4/05/08

Hey Yo,

How did you like Conference? It’s Saturday night, 10:45 PM, we got home just a little bit ago from Priesthood night at Don’s and LeeAnn’s up in Syracuse. I ate till I was in physical pain. Ughh. Good food, good folks, and fun. Isnt’ that an old restaurant tag line? Training Table or Chuck a Rama or something? The Stake Center was jam packed. They had two screens going. The Stake President did what I haven’t seen done before. He muted the pre-broadcast music and stood up and gave a talk of his own. It came across a little pretentious at first, but I guess it was OK. I was joking with Ron and Grandpa who weren’t there yet that his was the best talk of the night. It seemed very well practiced, written, and spoken for that matter. He looks like a TV News Anchor. His hair is immaculate, his face is a TV personality face, his voice was that of a radio announcer. It just seemed a little bit fake. His inflections and mannerisms were just like watching a news report or a campaign speech out on the political trail. It was a little weird. But he gave a good message and that’s all that matters. All of the visitors were turning to their relatives in the stake and asking who is this guy? I could hear some of it and just the observance said enough too. It was kind of funny, since I was one of them leaning over to Don asking exactly that. Who did you like? When you get this, it will probably be after conference is all over and I haven’t seen Sunday’s sessions yet, so I will wait to send this off till after the Sunday sessions. But I have some thoughts on the Saturday sessions and Priesthood session too. So I’ll drop those in after tomorrow’s sessions. I guess in the mean time, I better go hit the bed. I’m hammered. It’s almost midnight now and I’ve been up late the last few nights running. I got working on some other stuff there after I started this letter and now my time is more than gone. So I’ll check you tomorrow during or in between conference. OUT…

I just got your letter this morning. Now it’s noon on Sunday. Just watched the first session of conference. I’ll reply to your letter here. Yeah, the sooner you can get that picture of E. Foster, the better. I’m sure his mom will be all over that! How are you liking E. Gillett? How long has he been out? So you think 4 APs sounds like a lot huh? I think 2 sounds like too few. We freed up all that traveling time to allow those other two more time for the administrative work, office work, etc. and we had the chance to get out and do all of the training, putting out fires, recharging some areas that were going stagnant and likewise for companionships and missionaries. That is a full time job in and of itself. Sounds like you guys are a little stretched trying to do all of the above. I remember when we only had 2 for most of my mission. Then when President Howell announced we would be moving to that structure, we were pretty excited. It just gave the president two more sets of eyes and ears. The ZLs are supposed to be serving in that function to a degree, but you will also have at least one Zone that is having a tough time with this or that and he now has the resources to infuse some training, bolster the zone, and give some concentrated effort direct from the President for a solid week. That’s not something he could afford to do with his office AP’s. He needed them for other functions. So it just gave him some more outreach and communication through the mission as he deemed necessary. I liked not knowing from week to week where we would be going next. It was cool to come back on P-days, load up our wash, write our letters, and over a gourmet breakfast cooked by him, receive our orders for the next week as we broke down the past week and answered all of his questions he had about our last assignment. It was a great return and report set up. He couldn’t get that kind of detailed reporting he was looking for from the ZLs on a weekly basis. But different Presidents have different styles and are successful in their own ways. Sounds like Pres. Hobbs runs a tight ship and gets things done very thoroughly with his current set up.

I can’t remember if I told you in the last letter that I talked with JD Berry. I think I did tell you, but if I didn’t he is at George Washington University working toward his MBA. He has a job set up in Boston as soon as he gets done. It was good talking to him again. He said to tell you hi and asked about how you were doing on your mission. He is a cool cat.

I guess I should recap our anniversary festivities. It was a lot of fun. Ten years is pretty significant, so I wanted to make it memorable. I met the girls over at G-ma and G-pa Emery’s at 4:30 where they would stay over night. Suzanne and I went from there up to the Park City outlets to do some shopping. Suzanne had a good time shopping for some clothes and I even picked up a new pair of sweet Eddie Bauer Khaki pants for all of 12 bones. I was pretty excited about that. After shopping, we went into down town Park City and ate at Main Street Pizza and Noodle. It was good. We dropped $60 bucks between the two of us and ate till we were in physical pain. We started with our two refillable Beverages. Suzanne got a salad and I got a plate of burn your lips off Buffalo wings. Probably the best I have had! Then they brought out a big container of their famous spaghetti and sauce. It was good. We could have easily been done after that. But then came our large Santa Fe Chicken pizza. We managed to down half of that. Then came our Butterfinger shake. We took that down to empty and put the unfinished half of the pizza in a box and left for Midway. We stayed at the Johnson Mill bed and breakfast up there by the Homestead. It was cool. We were the only guests too, which was even better. We had run of the house, access to their fresh baked cookies and snacks. They had a bottle of sparkling cider chilling for us. The room had a jetted tub and sat right next to the private lake. It’s stocked with fish too. If I would have brought my fly pole, I could have hauled in a bunch, but it’s flies only and catch and release only. I’m all about catch and release anyway, but I really shouldn’t have diverted attention away from Suzanne so it’s good I didn’t fish anyway. They had some Mute Swans swimming in that lake and some Canadian Geese and some kind of Coots and ducks. It was cool to see the wild life. The lake emptied into a stream that dropped to a double tiered water fall and the sounds were very relaxing and peaceful. So Suzanne wanted the sliding glass door open all night to hear that even though it was 20 degrees outside. So we just stoked up the fireplace in the room and it was nice and romantic. However, the Geese kept swimming up by our door and honking. It kept waking us up which got annoying after the 3^rd or 4^th time. The next morning, we took a walk around the property and then went in for Breakfast at 9:00. It was probably the best French Toast I’ve ever had. Best sausage too. It was a really good Breakfast with Orange Juice, Cranberry Juice and Milk. After that, we headed back to pick up the girls and I went in to work by 11:30. It was a lot of fun and definitely memorable. So mission accomplished. It was good to get away, just the two of us since we rarely get that opportunity with the girls, so we loved it. That night though, after I got home from work, Both Suzanne and I were not feeling well and both of us ended up hucking before midnight. But afterword, we both felt much better, so I’m not sure if we picked up a little bug or if we had something not so good to eat.

I got my hair cut this week too and took it high and tight. It’s pretty much a military cut because it’s so short, but I like it for summer coming on. Oh, Ma and Pa came over this week too and while they were over, I had Dad help me set up the Foosball table, so that’s up and ready to rock now. So when you come over here, it will be ready for some fierce action as I beat you down. I also rigged up a sweet new ring tone on my cell phone. It’s the CTU ring that they all have on their phones at CTU on 24. it’s that boop boop BEEP boop sound. You know what I’m talking about? You may not remember it. But it sounds cool. Check it out, I forwarded your e-mail to Ma and Pa and told them to check it and send me something if they got one and here it is… so let me reply to this one…

So what talks have you liked the most and what are you going to use in Zone Conferences and ZLCs? What has stood out to you the most so far? What else have you been training on lately or talking about in these meetings? I would love to hear what you teach about in these meetings, so give me some examples. That would be cool to have taco dinner with one or both of those blokes over at Ma’s and Pa’s. You should make sure that gets set up. Oh, I just got an e-mail from E. Foster’s mom saying she just got a picture of you two. So he must have sent it home. You better still send that in your next e-mail so we can post it. But now the element of surprise is out. Dags!! Here is what she said though… I got a photo this week from my missionary son. He's standing next to Elder Alexander. Well, conference is over and I loved it. I can’t wait to get your thoughts, but here are mine…

First of all, Elder D. Todd Christofferson… huh? What do you think about him being the new Apostle? Do you remember my thoughts back in October of 06? I sang his praises. I loved his talk the best of all the talks in conference that October. So when they said his name, I was pretty psyched. Do you remember his talk? It was called Let Us Be Men. It was so good, Yo! In fact, I’m sending it to my work e-mail now so I can print it off on the Laser Printer and keep it in the archives. I loved it. I think he’ll be great. Let me go in order of the talks as they went… Donald A Rasband spoke early in the Saturday session. You know that I’m related to him? My Grandson married his Daughter. My first Greenie’s Greenie Elder Werlich. So he is my first born’s first born son’s Father in Law. He was the Mission President after Pres. Howell of my Mission and Elder Werlich went on to make me proud as an AP, keeping up the proud Alexander family tradition. Well, apparently he also caught the eye of the president’s daughter and vice versa, so after his mission, he pursued and obtained. So I thought that was kind of cool to hear him. In fact, speaking of that, the mission president before my president of my mission Sheldon Childs spoke as well. He’s also a 70. So the NY NY North Mission is churning out the GA’s apparently. Back to Rasband’s talk. I liked how he asked us to reflect on the experiences given to us for our good. To remember when we accepted Moroni’s challenge and received our witness of the truthfulness of the B of M, etc. that is something I think we all need to do more often. And if, while pondering these things, they aren’t in our journal now, should get there soon before we begin forgetting them. The next talk I really liked was Dallin H. Oaks, when there are mis-perceptions of us as members of the church or the church itself, it is our responsibility and obligation to clear those up, to speak up and correct those and that required Testimony. Just a good reminder to keep your testimony polished off and ready to give at a moments notice. And to share it often.

In the Priesthood session, Merv Arnold gave the opening prayer. He used to live in our stake in Taylorsville. He had a son my age named Jay, who came home from a mission because he was bi-polar. He had some chemical imbalances or something. I was sort of friends with him in school. But it was in Elementary, so I didn’t know him that well after that, but apparently his parents left town for a couple of days and he had an episode at home and got out the ol’ shotgun and put it in his mouth and took care of business on his mom’s and dad’s bed. That would have had to be so hard for them to come home to. But Merv is a bonafide stud. I remember having a scout camp at the Redwood Campus of SLCC, it was a big district wide camp. Tons of scouts all around. It got pretty cold that night and we were less than prepared. Merv was rolling through and we were out sneakerin’ around and he said hey guys, come here. He was out in his sweet, red mac daddy caddy. We came over, he thought he had recognized us, he said are you guys cold. We were like yeah, kind of. He said well what are you guys doing out this late? I think he was volunteering to help the scout leaders watch for trouble like us. We told him we were just going back to camp. I think he discerned our thoughts and intentions so he said, well, since you are cold, hop in and get warm. So we did just to take a quick break before we went back for more trouble. Well, he kept us engaged in such cool conversation about spiritual things that none of us wanted to get out and go do our trouble activities. I realized that we had spent over 2 ½ hours in his car with the heater going by the time we got back to camp and were too tired to go cause mischief. I never actually realized what he had done until I reflected on that at Priesthood last night when I saw him up there. So in retrospect, he was one cool dude for doing that in that kind of a neat trick manner.

Next: Elder Uchtdorf in the Priesthood session, time to make small corrections is now before it’s too late. I’m liking him more and more each time he talks. His story about the flight from New Zealand to Antarctica and the 2 degrees difference and the tragic results of not making the corrections early. It struck me when he said we have made an Oath and Covenant that if we magnify our Priesthood, we can have all that the Father has. I also loved his comment, “the Heavens will not be filled with those who never made mistakes, but by those who recognized they were off course and made necessary corrections”. Pretty poignant.

Next: Elder Eyring: Confidence in our abilities. Magnifying our callings and our Priesthood. He gives a solid talk every time he stands up and delivers.

Next: Pres. Monson: I loved his story of the kid in the ward who came up to share his testimony and got up there, looked out at the congregation and turned around and went back. And how he can’t do that as the President of the church as much as he may want to. He made a couple of good funnies last night. I loved his story about the kid who was trying to imitate him too and how he got him with the ear wiggles. He can really shake those bad boys, can’t he? He has always told some humorous stories, but he was just funny last night like Pres. Hinckley could be most every time. I really found myself feeling those feelings of love for Pres. Monson that I had for Pres. Hinckley. He motivated me with his comment that we can accomplish miracles and often do and our opportunities are endless. I also liked his comments to be aware of those things that we are surrounded by everywhere, meant to distract us from our responsibilities and the exercise of our Priesthood. You have to be the one to stand for the right, even if all yoru friends are standing for wrong. It also struck me when he said ‘Your influence, whether for good or for ill can and will be felt for generations to come. Another good comment was when talking about the best leaders. Those who have the most influence can set hearts afire and influence those around them to engage in good works.

In fact after this talk and his talk at the end of Sunday morning and even Sunday afternoon, I really saw that mantle settle in with him. Even Elder Holland commented on it and took some personal liberties in his talk Sunday afternoon. I think we all saw it and it was awesome for us to see. I expected that it would happen with conference, but it was a much more spiritual deal than I thought it would be. I thought it was really cool to see and have the spirit confirm to us that he truly is the Lord’s Prophet and leader of His church for the whole earth. Pretty awesome!

Well, that’s about all I ought to write since I’m on page 5 right now. I will send this off without a Quote of the Week since you have plenty here from conference. Write back and let us know how your trainings went, what you have been training on, etc.

Have a good week. Know that we all miss you and love you a ton. Keep up all the hard work and personal growth.

Love,

Trav