9/30/07

Yo Yo Yo,

Another week, another letter. This one will be much shorter since I got nothin’ to go off of from last week, so I’ll just update you on the latest from the home land. I’m getting an earlier start this week too, since it’s still light at 6:00 PM on Sunday night. I can’t believe how dark it’s getting lately and now… how cold it is. It actually snowed here in the valley yesterday. Can you believe that? The colors in the mountains are pretty, but man, a typical Utah fall (almost non-existent). It’s supposed to storm again tomorrow I think, so we’ll see how cold it gets again. I told you how I started playing flag football in the stake. Well, Saturday, I got up, it was chilly in the house, but not shivering sort of chilly. So I got in my under armor cool wick shirt and my Urlacher jersey and some shorts and headed out the door. I was fueling up on a clif bar and a powerade on the way to the church and started feeling that cold breeze cut through my clothes and hit my bare legs and arms. It was downright cold. I figured I misjudged the weather, but then I got to the church and the open field and felt the wrath of the north wind shooting some cold wind right to my bones. It was freezing. The clouds were dark, there was not going to be any sun to play havoc on catches or pass defenses today. That was the only good news. Luckily we got started pretty soon after I got there and we got the blood flowing and warmed up a little, but then came the mist. Wow, now that was cold! We played well though. We had 6 guys this week, so we could actually sub a guy out every so often. I caught a couple of TD passes and had only a few spectacular defensive plays to brag about. I wasn’t on my game the way I should have been, but the team meshed well and we beat them like 48 to 21. it felt good considering we lost by 8 pts. Last week. So we are 1-1 and go into our bye week this coming Saturday (General Conference). It just feels cool to call it our bye week. I felt much stronger and more fit this week too. I think killing myself last week was good for the lungs and muscles. I’m still a little stiff, but not like last week. So I’m excited for turkey bowl time now. I’m going to be much more fit than I thought I would be. Speaking of that, I had my doctor’s appt. on Friday. They did some blood work and I should find out what the news is on Monday. I already know I’m going to have high cholesterol and high blood pressure. But we’ll find out what they say on Monday. I also have to go to another location by fashion place mall and do a heart and lunch echo stress test where they hook me up to a bunch of computers and put my fat butt on a treadmill and have me run till I can’t run anymore. That should be about 20 seconds. Ha ha. They’ll have a better idea of how bad my pulmonary lung capacity is and how weak my heart is then. I’m really looking forward to that. The idea Suzanne had when she made this appt. was for me to get a physical. So when I asked the doctor after he checked all of my breathing and took my blood and did all he did with my heart and other stuff if he was going to do a physical still, he said that he’s done everything he normally does for a physical minus checking my privates for hernia with the turn head and cough and slap on a glove and poke around in the back door. He asked me if I wanted to finish up with that and I said, NO, I’m good. That didn’t take long for that decision. I don’t think he even finished his sentence before he had his answer. So that was that. Before I went in to the doctors office, when I pulled into the parking lot, I saw this old couple pulling in just before me. The 80 something year old guy let out his 80 something year old wife by the door and he went for the closest parking spot that was open. It was the far right one with a curb along the right side of his car. He was turning left into the spot and his right tire nailed the curb on the right and stopped him, jerking his Kia wanna-be SUV to a halt. He looked around like “what the sam hill is stopping me. I don’t see anything in front of me. So he put it in reverse, back into drive and hit the gas. He nailed the curb even harder jerking his whole car back and forth for a few seconds. He was so perplexed and had this look of pure confusion as to what is stopping him. He looked like he was checking for a big post or wall or something and couldn’t comprehend the curb below him. So he hit reverse one more time and with sheer determination on his face, floored it this time bounding over that curb in this weak SUV and came to a quick landing right into his spot he wanted. Good thing he had his seat belt on tight or it would have thrown him out the window he got jerked so hard. He got out, looked around like he was still looking for a pole or something and shrugged and walked into the building kind of rubbing his neck. Poor fella. I was having a good laugh at his expense anyway. Old guys are cool!

So you must be pretty excited about conference this weekend coming, right? I’m excited. We’ll get to find out some new moves in this one, so that is pretty exciting.

Looks like I’m going to win again in my Elder’s Quorum league, so that will make me 4-0. I will continue my quest to be undefeated the whole season. That is very unlikely, but it is a cool goal to go after. Everyone else is making a lot of moves in there too like working the waiver wire and changing things up. That is a good way to win, but I have another goal to have the lowest number of changes (one all year so far) and just rely on the strength of my draft. In our main league, it is too close to call still. I’ll see what happens tonight after this Sunday night game since I’m facing Donovan McNabb in both leagues. He’s been on fire lately. So we’ll see if he kills me in both leagues tonight.

We looked at a couple more houses last night, but nothing too serious yet still since we have no leads on our house here. The market is super slow now that it’s after labor day. So we aren’t planning on any hot action from here on out. But on the other hand, we are waiting to find out tomorrow if one couple that went through on Thursday wants to make an offer. They said they wanted the weekend to think it over and decide if they wanted to make an offer on Monday. Not holding my breath though.

So what’s new in the mission field? What’s happening with your zone, area, companionship, investigators, etc.?

I’m going to run upstairs for a bit. Grab some dinner and I’ll come back and wrap this up. Check you in a few.

OK, Brinlee is down here now. “Hi”

And… and… play with him. and… hug him. I want to play with you and say thank you to you. And… that’s all.”

That was short and sweet. She’s getting big fast. You won’t believe the conversations she has with people now. She just made a drawing of your mission here behind me. Ha ha. It’s a bunch of scribbles, but she can tell you in graphic detail what is what on there.

Well, the Sunday night game is over and the Giants stuffed McNabb in a bad way. He got 5 pts. All night. So that is going to help me win in both leagues tonight. So what else can I tell you? I didn’t come prepared with a quote of the week this week. I had a scripture chain I was going to have you follow. But my scripts are upstairs and I’m too lazy and tired to go up there and get it right now. So I’m going to throw out a generic quote this week, but I still like it. It’s good stuff.

“The source of our spiritual power is the Lord! The ultimate source of spiritual power is God our Father. The messenger of this power is the Holy Ghost. This power differs from electrical power. An electrical appliance consumes power. The use of His spiritual power replenishes our power.”

- Russell M. Nelson

I like this quote because just like a testimony, when you use the Priesthood, or share you testimony or do anything in the service of your fellow beings, our finite minds think that we are consuming energy or power, or that very testimony that we are sharing. But you get to know by experience that the Lord increases that very thing which you are doing. I loved that. I still do love it. I’m sure you have seen plenty of experiences like that which have strengthened your testimony of that very concept.

Well, like each week, I’ll be looking for a new concept learned, a new experience to share, a new epiphany realized. Whatever you got for this week or last. Drop it on us. I’ll catch you on the flip side next week, but will look forward to your letter Monday.

Take care of yourself. Take care of your companion. Take care of your Zone and all of your other stewardship. Love you and miss you.

Trav

PS. There are a couple of significant news items this week from the family. So make sure you let me know your thoughts when you hear them. One involves Gramps. I guess that one is not all that proprietary to share since it’s anyone’s news. But he was in a car accident yesterday on his way up to Don’s house. I guess a cop in his private car cut him off and caused the big wreck. Gramps C-RV is pretty mangled, but still drivable I guess. The cop was cited I think, but I mean, c’mon, it’s a cop. How much trouble will he get in?! So I guess Gramps is OK, but he had some chest pain. Not sure if it was his seatbelt restricting on him or if it was his heart from freaking out. We got Priesthood night coming up on Saturday. The last October Conference without you. We’ll miss you again in April, but then you’ll be chillin’ in there with us nudging me and Grandpa awake by next October Priesthood session.

I’ll send you my thoughts on Conference next week. We’ll compare notes then. Check you later on.

T

Southerness

No e-mail from Mike this week, so we are going with an e-mail from Aunt Margaret who hails from Mike's current neck of the woods.


Southernness

Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit, and that you don't "HAVE" them, you "PITCH" them.
_____
Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up "a mess."
_____
Only a Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of "yonder."
_____
Only a Southerner knows exactly how long "directly" is, ... as in: "Going to town, be back directly."
_____
Even Southern babies know that "Gimme some sugar" is not a request for the white, granular sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl in the middle of the table.
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All Southerners know exactly when "by and by" is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.
_____
Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who's got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. If the neighbor's trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin! Note: If they happen to be Jewish (only a few are) it requires a bowl of Chicken Soup and if a crisis, with a couple Matzo Balls!
_____
Only Southerners grow up knowing the difference between "right near" and "a right far piece." They also know that "just down the road" can be 1 mile or 20+.
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Only a Southerner, both knows and understands, the difference between a redneck, a good ol' boy, and po' white trash.
_____
No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.
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A Southerner knows that "fixin" can be used as a noun, a ve rb, or an adverb.
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Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines, ... and when we're "in line," ... we talk to everybody!
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Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage.
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In the South, y'all is singular, .... all y'all is plural.
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Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.
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Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.
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When you hear someone say, "Well, I caught myself lookin'," you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner!
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Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it -- we do not like our tea unsweetened. "Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk.
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And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say,"Bless her heart" ... and go your own way.
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To those of you who are still a little embarrassed by your Southerness: Take two tent revivals and a dose of sausage gravy and call me in the morning. Bless your heart!
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And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff, . bless your hearts, I hear they are fixin' to have classes on Southernness as a second language!
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And for those that are not from the South but have lived here for a long time, all y'all need a sign to hang on y'alls front porch that reads "I ain't from the South, but I got here as fast as I could."
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SOUTHERN WOMEN
Southern women appreciate their natural assets:

Clean skin.
A winning smile.
That unforgettable Southern drawl.

Southern women know their manners:
"Yes, ma'am."
"Yes, sir."
"Why, no, Billy!"

Southern women have a distinct way with fond expressions:
"Y'all come back!"
"Well, bless your heart."
"Drop by when you can."
"How's your Momma?"

Southern women know their summer weather report:
Humidity
Humidity

Southern women know their vacation spots:
The beach
The beach
The beach

Southern women know the joys of June, July, and August:
Colorful hi-heel sandals
Strapless sun dresses
Iced sweet tea with mint

Southern women know everybody's first name:
Honey
Darlin'
Shugah

Southern women know the movies that speak to their hearts:
Fried Green Tomatoes
Driving Miss Daisy
Steel Magnolias
Gone With The Wind

Southern women know their religions:
Baptist
Methodist
Football

Southern women know their country breakfasts:
Red-eye gravy
Grits
Eggs
Country ham
Mouth-watering homemade biscuits with momma's homemade jelly

Southern women know their cities dripping with Southern charm:
Birmingham (Buminham)
Charleston (Chawl'stn)
Savannah (S'vanah)
Fort Worth (Foat Wuth)
New Orleans (N'awlins)
Atlanta (Addlanna)

> Southern women know their elegant gentlemen:
Men in uniform.
Men in tuxedos
Rhett Butler, of course!

Southern girls know their prime real estate:
The Mall
The Country Club
The Beauty Salon

Southern girls know the four deadly sins:
Having bad hair and nails
Having bad manners
Cooking bad food
Wearing too much makeup in the summer

Southern girls know men may come and go,but friends are fahevah!
Now...... Shugah, send this to some girls who were raised in the South or wish they had been!
If you're a Northern transplant, Bless your little heart, fake it.

9/23/07

What’s up Home Biscuit? I’m chatting with John online right now and he’s wussing out of Turkey Bowl’s for good. He said that he just found out from a doctor that he has a compressed disc from playing too much football in his younger days. This is tough news to take. Especially knowing that my career is already on retirement watch. I hate to see someone just a year older than me going out right now. He said it’s too much risk getting tackled and that compressing just a little more and us having to carry him off the field straight to his new wheel chair he’d be bound to from then on. That’s a shame. I told him to at least come and referee for us. He said he’ll only be able to do it every other year because he’ll be at Lynn Marie’s family’s house in Vernal for 2 solid days over T-day. That is weak. Who spends multiple days for Thanksgiving, especially considering it’s only a couple of hours away. I mean, it’s a one meal holiday for crying out loud. That holiday is centered around football. Playing it before the big feast, then watching it after the big feast, with naps scattered throughout the day to shake the pain from the played game. Speaking of football, and the reason John and I are talking about it, is I played this morning. We started up a Stake Flag Football League for the individual Elder’s Quorums. So we played the 12^th ward today. It was the first game of the season. Well, it was me and 3 other guys. Yeah, we had a whopping turn out of 4 peeps. Guess how many they had? Nope, Higher. Nope, even higher! They had 20!!!! You had to have at least 5 guys to play. So we were one short. We asked if we could have one of their guys and they hemmed and hawed. I told them that they had an A team, a B team, a C team and a D team. They could send in a whole new team every series. Just give us one lousy guy, unless you are scared we are going to beat you with 4 of us and a spy. They accepted so we didn’t have to forfeit. Well, the 4 of us played well. Really well for not having practiced together. But we were spent! They did exactly what I thought they were going to do. They played their A team for the first series of offense and defense, then sent in their B team for the next series, C the next and D the next. So they had fresh legs every series and were blowing our jocks off as they ran past us and burned us on those deep routes. I was dead dude! No subs to spell me. I thought I was going to need to heave like that one thanksgiving, but I actually did fine. I never got nauseated, just super tired. Probably because it was just flag and not full contact. That will take way more out of you if you are full speed and full tackle. So these games every Saturday morning are going to be great to condition me for the big game on Thanksgiving. You will have to write scott now that he is home again and a newly wed and anyone else who you think would want to play and tell them to call me at 801-996-TRAV or email me at TravsBox@Gmail.com and I’ll get them locked in. It’s still almost two months away, so when we get closer, just remind me and I’ll send you the info again, But just in case you are only writing them so often, you can send it earlier. I am sore tonight. It’s 10:22 PM and I played at 7:00 AM this morning, so I think after I sleep tonight, I’ll wake up even more sore. But I like that sore. It feels good to me. Feels like my body is regenerating some good muscle and getting rid of some of my toxins and fat and what not. Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes… “Pain is just weakness leaving your body”. That is not your quote of the week this week. But something to remember anyway.

While we are on the topic of football, John and I play each other in Fantasy football this week. We are both the highest point projections with 106 – 106. The Silent Assassins are projected at 105 but they are playing a 87 pt. team and Bradiators are projected at 103 but playing a 94 team. The rest are all way lower. So John and I are dead even and look to have a big game shoot out tomorrow. We both have one defender in Monday Night football too. So we might have a MNF party to watch our defenders square off. His on one team, mine on the other, so we’ll always have our guy on the field when the other is off. Should be fun. I’m excited for it. I won last week, so I’m 1 and 1. But currently sitting in 7^th place. Not a good spot to be, but I’ll climb. Ghetto Fabulous is still strong and a formidable opponent every year. But my team, like me, is getting older and less potent than we used to be.

So on Friday (yesterday) I took my X-box in and some Halo 2 and we took a 2 hour lunch break to go to one of the manager’s house in bountiful where he had his Sony High Def Big screen ready for a halo party. The way these other 3 were talking, I thought it might be pretty even since they play with their younger sons who are good and talked a good game. But dude!! I smoked some holes. It was a blast for me, but those guys didn’t have much fun. I could tell by their expressions, comments, and desire to get back to work when the two hours was approaching. Ha ha. It was fun! You know how I am though, I am pretty competitive, so when I saw this approaching, I was practicing my Halo on Legendary all this week so I would be ready for them. I came into this way more than ready. I embarrassed them. It was a good time. Halo 3 comes out on Monday at Midnight. So tonight for you as you read this. If you are reading this on Monday which you should be. Pretty exciting. Even though I won’t have a 360 for a while to play it, but I’ll go play with Austin a bunch.

So we had a double whammy on our house situation this week. The buyers backed out because they said that it was going to be 200 dollars more than they could afford a month. WHAT??!! How did you screw that up dudes? That is a 200 dollar a month accounting error. That is pretty significant. How did you not have that figured out before you wasted our time with all the official paperwork, contracts, etc? It’s a good thing I had the weird vibe to keep the house on the market and not put any kind of clause up on it that would scare other realtors away. Well, not a big deal. We’ll sell it soon enough I think. And like I said earlier, we are not in a hurry to get out of here because we love the ward so much. But then the one house out of the MANY we have toured and looked at and shopped around for, the only one that we felt right about moving into so far, sold, that same day. So our buyers backed out and the house that was meant for us was sold. Well, it’s under contract. So it’s off the market. So that was a double whammy for sure. Maybe we are supposed to stay here. Who knows? We’ll end up being where we are meant to be, whether that’s here or the real house we are meant to live in. I’m not stressed.

Speaking of moving, I helped move Geegng out of her apt. and back into ma’s and pa’s. Actually, we just moved a couple of big ticket items from her pad to Gramps house. While I was at Ma’s and Pa’s though, I read your last letter. You are so defensive about your taco eating record. There is no proof that it’s 10 for me, no proof that is was 14 either. You remember it as 10, I remember it as 14. It’s probably really 12. But since there is no written account as far as we know, it is disputed. The same goes for the undocumented 2 arby’s sammiches that you may or may not have eaten before. If anything, that would be a benefit because it would have stretched your gut and speeded up your metabolism. So that’s not a handicap by any means. Your asterisk still stands by eating the tacos cheater style, all bare bones with no fixins. I ate one at Ma’s and Pa’s today (the last one left from that party) bare bones style because the tomatoes got stank in the Tupperware container and the lettuce was wilty. I just threw some cheese on it and heated it up and ate it a-la Mike Style (AKA cheater style). It was good. In fact, I felt like I could eat about 17 more of them that way. Ha ha.

Oh, dude, when we took the couch to Grandpa’s house, we saw the biggest buck I have ever seen in the wild. I mean this thing was massive. It was tall, muscular and had a rack about the size of a big elk. It was majestic. I have never seen that cool of a buck in the wild ever! I have seen some big bucks in the wild too, but this deer was Gorgeous. It was a little skittish and was running around in some yards up there, but man, it was amazing looking! You will hear about it from mom and dad I’m sure or someone. Because it blew us all away at how awesome it was. We all said that you would have been way excited to see that big bounder!

Let me get to your e-mail and respond. I like what you say about serving with E. Van again. Your relationship sounds exactly like mine and Elder Walker. I came in to his area in the South Bronx and took over his trainer’s position. Is that Greenie Broke in your terms? Anyway, he was only out 2 months and I just got off my second comp. so I was only out 4 months. We were a young companionship. Both of us hungry and eager. We both were fast walkers and both competitive by nature. We had an underlying competitive spirit, but it was focused on getting as much work done in a day as we possibly could. We would get out a little early and get home a little late every day and just pound it all day long. We would be just physically spent when we got home and it felt great. We both taught with the spirit and with power and boldness and it was a real turn in the road for me and my mission since my first two companions were not as motivated as Walker. This was a breath of fresh air for me and we really raised each other’s game to all new levels. We ended up breaking several mission records together and became a great companionship in the way we worked together. It was the same sort of feeling that you are describing with Elder V. at the end of our missions, he was an office AP and I was Traveling AP and we still had that competitive thing going. I would go on a split with some ZL or DL or even a greenie for that matter while I was out and just work them to the bone and he would do the same when he got a rare chance to get in the field and do some “real work” again. And we would compete that way and usually would end up turning a baptism or two out of those areas we just lambasted for the sake of our friendly competition. Ha ha. Good stuff. There is a big difference however in that kind of competition and our understanding of our competition from the kind you refer to with those ZL’s that seem to be aspiring for extra responsibility or praise from the President, etc. I used to get almost physically ill when I’d watch the few elders that would aspire to higher callings by being phony, cheesy, or what have you. I’m glad you have identified that and have decided that is not the avenue for you to follow. I doubt those ZLs don’t get the amount of respect from their stewardship under them as ZLs like you and Van Leeuwen and Leavitt get. Leaders who keep it real, stay genuine, and show true charity in all that they do and say are the best kind of leaders and the ones who will always maintain the respect and loyalty of those whom they serve. You are so perceptive to the great lessons your president teaches, whether consciously or not. But that quote you sent that he said about the Lord not asking what positions we held but what we did with the ones we held is awesome. No truer words have been said. Magnify your calling in every way you can. I’m so proud of you Mike.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhight boy, that is my first half of this letter for a Saturday. I just wanted to get a jump on this so I didn’t have to pound it all out on Sunday. I’ll check back in with you tomorrow before this gets sent off to give you some fantasy score updates, quote of the week, and some other random musings.

Well, not much else to update you on. It was a rather uneventful Sunday. I missed my Priesthood leadership meeting at the stake center. I look forward to those, they are always way awesome. But I lost my wallet, went into panic mode since the last time I saw it was when we showed our house and I wondered if the peeps lifted it while they were in here. After hours of looking I found it under the cubby under the TV in the entertainment center where I had already looked 3 or 4 times. That’s how it goes I guess. I went home teaching and got that out of the way. And I watched my Steelers beat your 49ers in the game of the week. It was a good game too. I will lose my fantasy game to John in a high scoring affair, but Brian Westbrook went and scored 40 pts on my team today. That is just too hard to come back from a day like that on one of his players. I’m back to a losing record of 1-2 now. But I will win yet again in my Yahoo league and keep my number one status I am pretty sure. I’ll get you more updates on that next week. I’m still sore from flag football, but am already looking forward to this coming Saturday to do it all again. I’m going to go get my cleats from the storage unit though. That will help a little.

Time for the Quote of the Week. After reading your letter at M &D’s house, I noticed how you said time is flying. It really is here too, but not as fast as for you. You are so busy and the busier you get, the more lost in the work you become and the faster time flies. Soon, if not already, you will begin to grasp at anything to slow down the time so you can enjoy your mission more and not let those best two years flee from you so fast. That brought me to this quote…

“Missions are for missionaries. It is a marvelous gift of time, a time given when you can experience glimpses of heavenly life here on earth. It is a time of cleansing and refreshing. It is a special time when the Holy Ghost can seal upon you the knowledge of the great plan for your exaltation. It is one of your best opportunities to become a celestial candidate. The teaching and conversion of others is the natural product of this process. To sanctify yourself you must serve others. The highest of all service to others is to teach them truth and bring them into the kingdom of God.”

- William R. Bradford

No added input on this one this week. You can take from that what you will and personalize it to how you will make the most of your time, your mission, your experiences and your relationship with the Holy.

I miss you every day Mike. I wish nothing but the best for you and love to hear about your experiences out there and what kind of growth you are having this week. Send me another learning experience that you picked up on this week. That was great. In fact, just make that a weekly thing. I think that is a big hit with the whole family. It’s like your time at the Sunday dinner table to tell the family what you learned in Sunday school today, sort of thing. But on a much higher plane. You are having life altering lessons taught to you and those are huge for us to share and discuss, ourselves after we read them. It edifies all of us as we vicariously live those moments with you. So share one or more a week with us. That would be terrific.

Love you, and talk to you next week.

Trav

Zone Leader Call Letter

Here is the letter Pres. Hobbs sent to the family. Click on the image to get a larger view.

9/16/07

Word it up,

It’s time to roll out another fresh joint this week.

We were just over at Ma’s and Pa’s for Josh’s Birthday. The tacos were about as good as they get. Not breaky, the shells were soft too, not hard to chew. Everything was awesome. I have not been in my usual form the last little bit, so I pounded a whopping 3 tacos and I was bloat. We had some good cheesecake and some traditional birthday cake too. Good stuff. So nothing close to 18, but just keep in mind, that your 18 record has an asterisk next to it. You just eat the basic, unloaded tacos. I load mine up. I think I hit 14 that night and I got myself plenty sick. I can’t take ‘em down like I used to. We were comparing notes of how much weight we gained on our missions. Josh tanked up. I can’t remember how much he gained. But I gained 20 lbs on mine and guess where I got them all? As soon as I turned ZL. Straight up. I put on all my weight then. Of course, I also had a car the rest of my mission, so no more walking the amounts I was in the city. I was in CT too where I had strong, rich members who would feed us every night. But just so you know, you will gain whatever weight you will gain now that you are ZL. You watch. Unless you are still running in the mornings or whatever you were doing. Keep that up and you will keep it off.

So congratulations on the ZL call by the way. I was way excited to hear about that. We got the President’s letter first. That’s what broke the news. But then we got your letter the next day. Pretty cool. It’s cool that you are back with Elder VanLeeuwen again too. That’s like in the 3^rd time’s the charm capacity I guess. Sort of your 3^rd different companionship with him, right? So you are feeling a bit overwhelmed, which is good. Nothing like getting out of your comfort zone and learning some new things, getting some new challenges to tackle and growing like a weed out there. Keep up the good work. You are blossoming and it shows big time. I was ahead of you with training and DL by a month each, but you surpassed my ZL calling by two months. You are a strong leader. You lead by great example and confidence. You do it with a loving manner too that shows those you lead that you truly love them and care for their success. That is one of the best characteristics of a great leader. You have great mentors too in Elder V and Leavitt too. Not to mention a great Mission President who sets a great example.

So that’s awesome that you found Brandon the day after you got to that area and taught him all the way through his baptism and that you are confirming him even though you moved on. I got to do that a couple of my baptisms in CT. I had found and taught them all the way up till they committed and then got called AP. But lucky for me, we scheduled that week of the baptisms in the CT zone. So that’s cool you get to do that.. Got to do it? When is/was that?

So you got the batch of hospital cookies? Good stuff getting that taste of home, right? We contemplated sending a bunch of tacos overnight to you, but too expensive. You would have liked that though, eh? So when is your first ZLC? That will be an awesome experience. It’s cool the training you get in those meetings. You are kind of bumped up in the Lord’s strategy meetings when you go to those. Definitely something to look forward to. Soak it all in.

Today in our Elder’s Quorum, our instructor surprised us by having the presidency’s wives come in and we had a newlywed game to lead off our lesson on successful marriage. So it was us 4 couples that had to try to match up our answers to certain questions. It was kind of embarrassing how much we didn’t know about our wives or forgot the special occasions. Oh well. It was a good wake up call for us too. It was a good lesson.

I might get to the quote of the week for you now since I didn’t get one in last week. In fact, if I remember right, I told you I’d get you two this week. So here’s the first one. I picked this one out due to your new calling…

Awareness of both your limitations and your potential enhances humility.

- Sheila Murray Bethel

You may get sick of me talking about you finding and reaching your potential, but I don’t care. I’m going to harp on that indefinitely. It’s important to never squander our potential and possibilities with idleness, indifference, or apathy. Wow, that sounded good coming out. Maybe I’ll get quoted on that last sentence I threw out there one day.

Anyway, keep that in mind with your new calling. I think it’s a good rule of thumb to live by. As you feel inadequate at first as a rookie ZL, be aware of those limitations you have right now. You will make them your strengths soon enough. Keep your eye on both your limitations and your potential though. Stay humble. That, as I have pointed out in my epistle is the most important characteristic of a true leader. Look at your mission president, look at all of the Quorum of the 12 and first presidency.

Here is the second quote of the week… Also applies to your new calling. Maybe this is why I saved my quote last week, so I could hit you up with two this week in the new situation…??

The way you see people is the way you treat them and the way you treat them is what they become.

- Goethe

That sounds like it might be a quote from your epistle, but I can’t remember. I’m too tired to go back and look for it too. You’ll have to let me know if it was in there. I love that quote and subscribe to it’s truthfulness. That’s another reason why I put so much emphasis on certain things in some of our communications. You will begin to see certain people for who they are as their ZL. As you train your DLs and help to bolster your Zone and Districts, you will hold up certain people because of their potential. Likewise, there is never a lost sheep that need stay lost. Everyone is worth leaving the 90 and 9 to find again and save. Treat each situation accordingly and help people to become what they ought to become. This principle can be applied in any number of aspects. Those missionaries you work with, or maybe those souls you seek, who themselves are seeking the truth. Maybe even those who persecute you or mock you.

In fact, as an added bonus, I’m going to throw in a scripture of the week too right now.

2 kings 2:23-24 talking about Elisha the prophet when he was going about his bidniss and some local trouble maker kids came around and started mocking him and buggerin.

23 ¶ And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.

24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

Yeahhh YEAHHHH! That’s what I’m talking about. That reminds me of this new missionary in the Bronx that had only been out like 2 months and these homies came around threatening them and harassing them and what not. This new guy was getting a little irritated and indignant toward them. They made some threat like they were going to hurt him and he said I wouldn’t recommend that. They started laughing and were like why not? What are you going to do? He said “because I’m a messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ and if you do try to do something like that, I’ll call down fire from heaven and burn you’re @$$”. Delivered it just like that. They all sobered up a bit and walked away. Kind of funny. I think his trainer was more surprised than the dudes. Ha ha.

That gets off topic. I don’t seriously mean that this is the way to go. This is almost the opposite of what we should do to treat others the way we see them and help them along. In fact, I’d say that this kind of behavior went out with the Old Testament after Christ came and fulfilled all that he did to institute the new law and way of doing things. But Old Testament stuff can be so funny!

OK, tangent over. Let’s get into your last letter you sent and reply.

So as far as FF goes, I won this week in both leagues. Which is good. It keeps my streak alive in my EQ league but more importantly, it gets me back on track after flopping out of the gate in the REAL league. There were some High Scores this week though. So I’m not going to climb by much. I guess Josh is playing in a league this year. So he apparently got an interest now, but I didn’t know. So I told him he’ll have to play in our league next year. Aynslee crawls kind of funny. So not too fast yet. She is still speedy, but mostly with her hands where she grabs stuff that is clearly out of her reach and pulls it over or onto our lap or where it can break. Whatever option is the worst for you at the time. She’s cute. Brinlee is growing up way fast. You won’t believe how much these kids have grown up when you get back. Brin is way cute with Aynslee. They are good friends and Brinlee has adjusted well after the first several months. So the more mobile and interactive Aynslee gets, the more Brinlee and she bond. It’s way cute. They are already teaming up. The other day, I was rolling around on the floor in our front room with Aynslee. She started clawing and scratching my face just because she has figured out her fingernails and pinching and scratching and it curious as to the noises and reactions she gets when she does this to people. I was covering my face and eyes and vitals while she was trying to get me and kind of moaning like “Aynslee, don’t scratch my face”. Brinlee caught on to this and started holding my hands as hard as she could and pulling them away from my face so Aynslee could get a chunk of meat with her baby razor claws. They both started laughing and thought this was the greatest team to assemble since the ’85 Chicago Bears. Wow, you weren’t even born then, were you? I’ve been way into football since way before you were even born. That is weird to think about. I watched every bears game I could that season and followed them to the superbowl that year. Second best record with only 1 loss that year, only to the undefeated Miami Dolphins. That has never been repeated since the 70s when they did that under Don Shula. I digress yet again. They are way cute together none the less.

So I guess you confirmed Brandon Yesterday (Saturday). How did that go?

Good stuff, what you learned this week. In fact, I think you ought to make that a weekly segment like my quotes of the week. I liked hearing what new epiphany you had for the week. Even if you had many, which probably happens on a weekly basis too. But just pick out one that stands out in your mind the most. Or whatever you think might be applicable for the family to read. I think that was great for all of us to read this week. So do it again this week. The scriptural reference was good too so we can follow along with you. Any more progress on PMG? I’m still plodding along. I would go jump into it now, but it’s already midnight and I need to hit the sack and get ready to tackle my new week tomorrow. We showed our house again on Saturday, so we’ll probably hear more about that early this week. I’m sick of showing it. I wish this family who bought it would hurry and close on everything so we can move on and stop showing ours and get moved into the house we want. They sold their condo, so they can close anytime, but they seem to be dragging their feet and it is frustrating because we can’t make an offer on the house we want until they are official and closed.

Well, I look forward to your reply and hearing all the latest and greatest from your neck of the woods. Have a great week. I’ll talk to you again next week. Love you. Missed you on taco night. It wasn’t the same without you tonight. But you were there in spirit.

Love,

Trav

Mike made Zone Leader

After our transfer cliff hanger in the last post, we found out that Thursday he is no longer in a 3 some, he will however stay with Elder Van Leeuwen, his ZL and has been made ZL over the Greensboro Zone.

Here's what he said...

Yes, we have had transfers this week, i am not in a three-some anymore, or in Guilford. I got transfered one area over to the summit area, to be Elder Van Leeuwens companion as a Zone Leader of the Greensboro Zone. I got the call Tuesday night from President Hobbs. He asked me if i was loyal to the Lord and to the mission President, so i said Yes, so hes said, Good, i know you are. And then he said, Elder Alexander, we're calling you to be a Zone Leader, are you ready to do that? so i said, I think so. And then he's all: "You think so? I'm certain so!" So i said: "I'm certain so!" hahaha, and then he told me that my companion was going to be Elder Van Leeuwen, and he was sitting right next to me and heard it and he started screaming, and President Hobbs heard it, so he asked me: "who is that crowing in the background?" So i told him it was Elder Van Leeuwen, and he just started Laughing, hahahaha, Then he asked if it was a good crow, and i said yes, its a good crow. hahaha, so it was funny. I'm stoked. This gives me a chance to work with Elder V again which i am way excited for and also with the AP's and President and Elder Leavitt, who is a ZL in Gastonia, and all the other ZL's around the mission. So I'm kinda overwhelmed by it all right now, i have a ton to do it seems like, but I'm excited and ready to give my best. This is such a good opportunity to completely lose myself. My favorite transfer was the one where i served with Elder Van Leeuwen the first time, and I'm sure it'll be even better now.

Make a note of his new address to the right.

9/9/07

Eh Yo,

Sorry ahead of time for this letter. I’m going to have to lame out and kick out a quicky because I’ve had a headache all day and haven’t been feeling well. It’s 10:17 PM on Sunday night and I am on Excedrin PM, so I’m even going to start getting loopy in my letter here in a few minutes. When I start noticing the loopyness hitting my words in here, I’ll pack it up and call it a letter.

So you’ve had transfers by now and will not be in a threesome anymore, I’m guessing anyway. You’ll have to give all the scoop on transfers. I’m looking forward to hearing all about that. I guess you know by now that the NFL kicked off this week officially. I’m going to lose my opener in our main league, but win easily in my Yahoo Elder’s Quorum league. Like I said, like candy from babies in that league. Anyway, it’s a drag to have to drop my first game where it counts, but what can you do? Austin is looking good. He played the strategy of dumping his whole team practically very well and profited from the draft big time. He had the high score of the league and would have beat every single player easily this week. So he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with this year. I think that strategy will help you next year the way I set it up. You will benefit from all the early draft picks and come back strong right away. I’d be surprised if Austin doesn’t land in the top 3 if not make a solid run at the top spot this year. Let me get to responding to your letter…

Thanks for the B-day wishes. Nice call on the Europe. How did you know that? Did you have to ask around, or did you seriously know that? It did surprise me a little that you pulled that one out of somewhere. So you hear they released the new line of iPods? They are sweet. The Nano is still way small, but now it is shorter and wider instead of super thin and narrow. So the screen is wider and it’s basically like a square now. It is video now too. The classic got thinner than even before but bigger inside somehow because now it’s 160 GB. Can you believe that? Holy Mole’. That’s YUGE! That’s what I’ll have to get when you come back and re-claim Dark Angel, since I’ve maxed her out and then some. I’m at 13,000 songs, 8 movies, 8 TV shows, 1200 pictures and volumes of audio books. I have to go through and deselect a bunch of stuff before I sync her again. It’s been quite a while since I’ve synced up, so I need to get rid of about 1 GB of stuff to make room.

Suzanne got me the new Tony Hawk skating game. It looks fun enough, I’d probably have fun playing it, but I like other types of games better. Plus, with Halo 3 due out in a couple of weeks, I have my eye on that game. Of course I have to go get a 360 first. I better get on that pretty soon I guess. Thing is, with this house business, That is going to set me back too far to make any kind of purchases like that. It’s too expensive for all of the closing costs, down payments, earnest payments, etc. So I probably won’t even get that game or a 360 till November or so at the earliest. We’ll see.

As far as the foothills of Herriman, I don’t want to go that far. Speaking of hunting though, the dove season opened I think this weekend. Not sure. But I’m going shooting with my home teaching companion and a guy we home teach this week sometime over by Lee Kay at their new skeet and trap facilities. Time to show these boys how the real men shoot. That should be pretty fun. Brinlee actually is kind of excited to move just because we tell her she’ll have more room and a bigger room to live in. that helps. She doesn’t really have friends in the neighborhood, so it won’t be a dramatic change for her. Aynslee is crawling around now. It’s cute. She’s mobile now, so she can get into things quicker than before. We either need to move soon or put our gate back up on our stairs pretty quick. That’s cool about tracting, how you are kind of going away from that now. It was a little less effective than anything else, but I found nearly all of my converts from tracting. My PMG is still going slowly but surely. I won’t get into it tonight just because I’m already feeling the looped out effects of my PM stuff. So I better speed this letter along and get to sleep.

I have a quote of the week for you, but it’s upstairs and once I get up there to get it, I’m going to want to dive into bed and go right to sleep, so if you don’t mind, I’m going to skip the QOTW this week and get you two next week. Sorry again for bailin’ early. I hope you have a great week and I look forward to hearing from you tomorrow to get the scoop on transfers and how your week has been. Also those investigators that were committed and how they are progressing. Give me something that you’ve learned this week that you either hadn’t known before or it served as an epiphany for you this week. I’m sure you had at least one. Drop some knowledge on me.

Love you and miss you.

Talk to you soon,

Trav

Investigators, Threesome companionship, and transfer cliffhanger

This is from his last letter. There should be a transfer update to post shortly.

Our investigators are coming along nicely, we actually have 2 committed to baptism now, Brandon and Barbara, and we'll probably set another one tonight with a lady named Joan, she came to church yesterday and the first time we actually sat down and taught her was Saturday night. we had to move Brandon's baptism back to the 15th because he has only been able to come to church once so far, and we want him to come more than that before he's baptized, so he has the next couple weeks off, so we'll do it then. Last night when we taught him though he was way down with everything. He was like: "I'm sure this is the right thing, there is no doubt, I'm ready." so he's way cool. He was pretty darn prepared, i have to say. He actually almost done with 2 nephi and has been reading ahead a little bit, like in jacob and mosiah, so he's doing really well. Yes, we are still in a 3-some... hahaha, its been crazy but cool at the same time. so the companionship is good, but its going to end on Thursday, the AP's called this morning to get the stats from Elder VanLeeuwen and they said that we need a ride to transfers, but they wouldn't tell us who was staying or leaving.

TV and Tracting

It's been a while since the last update. This time we get a feel for Mike's real feelings about what a waste of time TV and Tracting are. It's taken a bit out of context because I wrote about what new shows I was looking forward to this fall and got an earful about what a waste TV watching can be, at the same time, he was talking about how effective some of his new finding methods have been outside of tracting and how the mission was moving away from tracting as a primary source of finding new investigators...

So you liked the rant on TV viewing huh? It just seems like the biggest waste, you can't take any of that with you. I'm not saying i wont watch any TV when i get home, but its definitely not going to be my focus, that will be like Tracting - last priority. And i haven't done any of that for the past 7 weeks and I've found more new investigators in that 7 week time period, than any other 7 week period of my mission, just goes to show how effective TV and tracting are, eh? It'll be fun trying to balance all of that stuff, school, work, church, sleep, dating... and still have a life. I'm glad a mission teaches me things that i can apply back home.

For the record, I'm still looking forward to my new fall lineup.

09/01/07

Hey Yo,

Getting an early start for a change this week. It’s Saturday, My Birthday! I got your card yesterday. Nice timing. Brinlee loves it more than anything. For some reason she thinks that song is awesome. Here’s your quiz for the week. Who is that? I have that on the iPod actually. In fact, I only got it a week ago from the night manager at the Bindery. We did a hard drive swap and that came over with his stuff. Drop me your answer this week or let me know if you don’t know. I’ll let you know next week. It was another crazy week for us of course. Is there any other kind? I’ll actually jump into that shortly. My stomach is growling somethin’ fierce. I’m powerful hungry. So I’ma bust it upstairs for a hearty bowl of Campbell’s Chili. A proud sponsor of the NFL. I’m going to throw a little bag o’ Fritos in there too to crunch things up a bit. Throw down a coke to deplete my oxygenation ability of my blood stream and wind me a little and do it all while I watch a show on TraVo. That’s not really how my training regimen will go come Noviembre, but I’ll be ready. Actually, there are some good college football games on right now. I might see if USC and Nebraska is playing right now. I’ll check back in soon.

Ahhhhhhhight, It’s 11:00 Saturday night. So much for getting an early start. Oh well. We had a nice date out and about. The girls spent the evening over at Ma’s and Pa’s and had fun. We went out and saw the new Bourne Ultimatum and ate at Quiznos. No biggie, but I wasn’t that hungry. So it was a little more low key, but still fun. We did a little shopping at Target too. Suzanne got me an Xbox game and a bungie web net for the bed of my truck. That will come in handy. We also accepted an offer on our house this morning. So, we will start looking pretty seriously at some houses now and get ready to make an offer ourselves. This couple is a fairly young couple, he’s 25 and still in school. That was my age and status when we moved in here ourselves 7 years ago. She is 23 and they just had a youngin’. I guess a little girl of 2 months or something. They will be moving into a super cool ward. I will miss this ward like crazy. I hope we move into a stellar ward. It’s going to have some huge shoes to fill from our current ward. I hope it’s not a tester ward, especially with the NFL season starting up now. That’s all I need is a tester ward to make it a challenge to go on Sundays. Not that I’d strongly consider just that, but it’s a drag when it’s a temptation in the back of your mind to stay home and watch the games instead. I’m sure it will be a good one. Brinlee came home tonight and dove right back into that birthday card you sent. Pretty funny. Oh, and Aynslee started crawling the other day. So she’s a mobile force to be reckoned with now. It’s cute to see her little laid back but fun loving personality develop. Let me get to your letter and respond. So you laid out a long letter and it daggered up huh? I hate that. Yeah, John’s all moved in and his new offices are SWEET. You should see his set up now. He has like a 2000 Sq. foot spread with multiple offices and rooms. It’s pretty crazy. So he has mad amounts of new lappers that he can dispense and all can run wirelessly on some high speed internet action. He can fill a whole auditorium with them. That’s where we did it, is in one of those new auditorium style classrooms in there. That building is super nice. Way nicer than the old POST. Your rant on TV viewing was pretty funny. I was actually the same for a couple of years. In fact, I think I resented peeps who were all into TV because it was such a time waster. I was full time student plus full time working two jobs and trying to date and have a social life at school at the same time. I managed to do it, but the first thing that has to suffer is your sleep schedule. I was hammering my body just so I could fit it all in. But it was all good. I worked two jobs for almost the entire time I was home from my mission to the 3^rd year of my marriage. I still managed to do institute council at SLCC too and have a productive dating life. That’s what propelled that. You should get active in institute when you get back in school. It’s a productive chick getter. I never had time for TV. I didn’t have any shows really and I only got super into TV like a few years ago and the TraVo has a lot to do with that. It makes it so easy to never miss one of your shows. I have cut back on a few though. Since that funeral and hearing all of the productive things James did with his family and his life, I felt like such a loser leaving there. I decided to cut back on a few shows in my season pass to make room for more productivity. Which I’m happy to say, that I have done exactly that. But I agree, the mission definitely gets you in a good routine of productively using your time in the most effective manner, scheduling out your day, doing what matters most and not wasting any time. I got some good habits from there which have carried over to the philosophy of working at FranklinCovey. They preach that hard core, of course, since a lot of the church and Covey’s philosophies are the same. I have still be reading slowly but surely in my PMG. It’s just that it takes so much scripture chasing and referencing since I’m in my new set with no highlights, I want to hit up every scripture it references. So I’m not way far into it yet, but I’m getting along. I can proudly say that I’m way farther than anyone else in the familia. I will have it done and read completely by the time you are home. In fact, the other night, it gave me a great line of study that lead to my 10 min. spiritual thought to lead off our presidency meeting this Wednesday. It’s all on Knowledge. I got a good few sources that were spurred on by the PMG book. It’s up to us what we do and we only do it once a month since there are four of us and 4 weeks generally in a month and we trade off. It’s up to us what we choose, and that is the hardest part most of the time, coming up with a topic, but I’m going to rock them with some doctrines on knowledge. I’ll try to remember to put it in your letter next week if I give it this week. You got the Spencer W. Kimball quote right on.

So are you still in your three-banger? I guess I never answered your question as to where we are looking at houses… We are looking as far south as Herriman but mostly in the riverton area, also some South Jordan and some West Jordan. So we won’t move far away. It will be along the bangerter route and close enough for some easy transport to and from any tennis court and or other sundry activities and hangout locale. So don’t worry about that. We will still get lots of hanging out on a regular basis in. now that it’s finally cooling off at night, I go out to take the garbages out or something and look up at the sky and think about our late night chats. I love this time of year when it starts cooling down some. But it’s still unseasonably hot for some reason. It should be much cooler by now. But we are running our air conditioner right now and it’s 11:41 PM. What’s up with that? It’s been expensive to keep it cool this summer. That reminds me, I’m supposed to get our average bills for utilities to Brent to give this other couple for some reason. Even though they offered and we counter offered and it was accepted, they still want the utilities. Maybe just to budget or something. But these two are super thorough. In their walk through of our house, they went through EVERYTHING. I mean, they opened drawers in our dressers, closets, cupboards, my shop outside, heater vents, attic access, crawl space, etc. I’m lucky I wasn’t around here or they probably would have given me a full body cavity search and deep explorative anal probe. I felt violated when I got home to see what they had gone through. I mean there’s looking at a house and then there’s certain boundaries you don’t cross. You don’t need to know what my underwear looks like or what size and brand of condom I fancy. I’m actually not too embarrassed about that part, if you naw’m-sayin’,… BAM Suckas! Since when did you start into that Bam and Boom Shaka laka action? It’s been funny reading your letters with those expressions in them.

So how are your investigators doing that committed recently? You’ll have to give us updates on them and what else is new and exciting in your area, companionship, District, etc. Did you hear about the Baseball game in Greensboro with the … what the freak? Greensboro Grasshoppers or something random and cheesey like that? And the someone else Intimidators. Ha ha. Nice minor league lame-o names. I guess the game got a little ragged and they cleared the benches and rumbled right in the middle of the field. Hey, if the Bees here in SLC threw down like they do in Hockey, I might be more inclined to go to more of those games. They are fun in the FranklinCovey suite though, I must say. I’m going to hit up a couple more of those next summer fo-sho! Well boyo, I’m going to head up and hit the rack. I’m tired. It’s midnight now and high time for a sleepy head to hit the pillow. I’ll check in with you tomorrow to wrap this up.

Back, it’s Sunday night at 9:07. Gramps was just over here visiting. It’s nice to catch up with him every so often. I don’t get enough chances to do it, so I welcome every visit. He brought me a little birthday love.

Church was good today. I need to set up Home teaching interviews for Wednesday night. I don’t mind doing those. I guess I should drop in your quote of the week and be off so I can get some Sunday reading done with my PMG. I can’t remember if I have shared this one or not. I have heard it once before somewhere and I thought, that is the perfect quote to send to Mike, but I just came across it again and thought, I will send it again even if I have sent it once before.

It’s by Hugh Pinnock. “The day obedience became more of a quest rather than a nuisance is the day I gained power.”

How apropos for a missionary to remember that quote. It’s a great one to share with your district/zone if you are having any obedience issues. If missionaries would only look at obedience as a quest rather than a nuisance, they would gain so many more blessings, find more readily whom the Lord has prepared, and teach with more conviction and power than ever. I liked your words on obedience and your encouragement for the family to be more obedient to the commandments rather than looking at them as suggestions. Let this quote marinate for a while with you and anyone you choose to share it with. I just thought it tied in well with the theme you put out there in your last letter. I don’t ever share my letters with the family that I write you, so if you want to put that quote out there with your next encouragement on PMG or reading scriptures, feel free to do so.

I think I’ve said what I needed to say this week. I’ll sign off and let you get to the rest of your letters and P-day activities. I hope things are going great with your area(s) and companion(s). ha ha. I’m going to go up and enjoy some B-day cake. I’ll check ya’s later. Have a great week. Looking forward to hearing from you tomorrow.

Love,

Trav