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