09/13/06

Elder Al,

Wasupatchu?! I burned your pics and vids over to 3 CDs and took them over to Mom’s and Dads for a slide show/video presentation. So we all watched your action over there. Yeah, I said 3 CDs. Anything over 690 MB has to go on to a second CD and those videos are friggin’ HUUUGE! No biggie. I’ll have them buy me a tower of CDs when I run out of mine. It was fun checking out your pics/vids of your new companion, pad, bike, area, lizards, spiders, mint ball snorting, flight, etc. I’ll be updating your blog with all that action starting tomorrow. It’s almost 11:00 PM on Tuesday night. So no time for that now. I found the funniest blog ever. I wrote him and told him how good it was. He thanked me and I think he feels the pressure of having an audience now since I linked it to my rants blog and referred some friends to it. It’s good though. Not as good as yours of course, but it’s good none the less. He’s a security guard and his blog is called the chronicles of a security guard. It’s one of those “guess you had to be there” kind of things. Anyway, I won my first game. I went into Monday night football trailing Clint by 14 points and I just had two defensive dudes going in. Antoine Winfield a DB for the Vikings and Shawne Merriman, my new favorite LB in the league who is in his second season and plays for the Chargers. Winfield got points for me so all Merriman had to do is score 7 and I would have won the tie breaker cuz my bench outscored his by like 30 points. But Merriman went ahead and busted out 3 sacks and 6 solo tackles. So I enjoyed a nice 12 point gain out of him and won easily. Austin was calling the easy win for Clint going in, so that made my win that much sweeter, oh and the fact that he had a 20 pt. lead on John going in to MNF and John had Tomlinson playing who raked in 22 pts and beat Austin single handedly. Sweet victories were had by all over the Emery Brothers. John snaked Carson Palmer, you probably saw and has been enjoying the spoils of his big point gains. Matt Hassleback is a nice back up QB to have too for him. John’s team is stacked. We’ll see if he actually does something with it this year.

I have jammed 9317 songs onto Dark Angel and still have well over 17 gig free. So I’m just going to keep accumulating. I need to sync some church music over and send out the iPod for you. I don’t know what to do about speakers. I guess Mom and Dad have that covered?

That spider action was pretty wicked to watch. Did you throw that other spider into the web so that they’d fight? Setting up spider grudge matches already? I loved our two spiders that Challis and I had in our Connecticut pad. Mortimer and Frank (pronounced FRONK). We would feed them bugs and set up grudge matches with wasps and stuff. Mortimer took down a wasp that was stinging the crap out of him. Of course He wasn’t around 2 days after that, but he killed the wasp first and ate him. I think he died of complications from that two days later cuz he was just gone. Your spider is freakin’ “Bad A”. Way bigger and freakier than either Mortimer and Frank and they were pretty bad dudes themselves. What have you named your spider? You keep feeding that guy and he’s going to eat one of you eventually. Do you guys live in a little house? Or is it an apartment? You got a nice road rash from your wreck. That looked fun. The Pentecostal church was pretty good. They were a little tamer than a couple I went to, but that might have just been a weeknight and they were just getting warmed up. What did you think of that experience? Dad and I had fun watching that. The turtle was interesting. You should have kept him. I had a couple of turtles in my midtown area, we kept in a little aquarium. They were fun. Of course I had a cat in Harlem and a mouse in my upper west side area that I kept as a pet. So who’s to say you can’t keep a turtle? I think where you released it was good though. What do you even feed a turtle? I liked the picture of you in front of Travis Street. That was a nice tribute. Have you tracted that street yet? You better tract every door on that street and baptize someone there for me while you are in that area. Better get on that soon. How sweet would that be to baptize someone on Travis street? What a cool story that would be. Well that’s enough for tonight. I’m going to bed, but will have lots to respond to your letters that have come recently and more comments on your pics. I guess Mom and Dad will send your card back with a little package of other stuff, so they have it and will send it on.

Well, I just pulled off a major coup with Austin. He wanted DeAngelo Williams so bad that he traded me Willis McGahee for him. We have been negotiating this for a couple of weeks now. Austin is a GOOD negotiator for his age. I can’t believe it. He just revealed too much of his hand, so I knew the cards he was playing with. That worked to his disadvantage when negotiating with a seasoned veteran and one who has read books on negotiation. However, he can swim with the sharks and get out alive and I’m impressed by that. He got his player, I got a stud RB and I am ready to win this league for a second year in a row. It’s still going to be an uphill battle though with the competition we are facing this year. Everyone is good and has good teams. Games start up again tomorrow for game 2.

Guess what, I just got a call from temple square with some good news. Let me set the stage for you first. Several months ago, Suzanne, Brinlee, and I were down at Temple Square hanging out. In fact, you would remember the day since you met us with the rest of the family and grandpa to watch the Joseph Smith movie later on. But earlier, since it was easier for me and Suzanne, because of where Suzanne works and Brinlee’s school etc. we would meet down at temple square, hang out, go eat, and meet you guys that night for the movie. Anyway, while hanging out, seeing movies and such, the cool sister missionaries that were giving us the tour and stuff asked us if we would have anyone to refer for the missionaries. We didn’t just blow this off like the standard members would. We put some serious thought into it and told them that we would think it over carefully and let them know by the end of our tour. We continued our tour and movies and stuff and at the end, we were leaving, and Suzanne stopped on the stairs we were going down and said, “what about my grandpa”. I told her I thought that would be a great idea. So I encouraged her to go back, get that referral card and put his information on it and turn it in. So we went back and she did just that. Well, I just got the call from that sister who we gave the card to who told me that Howard Shosted was contacted and invited to receive the missionaries to hear the discussions and he accepted. So we are going to do some follow up and tell him that we are happy to hear that he is meeting with the missionaries and stuff, just to give him some encouragement along the way. So that’s pretty exciting. He has never been receptive to the church at all.

I’m in 2^nd Nephi Chapter 13 now. So I’m moving right along. I always get way into the B of M every time I start reading it. It might take a jump start, but once I get started, I chomp it down like a good meal when I’m starving. I also started reading the book “a witness and a warning” by Ezra Taft Benson. It is really good. It’s a decent side kick to read while I’m in the B of M. I’ll share a few of my favorite excerpts from it for you here:

Presently the Book of Mormon is studied in our Sunday school and seminary classes every fourth year. This four-year pattern, however, must NOT be followed by Church members in their personal study of the standard works. All scripture is not of equal value. The book that is the “keystone of our religion” and that will get a man “nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book” needs to be studied constantly.

I bless you with increased understanding of the Book of Mormon. I promise you that from this moment forward, if we will daily sup from its pages and abide by its precepts, God will pour out upon each child of Zion and the Church a blessing hitherto unknown – and we will plead to the Lord that He will begin to lift the condemnation – the scourge and judgment. Of this I bear solemn witness. I promise you that as you more diligently study modern revelation on gospel subjects, your power to teach and preach will be magnified and you will so move the cause of Zion that added numbers will enter into the house of the Lord as well as the mission field. I bless you with increased desire to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon, to gather out from the world the elect of God who are yearning for the truth but know not where to find it.

The Book of Mormon exposes the enemies of Christ. It confounds false doctrines and lays down contention. (See 2 Nephi 3:12.) It fortifies the humble followers of Christ against the evil designs, strategies, and doctrines of the devil in our day. The type of apostates in the Book of Mormon is similar to the type we have today. God, with his infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time. Now God expects us to use the Book of Mormon in several ways. We are to read it ourselves – carefully, prayerfully – and ponder as we read, as to whether this book is the work of God or of an unlearned youth.

Anyone who has diligently sought to know the doctrines and teachings of the Book of Mormon and has used it conscientiously in missionary work knows within his soul that this is the instrument which God has given to the missionaries to convince the Jew and Gentile and Lamanite of the truthfulness of our message.

We do not have to prove the Book of Mormon is true. The book is its own proof. All we need to do is read it and declare it. The book of Mormon is not on trial – the people of the world, including the members of the Church, are on trial as to what they will do with this second witness for Christ.

It is not just that the Book of Mormon teaches us truth, though it indeed does that. It is not just that the Book of Mormon bears testimony of Christ, though it indeed does that, too. But there is something more. There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path.

Speaking of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants, President Joseph Fielding Smith said that “if we will put them into practice, if we will keep the commandments of the Lord, we will know the truth and there shall be no weapon formed against us that shall prosper. There shall be no false doctrines, no teaching of men that will deceive us… If we will search these revelations then we will be fortified against errors and we will be made strong.

There are some of my favorite quotes from the book so far and I’m only half way done with it. It’s been great to read it at the same time as reading the Book of Mormon.

I have been talking to Shelli a lot more lately. Mostly over messenger and TXTing and stuff, but it’s good to crack into her hardened shell of privacy, slowly but surely. Keep her in your prayers, not so much that things are not going well in her life, or whatever. I don’t mean to throw drama into that statement at all, other than she is in a stage of her life where every decision becomes huge and future altering and I hope she makes the right decisions as she goes. That’s it on Shelli. Hopefully you and she are exchanging good letters. I know she has been pretty into all of your mission stuff.

I sent a letter to Troy Thrush to see if he had gotten his call or anything yet. This is what I got back…

Hey Trav,

How are ya? well awesome to hear from ya.
Thats awesome about Mike.....i knew he got his call but i didnt know
he had gone already....im a bit behind all the way downunder. How long
ago did he leave? Yeh add me to the email list...that would be cool.
Well yep im back at home now....and have been home for about 3 and a
half months now. The transition of coming home was hard at first but
im still alive and am lovin life. So its all good now. Well i am
working on my mission papers at the moment and hope to put them in
within the next 2 weeks. I am so excited to go. I hope to leave by
december- january. Well the remainder of my time in the states was
aweome.....had souch a great time......i did have problems with
changing the status of my visa and therefore had to come home earlier
than expected.....but oh well im home and happy to be. I met a girl
the last month that i was there and she was great.....she actually
came over here for almost a month and it was great but i guess i got
to know the real her and didnt like it very much and decided that i
really should be focusing on my mission, so we broke up and she went
back to america.....and now i am focused.....it sounds bad but when
she left it was such a great relief and burden lifted.....the fact
that i didnt have to be held back from my mission anymore. I guess im
just bummed that i allowed that to happen.....cause hopefully i would
have my call already if we didnt date....but oh well its all about
learning. And also im not even 19 yet....well i will be in just over a
month. So now im just working full time and getting ready to go. I
really cant wait....so much that i go out with the missionaries here
alot.....im actually going to a discussion with them in about half an
hour.
well that means that i must finish up. well hope all is goin
well....let me know whats been goin on.....take care
Troy

I just updated your blog with a video of you snorting that mint ball. That is funny. What were you thinking? That was like me snorting “snuff” in Australia last year. Did I ever tell you about that? I’m listening to my new Audio Slave CD. Ahhhh yeah, it’s good.

So I actually put two more postings on your blog and saved them as drafts so I can turn them on whenever I want to. So I’m ahead of myself now. They are AWESOME! Not to mention, I did a page for you on the NC, Charlotte mission site. So you have a sweet pic up, some information and a link to see everything they want to know about you and more on your blog. It is a better page than most anyone on there. E. Leavitt doesn’t even have one up on there. What’s up with that? How long has he been out again? Well, it’s 1:00 AM now, so I’m really off to bed now. I have to wake up in 6 ½ hrs to get ready for church. Shelli is home safe and sound and already in bed. She beat me! Well, I have done some good for tonight. So I’ll sleep well in the cool weather. You could see your breath today at 3:00 PM, it has been nice and crisp here the last couple of days. I love it. My kind of weather. BYU lost in double overtime to Boston College today and the Utes CRUSHED USU up in Logan 48-0. The U played most of the game with their scrubs too.

Well, that’s it for this week. I am going to lose my 2^nd week in fantasy football to none other than John. It’s 73.5 to 104 right now and I just have Hines Ward to play tomorrow night. He’s not going to rack up that many points, so I’m giving up hope right now. Anyway, write back when you can and let me know how everything is going with your work and such. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Keep up the hard work.

Later,

Trav