Heat Wave!

June 28, 2015

Dear Sister Kristina,

So how have you been??? We are back home now and trying to keep cool. We are having some kind of crazy heat wave here and it was 110 today and is supposed to be in the hundreds for the next couple weeks!! And of course, on our way to Utah this past week, our air conditioning broke in the car. We were so sweaty by the time we got to Utah. haha We stopped at Kirk's Verizon store to say hi, but then we ended up staying a bit longer just so we could soak in all the coolness of the air conditioner. We got the car fixed in Utah, made it all the way home and then that night it broke again. :( So now dad is driving the hot black car to work each day so we can have his car to drive around in until it gets fixed again.

At church today it was Lauren's farewell. She did a great job. She mentioned how much it meant to her to have her friends on missions in Alaska, Calif, and Africa. Her grandpa, Elder Walker, even got to speak too. He talked about missions and even gave some great advice I thought I'd pass along to you. He said he once heard from Elder Packer some advice for all missionaries and loved it.

1. Declare your independence from the weather while on your mission. I really don't think you'll have a problem with this one since you're in paradise, but he said missionaries need to completely forget about the weather and just get to work. Don't worry what the forecast looks like.

2.Work hard. Elder Walker told a story about when he was set apart to go on his mission. Back in his day they were set apart by a general authority and there were 5 of them all leaving on their missions the same day and had to be set apart. He distinctly remembers as the first elder was set apart that in his blessing he was promised that he would return home safely from his mission. Then that same thing was said for the next three elders. When it was his turn, he never got that promise in his blessing and he immediately worried that he was going to die and not make it back home. So he decided he better just work as hard as he could. He said not getting that line in his blessing was the best thing that could have happened to him, because he worked so hard his whole mission.

Elder Walker also told us that missionaries may speak with hundreds, even thousands of people but very few of them may ever want to listen to you. He said it is our responsibility to share the gospel only. Whether or not they accept it is up to them. I enjoyed his talk very much. He knew it was going to be tough for Lauren, learning the language and being in Japan and wished so much that he could just give her his knowledge of the language to make it easier for her. He's really a wonderful man. But you already know that too!

One more thing I heard today in Sunday School that I thought was good. Our teacher said she loves the scripture, "many are called, few are chosen" but now changes the words in her mind every time she hears it to say "many are called and have we chosen?"

Sis. Langford gave a beautiful lesson on Freedom and Free Agency in RS today. I love listening to her. She has a great way of expressing her thoughts.

So last week, we drove to Utah on Tuesday and returned home Friday. We had fun spending time with Alex and Savannah, Sean and Blair and Kirk and Sarah and Addie. I know you probably don't want to hear this, but Addie is growing up so fast. She stands up and holds on to the furniture and walks all around. Sometimes she just stands all by herself, but doesn't take any steps. She's mimicking everything and it's so cute. I whisper little things in her ear and then she whispers back to me, Kirk taught her how to do a Tarzan thing, she says "ba" when she wants her ball and dances whenever she hears music. I'll tell Kirk and Sarah to send you little videos. Leah finished up with her neurofeedback treatments. She really does seem a lot happier and at peace with herself. Rebecca was wonderful to work with and she loved the quilt tops I made for her in exchange for partial payment. Here are some pics from last week:

Quilt wall hangings for Rebecca

Nikki and grandpa at Wild Wings

Eating ice

on the way home from Utah

Playing at City Creek

Keeping cool

Squishing in grandma and grandpa's car while ours was in for repairs

The quilt wall hangings I made for Rebecca. One for each of her six grown children. Her last name is Jolley, so that's why she loved these.

I've been having a lot of meetings trying to get JustServe.org ready for our stake. It's been up and running in your area for quite a while, so hopefully you've been able to use it to find opportunities for service in Santa Rosa. If you have any stories about that, let me know and I can share them with the wards. We're training the Bishoprics and RS presidencies this week. The missionaries are loving it here.

I talked with Emily today at church. I asked her if she had seen/talked with Braden yet. She went to his house after his homecoming talk and they talked for a little bit, but they're just working back into a friendship again. He's already in Provo working out with the basketball team, so she said they text a lot, but not sure what will happen when she gets there in the fall.

Andrea Grieve told me Kenedee told her how much your letters from the mission meant to her. She loved how positive you were about everything and it eased some of her fears. 

So how was your mission conference? I bet it was amazing and can't wait to hear. This week I'm trying to get caught up from being gone so much and oh yeah, Leah tested for her red belt on Saturday and did a great job. So now she's only a couple belts away from testing for black belt. I'm really proud of her.

We are well here, keeping busy, working hard, etc. etc. We sent a package to you from Utah. Let me know when you get it. We're always thinking of you and praying for you. Keep working hard, smile, help lift someone else's burden every day and always remember who you represent. 

I love you like crazy!!

Mom

xoxoxoxo