6/01/08

Que Pasa Chochy?

How are things going this week? Does it feel like your mission is just quickly slipping away from you? Your time is waning short now and it’s time to kick it into high gear for your final lap. There’s no cool down period like if you are exercising and you need one lap of cool down walking. This is a sprint to the finish line to see if you can break the record. So step it up even harder in the short remaining time! So I talked to everyone about the tests and I think you’ve got all the tests you are going to get, unfortunately. Dad said he was doing it on paper and wasn’t sure he’d do anything on the computer. He already took way more time than the test allowed though and Mom said she took it but had some user error and lost it somehow in her e-mail and she wasn’t about to take it again and was pretty grumpy about it. Shelli won’t take it and Stosh keep saying they will do it, but it’s pretty certain that if you haven’t received them by now, you won’t ever. So just go ahead and grade them and send them back. It’s like herding cats over here.

So have you sent home the pictures on DVD yet?

I think I might have told you this last letter, but maybe not. I went to the Asian star for lunch a couple of weeks ago before a training that was right next to their new location on 1300 East. So Clark and I hit up the Asian Star for lunch before that training and I put my business card in a thing for a prize entry. Well, this dude from Ameriprise financial called me and told me I won a free lunch for me and up to 15 guests. I’m like and why are YOU calling me? Well, he does it because he pays for you but you have to listen to a financial planning pitch by him first. I see how this works. Well, it’s worth it for free Asian star. However, he never saw us coming. I brought our whole management team and we ordered the Gilly Special which isn’t even on the menu and comes to around 200 bucks. Plus we through in an extra plate of the walnut shrimp which is 17 bucks a plate. So he probably won’t ever tell people he treats to this thing that they can order whatever they want again. He will probably limit them a little more next time. Poor guy. But it was super good and he was way low pressure and after 5 minutes he was out of our hair and on his way. So that worked out pretty well. I love me some Asian Star.

OK, well, I just got answers to all these questions since I just got your e-mail. It’s Sunday morning now. I had a good day yesterday after I got going on your letter. I went to John’s to drop off his Dolly that we used when we moved since he needs it for his jumbo project he’s working on in his back yard right now. You won’t even recognize his yard when you get back. He has done a ton to it. He built that shop in his back yard, put in a new sprinkler system, tore out his deck and dug out huge footings for a new double layer deck. He poured his first cement pillar for it yesterday. It’s going to look great back there. I haven’t done much with it. You and I helped with his vinyl fence, and I put the roof on his shop, but other than that, he has done the rest. I will put in a slate floor and faux slate wall on his lower level deck. It will look good when it’s all done. Anyway, John has bought a ton of toys which are all justified in the project, so he has a new big ol’ machine driven cement mixer. All kinds of new landscaping tools like specialty shovels, masonry tools, laser levels, drills, wheel barrow, etc. So when you get back, he will have some work for you if you want. Everyone will want you to come work for them. You won’t be wanting for work or money when you get home, that’s for sure. Snowbird wants you back, Dad can put you to work, John can put you to work, I can get you a good paying job no problem, the possibilities are endless. Good to have a few fall backs there or even to work what you want when you want. I jumped on that job with the church the first Monday I was back. Then I got into that security gig a month later and worked both jobs as long as I could before School started back up. But I was bustin’ out some serious money during that time trying to save for the next year of school.

Oh, Brinlee is here, so I’ll let her type to you…

B;f’xkh ‘tk’;

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Ohophop[fopo0pty009t-0t90-9ty-090opgpol[pooo6ou-69086]]r8ueyr7e tnup]yuo0t09ptyo0oryoy0o0tklkgfghgfkfgjklffkljkfg ittljgljhioyiuyijiji /u8ry8sy87eyesieyeuiryuiyeruyeyiuiityiitgy7yttttttttyyy7ytyypdofiite787846467/7457/iohiotpi otp io9iroturouyhtuiyhutiuiyihlxg ; khglklghklhglkhkgkflhlfkhoogiofprgtofgf gj kidf pgdgodfirjgfjfl;kgfhoiy9p585y905opto;khogkohooootitoiotopiopyioitiokhohkociocoootipopiorpopdtpotr pippoioptridpr iopioiopiopiioioikoptiopgtoiigopirtpriko;;;;kgoiij lijgvf86747684454

Here’s what she said she typed to you…

I want to see you when you are done with your mission. And I hope you can jump on the trampoline with me. And I love you Mike!

Not sure what trampoline she’s talking about. As far as I know, we don’t even know anyone who has a trampoline. Interesting comments from these youngins sometimes, eh?

OK, back to my day yesterday. After hanging at John’s for a bit, I ran over to the Jordan River temple and picked up some new garms. After that, I ran over to Harbor Freight, a sweet place for super cheap tools, power tools, garden supplies, etc. normally, they have just been on State Street and 3500 south. That’s where I got my 18 volt drill, sander, circular saw, and flashlight combo for 29 bills. Anyway, I went there for some paint brushes to stain my deck with. I needed some big bounders. So I found some for 3.00 each that would have easily been 20 bucks each at Home Depot. So I grabbed a couple of them. Well, the dude at the counter told me he had a coupon in the circular for these paintbrushes and after pulling one out, he zapped the coupon sku with his laser and it came up 33 cents each. I’m like, ummm… at that price, I’m going to get a couple more. So I grabbed two more and all 4 didn’t even come to 2.00. What the heck? I’m livin’ right I guess. That was a pleasant surprise. Then I went to the D.I. right next to Harbor Freight since I was in the same parking lot and did a little thriftin’. I was cruisin’ all over that store with my head held high. I bought a new queen size sheet set still in it’s brand new packaging for 20 bucks. That’s great for a full set that’s brand new. Our sheets have been a little haggard lately. Then I found some sweet lucky brand khakis for 6.00 bones. I was pretty excited about that action too. So it was a productive trip to the D.I. for me yesterday. I called Ma and Pop to see if they were ready for me to come over and tile their bathroom or at least lay down the backer board but they still aren’t ready. Not sure what their hold up is. The cabinets and everything are all out of there and the walls are all painted. So they should be ready to go. But not yesterday anyway. Then Suzanne called and said she and the girls were over at Target in Jordan Landing, so I met them over there for some dinner at the KFC. After that we ran over to the Emerys and hung out with them for a bit. I guess I didn’t tell you yet, that Clint and Rachel had their triplets last week. They were only 26-28 weeks along, so they are way super tiny and have to be watched for a while. They will be in the hospital for 3 months. Pretty crazy. One was 2 lbs and the other two were under two lbs. crazy, right? So we are fasting for them today. Poor little fellas. The Doctors seem pretty optimistic though, so we are too. Let me get into your letter here and respond…

I can’t wait to get your pics. That 2 GB should get me by just fine accompanied by your letters till you are done. So I’ll look for those. Are you sending them to me or to Ma and Pa? speaking of burning a DVD, I dropped off the video tape at John’s yesterday when I was dropping his dolly off. So he is going to get that transferred to DVD soon and I’ll get that sent off to you.

Way to go with the no nail biting. I just took a few down yesterday, so I’m not cured. I do pretty well for a while and then something happens that gets me jittery or something and off they go. We’ll see if you keep the short tie tying going your whole life. I don’t have any problem with my belt buckle tie getting in the way of anything. It suits me fine and dandy.

That’s great that Pres. Hobbs has so much trust in you with what he relies on you two to do. That will be such invaluable experience as you get on with life. It’s amazing the way the Lord prepares you for bigger and better things to come all in this awesome training ground of the mission field. Bask in that experience you are gaining and gain everything you can from it. The Lord obviously has great things in store for you. You have been the beneficiary of some crazy awesome experience while you have been there. How cool will that be to be interviewed by Elder Coleman? You’ll have to let us know what that experience is like.

Well, I need to prepare my lesson for today and get in the shower and change still too and church starts in one hour. So I have left myself about no time. Let me find a quick quote of the week and close it up and send it off. This stands out to me because of what you wrote about in your last letter or two…

In the day of wickedness just preceding our Lord’s return there is to be a great harvest of souls. We live in that day, the day when the harvest is ripe. We have deluded ourselves long enough with the thought that this is a day of gleaning only. This is not a day of gleaning, but of harvest. Now, this work is going to succeed. This is absolutely guaranteed, it is the eternal decree of the Lord.

- Bruce R. McConkie

That’s pretty good stuff right there. And goes along with what you seemed to be eluding to in your last letter. So go ahead and send me your thoughts on that. I also haven’t have your epiphany you have had this week. What have you learned that was the big aha moment this week? Write back on that.

I got back from church. My kids were way better today. I reasoned with them and struck a deal. I figured if I can’t beat them… just hit them softer. Ha ha. No, I joined them finally and told them they can talk among themselves still, but they needed to keep the volume level way down. I still had a 15 min. lesson, but I just can’t make them pay attention to a full hour long lesson and I had to accept that. So it was good today. I also stood in the blessing circle of Travis Hill’s new baby. Get this, in our ward, you can only have 6 people in your circle no matter what. You can never exceed that number. The 2^nd counselor came down 3 times. The first time to make sure Travis didn’t have more than 6 people in his circle. He confirmed he had exactly 6, so we were good to go. He smiled and went back up. A minute later, he came back down and asked, were you including the Bishop in that 6? He said yes, the Bishop is one of the 6 total number, so not to worry, we would be at the limit and not exceeded by one with the Bishop. I was actually quite stunned at this conversation. He smiled and went back up. A minute later, he came back down and said, I just needed to check one more thing, were you including yourself in that total 6? Travis was like YES, it’s me, the bishop and 4 others, so we have not exceeded the 6 and millions won’t die. Travis’ brother in law said, he’s like the Soup Nazi… No blessing for you! He dropped that right in front of the 2^nd counselor. He just smiled at his brother in law and went back up. I was like this is a joke, right? I asked Travis what if you went up there with 6 people already and the Bishop came down to stand in, would he actually excuse one person? He said he’s done it before where he told 4 family members to go sit down because they could only have 6 in the circle total. Can you believe that? I have never heard of such a thing. If something were to go awry and we had another baby somehow, I would totally go the route that Rick took a few weeks ago and do it in Ron Emery’s ward, let him conduct it and do a family only circle. I mean I came up with 10 family members who would be in my circle and that was without even thinking very hard as to who I’d have in there. Craziness. But it’s this Bishop’s ward and he can make that call I guess. But I can’t imagine if I showed up with all my family who made a half hour drive to get to my ward and having 6 of them excused because I could only have 4 of my invitees up there before exceeding the 6 because of counting me and the Bishop in there. I think I would call it off and say you can scratch it off the program then, I’ll take it to another ward because it’s important for me to have these family members in the circle. I’m not sure what I’d do. Oh well. Not something I’m going to lose my testimony over by any means, but it’s definitely a strange policy.

Thanks for your longer letter this week too. It’s great to have some good personalized info and helps drive my letters a lot longer too when I have more substance to sink my teeth into. I appreciate your words coming from a true and worthy servant of the Lord and it makes me proud to be your brother. I love what you are doing. I know that it’s the work of the Lord and that you are closer to Him than the top 1% of the world right now. It’s a crazy thought to think just how closely you work with Him and for Him. Keep up the good work in His name. You make us all proud.

Love you,

Trav