Sunday, January 04, 2015
RE: Letter 5 of 3
Dear Riley:
Happy New Year!! Wow,
can you believe it? Another week just
whisked by. New Year’s Day came without
a lot of fanfare on our part. New Year’s
Eve we went to the Y’s party which was more sparsely attended than last
year, but very enjoyable. We learned to
play a new game called “Qwirkle”. It’s a
little like dominos but has more depth and strategy. (I think we’ll be buying this one.) We ended up staying longer than was wise for
your Mom and her ear started giving her trouble. We left a little before ushering the New
Year. Blast that Ramsay Hunt! This will be nearly a year since Mom ended up
in the hospital. She continues to
improve, but what a long road to complete recovery.
I turned off my phone
and spent the better part of New Year’s Day bundled up in the garage working on
the shelves. One section is completed
and looks great. Before I could even
begin to work on the shelves, I had to dig out the back patio which had snow
drifts nearly two feet deep in places.
The snow had covered my saws and my wood and it took me nearly two hours
to render the space and my tools usable.
The snow is now back on the grass where it belongs, and my saws are just
a little worse for wear following the ordeal.
One thing about bitter cold temperatures is the snow doesn’t melt during
the day, so the steel didn’t rust much.
Mom, Cambry, and I went to see Unbroken New Year’s evening.
Everyone should read the book, but I can’t think of anyone I’d recommend
the movie to. What a
disappointment!! I discovered another
type of movie I think. This is the movie
which so wholly misses the point of the book, that you spend the next couple of
days rewriting the movie script. Your
Mother said that this is what happens when a Godless heathen tries to take a
faith based story and turn it into a movie.
They have no core of faith and aren’t comfortable with the concept that
we, of ourselves, are nothing, and that a power greater than our own is
required to lift us up from the dust and the shackles of the natural man. Cambry went to see Into the Woods yesterday and came home raving about it. This was also on my “must see” list so I’m
encouraged at the prospect of not being disappointed with this one.
Friday evening was T B’s wedding. Leadelle didn’t feel well enough to go, so
Cambry and I went. We sat with the
Brousseaus and had a nice chat. Chris
Brousseau just hit 15 months and seems to really be enjoying his mission. MB said he would like to be
included on your email list.
I guess Mom already
told you about the flood over in the L’s (T) home yesterday, so I won’t
repeat the details. I’ll just say that
the level of destruction was overwhelming initially and it took a little while
to decide on a course of action and hit our groove. I have never seen this level of damage from
water in a home first hand, I have never seen so many Ward members rally so
quickly to assist, and never witnessed a disaster cleanup company move so
quickly. The whole response was a thing
of beauty and impressive to witness. They
estimate at least two months of reconstruction.
Several ward members who came to assist mentioned turning
their water off and draining their lines whenever they left their home for a
trip. Before seeing this disaster up
close, I would have considered this a little excessive. However, now it doesn’t seem extreme in the
least. For the Ls, it was the crowning
jewel on an already difficult week. They
had been on a family trip and had to change plans suddenly for an unexpected
funeral of a Grandparent. While going to
the funeral, they hit some black ice and went off the road. This caused $10,000 in damage to their
vehicle which only had liability coverage, so the insurance won’t cover
it. (Additionally, their vehicle won’t
be repaired until the end of the month.)
They had to fly the remainder of the way to the funeral and then flew
home. They finally got back to Orem late
Saturday morning to find their home flooded, maybe 1/3 of their possessions
ruined, and once again without any insurance coverage. TOUGH WEEK!
As it worked out, they’ll be moving into the M’s former home,
midweek, so all the salvaged possessions in the moving van are just moving a
block away and they have the comfort of knowing where they’ll be staying for
the next four months until B graduates.
Congratulations on your calling as a Zone leader. I’m not surprised in the least, and expected
you would be in some level of leadership while in the MTC. You’ll do great! Keep up the good work and remember that the
success of your mission isn’t contingent upon whether you serve in high
leadership within the mission. However,
if you work hard, be obedient, and remain dependent on the Lord for your
success, he will utilize you to your utmost capacity to further His work. This means you can expect miracles, and for
you…leadership.
Well, time to get ready for bed. We love and miss you, pray for you daily, and
are so pleased with the caliber person you are.
We love hearing from you and, as you might have already guessed, are
somewhat obsessed with getting letters and packages to you. Hope you got the sourdough bread while it was
still fresh. We almost didn’t make the
window. Looking forward to your letter
tomorrow!
Love,
Dad
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