New Address/Area/Companion

I just got the scoop on Mike's arrival to his mission. He arrived with 7 other Elders and I'm not sure how many Sisters. But they had dinner in the Mission Home, individual interviews with the President and then the Elders were shipped off to a hotel for the night and the Sisters stayed at the Mission home. The next morning they were picked up and went to Statesville which is a centralized town where transfers take place. Mike met his trainer Elder Leavitt, who I'm told is "a wonderful, level headed, genuine young man". Not that they aren't all wonderful, but Elder Leavitt has a special place in the heart of this senior office sister's heart. She said that Mike would have a wonderful experience with Elder Leavitt. He is in Rock Hill South Carolina as his first area. His mailing address is just under his profile picture if you'd like to write him. It's a big area I'm told and there are 3 sets of Elders in Rock Hill.

Sister Evans also told me that Mike arrived with a big smile on his face and seemed warm hearted and ready to go.

I'm sure we will get some updates directly from Mike soon and I'll throw those on as soon as we get them. There are still 4 entries waiting to be posted with more pictures from the MTC, so stay close. Lots more to come!!

Cereal Killers

Mike has always been a fan of cereal. Looks like he was in hog heaven with the all you can eat for free policy at the MTC.


Picture 1, Here is his tray with plenty of fruitloops and glasses of milk.

Picture 2, A shot of some of the other Elder's trays.

Picture 3, The aftermath of this group of "Cereal Killers".

Picture 4, Who me, full?? Bring on another 6 bowls!

And yet more pics from the MTC

1st picture, Mike pulling his best "Matrix" trick showing the other Elders how he defies gravity and can run on the walls.
2nd picture, a wink? Who Knows?...
3rd picture, I have no idea what's up with these pictures on missions, but hopefully we have it out of the way now and won't see any more after this point.
4th picture, Mike and his yellow bag o' goodies out in front of the temple.

You learn all kinds of tricks at the MTC

More pics from the MTC

1st Picture, Mike and his Comp. Elder Stephens at the Provo Temple







2nd Picture, His District all pose in front of the temple.









3rd Picture, Mike and the MTC President








4th Picture, a cool shot with a statue of Joseph Smith

Out in the Field

There is a lot to update this time around. We got some letters and pictures and even video from Mike before he left the MTC and flew out to Charlotte. He is with his new trainer, however we don't know who that is or what area he is in. We are anxious to find out and will put informaton on here as soon as we find out. He called home just before he flew out from the airport and was a little bit nervous, but excited to get out there. Since I can't put all 220 pictures he sent home on here, I'll put some up as often as possible to keep things interesting.

1st Picture, Mike and his MTC Companion Elder Stephens.
2nd Picture, Mike and one of his teachers Brother Heasley
3rd Picture, The Elders in his district that are going to Charlotte, NC
4th Picture, Mike in front of the MTC with his new "Flow-Be" haircut

Lots more pictures to come next time.

08/26/06

Opeldoper Opelopexopendoper,

I got your Xd card and short note to go with it. Thanks for sending it. I’m going to Sam’s club right now to see if I can get it developed since my Dazzle drive doesn’t fit your card. (update) I just got back from Sam’s and that didn’t work out either. I put the card in the kiosk to do it myself and it took about 15 minutes to read 87 pics out of 220. We were on the waiting list to eat at Johnny Corrinos too and were already going to be late. I started browsing the pics and hit a wrong button which cancelled the whole thing. Stupid thing!!!! Then we started it over and waited it out till it loaded all pics. Then found out after all that, that we would have had to use another kiosk if we wanted them transferred to CD. WHAT??? That is some great information I could have used 45 minutes ago!!! You can tell that I was pretty happy. I said bag it and bought a whole new drive that will hook to my computer and read your card so I can just do it at home. What a pain. So now I’ll rip it all to CDs and give them to Mom and Dad to develop photos with. Let them deal with the Sam’s or Smith’s peeps. I saw just a few pics. Pretty cool. I’ll have to zoom in like you said and see who is who. Well, then we rushed back to Johnny Corrinos and I dropped Suzanne off at the door to tell them we were there and I drove around looking for a park. I saw a mini van leaving a stall right in the front, so I pulled up close and waited. You can already tell what’s about to happen… Well, he stopped backing out because some people were walking behind him. OK, we can all wait a few more seconds. Then he started backing up again, but stopped once more for a car driving by him. OK, a few seconds more, then another car pulled up behind him and stalled him once more. But backed up to let him out. He pulled out slowly and drove off and that car, occupied by a crusty 55 year old dude, looked at me and saw I was waiting for that spot forever. But he darted in regardless. I was already hot about the freakin’ kiosk at Sam’s and wasn’t in the mood for a jerk to blatantly steal my spot. Well, I pulled up right behind him and stopped. I figured if he was going to put the screws to me like that, he could look me in the eye as he got out of his car. I waited… I waited some more. Finally, I realized he was in his car crapping himself because the guy he just jipped was waiting outside of his car for him. Just then, a spot opened up around the curb, so I turned and went over to the open spot and parked. I saw him in my mirror jump out and run inside. I knew the wait inside, so I patiently stomped in the door to face my friend. He wasn’t there. Suzanne saw I was in a huff. I explained what had happened and she told me that she saw him come in and ask how long the wait was and then asked where the restrooms were and ran away. Well, anyway, our table came up quick and we were walking back and my buddy was coming out of the restrooms and walking right toward us. I asked Suzanne if that was him since I recognized him and she said yes. He almost stopped and turned back to the restrooms. He had a sheepish look on his face. I almost balked at him just to make him flinch as we got right next to each other, but I didn’t want to risk him flopping onto another customer’s table and food. What a jerk. But he’s my brother, right? So I’m glad I didn’t say or do anything inappropriate. Shelli watched Brins. I think they had fun, but didn’t have as much time as Shelli (or Brinlee for that matter) would have liked. I had to run home to get to the draft that was set up for 8:00. Since the draft didn’t go through last week, I did an e-mail draft over the week and got through about 8 rounds. So tonight was to finalize everything with 10 more rounds. I am enclosing the results…

I think this year is going to be the most competitive yet. I think we have the most parity between teams we’ve ever had in the league. You always have a gimp team that’s an easy win every week, but I don’t think we have gimp teams this time. All these guys are pretty competitive. I’m a little sketchy on Buffalo Wings and Ballaz though, they didn’t show up for the final draft and gained a bunch of QBs as a result. But they will pull through. I can’t wait for the season to start now. I have some really young players on my team this year, but I’m managing them effectively. A couple of rookie sleeper picks that could become part of my dynasty if my bets pay off.

We are going to have some pics to send you I think in this next letter. We will be picking them up tomorrow at Sam’s.

Thanks for the Missionary Handbook. This one is 2 pages longer than my old original. I wonder what is extra in there. Looking back at the beginning of this letter, have you been teaching any Elder’s Horse Latin? Opits opalwopays fopun topo spopeak opin hoporse lopatopin whopen opothoper popeopople dopont knopow whopats gopo-oping opon. How the Parker® set working out for you? Any converts yet? Don’t forget your commitment pattern and really let people learn by the spirit. Challenge them to find out for themselves and they will know that Parkers are the true pen if they ask in faith. Don’t forget our little Parker scripture either. That always helps when inviting souls to partake of Parker®.

So tell me all about the morning you left the MTC. Did you have as hard a time leaving as I did? What about flying out, how was the flight and the long layover? I had a 2 hour layover in Cincy. It didn’t seem that long though. But the hour long hold pattern over LaGuardia seemed like 5 hours since we were flying in circles with a bunch of other huge planes buzzing around us at the same time since the storm was so bad to land. We almost got diverted to Philadelphia. I was travel leader too and freaking out about what I was going to do if a kink got thrown into the plans like that. We were praying that we could land because we thought for sure we’d get lost and have no place to sleep if we got went to Philly. Luckily the clouds broke and we landed shortly after that. The power of prayer!!! What was the mission home like? What was your mission president like? Describe your first night in the mission home and the transfer when you met your trainer. Who is your trainer? I need all the juice you can produce for your blog including pics and tons of personal info. What is your area? What are the boundaries? All this will be the best for your blog updates along with the pics I’m developing. I’ll have your card back soon so you can send the other one with pics of your apartment, trainer, mission home, area, bike, etc. I can’t wait to hear from you. This is one of the most exciting times of your mission, just getting the lay of the land and a feel for your trainer. Do you have any roommates?

Shelli came over to watch Prison Break’s premier and we watched another show after that called Two a Days. We are both way into that show now. It’s a new reality show about a High School in Alabama called Hoover and their football team which is ranked 2^nd best in the country, but is trying to win the High School Championship for the country. It follows these players and their lives and pressures of being as good as they are expected to be and their coaching staff, the games they play, their personal lives, etc. It’s way good. The football action is really good too. Half of this team could play on a collegiate level already, it’s crazy.

Well, I just burned your pics all over to CD. It takes up two CDs for that one card. So I had to go through 10 CDs to get your MTC peeps, Mom and Dad’s and your own copy when you get home that will stay preserved in a CD wallet till you are back, so they don’t risk scratch or wear. That took half of my day. At least this will be the only time you hand out copies to other peeps. That was understandable for your district boys. This new card reader works well. Mom and Dad are coming over tonight after eating at Skybox to see them. I haven’t looked at them yet either so I can look at them with them. I’ll update your blog tomorrow with some pics and video. Those should last a few updates too since I can’t put even 1/10^th of those pics on there, it would hog up way too much space, so I’ll just put the highlights on.

Well, it’s almost 1:00 AM Sunday morning. I’m going to have to get to bed soon so I can wake up for church. I just did a blog entry and then even pre-made 4 more to follow and saved them as drafts. I’ll pace everyone on the release of those. It’s the new strategy. Like pre-filming the Harry Potters or Pirates of the Caribbean or Lord of the Rings and then releasing them in a timely manner. So I’m set for 4 more blog entries after tonight’s just went out. They are good man! I’m loving the pics. I even rigged up some video to be released in two blogs from now. It’s cool.

Mom and Dad came over and checked them out. In fact, John and Si’i were over here too helping me move the treadmill downstairs, so they checked them out too. Si’i and I played some Halo 2 with Austin and his buddy. I’m actually finishing 24 to his 25 almost every game in a tight, tight match! It drives me crazy that I can’t beat him. Keep in mind that this is without a handicap on or anything. It’s always playing my custom game variant StickShot though, but who cares. He loves StickShot and is super good at that too, it’s just that the playing field is leveled when I am at close combat and using shottys. Si’i had fun too. Everyone liked your pics. It was way fun going over them with everyone at the same time too. I’m ending the night with Austin mad at me because I won’t trade him my rookie sleeper sensation DeAngelo Williams to him. He’s proposing some decent trades, I’m just holding out. I think I might actually get Willis McGahee for him. He’s this close to pulling the trigger. He is quite the negotiator, I’ll tell you what. I’m grooming him to be a serious negotiator too. Anyway, he just logged off messenger in a huff and wouldn’t say goodbye to me because I wouldn’t deal. He’ll figure out that no hard feelings go into these tough trade talks. It’s all in good fun. Well, with that, I best be off. Oh, I built a new bookshelf today in my room where the treadmill used to be. It looks great. I’m moving my books in on it now. Well, anyway, always good to see you even if it’s in pictures or video. Keep it up. Make sure you are deleting the waste pics though just to conserve space. But still take as many pics as possible since it’s so great to have those memories forever.

I’m way proud of you for doing what you are doing. Keep up the hard work. Show your trainer what kind of hard working stallion that you are. Learn everything you can from him (assuming he’s a super star missionary). I can’t wait to hear all about him and your area and your experiences. Work Hard, Pray Hard,! I think that is going to be my new motto for you. I should come up with some bumper stickers for the Missionary Emporium or something. I’d make some coin off of those from moms sending those out to their missionary kids. You should start using that too. But not for a while. Let me look into seriously making some stickers for envelopes and bumper stickers. What do you think? Do I have something here? You know the Mormon market. They blow some serious bank on all things kitchy and Mormony like that. Tell me if I’m just too tired to be writing at 1:00 AM.

Anyway, even if I don’t turn this into a little profit maker, I’ll still used it signing off on my letters to you. You can use it as your war cry to your missionaries when you are DL/ZL or AP. Work Hard! Pray Hard. Maybe Work Hard, Pray Harder! How’s that? I like that maybe even better.

Anyway, I’ll keep on this idea. Don’t use it just yet. I don’t want some missionary writing home to a gung ho mom and having her steal this idea and make all my money before I can get it started.

Ha ha ha, anyway. Write back soon.

I love you and miss you. Brinlee and Minka, her new kitten say hi. Suzanne says hi and good luck.

Talk to you soon.

Trav

08/20/06

Hey Babbers,

I got your letter a few days ago. It was awesome to hear from you. I guess it’s too late to send a letter now and get it to you before you leave Wednesday morning for NC. So I’ll hold on to this one and send it as soon as I find out what your address is going to be in Charlotte. So I suppose I should write this in the pretext that you are already out there even though you are still close to home in Provo. How was the MTC overall now that you spent the whole 3 weeks there? (I’m going to underline all of my questions to make it easier for you to respond in your next letter to all Q’s). It sounded like you had great experiences there learning the Preach My Gospel system and using the Spirit. It sounded like it was a humbling experience too which is awesome. You need to always stay humble no matter how good you feel you are getting at the lessons or how good of a missionary you are, etc. Even when you feel like the Lord is blessing you like crazy and the world couldn’t stop you if it all combined against you, the more humble you stay, the more powerfully you bring the spirit and the more you are continually led by that same spirit. So keep learning from that lesson and stay praying just as hard as you prayed that day. I loved hearing about how your testimony was re-affirmed and how it has solidified multiple times over. That will only continue to grow too as you face very real blessings, grow even closer to the Lord and stand in the face of pure evil.

I was happy to hear that your MTC comp. was a fan of Parkers®. Gramps has been wearing his around in his pocket with pride. So that’s cool. Have you converted any souls to the Parker® writing system yet? After all, they are not just pens and pencils. They are high quality writing instruments. I’ll send your new XD card with this letter when I get your NC address just in case you are coming dangerously close to running out of room on your 700 picture card there. I look forward to seeing your pics you send home too. You will have to send a letter of descriptions with picture numbers on it so we know what’s what when we develop them and save them to DVD and post them to the Blog.

We miss Turtle. It was sad to have to put him down, but he got so sick so fast. I think we might go look at some kittens today with Brins. She will have fun with a new kitten. She hasn’t really said anything about Turtle. I’m not sure if she knows he’s gone. She wouldn’t quite understand death now anyway and I’m not sure how to explain it to her on her level. So we’ll see what happens as we go look at kittens. I’ll send pictures if/when we get one. Your iPod doesn’t connect to my computer to sync. I just tried it for the first time just now. It doesn’t support firewire, so I’m going to have to find a USB connector before I can use it. What have you found out about music out there?

Our draft is tomorrow. I have only pre-ranked about 10 players. I’m feeling like I’m not really ready for this draft this year. I will send you a full report of who got who though. I always look forward to the big draft day. Austin and I went and played a big system link party last night at Ryaneng’s house. We had about 14 guys there and played till midnight. I’m sure they stayed and played till 2:00 or 3:00 AM. But I had to get Austin home. It was a blast. That’s the first I’ve played Halo since I played with you on MTC day. I was always in the higher tier with the exception of only a few games, so I represented. I think I play better when I give it a week or two rest between playing.

It was Dad’s 50^th Birthday yesterday and Mom’s 55^th coming up in a few days. Crazy!

We just got home from kitten shopping and seeing ma and pa for their birthdays. We got them a gift certificate for Ruby Tuesdays. While we were there we got to read your B-day cards and letter home. That was fun. It was good to get 3 letters in a week from you. Great job. I understand the pressure you are under with peeps back home demanding a piece of the letter writing action. I would try to write most of my letters while I was doing my laundry. I could sit in the Laundromats and bust out at least 2 or 3 letters in the time it took to do a small load. But you are keeping everyone happy right now, so good job. Mom said that they were going to send a box to you overnight to the MTC so I will include this letter in there after all and put your memory card in there too. So you won’t have to fret running out of room anytime soon on that big boy. But it’s cool cuz we get to develop pics and videos and save them over to DVD and see what you have seen and done. Oh, the kitten shopping was not fruitful. No kitten for now, but mom and dad are keeping their eye out in the thrifties or free kitten flyers at the grocery store, etc. and we will keep our eyes open too. Reminds me of our cat Willy that we had in Harlem to keep the mouse problem down. He surprised everyone though when he had a litter of Kittens in Elder Steven’s shoes.

I was just out in the garage moving all of our Tupperware storage containers out to the rhino racks that you helped me buy. I ran out of room and still had three to store, so I had to remove the weird shaped shelving thing that was on dad’s welded shop desk I have next to the racks so I could put them on there. I had to get that beast to fit into my black garbage can but how? I wanted to tear it down, but the stupid thing was put together with allen wrench screw heads. Well, I couldn’t find a bit to fit those anywhere, so I had to get out the “adjuster”. When you don’t have a tool or bit for it, just get out the adjuster, that’s what I always say. So I busted out the Porter Cable Reciprocating saw (the Adjuster) and hacked that big boy into manageable little bits. Everything fit into my garbage can with plenty of room to spare with the lid down and everything.

Well, it’s late. I’m going to bed. I’ll finish this letter up tomorrow after the draft with a full report and bring this letter over to Mom’s and Dad’s with your card.

Well, it’s Sunday night almost 10:00 and the draft was all screwed up. It died in the second round. It even started 2 hours late because the site was so mucked up. I’m really bugged right now. So now I have to do an offline draft by e-mail to get everyone their teams. Unbelievable. Not much else to update you on. I’m really glad I held off to take this letter and your card to mom’s and dad’s now that the draft didn’t even happen. So far I’ve picked up Hines Ward. That’s the only update I have for you. Anyway, you will be all updated on the final results by next letter.

Next time I talk to you, you will be in Charlotte somewhere. I can’t wait to see where your area is and hear all about your experiences. I’ll talk to you soon.

Love ya,

Trav

3rd Letter from the MTC

I got a few more interesting tid-bits from this next letter that came a day after his 2nd letter. Apparently it is difficult for him to get up in the morning (surprise, surprise) so he said it's a good thing he has a companion. He has had nothing but praise for the food in the MTC, but in this letter he said some meals have been a little too foreign for him so he goes with the safety meal... Cold Cereal. It looks like we have a correction to make on his District. There are 5 Elders going to Minneapolis, Minnesota: Elders Wilkinson, Acuna, Fults, Mount, and Poirier. 6 going to Charlotte, NC... Elders Newton, Gudjenov, Sharp, Walker, Alexander, and Stephens.
They are lucky enough to keep 2 fans in their classroom so they haven't been too hot. His Teachers are Brother Heasley - Tallahasse Florida Mission and Sister Newbold - New Jersey, Morristown Mission Spanish Speaking. His Branch he goes to church with is just his Zone, so he says it's nice and small and reverent. No sisters in his District, but there are 3 in his Zone.

He is almost out of the MTC and on his way to Charlotte. He leaves on the 23rd, so we'll wait to see where his first area is and what his new address will be. I'll update the Blog as soon as I hear anything new on his arrival to the actual field.

2nd Letter from the MTC

We finally received a letter from Mike. He said the first week at the MTC has been pretty sweet. He has had some humbling experiences too. He wrote of teaching lesson #1 to a couple of elders and receiving a few tips on what to improve on from them. Then they taught the same lesson back to them and the spirit was so strong. It humbled Mike quite a bit and taught him the importance and what it means to teach with the spirit. He also mentioned that his he has been praying like never before and that his testimony has been reaffirmed to the point where it has grown about 100x's. He said the spirit is very strong at the MTC. He has been enjoying the food as well. "It's all you can eat. Steak and Pot roast and Burgers and Potatoes. It is sooo good."

His compainon Elder Stephens is going to North Carolina along with 5 other Elders. And the other 5 Elders in his district are going to Minneapolis, Minnesota.

He issued a couple of challenges to family and is already using the commitment pattern and direct "Will you..." questions and sounds like a true missionary already. It's great to see the growth already taking place and how his testimony is solidifying even more.

That is about it for this letter. I'll update again with the next letter.

08/15/06

Elder Babby the Babco Babbinator,

How is it going down there? This is my 5^th letter now that I’m just going off of hunches since I haven’t heard from you yet. Do I need to send you homemade cookies or something to get a little love in return? Last night was the So You Think You Can Dance final showdown before the finale this Wednesday. I sat there and voted for 2 hours straight giving my redial button a work out. I think my dancer is going to win. I put in the work to represent the 801 fo sho! We’ll see during the 2 hour season finale on Wednesday. I can hardly wait and I’m sure neither can you. I’ll be sure to let you know so you don’t lose any sleep.

Today is FC Lagoon day. Everyone at my work is going. Should be fun. But I’m going to have to hustle home by 7:00 since I’m doing the private 4 round draft with the 3 expansion teams to get them up to speed. We should be doing the big draft next week sometime. So I’m looking forward to all that excitement. I need to set up my war room and get the big chart set up with my top picks. I love this time of year. They have been showing a lot of pre-season football on Fox lately too. Tonight is the Rams and Patriots. So I need to see how Marc Bulger is looking. He better be good. I’ve already kept him. I’m excited to take the BrinMeister to Lagoon today. She will have a lot of fun on rides like Bulgy the whale, the train, the Flying aces, and of course Puff the magic dragon. I’m stoked to go on those rides with her. Suzanne really can’t go on many of the rides being pregnant, so I’ll be the chief rider with her. But I think it will be way fun. I’m already wanting to take her on big rides, but that won’t happen for a few more years.

I had my elder’s quorum presidency over last night for PPIs. They asked me about my families and I told them I only got their names and info on Sunday. So I haven’t seen them yet. They said that they knew I’d do well getting my companion out home teaching again. I guess he hasn’t been doing it in quite a while. They also expressed confidence in my ability to see all 4 of my inactive families. Great. Why don’t you give me some sort of challenge . They asked me about my scripture study and I told them I read the Ensign almost every night. They told me that I needed to read the scriptures. I told them that maybe they should stop the teachers in EQ and Sunday School from referring to the Ensign as scripture then since that’s where I got that idea. But I made a goal to read the B of M cover to cover again by the end of the year. Whenever I do that, I always have the desire to jump back into it as soon as I can anyway and love the spirit that accompanies me throughout the day. I also seem to be given a thought or verse or story line that comes in handy that day from what I read on most days. I love that. So I accepted their challenge to pound the scriptures a little more and will read the B of M by the end of Dec.

We also got our windows bid to have new windows put in our upstairs. That is going to cost a bunch, but we got a great deal and we scored a free stay at the Johnson something Bead and Breakfast. So that will be cool. Free mini vacation out of the deal.

Suzanne scheduled her Ultrasound appt. for August 31^st. So we will find out the day before my B-day.

We got Turtle back from the Vet the other day and he seems to be getting better slowly. We have to give him anti-biotic and feed him special non-fat food, and he has a shaved ring around his front right leg where the I-V was put in. He’s still a little moopy but I think he’s starting to feel better. He’s a little more mobile now and not limping as bad as before.

My whole day tomorrow is going to be at a Golf Tournament at Bountiful Ridge that one of our suppliers, UniSource is sponsoring. That’s going to be rough, golfing all day and getting paid for it. But someone’s gotta do it. Then the next day, Saturday, John and I are going to go fish Jordanelle. Hopefully I’ll hook into my first Bass.

So I still need to get info about your district, names, details, more interesting tidbits about your companion. In fact, see if his family has an e-mail address and I’ll contact them with the link to your blog, ask them for pics and interesting info. That may be quicker. But anything you can give me. The hordes of your fan base are foaming at the mouth for info updates on there. Don’t let your constituents down.

Alright, I’m back and now it’s Tuesday the 15^th at 9:10 PM. I just went to Mom’s and Dad’s to read your one and only letter to the family since I’m starving for any information from you. I heard that Preston has heard from you so now I see where I rate on the scale. That’s harsh.

Anyway, I’m going to update your blog with what I can glean from your letter and send an update e-mail. I got your memory card from Best Boy. So I’ll send that. I ate a few bucks on it, but it’s all good.

I guess you heard by now that Turts is in Kitty Heaven. Sad that he got so sick. We’ll have to look for a sign for free kittens again soon. Or I might just call the pound and see if they have kittens since they do the spaying and neutering and give shots for the price you get them for. It’s a wash if I do that as opposed to getting shots for the new kitty and declawing and spaying.

Our draft is on Sunday. I’ll let you know who I end up getting. I’m getting pretty excited for it now that it’s close.

Brinlee wanted to write you so I’m throwing in her contributions to it as transcribed by Suzanne. Oh, and Lagoon day on Thursday was a blast. Brinlee loved it. She still talks about the scary pictures and monsters in the haunted houses. She liked those. She liked the boats and the helicopters and all the kids rides. She went on the mini Rocket called the Dragon Drop with me. That was pretty intense for little kids. On the first drop she was all tense and had a scared face. But she got into it. It’s a bid drop too. I got the butterflies in my stomach big time on it. That was my favorite ride since I could only go on the kid rides with her. Suzanne can’t ride any rides, so I didn’t have a ride buddy other than what Brinlee could go on. But it was a fun day. She was spent. She crashed hard in the car on the way home. She liked the flying aces even though that was a little intense for her. But that was fun to go on with her too. The water slide made her mad because we got soaked and she didn’t like getting wet. But it kept us cool for the rest of the day.

It was good to hear in your letter about your experience with Prayer lately and the testimony you have gained about teaching by the spirit. It sounds like you are getting a firm grasp on everything right away. Did you get vitamins at the MTC? I better be getting some response to my questions post haste. I still can’t believe you’ve been in there for two weeks and I’m sans letter. WILL YOU write your loving brother more often? I know that as you make time in your P-day to get a decent letter to him and his family, you will be blessed and you will enrich the lives of his whole family, especially an adoring niece that can’t wait to hear from you. Check that action… I still remember the commitment pattern. I recognized it the second I saw it in your challenge to Mom and Dad and Shelli. Nice effective use of it there. Well, I’m going to print this off and get it ready to send. Do you want me to send your memory card to the MTC or to your mission? We are about to cut it close on you leaving from the MTC eh? Let me know though.

Keep praying, keep taking your vitamins, keep eating all the free food you can there at the MTC. Keep writing and Keep on Keepin’ on.

Love you and miss you.

T-rav

08/07/06

E.Alexander,

Well, it’s Sunday at 4:35. I just woke up from a healthy nap and thought it was a good time to write you. I made a goal to write every Sunday even if I’m writing you on other days of the week. I’ll get some letter writing out of the way on Sunday. I haven’t heard from you yet so I’ll just go off of what I heard from Mom and Dad and the latest was on your first day of the MTC and your new companion. I updated your Blog that day they received your letter. So somehow I’ll have to get a picture of him too. I’ll send you the new photo card as soon as I get it and you can send me what you’ve got when that one is full. Just let me know in a note when you send it which one is your companion. What more can you tell me about him? I’m still dying to hear what the MTC experience is like. I will just wait to get a letter back with my questions I put on my last letter though.

The name of your companion was a bit ironic. I told Dad when he told me his name that My first companion in the field was Elder Scott and my second I got right after him was Elder Stevens. So just funny that his name was David Scott Stephens.

It’s weird having your name right there on messenger but knowing I won’t see that lit up for another 2 years. I might have to delete that and re-add when you come back so I don’t think about that. Or maybe I’ll leave it there as a reminder to write you or so something missionary oriented. Speaking of that, I just got my new home teaching assignment today. I have a new companion and 4 new families I hardly know. They are all inactive and a couple have requested no message. Geez! I had great families for so long and a good companion. I was 100% with him for months and months. But I guess that’s why they wanted to split us up and spread the wealth. Although, he kept the same families.

Suzanne and I have been going to the Parade of Homes and walking through some dang nice houses. Some have been over a million dollars. I’ve been getting some good ideas for some stuff though, if I can get motivated to start busting out some hard labor in this hot summer temps.

We are having a big System Link party over at Ryanengs house next weekend. So Austin and I are going to go to that. I’ve had one there before with tons of peeps. So it will be cool to bring a ringer to that. So besides that camera card, anything else you need me to send out to you? Anything else you need? Have you discovered the Matrix spot yet where you can take that Matrix shot that (was it Kasey?) took? I have to know where that is and how it’s done. Let me know when you find out.

You went to church for the first time in the MTC today. How was that? Weird going in those chapels they have huh? And everyone being your same age basically with way more elders than sisters. I watched the first NFL action of the season tonight. It was the Hall of Fame game on NBC, Raiders vs. Eagles. I didn’t watch more than a half hour of it in all so I don’t even know who won, but pre-season bugs. It’s just a meaningless game where your stars can get hurt for the season. I have Dad taking Turtle to the Vet tomorrow too. He’s got something seriously wrong with him. He’s losing a lot of weight, getting bony, stays in one spot all day and all night which is very unusual for him, and when he does move, he is really ginger and doesn’t go far. We found him front half in his box today with his back half all skiwampus out of the box peeing all over himself. So I called around but no vets are open on Sundays. So Dad is going to come get him and take him in tomorrow while we are at work. Hopefully we get some good news. We don’t know what happened to him, other than he was outside for nearly 3 days and that is the longest he’s ever been out like that. It was so hot, so he might have got heat stroke, he probably got in a fight or two or he might just be blocked up from eating something crazy out there. That’s how he’s acting, like he can’t get a poop out. But he seems like he’s in pretty bad shape.

Brinlee saw the missionaries again on 90^th south and we talked about her Mike being a missionary in his white shirt and hat. So that will be fun every time we see them. She wants to write a letter to you, so we’ll have to have her tell us what she wants to say and we’ll write it down and send that to you. Well, we can’t wait to hear from you and how everything is going. I want every copious detail. I am trying to relive the MTC vicariously through you. I think I’ll save this for now and finish it up and send it tomorrow.

Well, that was eventful waiting for the next day. Not much else to tell you. Turtle is staying the night at the vets for observation and has an IV in him to rehydrate him. He was way dehydrated and his liver was enlarged, but they won’t know anything else until his blood tests come back tomorrow. That cost us a cool $175.00. OUCH!!

Tomorrow will be an eventful day. Suzanne has her MD appointment and will set up her ultrasound for soon. I’ll let you know next letter when we will be finding out. I’m having a covert breakfast meeting with the Director of our division and a pressman who quit and walked off the job due to so much harassment and negative behavior around him. He is a big boy and all tattooed up and is in a speed metal band but he couldn’t hang with our trouble makers back there. He was a great employee though even though he only lasted a month and change. So I called this meeting to find out who the key trouble makers are, what specific instances are going on and I’m going to drop the big hatchet on a bunch of dudes soon. We are fed up with that kind of stuff and rather than lose good employees due to our stagnant jerks that aren’t taking us to the next level we want to be, we are going to axe as many as it takes and make due with what is left over and see who can step up to better paying jobs from the ranks. We’ll be needing some police assistance over there when that goes down because we will have some unhappy peeps who will do some damage when a window of opportunity presents itself. Should be loads of fun.

Well, keep up the spirit, keep up the learning, keep up the great attitude and keep up the prayers. Hope to hear from you soon.

Love ya,

Trav

First Day at MTC

We just got Elder Alexander's first letter from the MTC and it tells us a little bit about his first companion. His name is Elder David Scott Stephens. He is from Green Bay, Wisconsin and he is one of 7 kids in his family. He went to BYU Idaho for one and a half semesters. So far that is all we know of him, but I will add more when I get it including a picture if possible.

Mike was able to get through the line quickly in the MTC and got his bags back to his new room. He was there nearly an hour by himself and got mostly unpacked before he finally went out and helped other newbies carry their bags to their rooms. He had an orientation to go to with the MTC presidency and got to meet his district later that night. We are already "Jones'n" for more info and letters and will update you as soon as we hear anything.

08/03/06

Hey Elder Alexander,

Have you gotten used to being called that exclusively yet? It’s a mouthful for sure. I’m going to bust through my questions first in an order that will be easy for you to answer in your next letter.

• So how are you liking the MTC?
• How’s the food?
• How are the living conditions (showers, room, sleeping arrangements)
• How is your district?
• Info on your roommates:
• Names of those in your District, where they are from, where they are all going?
• Is it super hot? Or have they taken care of the temperature issues there?
• For Companion Bio: full name, where he’s from, where he’s going on his mission (I’m assuming Charlotte), a little history with some interesting tid bits.
• What are your teachers like?

Man, the drop off was harder than I expected it would be. I had been preparing myself for it for over a week too and it didn’t really help. I tried getting all my cries out in that letter the night before too and that didn’t help much either, Dang It! Oh well, I’m a boob and you know it already, so it doesn’t matter. I was going to tell you that I wrote that letter the night of your setting apart, but before we came over to your house. I was blown away at how much President Baer said in his introduction and during the blessing that I had written in the letter. So maybe you can let that letter be a reminder of a good portion of what he told you before and during the blessing. We must have been thinking along the same lines. Dad said that Pres. Baer spoke to a lot of things in your Patriarchal Blessing too. I’ll have to read that some time.

It was a strange ride back home. There is definitely a big hole in the family right now, but not one that is permanent so that is good. But we felt your absence all the way back home and even after. I’m sure Mom and Dad will feel that especially hard with you not being home and having your noise, personality, fun, energy, etc. around. I’ll miss my tennis buddy, gaming buddy, chat buddy, music buddy, shooting buddy, fishing buddy, all around activities buddy, and just my brother buddy. But I’m going to focus all of my lonely feelings for you into letters, your blog (which is looking awesome by the way with the new pics and write ups from the MTC) and supporting the crap out of you however I can. I’ll miss you on the boat this weekend as I’m catching more big fatties, but I know you won’t give it another thought because the MTC keeps you so active and busy with learning so much info. The coolest thing about the MTC, next to the overwhelming levels of spirit of course, was how much you can learn which occupies most of a 24 hour day and yet you still thirst for more. They can’t bring on enough information or doctrine for you to absorb like a sponge. So keep up as much learning as you can fit in your brain. You will pray more this week than you have prayed in nearly a year I bet. So have fun adjusting to that. It doesn’t slow down. And the cool thing is that it is the start of a beautiful relationship between you and Heavenly Father. You will talk to him on a more personal level than you ever have and draw closer to him and the Savior than you ever have and probably ever will.

Suzanne, Brinlee, and I saw the missionaries last night on our way home from shopping and dinner. We pointed them out and said look Brin, missionaries like Uncle Mike. She got excited and said “they have on a white shirt and a hat”. They were wearing helmets. But we have her all smiley thinking about her Mike as a missionary wearing a white shirt and a hat.

So did you get a big bottle or two of vitamins? Those are good. Make sure you take one a day every day. Your diet is going to suck, so you will need the essentials put back in and those vitamins do it for you. Some speculate that those are what give you the farts so bad in the MTC, but I don’t think that’s the case. You know, I didn’t blast a squeegee the whole first week I was in the MTC. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever blast again. But on the 7^th day, I blasted. Man! What I would give to go back to the MTC for a couple/three weeks. Mom is logging into Yahoo Messenger. She’s listening to Yahoo music too while she does her online banking. She’s so technologically advanced now. I’m proud of her. John just bought a new trolling motor for his boat. We are mounting that today probably and working on his live well to get that up and running before the weekend. We are going to measure and survey his yard for a new sprinkler system and new sod too. You just got your big fall catalog from cabellas. It was like a phone book. HUGE! I tried to cop it when we came home from the MTC but dad intercepted and said he wanted to look at it. So I called the toll free number and got on the mailing list right then. Mine should be to my house in 6 more days.

Ha ha, funny story, it’s now Friday, but I got home last night and got the mail. I didn’t get the mail on Wednesday, but Thursday night I see that I got one of those Cabelas catalogs on Wednesday too, under the name Wm Michael Alexander to my address. What’s up with that? So I probably have another one coming under my name. Ooops. I’ll have to call and cancel your name at my address. So John and I went to Sportsman’s warehouse last night too. We both got new line put on our reels and I bought new pop gear and hooks. John bought a new trolling pole a new net that is snag proof and some other stuff.

I’m going to drop some comments from the blog into your letter here. Then I’ll wrap up this letter and send it off.

________________________________________________________________________

Travis,

Thanks for all of the updates. I really have enjoyed watching, from a distance, all of Mike's preparations. Wish we could have been there. I always let Don know when we receive a new email, but I don't think he always looks at them. Since being in the Stake Presidency he now has his own home email address and I don't think he gave it to you or Mike so I will give it to you now. Please keep the heinfam address in your list too or else I will not get to see all of the updates.

Don's address is "djhein@bellsouth.net"
Thanks Trav. You are a wonderful big brother.
Love, Lee Ann

It was quite an eventful day as we dropped off my little brother. There will be no more teasing, and poking at home for a while now that he's grown up and is serving the Lord. I will miss him very much and I especially will miss his bright spirit he brings with him. He is a great brother and he will be a great Brother to those he teaches!

Staci

Well we dropped off our Mikey today at the MTC. As expected, it was hard but was a beautiful experience. Yes, there were tears but there were smiles also because we know that this is what he is supposed to be doing and where he is supposed to be going. We are very proud of our Mikey. We will miss him more than words can say. (On the way home, I looked into the back seat of the car and was about to ask him a question - but he was not there.) We are happy for him and his choice to serve the Lord. We love him and support him.

Mom

________________________________________________________________________

I’m listening to the Death Cab for Cutie CD again. I’m so into it lately. The Plans CD. Anyway, get this, I picked up your iPod for the first time last night and realized it was on. Well, I didn’t touch it from Tuesday night when I got it, so it was on and locked from Tuesday night at 9:00 and it still had a quarter battery left. Man, that is some awesome battery life.

You’d be proud of me, I have been finding any opportunity to bust some missionary work on peeps. I actually started praying for it Wednesday night after we took you down. I guess there wasn’t much waiting after that because Thursday I had 3 opportunities present themselves to throw some good to some people. My buddy Ricardo that I had to fire on Thursday was saying that his life was really taking a bad turn, which it is and that is why I had to end up firing him, but he said that he was thinking of going back to church and get back to Elder’s Quorum and start praying a lot more. I basically testified to him telling him that he had things straight and that he was doing the right thing. That human nature tells us to turn away from God at that point, stop going to church, stop praying because we are bitter and feel like God must have it out for us, but that is really the worst time to turn away. We need to turn to prayer, go to church, and knuckle under on our faith so that we can get past these hard times. I praised him for his decision and testified that if he kept it up, he would be blessed and his luck would eventually turn around and he’d find himself in a great position again. Then I had another employee that I would have never known was a member. David Church is his name ironically enough. He drinks, he smokes, he swears and is a little unstable sometimes. But after meeting with him on some disciplinary actions recently, it came up that he was from Cedar City. I asked if he knew any Challis’s. He said that he did and used to home teach Tom Challis which is Shawn’s Grandpa. We put a few other names together and started chatting it up about them. Building up a relationship of trust, I asked him when he started smoking. He said, well, it’s been a while but I’m trying to quit because he wants to baptize his 8 year old daughter soon. I started boosting his efforts and told him I helped several people stop smoking on my mission. It’s the hardest thing to quit and that he’d quit drinking way easier than smoking. He said that he actually hasn’t had a drink in weeks but the smoking thing has him. He didn’t have a smoke all night the night before or that day, but when he found out he had to come to my office with his supervisor, he went out and sucked down 3 cigarettes. I gave him my confidence that I knew he could do it and that he was doing it for a great purpose. That baptizing his daughter would be a life long memory and that not baptizing her would be a life long regret. Anyway, we had a good conversation and I think he’s much more motivated to get his act together. Then my admin Lorrie, was talking in the afternoon about all of her bad experiences she has had here in Utah and how she hates it here and how she doesn’t get along with any of the LDS as she put it. She said that it was OK because the LDS don’t like her either. I told her well, I like you, so there’s your first LDS buddy. She looked shocked. She was like, you are LDS? I said proudly YEAH! She said, I would have never known that. Then she changed her tune and said, well, actually, you aren’t the first, I have several LDS friends now that I think about it. Several LDS folks are nice to me and I like them. So anyway, it’s not really the job of the company HR person to boldly testify to people in disciplinary meetings or boost them up with a testimony after they’ve been fired, or “Out themselves” so to speak to their admin that they are LDS and proud of it and they won’t hear any more negativity about the faithful here in Utah because it’s unfounded and look, I’m a decent guy. Who knows, maybe it will get me in trouble, or who knows, maybe it will help a few souls. But there you go. You have motivated me Mike to stand tall and proclaim with boldness who I am, what I stand for and help lift a few people along the way.

Keep up the good work down there. I can’t wait to hear from you and what’s going on.

I love you and miss you and couldn’t be prouder of you.

Trav

MTC

Tuesday Night, August 1st, we went to the Stake Center where Pres. Baer set Mike apart as a missionary. So from here on till he's released, he's officially Elder Alexander. Wednesday, August 2nd at 10:00 AM we packed up all of Elder Alexander's bags and headed down to Provo to the MTC. He got his last meal at Wendy's before going in. After getting his "dork dot" put on his shiny new tag, we went into the Orientation. We heard from the MTC mission President, his wife, and his counselor who all gave great talks. We sang Called to Serve and watched the movie Called to Serve. We had a closing prayer, briefed on the good bye process and it was time. We kept the good byes short and sweet per Mike's request and it made it a little less painful. We were given the "band-aid" analogy about ripping it off fast is less painful than taking it nice and slow. That was it. He's off. So we'll wait to hear about his first few days, his new companion and how the food is. I'll put up his companion bio as soon as we get that back and start posting some of his letters so everyone can keep up on how things are in the MTC.

Again, feel free to drop any comments on this blog and we'll print them off and send them to his MTC address. Or you can send letters directly to his MTC address...

He will be flying out for Charlotte on August 23rd, so you have until then. I'll post his Charlotte address when he gets out there too.

08/01/06

Ahhhhhhhhhh, You Bahhhhhhh! I sawwww you off at the MTCawww.

Well Babs, by now you are probably sitting in your new digs in the MTC. Hopefully you got there first and have first dibs on the closet space and bed of your choice. Hopefully you made it out of the big room in good time and with little amounts of tears like I’m sure isn’t going to happen for me. I’m such a Babby Booby sometimes. I thought I’d jot down a few thoughts since I won’t have the time at the MTC to say what’s on my mind. We have had some good talks lately and you already know most of my advice I have to give at least at this early point in your mission. Don’t worry, I will have plenty more to write you about on a regular basis. Actually, let me change that. Don’t think of it as advice at all. That’s not what I plan to send to you. Think of it as recommendations that you can take or leave any bits and pieces that you choose. I always liked to hear from people about mistakes they made, what successes they had, etc. and then glean the parts that I learned from and knew I could implement in my own work, methodology, and life. So that’s how I want you to read my letters. Don’t take everything I write as gospel. Some things that I experienced, you will not experience. Some things you will experience, I could never fathom. Dad hit it right on the head in his note in your open house book that you will experience your own mission for yourself and you don’t need to take advice from anyone. Follow the spirit and enjoy the ride. The journey of a mission is a once in a lifetime opportunity that will put you so far above your peers who don’t go on a mission. The Lord quickens you and gives you gifts and talents and skills that you could get nowhere else that will help you on your mission and well beyond in school and future careers.

Learn from every experience whether positive or negative. Learn from every person you encounter, whether positive or negative. Especially your companions and leaders. Heavenly Father puts your companions and leaders in place for a reason. Find that reason as soon as you can and begin feasting on whatever the benefit may be. You will doubt this right off with some companions because you may not get along with them as well as you do other companions. Elder Solomon, who I didn’t get along with while I was with him was no joy to be with. But we worked our butts off, and I baptized more with him than I did with any other companion and I was only with him for a month or two. It was a great bonding experience and we loved each other AFTER our companionship ended. We hugged every time we saw each other in zone conferences and what not. I still think back fondly on E. Solomon and I see how much I learned about patience, empathy, and charity during that short time I was with him. I learned more from that experience than I did with some of my best friends I served with. But there is something different for you to learn and grow from with each person you work with and encounter. If you have a testimony of that, you will jump right to looking for that gold nugget and benefit from it sooner than later. You will get along with people so much easier (which won’t be hard for you anyway) and you will love everyone you come in contact with and they will love you in return (which won’t be hard for you either). Keep up on your journal as I’ve counseled you so many times now. That book will become more valuable than any book you could ever buy once you fill it with memories, lessons learned, struggles, triumphs, blessings, etc. What a wonderful thing to look back on when you get to my age and realize how much you forgot. When you need to see how thin the veil really is again, when you need a boost spiritually, when you are down and out, whatever the situation may be. Just think how much better even when you get to be Dad’s age. Fill that puppy up. I would find that extremely entertaining to read when you get back if it’s not super private. Mom and Dad would value that experience more than anything too, more than me even. And just think what a treasure it will be to your kids and grand kids. The Nephites fought to the death and risked their lives from the time of Nephi on down to Moroni to protect and preserve their record. So keep copious notes no matter how dull you think your day went. Bust out the Parker pen and drop the details in there. Fill it up. There are plenty more to send out if needed.

While in the MTC, and well after, share your testimony with everyone on a regular basis. The more you share your testimony, you may feel like it will get tired, but it strengthens with every time you share it. You will build your own and you will build others. Never disregard a prompting. Follow the spirit with every prompting you get. Live so that you are worthy of that prompting. You may save someone from going home from their mission like me just for following a silly prompting that you have no idea why you are getting or what you will say or do. The more you do this, the more the spirit comes in full force. Soon you will rely on the Holy Ghost so much that you just open your mouth and let the spirit teach the discussions. I actually felt stupid when I got home because I would get so tongue tied and I felt lost so frequently because I didn’t have that spirit in such abundance anymore it was like my compass was broken. It took a lot of adjustment to get back to the non-missionary life. It will take a lot of adjustment to get into it too, but what a cool tool to have.

You will hear the phrase lose yourself in the work a lot. That may not mean as much to you until later on. You will have homesickness. You will think about Chicks, hunting, shooting, fishing, camping, Xbox, Chicks, hanging with your buddies, Music, your iPod, watching movies, Smallville, Chicks, your little niece and nephew and whatever this 3^rd one is growing up while you are gone, etc. But the more you lose and envelope yourself in finding people you can share the truth of the restored gospel with, the more those memories fade and your every thought and prayer becomes how can we progress so and so toward baptism. How can we find more receptive people in this area. How can we get so and so to stop smoking so he can commit to be baptized. Then you truly share the same worries as the Lord and yoke yourself with him in the true work and stop worrying about the trivial things that are so meaningless in this life. Strive for that right off the bat and it will make the bite of homesickness sting that much less and the other things become so much less of a distraction.

Mike, you are a natural born leader. I have seen that, Mom and Dad have seen it, your leaders have seen it. In fact, you have been groomed from early on with the leaders you have had and the friends you have kept and the life you have lived. Heavenly Father has so many great things in store for you and so many great things in store for those you will impact. You have the capacity to touch so many lives like all of the people you will influence to receive His message by the light in your eyes and warm personality. Not to mention the missionaries you will lead and provide an example of hard work and dedication to the work. Slackers come and go and they are not bad people for it. They are still out there putting in some leg work and doing good. But leaders with an unshakable testimony and devotion to the Lord and His work are rare and the most valuable asset the Lord could have on the earth. You carry the same title that the general authorities have. Don’t ever underestimate what you can and will do on your mission. You will achieve greatness on your mission and it will stay with you for the rest of your life if you hold true to the principles you are out there to teach.

I have told you this before, but you have already progressed way beyond where I was at your age spiritually and edumacationally. You have a sense of who you are, where you are going, how you can influence people for the right, and the importance of what you face ahead of you. Yet you hold yourself in a humble regard and that allows you to continue to grow at this exponential rate that you do. Stay humble and achieve the greatness Heavenly Father has in store for you. I am so proud of you and who you have become. We have always had a big age gap, but I’m so grateful that over the last few years we have become so much more than brothers. We have become like best friends and I cherish that relationship. I will miss you like CRAZY. But I have looked forward to this day for years. I have been so excited for you to go on your mission and have these amazing experiences that you can come back and share with all of us. I can’t wait for the war stories when we all sit around and laugh and cry together over the good times and the bad and think about just how great sharing the gospel is. Thank you for your example you give to me and all of our family. Brinlee said just today that she was going to go on a “missin” when she turns 5. So she is already taking about going on a mission when she gets older. She adores you and so do we. Our prayers will be with you always.

I’d use the old Cliché make us proud, but you already have. I love you Mike.

Trav