6/25/07

Ahhhhhhhhhhh, You Bahhhhhhhhhhh

It’s been a while since we said that, eh? How has your week been this week? Any good action to report on? Sorry that I’m getting around to this so late this week. It’s 6:55 AM on Monday morning. I hurried and got up, got Aynslee’s bottles made and Brinlee dressed and Aynslee fed, and now I’m hurrying to get your letter done before I have to help the girls out to the car to go to school. So I might keep this short, just so I can get it off to you before you begin checking e-mail.

Did you ever use those additional gospel jeopardy games in your District meetings or for any other occasion? Just curious how everyone did with them.

Let me jump into your last letter here before I get much farther. Yeah, Alex tossin’ his hot dog was about gross. Little fella walks right up in front of me and starts gagging. I’m looking at him like, kid can’t breathe. But Staci is sitting right next to me and Josh not 2 steps off and neither one of them seem concerned. He keeps gagging and clearly is not catching a breath. I finally reach over to him ready to give him the old back slap or quick Heimlich or something and his body finally takes care of business for us and chucks the last two Red Flame jumbo style hot dogs he has eaten already and up it came. Like a bubbling stream of hot dog chunks flowing gracefully out of his mouth and onto the deck. I looked down at my half eaten hot dog as I’m smelling the acidic smell of stomach gall mixed with hot dog. I shrugged it off, tried to enjoy my hotdog again, but it just wasn’t the same. Staci was trying to clean it up, but it was more just smearing chewed up (larger than expected chunks of hotdog for a little kid) bits of hotdog and juice all over the deck.

I’m looking forward to seeing that box you sent home (or are sending home?) soon. Did you already send it? Does it have a picture card in it? We went to Beth’s for the annual big family summer BBQ bash over there. It was fun to see everyone again. Everyone was talking about your blog and how it’s great to stay up on your progress there. I thanked everyone, but I haven’t done an update in a couple of weeks. I put one up yesterday finally just because I felt bad about slacking. But I have had a hard time finding entries to get in there lately. A lot of the blog worthy material has been in Mom’s and Dad’s letters, so I told them to make sure to send that stuff to me when they see good stuff in their letters. When I read those letters, I’m usually at a place like Beth’s reading a brought letter and I don’t have anything to take notes and I don’t want to go off memory, and I have to give the letter back before I leave, so I told them just to send me an e-mail with the good stuff in there. We’ll see if they do that soon. This week’s entry was your account of peeps down there talking Mitt Romney with you. So I had some decent stuff to throw down. But your letters that have the spiritual accounts of what you have been up against, or what you have been blessed with lately is what kills. So keep those up and send some pics soon. Your fan club starves for pics. I got some great feedback from everyone at the BBQ though. I got a little embarrassed as everyone kept raving about it. Beth wants to pay me to build one just like it for Parker. I told her I’ll just send her the code for the template, she can build around that and keep it up herself. She was more interested in just paying me to do it. Ha ha.

Interesting that you run into a bunch of Evangelicals down there. I’m glad to hear that everyone seems to like Mitt pretty well. He is winning most of the straw polls that they have been conducting which is a good sign. He was my second and maybe even third candidate before the last couple of weeks and he has since taken the lead in my book. I think I’m going to vote for him. I have gained a lot of respect for him lately with some of the stuff he has been saying and doing. So I’ll probably have to rally around the Mitt flag now.

Interesting facts about Joseph Smith you put in here. I didn’t know that about how much he knew about all the creation or about if he wrote it all down, how long it would be. Very interesting. Again, you amaze me at how much you know and how fast you are learning it.

That’s cool you are staying in Lincolnton for another transfer. Do you think you will leave this coming transfer then? On your birthday huh? That’s kind of a cool day for a transfer. It’s crazy to me how long y’all stay in your areas out there. I was 4 months in every area with two exceptions. I was 3 months in Midtown Manhattan and 7 months in Greenwhich, CT. as much as I loved City work the best, I couldn’t have gotten out of Midtown sooner and I couldn’t have stayed longer in CT. It worked out kind of cool that way.

Well, that’s it for your letter. Let me give you the quote of the week and I might need to send this off. I’m up against it here when you will be checking your e-mail. It’s 7:21 so it’s 9:21 your time and I’m guessing you will be there soon. Let me hurry and try to find something…

I’m going with this one based on your latest experience with the guy who called his pastor over. What a chicken. Funny how they do that though. But I appreciated how well you handled that situation, as fun as it is to bash with folk. That was an appropriate response and well executed according to how the Savior would have done it.

“Go in all meekness, in sobriety, and preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified; not to contend with others on account of their faith, or systems of religion, but pursue a steady course. Those who do, shall always be filled with the Holy Ghost.”

-Joseph Smith

Well, Mike, it’s time to send this off. It’s almost 9:30 your time now, and I better get ready for the day myself. So enjoy the rest of your P-day, enjoy the rest of your week. May it be fruitful and educational. May you find the elect people prepared for you and Elder Gardner. Don’t let that preparation go to waste. Get out there and do your part – seeking inspiration and guidance from the Holy Ghost to find them where they wait. I love you, I miss you, I’m constantly inspired by you and above all, I’m proud of you like you wouldn’t believe. Thanks for being that shining example for all of us in the family. We all appreciate it and need it more than you can know.

Work hard!

Love,

Trav