Sunday, July 12, 2015
Dear Riley,
The weather made a big jump from the two weeks of 100+ days we’d been having to cool and low 80’s with thunderstorms and rain. And did you remember me saying this week was girls’ camp for Elise? Poor things! They had rain/hail/thunderstorms/rain/cold/rain and more thunderstorms the entire time. Dad and I took dinner up Friday night and as we pulled into camp, HG greeted us with, “Ve have been cleansed! Six hours of sunshine the entire week.” Their theme was We are Unsinkable. Man, talk about driving the point home. There were riverlets running through camp when rain came, which it did while we were there.
I took shredded chicken nachos for the dinner which was pretty easy and quite delicious. And the Ss sent up strawberry shortcake for dessert. Just after the dessert T did the object lesson sometimes used in seminary with the donuts and the push ups, but she made it sit ups. SE was the one “purchasing” donuts for each of us and couldn’t be helped or relieved and had to do it even if the girls didn’t want a donut. I cried as the lesson proceeded and girls didn’t want to take a donut; they become blood donuts. Elise never did eat her donut even in the morning. After that lesson S started our testimony meeting and ¾ through, hail descended upon us. T had set up a large tent that’s like a car port. We moved into that and held our meeting in there. That’s just how the week went for them.
I have book club at my house this month. We were going to remodel the front room because it’s been on the list for some time, but BS got a big, urgent job and so he can’t do our millwork and Dad wants his work. So I’ve just got to make what we have looks nice. I oiled the kitchen cabinets Tuesday. Wednesday I disassembled and cleaned the kitchen ceiling fan and put new LED lightbulbs in. Thursday I touched up all the paint scuffs in the living room/kitchen and cleaned the door to the garage. It feels like a new house! Why didn’t I do that before? Really, it looks GOOD! Friday I took shoe polish to the front room sofa to dye the scuffs and wear. They look so much better. I still have to touch up all the trim, figure what to do with my destroyed drapes, and clean the windows and the carpet. But I like what I’m getting.
Parker is healing up pretty well, eating normal foods again. He had A over for a movie night Friday with Cambry as chaperone because Dad and I were gone. Then Cambry had T after.
Cambry and T are getting along great in the little time he has away from work. He is kind and she feels safe with him. They went up to Ogden this week for Core Encore, a professional marching band competition he goes to with his dad each year. They got caught in one of those thunderstorms Elise suffered through on the way home and had to pull off the freeway the rain was so intense. He is taking her up to Ogden again today to a youth fireside and then a special dinner at which they will meet Elder Christofferson.
Aleah was bored about to death this week without Elise and RT was out of town as well. She even cleaned to stave off the boredom. Josie said so many funny things this week. But I was busy and didn’t write them down and Elise wasn’t here to capture them for me. Sorry.
I learned some about your new mission president this week through FB. I read their blog entry from their first week and comments on FB posts. This is what I gleaned: he served in your mission 30+ years ago and was an exemplary missionary. Maybe she served there too? But they met back in institute. He played professional basketball in the era of Michael Jordan and Karl Malone. They live in Kaysville or Fruit Heights? They are super nice and good people. He is focused on retention and has loved reuniting with converts he helped on his mission. They have a crazy schedule. They are proud grandparents.
I saw glimpses of you at transfer meeting, just glances. You look great.
So tell me about your new companion: what’s his name, where’s he from, how long has he been out, does he have a blog, what other areas has he served in?
I thought a lot about you today as the S’s spoke in sacrament meeting. She is a convert to the church since 2006. She was raised by a Catholic mother and an atheist father. She chose atheism for a religion and loved to bait and batter religious people. But when she went to Mexico for some time, her great grandmother died at 106. She began contemplating on the purpose of life and began investigating religions, Christianity was at the bottom of the list. She was in her freshman year of college and things were really rough for her. Her aunt is a member and began teaching her a little. She asked for a Book of Mormon, but really she just wanted it to batter her aunt’s faith with it. Her aunt sent missionaries to her work and she started to learn. She wouldn’t keep commitments to read and she refused to pray. Yet she continued to meet the missionaries. One day she randomly opened the Book of Mormon to Ether 12:27 about those who come unto Christ having their weaknesses turned to strength. For the first time she considered that God had been reaching to her in the trials she had suffered and that thought broke her heart enough to begin to pray. She continued to learn and one day as she was working out, she felt strongly that she needed to be baptized. She immediately called the missionaries and told them she wanted this. Her aunt then called to make certain she was serious, not mocking. She wanted to be sure that she grasped that this was serious! Turns out her aunt had commanded the missionaries to refrain from teaching baptism. When Sister S realized that she could have been baptized earlier she felt a little cheated! She served a mission and is married and expecting her first child really soon.
The Spirit was so strong in the meeting. But what’s even more touching is that TC spoke before her. He talked about his speech difficulty and used that same Ether scripture to talk about his faith that this weakness will indeed become his strength. The Spirit is so cool! T hadn’t been given an assigned topic nor that scripture to use.
I love you so much. I hope you’re doing great! When does monsoon start there?
Love,
Mom
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