May 31, 2015
Re: Letter 26 of 3
Dear Riley:
Well, it looks like we made it through May. School’s out, I only have a handful of hours and a couple more obligations and we step into June. At 4:00 AK is receiving his Eagle. At 7:00 we have the Seminary Awards Assembly. As I look back on the Month I’m astounded at all you can compress into five weeks. Now we’re thrust into the summer months with Youth Conference next weekend, Girl’s Camp, Scout Camp…
Thursday marked the end of the wet and cooler weather. Today is probably upwards of 80 degrees. The sun is brilliant, the sky is almost cloudless. I got sunburned and slightly dehydrated working in the yard yesterday. This is a significant contrast to Thursday which was in the upper 40’s for the first half of the day. The elementary kids danced soaking wet in rain (many dressed in shorts and tee shirts) and I worried that conditions were ideal for hypothermia. 10 minutes following the end of the Dance Festival the sun came out, and the temperature soared up to 70 F before the end of the day. Surprisingly, all the rain notwithstanding, I went to dig a dandelion in the front lawn and found dry crumbly soil two inches below the surface just yesterday. Either the well drained soil simply doesn’t retain moisture, or the amount of actual precipitation was insufficient to penetrate deeply.
The rain brought a pestilence of snails and I didn’t fully appreciate the forces marshaled against my flowerbeds and garden until I finally put out poison bait in strategic locations. In the days that followed, I was amazed but pleased at the results; Dozens upon dozens of dead and dying mollusks in every corner. Generally I consider myself a necessary bane to the snails; Parker the nearly psychopathic serial snail killer; and your mother a fairly ambivalent spectator to the whole situation. The other day I came out of the front door to find a massive green and yellow stain amidst remnants of salt and copious amounts of dried slime in the middle of the front walk. The evidence was self explanatory, but what made it most amusing was that your mother had been the one to dump salt on a hapless large snail unfortunate enough to cross her path. Ha ha! Who ever dreamed she was capable of such devious means…
Monday we had the Ward Memorial Day celebration and it was a success. We held it under a pavilion at the City Park and probably had around 200 in attendance. M and S B managed the organization and did a fine job. It was raining an hour before, but cleared up for the event. The food was delicious and seemed plentiful, but quickly disappeared. While there may have been some individuals who didn’t get exactly what they wanted, we had food left over and no one should have left hungry unless they had particular dietary restrictions. The youth were up early putting up over 70 flags throughout the neighborhood. It looked impressive and Parker said he felt a surge of patriotism as swells of Apollo 13 Main Theme filled the neighborhood. (Bishop’s wakeup reveille.) The Cemetery looked beautiful and I enjoyed the break away from work and a little extra time with family.
Brother T let us know where you were transferred. It seems a little sad that you’re moving on and that a powerful companionship has come to an end. We enjoyed your last letter and the commentary on the pictures. It’s truly miraculous to see the gospel transform lives. What a blessing you were able to wrap up your work in the area with some baptisms. Considering where things used to be a couple decades ago, I think it’s fair to say that the field is white in Thailand and I expect you are only seeing the front end of some amazing things. The blessings from your service are undeniable and we can’t begin to say just how pleased we are with your progress. Stay true and keep your chin up.
Love,
Dad
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