Blessings, Mt. Dew, and a new favorite hymn!

Wahoo!  He made it to NewJersey, and we FINALLY got a picture from the mission home!  ....Did my heart good :)

.

 

Dear Mom and family,

Okay, about missionary work. Those people you've been thinking of, seriously just don't even think about it, just invite them to church. I know it sounds crazy, but just do it. Or give them a B.o.M. Or just ask them what they think about God and start a conversation there. I know you've probably heard it a bajillion times, but people won't break off a friendship or anything if you talk to them about that stuff. We read a talk the other day that had several stories like that, and every single person that members talked to said something like "oh thank you, i've been curious about this" or "yeah, i've been meaning to ask you about that" so I'm not telling you what they're gonna say, but.....I kinda am. Even if they don't know it, they're interested in the church ;)

 

Elder Jellen did indeed go to Mtn View high, and he does indeed know Mr. Fong, I asked him that when on day one. However, he never took Mr. Fong's class, he only heard from his friends that Mr. Fong is hilarious and one of the best teachers ever, kudos to Mr. Fong. You can tell him I said that ;)

 

Last week was a crazy week! It started off kinda slow, but on wednesday we got 3 referrals, which exceeded our weekly goal!! We have yet to meet with these people, but they all seem really interested in the churhc!!! Thursday was zone conference, and that was AMAZING!!!!!!!!  I love the Jeppsons so so so sooo much, and yes, they do leave next July :/ so that's really sad....but zone conference was amazing!  I had been having a rough day on wedensday, and so it was an answer to my prayers! The mission focus for the month has been faith, so we talked alot about faith, and I really felt my faith strengthened! There was also a special musical number, three elders sang Be Still My Soul, and it was amaZing! New favorite hymn!! So I came home on thursday night ready to work. Thursday night we had an appointment with Laura, a member who is a HUGE help to us. We went to share a short message and to help her prepare a talk for sunday, and while we were there, I understood nearly everything that was said!! Ever since then I really haven't had much of a problem understanding what is being said, I just can't speak back to people haha! And so that's my major focus this week. Expanding my vocabulary and using my mouth to talk to people.

 

Last week was great about not feeling homesick, that is until last night. We went to have dinner over at Carlos (member, 23) Judith (member, Carlos' mom) and Andres (Judith's husband, Carlos' step dad's) house, and they had a guest, Lina, who is from Morristown, but is moving to Utah this week. Her son is coming home from his mission on wednesday, and she is not married, and he is an only child, so she was telling us about how hard the past two years have been and how she would have hated to serve a mission and how she never wanted to even, and then she found out that I've been out here for two weeks...and she proceeded to ask me about if I missed home and yadayadayadayada. She even told us that her son had wanted to extend his mission, but she had told him absolutely no because she missed him. So last night was kinda rough ;) But i'm better now! I promise!

 

We've given two more blessings for the sick this week, and we felt the spirit in both! The first was on saturday night, we received a call to go to the hospital and bless a man. We got there and found him, he was in Medical Intensive Care unit, I guess he had just had an aortic spasm or something, where his aorta had a weak point and just split. I think he'd been in the hospital since thursday. So we went, and there were a few people there. His wife, his son, his daughter, and a friend. The friend was converted about 5 years ago, the rest of the family was catholic, and our unconcious friend who needed the blessing was a Jew. The wife said that they knew how much the friend's faith meant to her, so when the friend offered to call the elders for a priesthood blessing, they accepted. They are from an area near here called Dover, they are in an English speaking area. Every member here is really good friends with the missionaries. It's kinda cool. Anyways, we explained what we were going to do, with the oil, then the blessing. The son asked the wife, "okay mom, what do you think. Would the Rabbi approve?" the mom quickly replied "oh i'm sure he would" but I wasn't so sure. It's okay, we gave the blessing, we felt the spirit, and we planted a seed of faith in the nonmember family, so that even if they don't take the discussions now, they're still friendly to the Mormons.

 

 I've been starting to get kinda discouraged lately. Our mission goal for baptisms in october was 37, and as of yesterday we have 47. But 0 of those come from us. We've gotten several refferalls recently, we've found many new investigators, just nobody here has time. Everyone comes from other countries to work, so we talk to people on the street, give them a pass along card, and get their number and address, but then we never see them again because they flipping work 24/7!!! That's the hardest part about being out here, nobody has time. We can work with people who are firmly set in their religious beliefs, but we can't work with people if we can't meet with them!!! So we get into this rut, we have set lessons, everyone cancels, and the only ones that don't cancel are the people who are already members that we meet with to see if they need any help and share a small message with. Gah!!! It's so frustratiNg!!!!!!!!!!!!! If we could just take away one small part of people's agency and just say, "okay, you are meeting with us weekly on monday at 7. You are meeting with us bi weekly because you're preparing for baptism, so tuesdays and thursdays at 4." and so on, and just meet with them for half an hour, I think we would have so much more success as far as baptisms go. But.....nobody has time for us poor elders :( please keep these people's busy schedules in your prayers ;)

 

Well, that's about all for this week. Thank you for your love and support, good luck in school, sports, work, dating, and resting!! Love you guys!! :)

 

Love,

 

Elder Nelson

I haven't yet, we don't get mail weekly...I think i'll either get it tomorrow or next tuesday hopefully....

 

P.S. a few things I forgot.

One, I might need an inhaler soon. 

Two: will you please either get me bro garner's email or tell him to email me?! And Nate Scott too! I did hear from Trever.

Also, just  with the next thing you send, in my nightstand at home by my bed, there should be a little blue marble. Would you mind throwing that in an envelope or something with your next letter? And with that would you find Ms. Merrell's email address, teaches AP english literature at layton? I have to thank her, she gave us each that marble and an important life lesson. Thank you!

 

 Also, a few experiences I forgot! These ones are more just funny though!

 

Friday night we had a branch activity. The missionaries go to most of those so we can get the less active members involved. After it was done, Hno. Gomez, the EQP, gave us the rest of the brownies there, a ride home, and a 2 liter of mountain dew. It's been a great two days since ;)

Also, last week or a week and a half ago, we started teaching this less active, Juan Benites. The hermanas, Orton and Cole, were teaching him, but recently, he asked Hermana Orton to be his girlfriend, so we started teaching him. Some people just don't have common sense...;)

It's great being here, but I'm the most exhausted I've ever been in my life! We get home at 9, and then we plan, and we try to go to bed as quickly as possible, usually no later than 10 for me! but we try to be in early, and if we're lucky, we get in by 9:40. I think I'm gonna go to bed at 7 on the days we have to be home at 6 ;)

Our Mormon in Morristown!

He didn't include any pictures this week, so, as not to have picture-less post, just thought I'd include some 'pre' pictures.....

 

Dear mom and family,

 

Okay, first here's some items of business ;)

 

So...all of my watches got lost or stolen, so I only have my white one! So if you happen to see a cool one or two, feel free to send it - I wouldn't mind at all!  Also, all the wheels on my luggage broke, so I might need new luggage sometime in the next two years, that one is less important. Here's a few other things:

       Sweaters, I do need these, one or two would be nice.

       Winter gear, I am definitely going to need soon. Like a hat and maybe gloves, but mostly the hat is the important thing.

       Extra blanket, I only have my orange one, and it's great for now, but the nights or getting pretty chilly, so soon I will need another blanket. There weren't any in my apartment, darn!

       USB cord, my ipod is gonna die and I dont have one, but I have the wall plug in!

        Shoe rag, I need to polish my shoes, but I don't have a way to do so...so If you could throw that in soon that would be great, thanks! 

      Also, this is just an extra thing, but I think it's at Deseret Book, there's a little missionary quote book, Elder Chamberlain in the MTC had it, and it was great for motivation and inspiration! So maybe a Christmas present or something? Thank you!

 

Good to hear from you guys! I am in my first area, Morristown New Jersey, the same name as the mish. My companion, Elder Jellen (whose dad is a professor of biology at BYU, you'll have to ask Jeff if he knows him) (So....Jeff.....Do you know him???), and I are over a small branch of about 45 members I think is the total. Although yesterday at church, we had a total count of 32. We work alot with the members. But most of our work here is reactivating inactive and less active members of the Spanish branch. I still haven't really knocked any doors, which is kind of what I was expecting, but we do walk around town alot. Our area is fairly small, which is kind of nice, considering we are a walking area. We're a walking area with a car, but we only have 500 miles a month, so we're pretty much just walking except for special meetings and conferences and stuff. Like I said, we serve in a small Spanish branch, and there are two sisters that serve with us, Hermanas Orton and Cole. I think when I start being able to talk spanish, I'll know every person here because it's so small.

 

Right now, we have two investigators that I've met that are close to baptism. One of them, Obdeli, the EQP's son, we just put on baptismal date for 8 of Dec on Saturday! The other, I still havent met, but Elder Jellen says he's closer than Obdeli!

 

The spanish is probably the hardest part of being out here. That, and the homesickness haha! I think when I left mexico my head knew that I was going to NJ, but my heart felt like it was going home, so that kind of threw me off when we got here haha! But it'll be alright, I'm doing better today! But I still can't speak spanish! And I know it's only been a week, but I spent six weeks in mexico speaking spanish for cryin out loud!!! I should be a flippin native by now!!!  But instead, I can't even understand what anyone is saying...they talk way too fast...and it doesn't help that I'm the new guy, so they want me to talk and introduce myself and all that jazz haha!  But it's okay, I'm reading the book of mormon in spanish, so hopefully that'll help!

 

I love Elder Jellen- he's a great guy! Our situation is a lot like the best two years in the sense that I'm green, and he's on his last round, as soon as he's done training me he's going home to Orem. He speaks the language, and I don't know what they taught me in the MTC.  But he's a hard worker, and we get along well!!  Interestingly enough, we have the same plaque scripture!! At a less active's house the other day, he asked me to pick one of my favorite scriptures to share, so I shared that one, and after he told me that was the one on his plaque too! So that's cooL!!

 

NJ is really not like the stereotypical place you would think. It's a nice place in the right areas! A lot of the members really love it here! But there is an apartment building where one of the members, the Acunas, live. It smells horribly like smoke, and I hate walking in there! The other day at the Acuna's house, they gave us this herbal tea from peru along with a sandwich. My first experience with foreign food. I couldn't say no, but it was definitely not good....Elder Jellen told me to load it with brown sugar, so that helped a little, but definitely not my favorite haha! Yesterday was our first dinner appt, and the branch pres, pres Lorenzana's house. It was his wife's birthday the other day, so the whole branch got together to celebrate, including us and the sister missionaries. And, lo and behold, I had my first spill. I spilled chips and sierra mist on my shirt and on the floor. So that was embarassing, I dont think they'll ever invite me back ;) but it was good! They had like the tres leche cake that I LOVE!!!! It was delicious as ever!! Every tuesday night, we go to the church to play soccer with a few of the members, so that's great too.

 

Next week is two holidays, Halloween, and Gang Initiation Day. GID is on oct 30. On both those days we have to be in our apartment by 6 for safety.  Mom, don't worry, most of the shootings and stuff happen in Newark ;) (Oh my WORD.....did he REALLY just say that???  'Don't worry' and 'shootings' in the same sentence??)  I'll be fine, we live in a really safe area too, away from most everything. I'm excited to have that experience!

 

Also, for Anneke and Amelia and Elizabeth and Ally and everyone else that wants me to convert Cake Boss, unfortunately there isn't a spanish branch in Hoboken, which I'm frustrated about, so I will never go there. Also there is no spanish mission in Sparta, which is lame. However, I do think we get IPads in April. I will keep you posted.

 

Love you guys!!

 

Love,

Elder Nelson

4 more days!

 

Dear mom and family,

Awesome for Annekke!!!!!!! Mexico is crazy ..........tell her to stay off the roads ;) but a mission here would be sweet!!! But Clint is in one of the Mexico City missions, so no go there...provo mtc or mexico ccm?! Exciting!! 

I don't know my exact travel plans yet, but I'm pretty sure I leave on monday!!  We have in-field orientation tomorrow, not sure what that is, then I have to give a talk on sunday and conduct a district meeting, then we're outta here!!  My comp was the senior comp for 3 weeks. Everybody spends the whole time with one companion, someone that came in the same day as them. I'm the senior comp now ;).  He's going to Albequerque, same as everyone else in my dorm! There is only one other kid here going to jersey, Elder Beus who we met at the airport in SLC! So, that'll be an adventure!!

My spanish is coming along alright, we finished all of our lessons, we know basically everything there is to know about spanish ;) - now we just need practice. Spanish makes a lot more sense than english. There is a ton of rules, but there arent really any exceptions to those rules like in english...now it's just a point of knowing the vocab and using it correctly! There's a quote in one of our language books that says something like 'A man does not know his own language until he studies a foreign one' and that is so true. I've learned so much about english while studying spanish haha!!

This conference was definitely the best one ever!!  Some really inspired messages!! I wrote down that one too, 'doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith', it was a really really really good conference!!

 

Last P day, after emails and stuff we go back to class. P day officially ends here at 5:15 so we can have daily planning, dinner, and class.  For class last thursday, we took some time at the end to do an activity with the class next door. We paired up individually. Then everyone in the other class had a  question, and we had 10 minutes to prepare a message for them. I got paired up with Elder Richey, an elder who has had big problems with his comp. They don't even talk to eachother, and they are the main part of our discussion in sunday leadership meetings.  Elder Richey has very low self esteem and self confidence, it's hard to watch that!  But I love the guy, he's an amazing guy!  So his question was 'Does God know me'?   So I went back and said a prayer asking to know how to help him. As I prepared, I came up with two Scriptures, Jeremiah 1:5 and 31:3.  Both have to do with God's love and how He knows us. I shared that message, and told him about how God knows everything he is going through and knows how to help him and loves him. The spirit was so strong!  He started crying towards the end, and he told me that was exactly what he needed to here. He said something that really made my day, really made me feel worthwhile. 'Thank you for being worthy to have the Spirit with you and to know what I needed to hear.'  He kept on thanking me, and we hugged a few times, and said a prayer of thanks.  He left for Ecuador on monday, and that was probably one of the coolest experiences I've had here!!

 

As for Taylor and Mav, I see Taylor quite a bit, his room is in the floor under mine, and his class is in my same building. We're gonna get a picture today actually.  But I really hardly ever see Mav...maybe three times since I got here? And I have heard from Dylan, but not Trevor....and that's awesome for Nate!!! But tell him to email me, the lazy bugger ;)

 

Good to hear everything is going well there, Love you guys!!

 

Love,

Elder Nelson

El-Spanish-O getting better-O all the time-O

Week number three.....and it sounds like he's doing well.  ......Although, his companion doesn't sound like he's doing so well.  Maybe read along and tell me what you think.  I have a healthy dose of motherly concern for his companion.  

Hi mom, dad, family, and everyone -

I havent seen Mav or Taylor yet, but I have no clue when they got here. I have a funny story for you!  On tuesday, when all the greenies were supposed to come in, there was a monsoon here. We went outside to play volleyball for gym, porque nosotros jugamos al volleyball cada dia por gimnasio (um.....did he mean to say that in Spanish?....just wondering?), and the weather was fine. Then as soon as we started playing, it started to rain. And not just rain. I think it was probably the biggest rainstorm I have ever seen!!!!!!!  After two minutes we were soaked, and we played for an hour!!!  It was really one of the best times I've had here! And it rained until about 7 like that!!!!!!!!!!  But because of that, no greenies came in that night. I think they had to fly to a safe airport for the night or something. So I think they came in yesterday, but i havent seen them yet! But guess who i did see!! Linsey Lomax, the girl from my soccer team that always said sorry haha!! she came in last night, and I said hi! Just thought you guys should know ;)  (I love that he writes with SO MANY exclamation points!....he's a happy kid) :)

 

Good on ya Tyler, I've heard Real dates are the best ;)  (Tyler has a date this week to a Real SL game - LOVE being 16!)

 

Addie, I do that too. (Addie's in the Chinese program at school, and sometimes will slip a little Chinese word in unintentionally) 

All the time. Its getting harder to write and say english words because we're supposed to be thinking in spanish...and even though we arent fluent, it still messes with our minds!

 

Emma, stay away from the drama! It will make you miserable! ;) (she's in jr. high.  'nuff said) :)

 

it still rains every day, and I really dont mind it.  My companion is stoic as ever, and sometimes I cant tell if he's just the way he is, or if he doesnt like me......I think its just the way he is though. He always translates these sayings like 'what do you know?' and one time he even said 'elder, I'm gonna kill you' in spanish...one thing I've noticed, he talks about death and pain quite a bit...it's really weird...but hey, I guess I probably need to learn something, we're with our companions for a reason, right?!

 

I'm reallly excited for conference, but I have no clue what it's going to be like! My group is really lucky, we got to be here for mexican independence day and general conference! It's da best! I love it!

 

We got to go to the temple this morning, and I actually understood alot of what they said! It's about an hour drive away, and let me tell ya, I'm not sure if I would feel safer with me controlling a car or a native driving...its crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! People get within an inch and a half of eachother, and it's kinda freaky!!!!!!! 

My spanish is coming, i can say a lot of stuff if I have a sec to think about it, but yeah, i know pretty much everything ;)

We've been learning about the Atonement alot recently, and how it can help us so that we can apply it and then help investigators apply it.  It's been really cool, because I was really homesick the other day, but after reading some scriptures (Alma 7:11) and watching videos,  I felt much better! The other day TALL the language computer program, wasnt working, so we watched mormon messages instead. I watched the one about Sid Going and what he gave up to go on a mission, and then what he got back from going on a mission, and that really helped me feel at peace too.

We pray about 30 times a day, in spanish, and thats a little spiritual in and of itself ;)

Love you guys! 

I sent you guys a letter this week, let me know when you get it!!

 

Love,

Elder Nelson

 

Hola from MEXICO!

So, I'm not sure if this is ultimately where I'll put all of Tanners stuff.....but for the time being - people are asking, and due to lack of time to figure anything else out at the moment -  I'll just post his first 2 weeks letters and some pictures here.

.....and can I just say OH, it does a mothers heart good to hear her missionary boy is doing great!

So.....first of all I have to put in a little disclaimer here......

For all you Nacho Libre fans out there - this picture is a shout our to you!  ....for those of you who lack culture and haven't seen it, this picture (especially up close) will seem, well....odd.  

But, it is what it is - and we all had a good laugh about it!

I just took some snippets of his two letters - so you can get the gist of what and how he's doing...

Mexico is nothing like I expected. It's rained every day here except for yesterday, which was really strange. And when I say it rains, it really rains!! They don't have a good drain system in the streets, so it's like walking through creeks! I've used my overshoes several times, and the first time I was putting them on everyone was making fun of me until we were walking on the sidewalk in three inches of water. That sure showed them!  The storms here are crazy because its monsoon season.  I’m also glad we fit my coat in my suitcase – I’ve used it a few times already.

I decided that I really AM a watch collector now, which isn’t weird because I have so many watches. I bought another one yesterday-$120, what a steal!!!!!   And don't worry, those aren't dollars, they're pesos.  It was less than ten bucks. haha!!

We've just been learning everything here...and mom and dad, there is a talk/article i want you guys to look up. Its called 'Trilogy of the Gospel' but I dont know who its by. Its so deep and soo coooL!!!!!  Its hard to understand though.  

Our schedule is a lot more normal now.  We have a night teacher, Hermano Salazar.  He is so funny!  He’s a native and only speaks Spanish, but he picks up a few English words and uses them in the funniest times! We are supposed to be teaching two lessons a day, and that gets a little crazy sometimes, but I'm not doing too shabby at Spanish! 

Heres some exciting news, I'm the new District Leader!!!!!!!!!!  They called me last Sunday. I love the power ;)   (JUST KIDDING), but I really do like being a leader, and I feel like I'm pretty good at it.  A few people have told me I’m doing a great job.

This week i've really started to miss my music...we can't listen to even motab or other church music here at el CCM, so this week has been rough ;) elders Redder and Chamberlain both like Mayday Parade, so we've sung a few songs in our gym time together ;) 

Sundays are great.  We go to priesthood, district meeting, and sacrament in the morning, then we have a fireside, study time/interviews with branch president, then a devotional video from when an apostle comes to the Provo MTC.  Then dinner, study time, and at 8 we get to watch a movie!   Last week was the new Joseph Smith movie about the Restoration - awesome!

There's this joke going around that the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days...how true that is. Each day is a long but good day, and this past week has gone by quicker that it's felt!! Crazy!!

Also, we got to go to the Mexico city temple to do an endowment session...en espanol!! It was really cool, and the temple was beautiful! 

Last weekend was Mexican Independence Day, so all of last week they had Mexican treats and stuff at meals. On Saturday night, we got to watch a show some of the natives put on for us, they danced and sang and it was way cool!! They are all so proud to be Mexicans! Then on Sunday night at 11 we all met in the gym and watched the pres. of Mexico ring a gong. I didn’t understand it, but I guess it has national value. It was pretty cool!

Melquisedek the scripture case guy (just a side note from me....is that really his name?? .Melquisedek the scripture case guy......it sounds like he was BORN to sell scripture cases)  came last night! I think he made 1300 bucks off of my district and two other elders haha! They are so cool though!!  Mine is going to have captain moroni with the title of liberty on the front, and my name, mission, and enos 1:27 on the back!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!  (I guess the new one he just bought from Deseret Book is mucho lame-o when compared to the one he is getting from "the scripture case guy".  Not totally certain, but judging from the amount of exclamation points he just used, I think he's fairly excited).  

 

That's really all thats been happening here....if you can find a cheap way to send the stuff i'm missing, that'd be great, like with Taylor or Mav (He's got 2 friends that leave next week for the Mexico MTC) , if not, just send it when i'm in jersey! and yes, I do want the bright blue sweats. the ones I wore for morp please!! 

 

As we teach our lessons to our ‘investigator’, I try to be led by the spirit.  I'm writing in my journal every night, trying new food every day, and trying to be patient to go to New Jersey.

Love you guys!!

Elder Nelson

p.s. everyone in my district is so jealous of me because I've received three packages and a letter in the mail, and no one else has gotten anything but emails ;) keep up the good work!! ;)  Adios mi familia, buenos suertes con futbol, escuela, y corriendo!!!

Family reunion awesomeness

Nothing says Summertime like a good old trip to Yellowstone.
Actually, we'd never ventured there until now.
Kids were dreading the anticipated hours and hours of driving.
Lots of driving, yes....but, all in all I think it turned out to be a fabulous vacation.
Time with Cousins.  Time with each other.  Time away from the responsibilities and scenery of home.
Not that home isn't where your heart is or anything.
But sometimes it's just nice to get out of dodge, if you know what I mean.

The Nelson family reunions aren't really a bonafide family reunion per se.  There's no get-to-know-you games.  No talent show.  No big speech about family history.
Just a trip together with siblings and cousins.
'Family reunion' just sounds more official.


So.....an hour before we were scheduled to leave for this trip, the 2 teenage boys said they needed to run out for a few minutes.  They came back with these doozies.  'vacation shirts' they call them.  A quick trip to D.I. and they were officially 'ready' for the drive.
I think they did it to embarrass me.  They wore those little
beauts everywhere!

In front of Old Faithful.  Quite an adventure that one was.  Blistering hot.  Until we got to old faithful.  Our timing was less than perfect.  We had to wait an entire hour before the geyser would perform again.  Then came the rain.  Then came the hail.  Ill prepared for that weather we were, I'm afraid.  The kids made the best of a less-than-pleasant situation though, and although youngest child wanted to abandon the whole idea (after all, how great could a geyser possibly be???) - we stuck it out, and it Old Faithful was pretty darn impressive I tell you.

I don't know if it was the Little Grand Canyon that was so beautiful, or those fabulous shirts in the picture!

 He's still just as handsome, more than 20 years later.

 Emma wanted to try a little trick photography.....so she had dad 'hold' the waterfall.  ........

 ........6 year old didn't quite understand.....she hollered at Em to quickly take her picture.  Not quite sure what she's holding though!

 Swimming at the firehole most definitely a highlight!

 The picture doesn't do it justice, but there's a place to jump into the rapids, and float down the river a ways to the swimming hole.  Awesome.  40 year old me even did it.

Cousins are the best.

Roasting marshmallows with them even better.

Floating down the snake river surely one of the best and most beautiful things we did.  Loved every last  second of it!

Other highlights.....the wildlife, the beauty, and definitely the sunsets.

Yes....Families are awesome.  Not perfect.  But awesome.

Milestone Mania!

Who knew EVERY child in the family would hit a big milestone this month.......all within 5 days of each other!

Wednesday:  Chinese Kindergarten Graduation (the kung-fu moves were awesome)....

Thursday: High school graduation - Summa Cum Laude 

(I seriously couldn't be prouder if I tried!),

Friday:  6th grade graduation (next up - JUNIOR HIGH people!),




















Sunday: Boy #2  turning 16 - dating and driving (2 dates and counting...already).














It's funny.  I don't remember getting old enough to have all these things happen.  I still remember them when they were knee-high to a grasshopper.

All of a sudden son #1 will be leaving soon (77 more days to be exact.....) to serve a mission for our church.  So happy for him, and yet there's a part of me that's mourning the change in dynamic of our home.  Don't get me wrong - there's no where I'd rather him be.  Just realizing that it will be different around here. A friend said it profoundly that when your children leave home it's a "happy hurt".
So, for the next 77 days I'l be mentally recording every last minute I have with him.  And the others too.  It won't be long before it's their time to fly.