01/20/08

Well well well, I knew the day would come. I guess I knew it would come 3 months before I saw it too. Congratulations and good luck in your new calling as AP. I guess this will make your third letter from me that you will get all at once since you probably didn’t get the other two last week with the transfers and how busy you must have been transitioning. So that will mean you will owe me some serious love in your next letter to make up for 3 missed e-mails. Not to mention not writing for two weeks prior since my e-mail was down anyway. That is a long dry spell I’ve been trying to endure. So I’ve got lots of questions that will help you add to your next letter with just the answers to these…

1) Who is your new companion? Are you with E. Van Leeuwen for the 3^rd (or 4^th?) time?

2) If you are with someone new, even if you are not, we need another companion bio again. So here is the question set…

A) full name:

B) where are you from:

C) hobbies:

D) Favorite thing about your mission:

E) What will you do when you get home:

F) Favorite scripture:

G) Favorite place to eat:

H) Favorite cold cereal and why:

3) Where is your area now? Will you proselyte it much? Or will you be in the office and out and about most of the time?

4) Are there 2 or 4 APs in your mission? Who are the others?

5) Are you mostly office AP or a traveling AP?

6) What will your daily or weekly schedule look like now?

7) Will you end your mission in this position or will they put you back out to proselyte in a different calling? What is common practice out there?

8) How did your call come? What did Pres. Hobbs or whichever AP tell you? And how did you react?

I guess I have to say I told you so. It was inevitable since even before your mission. That’s why I have taken an interest in the whole leadership principle with you. You are a great example to those around you and have a willingness to serve everyone and that is what makes you such a great leader. You will become so close with your president in this calling and see a whole new side that will only add so much respect for him that will last forever. Those mission presidents are special men. You will see revelation in action and how the Lord runs his missions. It is a fascinating thing to be a part of. A powerful experience that I wish more missionaries had the opportunity to be a part of. Only the top 2% of missionaries get to be in that position though and it’s too bad. It would boost the testimonies and give experience that would aid every aspect of their lives if they could all experience it. So enjoy this experience to its fullest. You will gain even so much more than you have already. It’s incredible. I’m so excited for you and excited to hear all of the new experiences you will see. You better really keep up on that journal now because you will be a part of amazing things. The letter that Pres. Hobbs sent Mom and Dad was cool.

Well, on the update front, I have been sick the last couple of days. I was up yarking last night and this morning, so I called off sick from work. I think I’ll be OK tomorrow though, so I plan on going in. But Suzanne was puking the day before and hasn’t been feeling great either and I think we got it from Brinlee and Aynslee who both were throwing up too. I think it’s the flu. It’s super cold. It’s 0 degrees out there right now and only supposed to get colder by morning, so we’ll be in the negatives. Well, it’s 10:10 PM and I should get some sleep if I’m going to get to work tomorrow. So I’ll end here. I just had some time today and thought I’d get an early start on your letter so I’m not jammed for time come Sunday night. I’ll wrap this up throughout the week.

Well, it’s Saturday now and we have just spent the day cleaning up some more and organizing. So nothing eventful to report further on updates for us. We are the uneventful family for the next little while probably. I finished my Cleon Skousan book the other day and got into my Preach my Gospel finally. So besides that, I just started another book that I’ve been excited to read called Good to Great by Jim Collins. I read his book Built to Last a year ago and I’ve been waiting to read this follow up to it since then. So far I’m liking it a lot. I’m only into the second chapter now, but I’m excited to get into it more. I’m also doing Tom Clancy’s “Without Remorse” book on tape as I’m going to and from work. I should have that done in a couple of weeks at the most. I’m getting through it pretty quick. So my reading has picked up considerably. Especially since the writers strike is in full swing in Hollywood and good TV is non-existent right now. It couldn’t have come at a better time.

K, here is Brinlee. “Happy New Year. Do not pet him or slap him or kick him. and be nice to him.”

Dad: To who?

Brin: to Mike. I don’t want bad people to hit him or Mean kids to be mean to him either.

Dad: why do you think people will be mean to him?

Brin: To no mess up his work or be mean to those guys.

Dad: OK, where did that come from?

Brin: [Shrugs shoulders, smiles and runs away after creating a little musical instrument out of a book, a rubber band and a cookie cutter in between the two making a make shift guitar of sorts]

It’s an interesting conversation with Brinlee every time. I don’t think she quite gets the letter writing thing and how it communicates with you. She’s only used to actual live communication like phone or face to face type stuff.

Oh well. What else are you reading right now? Just scripts and PMG? Or do you have any extra curricular books in progress right now? What have you read in the missionary library? Anything out of those yet? What about Jesus the Christ? Have you started or even completed reading that yet? I thought of tackling that after I finished the Skousen book, but I went with lighter reading in this business book Good to Great. It might be Jesus the Christ next after that though. I’ve had it on deck for a while now.

Well, what do you know? I was just sitting down to drum out some more letter and I see an e-mail from you sitting here waiting for me on a Sunday morning. That’s cool. So let me respond to that… I’m glad you got both my letters the last couple of weeks. So you don’t get a P-day, eh? You just have to do laundry, write letters, and generally get stuff done whenever you can? So Elder Van Leeuwen was only AP for a couple of months, or what? That seems weird. Was that his request? It sounds like there are 2 APs then, huh? What is the average stay as AP? Do you expect you will end your mission as AP? I think I asked that already, but in the light of this new information, I guess I’m wondering again. What do you do with the Zone Leaders Council? Training? Presentations? What is involved with your work in the office as far as revolutionizing the way the work is done? It’s probably a lot more study and talk preparations and such now, huh? That’s crazy that in only 5 hours of proselyting, you already got those two brothers committed. Pretty amazing!

I guess I will settle in to some AFC/NFC championship games now. The Patriots and Chargers are about to kick off and then it’s Green Bay and Giants. We’ll know which teams go to the superbowl in about 6 hours from now. I’ll let you know here at the end of the night.

Don’t you love how quick that goes? What was hours for me, was a second for you. The Giants beat Green Bay in an exciting over time win at Green Bay where the temps were -26 below there. It was a good game. So they will go on to play the Patriots and hopefully beat them. I hate New England. So that will be in two weeks. I will need to start planning our super bowl party with John now.

Well, I should get going after this quote of the week.

“The Lord never has, nor will require things of his children which are impossible for them to perform. Missionaries who expect to go forth to preach the gospel of salvation in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation should cultivate this spirit especially.”

- Lorenzo Snow

Just in case you were feeling a little bit overwhelmed by your new calling… the Lord has prepared you enough to where you will be able to handle this and more as you grow into your new stewardship and responsibilities.

Oh, here are a couple of things that have been said since the announcement of your calling on the blog…

Travis said...

I hate to say I told you so, but... you know the rest. You have proven that you will be a great AP just by all of your diligence, obedience, and example. Keep up the hard work. Ha ha ha, actually, you don't have a choice. That's all there is from this point on. Congrats and good luck Mike! You will draw even closer to your president, your fellow missionaries and most importantly the Lord as you see more of the administrative side of His work.

Mom and Dad said...

We are proud of you Mike and had no doubt you would be called to serve your fellow missionaries, your President, and your Saviour. I love the way President Hobbs calls you to positions with the Saviour as your example. You lead by serving. Always remember the Saviour washing the desciples feet and always remember to be humble in your service. Love you!!!

I guess that will do it. I’ll send this off now. I will stick to Sundays as the night I send your letters just so it’s still a weekly thing and you know when you can expect to hear from me. Sound good?

Well, I’ll talk to you again soon. I know you are busy and can’t write much, but see whatever you can do.

Love,

Trav