01/27/08

Yo boyeeee,

How was your week this week? It’s tough to write without stuff to go off of and especially when you don’t know when you will read this letter. But we’ll just keep on trucking. I’ll start with some updates from the week. It was kind of an uneventful week actually. But we are used to those anyway. Mostly just filled with work and chillin’ at home. But Suzanne and I started a family Blog. After running your’s for nearly two years and with other people following suit starting family blogs, I figured it was time to follow suit and get a family one started soon. So up it went and it looks good. So now I’m running two blogs (which really isn’t a big deal) but it’s something to do. It will get you caught up on some of the stuff we were doing when you get back. You will be able to debrief from your mission and brief yourself on family affairs in a relatively short amount of time I guess. It’s kind of a nice journal of sorts. So I’ve been ripping through books. I’m almost half way done with Good to Great and I pounded Tom Clancy’s without remorse in less than 6 days. Ha ha. So that is done and I’ll probably start another Clancy book soon. PMG has been sort of a Sunday exclusive read since I do more reading Sunday than most days and it’s nice to just dedicate it all to church study.

This winter seems to be lasting forever. Without having gone snowboarding even once, I am over winter already. And I usually LOVE winter. I haven’t gone ice fishing yet either, but I hope to remedy that soon. I have to do that at least once a year just to prove I’m still a man I guess. John has been pretty sick lately though, so I’m not sure he is going to go with me when we go. We’ll have to see. It’s going to be all he can do to be there at his own superbowl party at his parent’s house since he’s been so sick. It’s looking like he’s going to have his Gall Bladder taken out. I wonder what that means for the future. I guess that is what breaks down fats in your digestive track, so when that is out, you pretty much blast out whatever you just ate a half hour before. Can you imagine? If you eat ice cream, it’s probably barely even melted by the time it comes back out again. Ha ha. Nasty! We’ll have to see what his doctor says this coming week. That’s when they will determine what they are going to do. But he’s been so sick lately that it’s looking like that is inevitable. I joined this networking site called Linked In at the request of my boss this week and I’ve actually made contact with a ton of people I haven’t talked to in forever. Some old mission companions, etc. so it’s been awesome catching up with them and reminiscing about the mission and people we worked with and stuff. I’ve been talking with Andy Hair who I sent home in Greenwich, CT. I was his last companion. Then I got my 3^rd companion in CT after him for 3 more months and moved on from there. I had 3 comps in CT and two of them were for 3 months each. That 7 months went fast though. I loved CT. He has 6 kids now, 1 girl and 5 boys in that order. That must be one crazy house! Of course he comes from a house of 17 kids, so he probably feels like a slacker with only 6 kids. Ha ha.

Suzanne and I are going to IKEA for a little shopping today and then over to Ma’s and Pa’s. they are going to watch the girls so we can have a long awaited date. I’m looking forward to that. There is a movie we’ve both wanted to see for a while, so we’ll go see that and enjoy being kidless for a while. So I’ll come back and touch base with you after we are done with out date. I think we are heading out pretty soon.

Ahhhhhhhhhhight, We are back. We saw I am Legend with Will Smith. It was good, but it’s a different kind of movie. The special effects were cool, the story line was depressing, it was good. I would have rather rented it and saved the cash we spent on it. We went to IKEA too which I’ve never been to before. They have some cool stuff there for cheap. It’s huge too! There will be a lot of new things for you to check out when you get back. The SLC is quite a bit different already since you left. Pretty weird how things change in less than 2 years. I guess I’m going to hit the sack and do a little reading. I’ll wrap this up tomorrow after church and send it off.

K, well, Church was good today. I’m still sans calling, so is Suzanne, but the “birthday specialist” was just released today, so I razzed Suzanne that my calling just opened up. Ha ha. I was just calling Gramps a little bit ago and the news broke on his TV that Pres. Hinckley just died. So I turned it on and watched that and called him back. Pretty crazy! I guess it was expected soon since he was 97 after all, but he was so full of life. He was an awesome President and Prophet. He came on as Prophet as I was on my mission. I was called by Ezra Taft Benson, his signature is on my card, then Pres. Hunter took over while I was out, and Pres. Hinckley took over before I came home. So I’m one of the very few who had 3 prophets in place while I was on my mission. I wonder how that phone call goes to Pres. Monson… “Uhhhh, Tom, you probably already know this, but ummm...” I’m sure he had a heads up, eh? He was probably there at his bedside actually with the family. He will be a great president too though. Different from Pres. Hinckley, but that’s the great thing, they all bring something different and it’s cool to see the growth and the mantle of leadership show on them when it becomes official.

Well, I have to go, the girls are out of control. So here is your quote of the week and I’m boogeyin’.

Love you.

Trav

“It is necessary for the missionaries who go out into the world to study the spirit of the gospel, which is the spirit of humility, the spirit of meekness and of true devotion. Live so that the Spirit of God will have communion and be present with you to direct you in every moment and hour of your ministry, night and day.”

- Joseph F. Smith