, and we volunteered at the Special Olympics. It seems like this week we were in Indianapolis longer than we were in Plainfield. After all the meetings and cancelled appointments (lots of them this week) we only taught three people this week. We got a new investigator though! Her name's Deborah. Some of the other Elders found her and started teaching her, but turns out she's in our area. She is awesome. On our meeting with her on Tuesday she had the pamphlet for the lesson we were teaching and it was filled with notes. She could have taught the lesson to us! We set a baptism date for September 17th with her. She's ready for baptism, so ready that she sent us a text last night saying she wanted to get baptized on the 10th instead! It's really exciting, but we've got a lot to teach still. We're going to have to meet with her three or four times this week to teach the rest of the lessons.
On Friday we had our Zone Conference, where Elder Lynn G. Robbins spoke. It was fantastic. I learned a lot about missionary work from him. I look forward to implementing some of the things he spoke about. It's been a lot like Christmas this August. At Zone Conference, we got new phones and a portable DVD player, and we're moving out of our apartment in the next few weeks. Hallelujah!
On Saturday we got to volunteer at the Special Olympics in Indianapolis. It was a lot of fun. Elder Bair and I helped with the skill tests, like how far they could throw and hit a softball. There was one guy named Ronnie that was running as fast as he could around the bases, and he tripped. He fell like a board and hit the dirt flat on his face. I felt so bad for him... He got up though and kept playing. I guess that's what counts.
Hope everything's going well
Love,
Jared
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Gabby's Baptism
Aug 22, 2011
Hi Jared,
All week long I have been thinking about Gabby and we have prayed for her every night in our family prayer. I am so excited to hear how her baptism was. Tell me all the details.
This week was busy. We spent Monday cleaning, Tuesday and Wednesday shopping. (Mikayla got at new $1600 violin). Thursday and Friday cutting hair. Saturday was a crazy non stop day with a race, a bridal shower, a baby shower, youth conference, dinner and a show.
Saturday was Mikayla's big event in North Ogden. She and Sally did the "Dirty Girl". It was a 5k run with all kinds of obstacles that drug them through the mud, through a pond, over hay bales, under nets, through pipes, etc. When they finished, they were absolutely filthy. It was pretty entertaining to watch. My favorite was when they got into the arena, which was a complete mud bog, they got into a wrestling match. So funny! They were both wallowing in mud.
Next, it was off to Draper. We stopped by the house long enough for Mikayla to shower and get cleaned up and then we went to Hollie's baby shower. I made her a quilt. She is having a little girl in about four more weeks. She is keeping the baby and will raise her on her own. It's not going to be easy, but hopefully she has enough family support that she can manage.
Then it was back to Bountiful to get to Erin Lundy's bridal shower. She is tying the knot next month. It's hard to believe that all my young women are old enough to get married.
I had to be in Salt Lake at a park by the temple at 5:00 to greet the youth from the 3rd ward as they arrived after trekking from the Bountiful temple, nearly 17 miles. We had dinner ready for the hungry kids as they arrived, hot and tired.
When I got home, I decided I was too tired to attend the swim team party at the rec center. I stayed home and watched t.v. instead. (Shocking, I know!) Ivan and Jenn showed up around 8:00. They ware starving, and we hadn't had dinner either, so we went out to dinner with them, then we came back and watched an episode of Top Gear. It was super funny, and even more so with Ivan there, so we were all laughing hard. A fun end to a busy day.
Ivan and Jenn and kids stayed the night with us, and then it was off to Tooele in the morning to go to Cody's homecoming. It doesn't seem possible that two years have passed since he left. It seems that we were just out there not too long ago. He did a good job and he bore a strong testimony. It sure is fun to see how much missionaries change and grow. He thinks that Canada is the neatest place on Earth. Maybe I need to set him up with Jamie. She has some Canadian blood in her. :)
Adam and Emily are expecting a baby boy in January. My parents will soon be Great-Grandparents to two babies.
Everyone asks about you all the time. Uncle Mark says to tell you hi.
Tomorrow is the first day of school. All three are dreading it. Hahaha
I'm anxiously awaiting news about Gabby.
Love, Mom
Hey,
Things are going really well for us this week. We've got a lot of great investigators and we have three baptism dates set for next month! Plainfield is doing excellent right now. We've been busy this week with meetings and looking for a new apartment. Aside from all that...We had a baptism this week! It went great! There was a huge turnout from the ward. I counted around 70 people there. Gabby's whole family was there to support her too, which was nice. I was nervous about performing the baptism, but I did fine. It's sweet to see how much this ward is growing and the support they give new members.
A few days before the baptism, Gabby gave us a letter with her testimony written in it. It was really powerful seeing the impact of the gospel in her life. I'm so thankful to be a missionary to be able to share that with others.
Love, Jared
Hi Jared,
All week long I have been thinking about Gabby and we have prayed for her every night in our family prayer. I am so excited to hear how her baptism was. Tell me all the details.
This week was busy. We spent Monday cleaning, Tuesday and Wednesday shopping. (Mikayla got at new $1600 violin). Thursday and Friday cutting hair. Saturday was a crazy non stop day with a race, a bridal shower, a baby shower, youth conference, dinner and a show.
Saturday was Mikayla's big event in North Ogden. She and Sally did the "Dirty Girl". It was a 5k run with all kinds of obstacles that drug them through the mud, through a pond, over hay bales, under nets, through pipes, etc. When they finished, they were absolutely filthy. It was pretty entertaining to watch. My favorite was when they got into the arena, which was a complete mud bog, they got into a wrestling match. So funny! They were both wallowing in mud.
Next, it was off to Draper. We stopped by the house long enough for Mikayla to shower and get cleaned up and then we went to Hollie's baby shower. I made her a quilt. She is having a little girl in about four more weeks. She is keeping the baby and will raise her on her own. It's not going to be easy, but hopefully she has enough family support that she can manage.
Then it was back to Bountiful to get to Erin Lundy's bridal shower. She is tying the knot next month. It's hard to believe that all my young women are old enough to get married.
I had to be in Salt Lake at a park by the temple at 5:00 to greet the youth from the 3rd ward as they arrived after trekking from the Bountiful temple, nearly 17 miles. We had dinner ready for the hungry kids as they arrived, hot and tired.
When I got home, I decided I was too tired to attend the swim team party at the rec center. I stayed home and watched t.v. instead. (Shocking, I know!) Ivan and Jenn showed up around 8:00. They ware starving, and we hadn't had dinner either, so we went out to dinner with them, then we came back and watched an episode of Top Gear. It was super funny, and even more so with Ivan there, so we were all laughing hard. A fun end to a busy day.
Ivan and Jenn and kids stayed the night with us, and then it was off to Tooele in the morning to go to Cody's homecoming. It doesn't seem possible that two years have passed since he left. It seems that we were just out there not too long ago. He did a good job and he bore a strong testimony. It sure is fun to see how much missionaries change and grow. He thinks that Canada is the neatest place on Earth. Maybe I need to set him up with Jamie. She has some Canadian blood in her. :)
Adam and Emily are expecting a baby boy in January. My parents will soon be Great-Grandparents to two babies.
Everyone asks about you all the time. Uncle Mark says to tell you hi.
Tomorrow is the first day of school. All three are dreading it. Hahaha
I'm anxiously awaiting news about Gabby.
Love, Mom
Hey,
Things are going really well for us this week. We've got a lot of great investigators and we have three baptism dates set for next month! Plainfield is doing excellent right now. We've been busy this week with meetings and looking for a new apartment. Aside from all that...We had a baptism this week! It went great! There was a huge turnout from the ward. I counted around 70 people there. Gabby's whole family was there to support her too, which was nice. I was nervous about performing the baptism, but I did fine. It's sweet to see how much this ward is growing and the support they give new members.
A few days before the baptism, Gabby gave us a letter with her testimony written in it. It was really powerful seeing the impact of the gospel in her life. I'm so thankful to be a missionary to be able to share that with others.
Love, Jared
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Indiana Thunderstorms
August 14, 2011
Hello Jared,
I am so happy to hear that you are staying in Plainfield. We are praying for Gabby and hope that she gets baptized this week. That's exciting about the Mormon.org ad campaign. Hopefully that will get you a lot of new investigators!
We had a super fun week here. The kids and I packed up and headed for the Snake River. Roger and Becky threw a graduation party for Rylee and let her invite 15 friends to run the river with her. They asked me to be a chaperone. We had a good time. Teenagers are so much fun! Mikayla is super crazy on the river, so of course, she fell in at Lunch Counter. It was a little scary for me as I watched her fear filled eyes as she bobbed up and down through the rapids. It took me a minute to get to her and get her back in the raft. When it was all over, she was laughing and having a good time. She was proud of her accomplishment, as she should be!
We got back on Wednesday afternoon. I did some laundry, went grocery shopping, and repacked. We left Thursday morning for our ward Campout. We went to Perception Park, the same place we were last year where we went river tubing. Three more days on a river...we had so much fun. On Saturday afternoon, once we had camp all cleaned up, a bunch of us floated down stream a mile and a half, where all the cars were waiting for us. Laura, Craig, Christian, Emma, Hallie, Mikayla, me, Mckenzie, and Brock and Dane Anderson all went on this last adventure. Dane, who I think is three, was sitting on his dad's lap. About twenty minutes into the trip, Dane suddenly got off his dads tube and went over and got on with Craig. It was so random, even Craig was taken back a little by this sudden and unexpected move. Just seconds later, we got into some pretty swift water that drug us into some thick shrubbery. Brock was the closest to the edge and it pulled him under and drug him for awhile. I think he was a little scared for his life for just a few seconds. Craig, and the rest of us just drifted through without any trouble. As soon as it was over, someone said, "Wow, I think Dane was inspired to move to Craig's tube". It was the craziest thing ever. The Lord works in mysterious ways. I guess even little children can follow promptings.
We had a really fun, exciting week. This week we will be cleaning, organizing and school shopping. Only one week left before the kids are back in school.
We were just watching the evening news and saw that Sugarland was about to perform at the fairgrounds in Indianapolis last night, when a storm came in. The stage blew down killing at least five people and injuring dozens more. Pretty wild!
I hope you are keeping a journal so that you can remember this time of your life and so that you can see the spiritual progress you are making.
Life is good! The church is true. God loves you!
I love you!
Mom
Hello,
We had a great week. We had a ton of great lessons and gained a few new investigators. We're also moving out of our rodent infested apartment and are getting a new one, which is possibly the best news of the week.
Gabby's baptism is this weekend. We're really excited for it. There's going to be a ton of people there. The support the ward is showing is great. I really love this ward. It'll be a sad day when I get transferred.
The storm on Saturday night was pretty crazy. It just hit us out of nowhere. The rain was pounding down, and there was lightning everywhere with really loud thunder. There's nothing like an Indiana thunderstorm. They're really cool. The whole sky lights up and you can see the storm happening miles away.
Love you,
Jared
P.S. I've been a good boy and written in my journal every day. :)
Hello Jared,
I am so happy to hear that you are staying in Plainfield. We are praying for Gabby and hope that she gets baptized this week. That's exciting about the Mormon.org ad campaign. Hopefully that will get you a lot of new investigators!
We had a super fun week here. The kids and I packed up and headed for the Snake River. Roger and Becky threw a graduation party for Rylee and let her invite 15 friends to run the river with her. They asked me to be a chaperone. We had a good time. Teenagers are so much fun! Mikayla is super crazy on the river, so of course, she fell in at Lunch Counter. It was a little scary for me as I watched her fear filled eyes as she bobbed up and down through the rapids. It took me a minute to get to her and get her back in the raft. When it was all over, she was laughing and having a good time. She was proud of her accomplishment, as she should be!
We got back on Wednesday afternoon. I did some laundry, went grocery shopping, and repacked. We left Thursday morning for our ward Campout. We went to Perception Park, the same place we were last year where we went river tubing. Three more days on a river...we had so much fun. On Saturday afternoon, once we had camp all cleaned up, a bunch of us floated down stream a mile and a half, where all the cars were waiting for us. Laura, Craig, Christian, Emma, Hallie, Mikayla, me, Mckenzie, and Brock and Dane Anderson all went on this last adventure. Dane, who I think is three, was sitting on his dad's lap. About twenty minutes into the trip, Dane suddenly got off his dads tube and went over and got on with Craig. It was so random, even Craig was taken back a little by this sudden and unexpected move. Just seconds later, we got into some pretty swift water that drug us into some thick shrubbery. Brock was the closest to the edge and it pulled him under and drug him for awhile. I think he was a little scared for his life for just a few seconds. Craig, and the rest of us just drifted through without any trouble. As soon as it was over, someone said, "Wow, I think Dane was inspired to move to Craig's tube". It was the craziest thing ever. The Lord works in mysterious ways. I guess even little children can follow promptings.
We had a really fun, exciting week. This week we will be cleaning, organizing and school shopping. Only one week left before the kids are back in school.
We were just watching the evening news and saw that Sugarland was about to perform at the fairgrounds in Indianapolis last night, when a storm came in. The stage blew down killing at least five people and injuring dozens more. Pretty wild!
I hope you are keeping a journal so that you can remember this time of your life and so that you can see the spiritual progress you are making.
Life is good! The church is true. God loves you!
I love you!
Mom
Hello,
We had a great week. We had a ton of great lessons and gained a few new investigators. We're also moving out of our rodent infested apartment and are getting a new one, which is possibly the best news of the week.
Gabby's baptism is this weekend. We're really excited for it. There's going to be a ton of people there. The support the ward is showing is great. I really love this ward. It'll be a sad day when I get transferred.
The storm on Saturday night was pretty crazy. It just hit us out of nowhere. The rain was pounding down, and there was lightning everywhere with really loud thunder. There's nothing like an Indiana thunderstorm. They're really cool. The whole sky lights up and you can see the storm happening miles away.
Love you,
Jared
P.S. I've been a good boy and written in my journal every day. :)
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Gabe
August 7, 2011
Dear Jared,
Whew! Still life in the fast lane. Summer is flying by! We're down to the last couple of weeks before school starts. And we have another really full week ahead of us.
This past week has been interesting to say the least. We had two Italians living with us who don't speak a word of English. It was really tough at first, but then I found an online translator and things got easier after that. It's still tough to get to know someone really well when you can't actually speak to them. All the trips in the car are silent because we don't have the translator. I am taking them to Music and the Spoken Word on temple Square today, and then they leave this afternoon.
Do you remember Gabe Hanson, Cooper's little brother? They lived in our ward a few years ago. Anyway, their stake did Quest, like ours, and he got home last Saturday. Later that day, a group of kids decided to have a big swim party at someones house. They all piled into a Ford explorer. There weren't enough seat belts for everyone, so Gabe and one other kid hopped into the back cargo area. The 17 year old girl who was driving went down a dirt road a little too fast, lost control and rolled the vehicle. The two in the back were ejected. Gabe died instantly. Everyone else survived.
Your dad and I went to the viewing on Wednesday night. We got there at 6:40 and stood in line to talk to the family until 10:05. I have NEVER seen such a big crowd before. Gabe liked to wear hot pink Vans and everyone knew it. I guess Vans caught wind of it and sent more than 30 pair of pink vans to the family as well as key chains and lots of stickers which they passed out at the viewing. They all had on these shoes as well as hundreds of his school friends. It was pretty cool. Many kids couldn't find pink ones, since they were all sold out so they resorted to dying their own pink shoes. It was awesome to see such support.
His dad told me that night that Gabe had gotten his learners permit just four days before he died and that he had signed up to be an organ donor. He was able to donate four organs. He said "Gabe had his spiritual bags packed and was ready to go". He had the opportunity to share his testimony four times in the last month. He was a good kid and lived an honorable life. My heart breaks for his family. I cannot imaging losing a child, but I do know that having the Gospel of Jesus Christ makes death a whole lot easier. We know we will get to live with them again.
Taylor and Mikayla spent most of the week at youth conference. They went to Flaming Gorge to run the river and to go boating. They had a good time.
Cherish every day and enjoy the journey. Life is short.
I love you with all my heart!
Mom
Hey,
Transfer calls were this morning and it looks like I'm staying with Elder Bair in Plainfield for another six weeks! Elder Bair's going to be District Leader though. Plainfield's got a lot of great stuff going for it and I'm excited to stay here.
Oops. I accidentally sent that last letter. It's a little short, but I guess that's all you need since Sister Melton already told you everything.
Our ward has grown a lot in the last few weeks. We've had a lot of families moving in. We did three moves this week. We also learned this week that there's going to be a HUGE Mormon.org ad campaign going on next month. It was supposed to be in Las Vegas, but due to some politics, it got moved to Indianapolis. It's going to be the biggest advertising campaign the church has ever done. We're really excited for that.
It's sad to hear the news about Gabe. It breaks my heart. I hope his family is doing ok.
Love,
Jared
Dear Jared,
Whew! Still life in the fast lane. Summer is flying by! We're down to the last couple of weeks before school starts. And we have another really full week ahead of us.
This past week has been interesting to say the least. We had two Italians living with us who don't speak a word of English. It was really tough at first, but then I found an online translator and things got easier after that. It's still tough to get to know someone really well when you can't actually speak to them. All the trips in the car are silent because we don't have the translator. I am taking them to Music and the Spoken Word on temple Square today, and then they leave this afternoon.
Do you remember Gabe Hanson, Cooper's little brother? They lived in our ward a few years ago. Anyway, their stake did Quest, like ours, and he got home last Saturday. Later that day, a group of kids decided to have a big swim party at someones house. They all piled into a Ford explorer. There weren't enough seat belts for everyone, so Gabe and one other kid hopped into the back cargo area. The 17 year old girl who was driving went down a dirt road a little too fast, lost control and rolled the vehicle. The two in the back were ejected. Gabe died instantly. Everyone else survived.
Your dad and I went to the viewing on Wednesday night. We got there at 6:40 and stood in line to talk to the family until 10:05. I have NEVER seen such a big crowd before. Gabe liked to wear hot pink Vans and everyone knew it. I guess Vans caught wind of it and sent more than 30 pair of pink vans to the family as well as key chains and lots of stickers which they passed out at the viewing. They all had on these shoes as well as hundreds of his school friends. It was pretty cool. Many kids couldn't find pink ones, since they were all sold out so they resorted to dying their own pink shoes. It was awesome to see such support.
His dad told me that night that Gabe had gotten his learners permit just four days before he died and that he had signed up to be an organ donor. He was able to donate four organs. He said "Gabe had his spiritual bags packed and was ready to go". He had the opportunity to share his testimony four times in the last month. He was a good kid and lived an honorable life. My heart breaks for his family. I cannot imaging losing a child, but I do know that having the Gospel of Jesus Christ makes death a whole lot easier. We know we will get to live with them again.
Taylor and Mikayla spent most of the week at youth conference. They went to Flaming Gorge to run the river and to go boating. They had a good time.
Cherish every day and enjoy the journey. Life is short.
I love you with all my heart!
Mom
Hey,
Transfer calls were this morning and it looks like I'm staying with Elder Bair in Plainfield for another six weeks! Elder Bair's going to be District Leader though. Plainfield's got a lot of great stuff going for it and I'm excited to stay here.
Oops. I accidentally sent that last letter. It's a little short, but I guess that's all you need since Sister Melton already told you everything.
Our ward has grown a lot in the last few weeks. We've had a lot of families moving in. We did three moves this week. We also learned this week that there's going to be a HUGE Mormon.org ad campaign going on next month. It was supposed to be in Las Vegas, but due to some politics, it got moved to Indianapolis. It's going to be the biggest advertising campaign the church has ever done. We're really excited for that.
It's sad to hear the news about Gabe. It breaks my heart. I hope his family is doing ok.
Love,
Jared
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