It's Spring!!

March 21, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

So fun to get your recording this morning. Your voice is still as beautiful as ever and I’m so happy you get chances to share it with the wards you are in. How fun too that your companions all were part of it. :)

It’s spring break here in Eagle. Yesterday in church there were a lot of people missing as usual. The girls tell me that all their friends are going to Hawaii, haha. Sometimes it seems that way, but I’m sure it’s probably more like two of their friends. We’re sticking around here this week since we are planning a trip to Chicago next month. I can’t remember if I told you already, but I made a huge mistake when we were booking our trip cuz I looked up spring break for Meridian school district, but it turns out that Meridian school district is in Washington, so we booked the wrong week. The girls are more than happy about having to miss school. haha

So we’re just going to plan little day trips and adventures this week. Right now Nikki is up making waffles-that’s probably her favorite adventure. Food is still her love and when I try to help her cut back, she gets upset, so I’ve stepped out. The girls have to weigh every Monday though so at least they can see what direction their weight is going. I don’t mind what they weigh, but when it starts affecting their health, then it’s a problem. So we have talks every so often, but much less often than before. Yesterday they made a cake shaped like a bunny! They were so excited to make it and wouldn’t let me help at all. So of course they didn’t follow directions, added another cake mix into it since it didn’t look like it was enough, put in too much water, etc etc. It turned out really cute looking, but even the girls won’t eat it cuz when they tried it, they didn’t like it. I didn’t try it at all, but it must be really bad for them not to like it. Poor bunny…

Dad and I are in the marriage and family relations class now at church. The Langford’s teach it and I love having them for teachers. Sooo good. The best thing I learned yesterday was that we should learn to have faith that the best is yet to come. They said so many times in marriages it feels like the best was right at the beginning, but we need to believe that if we are obedient, keeping the commandments as a couple and doing our best, that Heavenly Father will bless our marriages especially in the life to come. So that’s my new mantra-the best is yet to come!

Leah just got back from the Parks next door. She is going to be watching their 3 dogs, 3 cats for spring break to earn some money which she really needs it. I’m happy she’s doing that. Nikki is going to help Rachael with a babysitting job today. Then they have Taekwondo tonight. Dad is working today but has the next 3 days off, so we’ll do our bigger adventures later. The girls are going to go with me to antique stores today to help me look for some plates to replace the ones I broke when I was dancing in the house. Yes, that’s what I was doing and it wasn’t pretty and I made a huge mess and the loud noise really scared the girls and the dogs. You would have been laughing. So that’s our plan for today.

Well, I’m back from visit teaching and I got your note about BYU. I’ll give them a call today and see what’s up. If I hear something today, I’ll write back quickly.

Kirk and Sarah went to Canada over the weekend for Brett’s wedding. They said it was quick, but had a great time. Here’s a couple pics from their trip.

 

Thank you for sending the words to your song, because after I listened to it, I was actually humming it and wishing I could remember the words. :)

I hope you got the package I sent last week. It’s always fun getting things to put in the packages. I sure hope you have a wonderful Easter. I had the ladies from Jehovah’s Witnesses stop by a couple days ago and it was actually really nice talking with them about what Christ did for us and they actually celebrate His last supper and say that they celebrate on the actual day that it happened which will be this Wednesday, so they were inviting me to their meeting. Then they showed me a new video that their church made about how nice it would be to have people living in peace on this earth and that’s what we can have if we would just believe in Christ. It kind of reminded me of a movie our church would make. But they told me that they were showing it to everyone door they went to and that lots of people would actually cry when they watched it. So I think people right now are particularly open to hearing about what Christ can do for them in their lives and even if they will just watch one of the church videos on your iPad, I think they would enjoy that and this week before and after Easter is the perfect time to talk about what they can have in their lives if they just let Him enter. The ladies that always come to our door know that I am Mormon, so I like being able to remind them that we believe in the same Jesus Christ and believe that He is truly the author of our peace. 

You sound like you are in some fun wards there! Yesterday our high councilor talked about growing up in western Canada and remembering how much it meant for them to have full time missionaries in their ward and the strength they could always feel from them and the things they learned from them even though they were already members. So always remember your influence is more widespread than you probably think. The little children watch you, the youth watch and listen to you and the adults learn from you as you humbly enter their homes and share your testimony with them. You’re living so close to the spirit that you probably don’t realize that you are being sent to certain homes at certain times when you are needed the most, and you may never even hear that, but Heavenly Father knows each of us by name and knows He can depend on you to be there and to open your mouth. I loved hearing the high councilor talk about how much the missionaries meant to him and he even remembered some very specific things that some had said and this was over 40 years ago.

I know I’ve said this before, but I’m so grateful for your example to me. You’re the full time missionary in my life and you have taught me a lot. Keep up the beautiful positive attitude, it’s infectious. 

Love you,

Mom xxoo