Fasting Works

July 23, 2012

Dear Jared,

This week Hallie and I taught a card making class at the Rec Center for a dozen little kids. It was pretty fun, but it's nice to have it behind me.  It's a lot of work.

Our traditional parade attendance was put to a test this week as we were a family divided. Some man here in our area had a dream of trying to put together a parade entry with 2000 strippling warriors. When I first heard about the idea, I thought it sounded so great. I was excited for Taylor to be a part of this monumental accomplishment. Here's where the division part comes into play. Dad was violently opposed to the idea. He said that no son of his would take part in such an activity that was ostentatious and would hinder the missionary work here in the valley. He refused to go to the parade, so the kids and I went without him. I think that is the first time he hasn't gone with us.  The crowds at the parade were bigger than ever and it was difficult to even find a place where we could get close enough to see. The parade was nice, about like usual, but then came thousands of young men dressed in ancient tunics, each carrying a walking stick. It was quite an overwhelming sight. They went on as far as the eye could see. They stopped in front of us, pounded their sticks on the ground faster and faster, then they all shouted, "WE DID NOT DOUBT!"

Wow", I got chills, and instantly got tears in my eyes. I thought it was a neat experience and was worth it.  I'm anxious to see if it makes it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the larges parade entry.

After the parade, it was off to the fireworks. Bountiful did a good show this year. We enjoyed them a lot.

Well, Taylor is already off to work, and we are off the the girls dentist. It's going to be one of those days. 

Hope you're surviving the heat. We love you!

Mom

Hey,

 

We had a week full of miracles again. First was on Tuesday. Elder Tobler and I got a referral from Mormon.org about a month ago. We called her to set up an appointment but she told us she was busy for the next three weeks. Well, we finally got an appointment with her. Her name's Karen, and she's great. She has a lot of buisiness associates from Salt Lake City, and the owner of the buisiness is a member. She told us she loves how the company operates and the good people that work there. She wanted to know what made them the way they were. So, she got on Mormon.org and requested a missionary visit. We met her outside of a cafe in downtown Carmel. Karen ordered some breakfast before we sat down to talk. When the waitress brought her food out she immedietly recognized us as missionaries. She stopped and talked to us for a minute and told us one of her high school boyfriends was a member and went on a mission. It was a pretty nice surprise. She went back inside and we taught Karen about the Restoration. She told us she might want to come to church sometime and she had a few questions. The waitress came back out right on time to hear us talking about church. She chimed in and said she went to her first Easter service last year with her Mormon friend. She said she was a little scared to go because she thought she would be judged and looked down upon, but the opposite was true. She pretty much bore her testimony  to Karen about how great church was. It was sweet. It reminded me about the scripture, "in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established".

 

We also had another miracle on Sunday. The whole stake was fasting for rain so we joined in and also decided to fast for the Sibandas. When we were in Elders Quorum and there were a few new people in the ward introducing themselves. One of them got up and told us that he was in charge of housekeeping at one of the nearby hospitals, and they are in constant need of housekeepers. This is a perfect job for Sister Sibanda. She works as a housekeeper at JW Marriott right now and can't get work off on Sundays. We talked to the member after church and he told us this job will pay better and they're really flexible with Sundays. Once she gets an application in we'll call him and he'll pull it out and review it. Fasting works!

 

We also got Brother Thompson to church and Madeline is back at her dad's house so we can start teaching her again.

 

What a week!

 

Love you,

 

Jared

A New Companion, Elder Smith

July 16, 2012

Hello Jared,

I heard on the radio this morning that we are in one of the top ten worst droughts in recorded history and so far in Utah this year there have been 426 wild fires that were started by man. Fortunately, we have  had a few days of cooler weather lately to give us a little reprieve from the scorching hot sun.  

Taylor spent last week at Scout Camp by Jackson Hole. They did white water rafting, a ropes course and shooting. He had a good time and actually had some fun.

Dad want to Vernal to go fishing with Dennis for the weekend so that just left me and the girls home alone. Once again we had a pretty quiet week.

I ran into Peterson's in the store the other day. They asked how you were doing and gave me a quick report on Travis. He really loves his mission, but he's been in five bike accidents, wrestled with a few alligators and Susie even got a call from the Mission Presidents wife. She said Travis was in the hospital. He had some weird things going on, like numbness one one side of his body. Because Travis has a heart condition, Susie immediately thought he had had a stroke. The Mission Presidents wife said she would call back after the doctors had a chance to look over the tests to determine the problem. After a very long wait, the call finally came. The voice on the phone said, "I am so sorry. (pause) Elder Peterson isn't the patient. It's his companion. I called the wrong mom." Susie said she could hear Travis in the background laughing hysterically. He thought it was hilarious that she had made such a big mistake and called the wrong family and gave them a scare. Travis was fine! Susie was furious with Travis though. Haha the companion even ended up being fine too. Funny story.

Have a happy Monday. We love you tons!

Mom

Hey,

 

 

Well, Elder Matthews and Elder Tobler are gone and I've got a new companion, His name is Elder Smith (one of four in our mission). He's from Casa Grande, Arizona. I like him a lot. He's a hard worker and we're getting a lot done together. Also new in our apartment (the frat house) are Elder Bushman from Mesa, Arizona, and Elder Hadlock, from Vernal.

 

We had another great lesson with Brother Thompson this week. We talked a lot about how his kids look up to him and how he needs to set the example. He said he'd be at church this week, but he didn't show. Kind of a disappointment.

 

We had some miracles happen yesterday though. We had dinner scheduled with a family in the ward for right after church at 2:30. Brother Holt came up to us at church and asked if we could do it at three instead. We decided that we'd get a ride to their house and do some tracting while they were making dinner. We decided to tract the next street over from them. There was a long string of doors where nobody answered. As we were on the last few houses we finally had someone answer the door. His name was Mike. When we told him we were missionaries he let us right in. He told us his sister was a missionary for another church for nine months. We sat down with him, and his sister, who also lives in the house. Mike told us all about how he had come to know God after some major trials in his life. He also told us that he was praying for guidance in his life last night. He told us he knew we were sent from God. We had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation with them. Mike was one of those people that you can tell has been humbled and prepared. A lot of the things we taught him went right along with what he believed.

 

I'm so grateful for the promptings of the spirit, and that we were able to follow them.

 

 

Love,

 

 

Jared

Mormon Missionary Fan Club

Hello Jared,

We had a pretty typical holiday week. We went to the fireworks up at Eaglewood on Tuesday night. Wednesday morning we went to Centerville to watch the parade with Craig and Laura. The kids got so much candy, it was a little crazy. That night we had a BBQ and did our own fireworks in the circle. In spite of the dry conditions, there we still so many fireworks going off in every direction. What a country.

Saturday we did a huge BBQ  our backyard for the people who bought "A smoked dinner from Kent" at the YW auction this spring. It was amazing and delicious. Your dad has certainly perfected the art of smoking. We invited a few extra people too, like the Sims. It was fun to chat with them, it's been awhile since we've actually got to visit with them. Stella is getting so big. She is walking all over the place. You won't recognize her when you get home.

Sunday morning I took the foreign exchange students, Joy and Jessica, to the bus.  They are headed off to California this week for a few days sightseeing and visiting theme parks. We won't ever see them again.

Mikayla has finally mastered the ability to drive a stick shift car. She's pretty excited about it. Dad took her driving again last night and when he came home, he gave me the two thumbs up. She can stop on a hill and get it going again.

Uncle Marion ended up having surgery to repair his clavicle. Now we will have matching titanium plates. Same side too. He's on the mend now.

Hope you are surviving the Indiana heat. Have an amazing week. We sure love you!

Mom


Hey,
 
We had a pretty fun Holiday week. We emailed on Monday but we had our Preparation Day on the fourth. We live right off Main St. in downtown Carmel so we walked over to the parade in the morning. We walked the streets looking for people we knew. We found a family from our ward and talked to them for a few minutes before we left to find more people. As we walked down the sidewalks in the 105 degree heat I'm pretty sure we got more looks than the parade did. It was hot and humid outside. After walking a little further down the street we saw a huge group of members. We had to cut across the street while the parade was going to get to them. As we did so, the entire group started clapping and cheering "Yeah! Mormon missionaries!" It was pretty funny.
 
We had to leave the parade a little early so we could make it to a lunch appointment. We went over to one of the senoir couples' apartments and had some Famous Dave's ribs with all the senior missionaries, the assistants, and President and Sister Collins. They were good ribs, but I've had better. We went to the stake center where we played dodgeball with all the other missionaries in the zone until dinnertime, when we went to the Westfield Ward's Bishop's house for dinner. We had a large group there where we had a great dinner and a lot of fun. Fireworks were banned this year, so it was kind of a strange Fourth of July. Other than the city's firework show, I didn't see or hear anything.
 
It's been a pretty slow week for the Carmel area. We've been working a ton in Westfield. That's ending pretty soon though. We got transfer calls today. I'm staying, but everyone else is leaving. The sisters are getting double transferred out and Elder Tobler and Elder Matthews are both leaving. I'll be back to Carmel full time and It'll be great.
 
 
Love you,
 
 
Jared

A Flaming Inferno

Good morning Jared,

What a flaming hot week here in Utah. We have had record breaking hot weather after a very dry, mild winter. We have had no rain for more than a month, making this hot, dry desert a tinder box. We have had countless wild fires burning all week. They are started so easily by target shooters, cars parked on weedy patches, barbecues, and careless actions by cigarette smokers.  It seems that every day we hear of another fire. It sort of feels like the last days when "the earth shall be burned as stubble"... 

Bountiful city outlawed fireworks East of Orchard Drive. Wahoo! Southview Circle is still on for our annual firework festivities, but we will be cleaning out the ditch before Wednesday to reduce the risk of fire. It is a big change from last year when they allowed all kinds of fireworks and the sky was exploding with color everywhere you looked. What a difference a year makes.

Ryan didn't have work for Taylor for a few days last week. He gets a little antsy with nothing to do and starts to drive me crazy. He and Hallie got into a huge pillow fight and started destroying the house, so I called Grandma to see if there was anything that Grandpa needed Taylor to do. Sure enough, he was wanting to work on his fire truck and get it ready to sell. Taylor and Hallie drove out (in dad's new car) on Friday morning and stayed until Sunday morning. Grandpa really appreciated the help and I got a little quiet time. Grandpa called me after they left to tell me how amazing Taylor is with fixing things and how much he helped him. He really is pretty handy. Hallie discovered that a donkey had just given birth and she was excited to be the first one to see it. It is pretty cute.

Mikayla went on a three day backpacking trip with the young women. She had the time of her life. They went up into the High Uintah's and did some fishing a long the way. They even ate the fish they caught. I am really proud of that girl for all she accomplishes. She was a trooper and loved every bit of the adventure. This morning she is off to BYU Idaho for OYA (Outdoor Youth Adventure.). She will do some crazy stuff; whitewater rafting, rappelling, ropes course and so much more. She will be gone all week. What a life!

Dad and I were home all alone on Saturday. That was weird. I hate the thought of everyone moving out. It's going to be so lonely.

Uncle Marion bought a mountain bike a few weeks ago. last Tuesday he went up in the mountains behind the Draper temple. I guess there are some pretty good trails. As he was coming down, he went over a small jump, caught a couple of inches of air and landed in some really soft dirt. The front tire dug in and he went over the handle bars. He tried to get up and get back on the bike, but he was in too much pain. He walked out the last mile of the trail. His buddy took him to the hospital where he spent the next few days. He broke his clavicle, and eight ribs, some in more than one place, and punctured a lung. I guess you could say he's not doing so great right now. Hahaha! Those stinking bikes can sure inflict a lot of pain. Luckily the human body is fantastic when it comes to repairing itself. He'll eventually recover. 

Mikayla did the music in Primary. She did so well. I was grateful to not have to do it, and she was excited to, so it worked out well. She has a natural music ability, and you should hear her sing. Wow! She is amazing.

Craig and Laura just announced last night that they are expecting. Baby #5 is due at the beginning of December. Hallie is so excited for them.  It'll be good to have more kids in the circle. It's getting kind of quiet around here.

Keep up the good work. We love you so much.

Mom


Hello,
 
It's been pretty hot and dry here as well. The normal green landscape of Indiana has turned yellow. We've had some rain in the past few days though and it's starting to cool down. We had a big storm roll through on Friday and there were even some tornados touching down. On Thursday we were helping a family in the Westfield ward move. It was about 105 that afternoon. After the move we all had to take showers and change because we were soaking in sweat.
 
We've had some great miracles this week. We had a great lesson with one of the less-active members we've been working with. You could tell it really touched her. She showed up at chruch on Sunday and received some great fellowship. There were some sisters in the ward that gave her big hugs and sat right next to her. It was really great to see.
 
On Monday, the Assistants to the President, who live down the street from us and go to the Westfield Ward, were shopping at Meijer and they had a cool experience. A family came up to them and introduced themselves. They just moved here from Virginia and the husband is a member. He was baptized in 2000 but went less-active for a long time. He's making his way back, and his wife and kids are not members. They wanted them to come over and start teaching them. Turns out, they live in our ward boundaries, so we'll be the ones going over. What a miracle!
 
Friday night we had a lesson with Brother Thompson. It's been hard to get ahold of him and we hadn't talked with him or seen him for five weeks. We ended up having a great lesson with him. The last time we saw him was when he went with us to Will's baptism in Westfield's ward. He had to leave the baptism early, but as he was leaving he told us, "Man, that really did it for me." When we went over this time we asked him about how he felt at the baptism. At the baptism they had the programs typed up and Will's testimony was written in it. Brother Thompson said as he read Will's testimony he felt like he received revelation for himself. He asked what would be expected of him after he was a member. Brother Thompson has come a long way. We're really close with him!
 
Last night was pretty cool as well. We had dinner with a new family in the ward. They're here for the Summer while he's selling security systems. As we were talking at dinner the ususal "Where are you from?" question came up. When I told them Bountiful he asked if I knew Amanda Wheeler. It's a pretty small world. He's friends with her from BYU Idaho. He's been to the Wheelers' house before so chances are, he's been razzed by dad. You should ask Amanda about Blake Bedke. 
 
After dinner we went to try by some potential investigators. We stopped by a woman named Martha and she was in her garage smoking. She put out the cigarette and we were able to have a lesson with her. She lives in a group home and one of the men that lives there as well came out during the lesson to listen to us. I'm not sure both of them are all there mentally. But they had a pretty good understanding of what we were talking about. It was a neat experience.  
 
Hope you have a good Fourth of July.
 
Love you,
 
Jared

Missionary Trio

Howdy Jared,

Another week has come and gone, this one was much less eventful than other weeks. We just hung out around the house.  I spent a lot of time quilting in my new studio. Taylor spent most of his time working on the car. Mikayla is doing summer school, so she is gone 7 hours a day. Dad was on a business trip in Las Vegas, so it was super quiet here. 

Dad said he came away from Vegas unscathed, mostly. He enjoyed a little change of pace. I guess what they say is true, "A change is as good as a rest."

Dad enjoyed a nice breakfast in bed to celebrate Fathers Day. Hallie made a really cute candy bar poster for him and Mikayla wrote a really heartfelt letter. For dinner we all ate TV dinners to commemorate fathers everywhere. What a great day. I sure do love your dad. He is such a great man and an awesome example for all of you. I hope you realize that. He understands the importance of being honest, honorable and faithful.  I sure did do a good job choosing him. I have a pretty amazing dad to look up to as well. He has always been a great role model for me and a fine example of what an honorable priesthood leader should be. I love my dad. I have life pretty good.

Today I taught the Relief Society lesson on Revelation and Inspiration.  I shared with the sisters how as a young mother I learned the very valuable lesson of listening to the still small voice. I told the story of how I ignored the promptings of the spirit that I should tell you to stop knocking icicles off the house. Of course I didn't listen, and as a consequence, you got your lip cut completely open by a very sharp icicle.  That's a lesson that I will never forget. I'm glad to hear that you have already learned in your young life to follow the promptings that you are given. I love hearing about all your experiences.

The gospel is true! God loves you. I love you. Have an amazing week.

Love,

Mom


Hello,
 
 
Well, this was our first week in a trio. Our companionship now consists of Elder Matthews, Elder Tobler, and me. On Monday we were biking to a dinner appointment, and man, heads really turn when they see three guys in white shirts and ties riding bikes. It was a fun ride. We even found a turtle on the way. We were biking down the sidewalk and saw a turtle about the size of a dinner plate. I decided to stop and pick it up and take it away from the road it was about to walk on and to take it over to the pond nearby. As a thank you for saving it's life, the turtle peed all over my leg. It was a warm thank you. Luckily, it's so hot right now that my pants were completely dry by the time we got to dinner.
 
On Tuesday we were biking to an appointment when the person we were supposed to meet with called and cancelled. We decided that we would knock on some of the apartments nearby. A man from Egypt named Michelle answered and after sharing a short message he invited us in to tell him more. The lesson went great...until the end. When we explained that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are seperate beings he couldn't take it. He started arguing and ended up telling us never to come back. Oh well though.
 
Saturday was really good. We biked a long ways in the hot sun to try by a potential investigator we've been trying to meet with for a long time now. We stopped by at just the right time. She told us that it was the three year anniversary of her husband's death. We answered a lot of her questions and taught a lot about the Plan of Salvation. She told us that the past two years, on the day of his death there has been a rainbow in the sky, even when it's not raining. She said that this year, we must have been the rainbow he sent. It was pretty cool.
 
Well, that's about all for this week.
 
Tell Dad happy Father's Day.
 
 
Love,
 
Jared

PBS Kids

Good morning Jared,

As you could have guessed, you're going to get a report about trek, since that is all we did last week.

Our theme was "Remember Miracles Happen", which turned out to be really sweet since it provided a great reminder along the way for everyone to watch for them. We experienced plenty of them along the way. One happened on the way home when our bus caught on fire. We didn't realize it because all the smoke was behind us, but cars started honking and someone called the fire department. By the time the bus stopped, the entire back of the bus was completely engulfed in smoke. We got everyone off safely and got on another bus. Somehow the fire went out by itself before the fire department arrived just minutes later. After the fact, it was more scary thinking about all the "what if's". I'm really grateful for that miracle. 

The whole experience was really neat for me. I had many moments where the spirit was very powerful which immediately brought me to tears. Perhaps the most touching moment of the trip was during the women's pull. They had a slightly uphill, very sandy path which was very difficult for many handcarts, since some of them only had three girls. The young men were standing on both sides of the road at the very end, with their hats held over their hearts, watching as the girls struggled past them. The biggest tear jerker came as the last cart pulled through. Three girls, the oldest was your sister Mikayla (15), a twelve year old sister and Marissa (14) who was born with only one leg. Marissa was determined to trek the entire 20 miles with her prosthetic leg. When they came through the lineup of boys, there was scarcely a dry eye. Some of the grown men were sobbing. It was a very tender moment to say the least.

Mikayla knew she had to be the strength in her family, and she was. I was so proud of her. Marissa, although she struggled, made the entire trek without a single complaint. She was never even tempted to get a ride on the handcart even with a lot of people offering. What an inspiration to us all.

There was so much more, but I will spare you all the details. Suffice it to say that at the end I reigned victorious in a massive whip creme fight with Zach Hosman. Unfortunately there IS video evidence to prove it. You should be so proud.

I am so grateful you are working for the Lord. I know you are in good hands and I can see your progress through each letter. 

I want to share with you a quote from Winnie the Pooh, which someone used at your graduation:
"You are braver than you know, stronger than you believe and smarter than you think".

Have an awesome week.

Love,

Mom

P.S. Pray for your dad. He is in Las Vegas all week. :)


Hey,
 
We've had some fun stuff happen lately. On Saturday we got to help out at a PBS Kids event in the park in downtown Indianapolis. It was pretty cool. We were the crowd control for all the PBS characters that were there. Elder Tobler and I were at the meet and greet tent with two characters called "Super Why" and "Wonder Red" where families could get their pictures taken with them. They came out alternating every thirty minutes and we were in charge of cutting off the line after the thirty minutes were up so the characters could have a break. There were some angry parents. Haha. It was a lot of fun though. There were about 40,000 people there.
 
We just dropped Elder Rawlins off at the mission home so he can go home and prepare for his mission in Washington in a few weeks. So, Elder Matthews, Elder Tobler and I will be in a trio for the rest of the transfer unless anyone else comes out soon. We all get along well so it's going to be fun. We'll be covering both areas so we'll be busy all the time.
 
Other than that stuff, it's been a pretty slow week.
 
Love you,
 
Jared

Guided by the Spirit

Hi Jared,

Did you get your new bike? I sent off the payment, so everything should be good. Please remember to lock it up with the lock they provided.

As you can imagine, this was a busy week, since it was the end of the school year. We were privileged to attend Honors Night at the school for Mikayla. She is a great student and was recognized for her amazing grades. We are really proud of her. Hallie is going to be the same way. She likes getting straight A's. They are much easier than boys who are accustomed to getting one-legged A's.

My bike ride was a lot of fun. I hope you got the pics of your dad and sisters dressed as hippies. Holy cow! That was funny. Taylor, as usual, avoided the camera, and there is no actual photo evidence that I really participated, so you're just going to have to take my word for it. No big crashes this year, and we were blessed that it was overcast for the first 50 miles, so it all turned out great! Love, Peace, Ride!

We are making final preparations for trek. I might be in a full fledged panic by tonight because there is still so much to do, but come Wednesday morning it won't matter anymore. We'll be off on a bus and ready for another adventure.

Mikayla is doing summer school his year. I just dropped her off at Woods Cross. She's taking Biology. I've heard that is a really fun class.

Well, I'd better get busy, time's a ticking. I love you and we never quit praying for your success and safety. Have another awesome week.

Love,

Mom


Hello,
 
Yes, I got the new bike and I'm locking it up all the time.
 
This week has been pretty crazy. We've had a lot of things happen. Transfers happened on Wednesday. Elder Tobler and I stayed, but one of the Elders in our apartment left. So, Elder Matthews, one of the Elders covering Westfield got a new companion who has been out for three months and has been struggling with some things. He ended up going home on Saturday morning. Poor guy. This is where things get really confusing... So, to replace this elder another elder that was in a tri-panionship in Avon got emergency transferred here. That elder is Elder Rawlins, he's on a mini-mission right now. He has a mild form of autism so they let him serve a three month mission here to see if he could handle it. He can, so he got a call to a mission in Washington. So, because he got emergency transferred here, he's now serving in his home ward until the 11th when he leaves for the MTC. After the 11th, Elder Tobler, Matthews and I will be serving together covering both areas for the next few weeks until another elder who broke his ankle comes back from recovering at home to be Elder Matthews' new companion. So because of this strange situation We had to do a little exchange on Sunday for church because Elder Rawlins can't be in the building his home ward is in. He and I went to a ward in Fishers while Elder Matthews and Elder Tobler went to church in Carmel and Westfield.  
 
So, that's the situation right now, and it's a little crazy here. We've had a very productive week.
 
We've had a lot of situations where we've really been guided on what we need to be doing. Most days this week we've had something unexpected come up and because of it, we haven't had time to do all that we planned for. On Friday we were stressing all day trying to find a member to go with us to an appointment that was ten miles away. We couldn't get there without a member because we don't have the car, and nobody was answering our calls. Our appointment ended up canceling on us, so we had to find something else to do instead. I had the thought to stop by a family we found tracting. We rode over there and they let us right in. We taught them the Restoration and it was great. They were really accepting! Tony and Sarah are an amazing couple.
Another time, it happened the next day. We had something come up that took away a lot of our afternoon, so we had to pick what plans we would use. We decided on visiting a less-active family we can barely ever get in contact with. We shared a short message about the ressurrection and what do you know? It was exactly what she needed to hear to comfort a friend.
 
And...it happened for a third time yesterday! We had originally planned to take a dinner break late in the evening but the Bishop of the Westfield ward invited us all over for dinner. After dinner we had about an hour and fifteen minutes to go somewhere. We decided to stop by Keith, and investigator we haven't been able to meet with because he's always flying out of town for work. We stopped by at just the right time and caught him home. We had a great lesson with him and the spirit was strong. We invited him to be baptized once he knew what we were sharing was true and he accepted!
 
This week has been full of amazing spiritual experiences. We're seeing a lot of progress in the area right now. I know that it's all building up right now, and soon, we're going to have a lot of people progressing. I know this work is true.
 
Love you,
 
 
Jared