Conference 2

Oct. 3, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

Can you believe another conference has come and gone? I love conference so I actually love that it seems to come so often now. haha but that just means that time is going by so fast. What I really look forward to is going back over the talks. First I watch them again on TV because I record them all. There’s something about seeing and hearing them speak that I love. Then I go back over the talks in the Ensign and mark them and use them for family nights, etc. So I’m actually looking forward to conference again, one talk at a time. I hope you enjoyed each session. There were quite a few talks that really spoke to me and it seemed like so many talks were similar. I know that they are not assigned topics, so it’s the spirit speaking to them all and it’s obviously something we are in need of.

Dad just walked in from his shift in Mtn. Home. He says to say hi. He was busy the whole shift so he’s very tired. Mtn. Home is getting busier and busier. He used to be able to sleep through the night, but now he’s up most the night with patients. Plus they just started a new charting system and it’s really slowing things down. 

Last week I got to go to two quilt groups! Woohoo. I had my material girls meeting on Wednesday and we put together the homeless men’s bags. Some of us sewed, some of us got the cording ready for the bags, some of us ironed and some sorted through all the donated items and put them into the bags. I’m happy we were able to do this. Here are some of the supplies we all gathered.

One of the ladies in our group who isn’t a member did something like this last year on her own. I think she got motivated because she hears us sometimes talking about the humanitarian work we are doing in the church. She felt like the men on the streets get neglected a lot and that so many things get donated to the women’s shelters. She will deliver the bags in December. We put a lot of things into the bags that will help them through the cold winters.

As I’m writing, Claire just texted me and said there’s an opening in her apartment this Winter semester!!! And guess what…it’s actually a spot in her room!! So I’ll take care of that for you so everything will be set. Claire is calling me tonight.

Also last week I went for the first time to Kara Rhoton’s for a quilt group. She’s the wife of the counselor that Leah goes to and she just happens to be a quilter. She has a large sewing room so there are about 5 of us that met there. She’s so funny and very smart. She’s got about 4 nursing degrees in different areas. She wants to call our group the Strip Club because of the quilting pun there, but Dr. Rhoton thought that might offend dad for some reason. I told her that dad just laughed about the name so she might end up calling it that. At her house we just bring projects we are working on. She has about 5 sewing machines all set up in her room so we all have a place to get to work. I finished a quilt top this week. The Rhotons are a blended family. Dr. Rhoton had adopted 6 six with his first wife but he has full custody of them now. So he has a great insight into adoption,etc.

We got a letter from your mission president the other day and it explained everything that will be happening at the end of your mission. They’ve invited us to the fireside that takes place on Oct. 31st and then it says we have the option of taking you home with us from there or picking you up the next morning at the Oakland airport. Where we are staying will be kind of far from the airport so let us know when you’d like to come with us. If you want to come with us after the fireside or is there some place you would like to spend that night and we can pick you up from there in the morning. Either way is fine with us. With Alex we went to his fireside at night, then he spent the night at the mission home and we picked him up from there the next morning.

Last Wednesday for mutual the priests and laurels went to BSU to the institute. Have you ever been there? It’s a great place and much bigger than I thought. Students who enroll in institute get to park for free (that’s a big deal because parking is $350 a semester), they get free lunches and you can even take your BYU classes there and save money from taking them at BYU. They said a lot of students come home from BYU during the summer and take classes there that can transfer to BYU so they can save money. I thought that was a good idea. Anyway, I was impressed with it all, not sure what most the girls thought about it. :)

Sarah is still in Canada, so Kirk is just working and also getting a lot done in his online MBA course. He’s going to hang out with us this weekend. We’re leaving Wed after school to go to Utah. We’re staying with Steve and Carolina the first 2 nights, then Allen and Lisa the next two nights. Kirk will stay with us at Allen’s over the weekend. Alex and Savannah are flying into SLC Tuesday evening and they are staying for a week. So we’ve been busy trying to coordinate all our events with everyone. Dad, Alex, Leah and Nikki are going golfing on Thurs and Nash is celebrating his birthday on Friday night by going to Nickelmania. Somehow I think that might have been Alex’s idea. haha I’m sure the girls will go with them. I’m hoping we can get up into the canyon sometime because I bet it’s beautiful right now with all the fall foliage. We’ll also try to get to the Samoan ward.

Here’s a couple pics that Sarah sent from Canada:

Addie actually sitting on a horse, well, a pony, is a big deal. She usually cries and gets nervous about that, I was happy to see she had such a good time. I’m still so sad we don’t get to see them this weekend. 

I was wondering if there’s something the church has that lets investigators download  the Book of Mormon onto their phones? I also thought how great it would be for the serious investigators to get to have lds tools on their phones so they can read all the magazines, read conference talks, watch videos, etc. Do you missionaries have anything like that that’s available for them or do you still just give the hard copy Book of Mormon?  Just curious…

BYU finally won their first football game against Toledo and it was a crazy game 55-52. I stayed up til 12:30am watching the game and both teams just kept going back and forth scoring. It was fun to watch (now that it’s over) and Taysom Hill did a great job as quarterback, so I think he earned back the support of the fans. BSU also won. Can’t wait to see them play each other on the 20th.

Sean and Blair have liked their sailing lessons so much that they signed up for another years’ worth. I think they will both be captains by the time they finish. I have a feeling we will be going sailing with them some time next summer. They want all of us to come out and go with them. Alex has an interview for a job today. I really hope he gets it. He’s been without a job for too long now and this would be pretty good timing since he can start right after they get back from Utah. Savannah said she’d make sure he looked good for the interview today. haha

I hope you feel energized after conference. Take those wonderful feelings and impressions and act on them and work have fun with Sister Smith. I loved the talks that reminded us that everyone’s conversion takes place at different times and Heavenly Father knows best who is ready and when. We can’t rush the process. That’s a good reminder for me especially in my own home. The other thing I really loved was learning how sacred prayers are and the minute we say Heavenly Father, He is listening and we are creating a spiritual, sacred moment. Have a week of many spiritual, sacred moments.

Love you very much,

Mom xxoo