Sasha and the Snow..

Week 72

This week was good, despite being sick for half of it we were able to find a new investigator: Sasha, he is a great guy, 26, works as a Taxi Driver, and is still going to driving school for some reason. BUt he has had 2 lessons and He accepted the Restoration, It was funny teaching him. He wsa trying to sell us Amway right, so he draws up Amways Pirimid thing and explains it and I say "wow thats interesting you know that this relates to the gospel this way right?" I flip hi pyramid over and its then a tree, with us as branches, Christ as the Vine. and we taught him the Restoration from that, explaing that Prophets are one way to keep us physically connected to the vine, and so on, he liked it and he understands why we preach, and he said hed get baptized if he recieves a confirmation, and we know he can and will if he is sincere. Hopefully it doesnt hurt our relation ship that I dont want to become a part of Amways chain of people.

That is about all.

Hey buddy,

You have served for 502 days now!  That is crazy!  In 2 days you will have served for 504 days and Dakkon will have 504 days left to serve on his mission...and you will have as many days left as Dakkon has served.  So that is crazy to think about!

First let's start with our week.

We went to the cabin last Sunday and came home Monday night.  We had a great time sledding, snowmobiling, and snow boarding down the driveway.  It was really great to be out of the house and enjoy the winter wonderland up there. The only problem was I didn't take my chains, or a man, or a truck...or any of the essential items a person would need if they were to get stuck in a snow storm. When we were leaving the cabin at 2:00 pm. we got stuck getting out of the parking area at the bottom of the driveway.  We dug it out, found some boards to use under the tire and got out...only to get stuck again, and again and again.  So we finally were able to pull away from the cabin at 5:30.  This was from the use of 100 branches that we broke off, salt pellets, wood planks, 2 snowmobiles with straps attached to the front of my car to pull and ultimately Daddy Jake lifting my car, spinning it 90 degrees and setting it back down right in line to leave...just before dark.  We then drove in a huge snow storm all the way home.  We stopped at Joe Morley's for dinner because we were all starving.  I will be in Fiji with Dad on the 22nd, so I wanted to go before then.  It was crazy, exhausting, and a testimony builder as well.  Glad we made it home safe.

The rest of the week has been pretty quiet.  The kids are back in school and we have mostly gotten over this nasty flu we have had.  I am busy getting things ready for Fiji. Grandma and Grandpa have given me a list of all the things we need to bring for them.  We can't send them packages because of how heavily they tax anything that is shipped.  So I am taking a ton of things for them.

Jacob had 2 basketball games yesterday.  They won 1 and lost 1.  He is doing really well and the team is good.  They barely lost the second game.  It was really close the entire game.  

The weather has been snow storms almost everyday and freezing temps.  It has been in the single digits all week.  Today it finally warmed up to 39 degrees and now all the snow is melting.  We have had over a foot probably.  

Ethan invited Josh to sleep over at Alpine and go to their youth stake conf. this morning.  Ethan was conducting the meeting.  Josh went and had a great time.  It was nice of Ethan to think of him.  

Ok, so on to things we need to discuss...

1- So you were really sick it sounds like!!  I am so glad you were able to email last week.  When Elder Jeffery wrote me saying you might not I was so worried...and disappointed!  Thanks for making it in to email even though you were feeling terrible.  Have you gotten better?  I have been praying for you all week.  It's funny you got really sick the same week we all got really sick.  So first question is are you feeling better?  How long were you down, etc.??

2-On Monday I woke up to your email and had to readjust my expectations for your return home date!!!  I was set on it being the beginning of August.  What happened???  Are you ok with it?  I have adjusted to it and have made peace with it:)

3-College...  Ok, so you will need to have President Sullivan write your Ecclesiastical endorsement for BYU and have it submitted before March.  

4-Housing-  You need to decide who you will room with (if anyone you know) or if you want to submit by yourself.  Also you need to decide where.  I talked with McKenna Gibbons and she said the students that do the meal plan on campus waste a ton of money.  The money each semester doesn't roll over to the next one.  So you end up paying for a lot of food you don't ever eat.  She recommends getting a room with a kitchen and then just using the cafeteria/byu restaurants for lunch.  I agree with this.  It will be a lot cheaper.  What are your thoughts?  Also there is Foreign language housing that is an interesting idea.  Elder Rice's brother currently lives in this, so ask him about it.  But if you live there you get extra school credits, and it is cheaper than the other on campus housing.  It is close to the MTC I guess.  In each room there are 6 guys.  They would all speak russian, and at least 1 guy would be a native Russian/Ukrainian.  It's an interesting idea.  So you need to decide on this in the next week or 2 so I can start getting your reservation made.

5-Elder Jeffery told his mom about a young widow that used to be the primary president but left the church after her husband died or something.  He said they passed her off to you.  Are you teaching her?  Have you shared your own experiences with her?  Also have you shared my experience.  Tell her that I wouldn't have survived without the gospel.  Remember I was the primary president when he died.  Anyway, tell me about her:)

6-Elder Jeffery sent his mom a copy of the puzzle you guys made for Sister Sullivan.  Do I get one?  I hope so!  Also a lot of the moms are getting ukrainian blouses.  Can you get me one of those? or a dress for sis?

7-How are things with EV?  I read his emails that his mom posts on his blog.  He mentioned the talk with President Sullivan and a renewed sense of doing better.  I hope you guys can end up having a good relationship.  I'm sure you will be a good example to him, even if he doesn't tell you.

8-Update on all your investigators...Anna, Roman, gloves guy etc.

9-Tell me about the weather, how much time do you spend on the street outside?  Are you staying warm?

10-What do you guys cook for dinner?  Do you eat with all 4 of you or separately?  Are the 4 of you on the same schedule? Elder Jeffery told his mom he loves being able to work out with you in the morning.  He makes it sound like you guys are the best and have so much fun together.  Do you feel the same way?

11-Still happy and positive?

12-Are you ready for another package soon?  Start thinking of some requests.  What are some things you need?

13-pics

14-recording

15-message for me:)

16-Do you think of Dad very often?  Have any experiences with him, or get sad about him?  Do you ever tell people about him?  

Well, I miss you like crazy!  I am glad I have this year planned out so well.  Jake Harper got back this week.  He is way skinny and seemed short to me.  He looks good though, and has a strong testimony.  I am so excited for you to get home.  I plan to come take you to lunch every week at least once.  I wish you had a couple weeks to live with us before you move to Provo, but I am glad Provo is so close to home.  

Lyndsee is pregnant!!!  It's a complete missionary blessing to from GandG serving.  They were able to be in a study for in vitro and so the whole thing was free.  Also the embryo they were originally going to put in the first day they couldn't do because she was sick and had too much fluid in her uterus.  So they tested all 3 of her embryos and the one they were going to use ended up having a chromosomal disorder, a 3rd copy of 22.  So she would have miscarried the baby.  So the other 2 survived and they did the testing on them so she knows that it is a baby girl already.  She found out on Christmas Eve that she was pregnant and she is due on her birthday...Sept. 2, so you should be home for the baby!!!!  Fun!

Love you!  I hope you are feeling much better and have a great week!  Work hard, study hard and go till the whistle blows!  You are the best!

Love, Mom

Yeah I am feeling better, I was out of the game for like 4 days, but I am doing a lot better now.  Yeah I have adjusted to it too, its alright though, I am glad that I get to serve an extra 3 days, it will turn out to be a blessing I am sure.  Yeah we are kind of working with her, it is very unlikely that she will return, but we are doing it mostly for her kids, hopefully we can get her 15 year old son ready for a mission.  I bought them and I could have one made for you, I just didnt love the picture we did for it, I want to send you one with a good picture.  Yeah so this week we had another phone call with president, he just naturally does not like me and that is it. It is so ridiculous.  HE is upset if I dont talk, hes upset if I do, he is just constantly upset about something or someone.  President may emergency tranfer us, I dont know, I dont need it, he does.  He literally cannot live with me for some reason. He says he doesnt want to talk to me and see if that helps.  He knows that he is the problem, he says he cant get along with me, I think he really just cant live with himself.  

Nothing new with them, but we found a new investiagator who shows good potential, he sounds like an awesome guy.  He is 26 and works for amway, I will write about it.

The weather is good, we spend different amounts of time on the street everyday.  

We all buy groceries separate, which makes my life easier, and we all cook different things, I mostly eat Oatmeal, and chocolate milk, and fresh fruits and frozen vegetables.  Same schedule.  Yeah It is great being with 4 Elders Elder Jeffery and I just really understand eachother and both of us have a reputation for being easy to get along with.  Yes I am happy and positive.  YEs I am ready for another package, NO candy at all, and NO soda extracts, I need more maple extract.  I am starting to get to the point where I will send more stuff home to you, that will start some time in April or march, as soon as I can shed my winter coat. It is wierd to think that most of my last winter is already over, all I have left is spring and summer.

I love you so much you are the best! I am trying to find more experiences with him.  I am not searching for it too hard, the strongest was when I was in a bus from Kharkov to Sumy, and I looked out over the fields and I knew that Dad was there with me, that was late summer, just before the Harvest.I am so excited for Lyndsee! I love you so much mom, and I cant wait to give you a big hug!

For rooming I want to do the Foreign language place. Do I need a meal plan with that? I will probably end up with some of these guys randomly anyway, but I will ask around. I decided I definitely want a Russian Major, and for other majors maybe Business, Economics, Computer Science, or something along those lines.  Love you!