01/22/11 Missionary relay & Polynesian dancing

1/22/11

So funny, building snowmen in bare feet! Gotta love Washington Utah!

Hi Aj!  How are things going?

Things are pretty much the same here.  Busy Busy Busy.

Cassandra Swapp and Amanda Turner

Let's see, what to tell you about this week. I taught in YW on Sunday.  Always scares me to teach.  Not my comfort zone, ya know?  I think it went pretty well.  Brother Baker came to class and that made it extra special scary for me.  It was on having the spirit with you all the time and not just on Sunday.  It was a pretty good lesson.  It talked about doing things that invite the spirit and not doing things that drive it away.  

Tomorrow is Stake Conference so I get a week off of all my early meetings and don't have to worry about YW etc.  That is nice.

Me and the girls went to the pool today but it was too cold for my liking.  I went in up to my ankles and turned around and went back out to my chair and kept reading my book.  Chilly is not my thing!

Chloe Wilden and Ashley Devaney

David Swapp, Nathan Warby and Brother Turner

We did a combined meeting for YW/YM and did a missionary relay race.  It was fun.  The kids started out (boys against girls) and had to dress in their missionary attire (skirt and sweater w/name tag or button up shirt and name tag).  Then they had to go to the world map and pick their "calling" out of the envelope.  They had to find their location on a map. (They really seemed to enjoy that particular exercise).  Then they ran to another table and had to memorize 3 little phrases in Spanish.  (Like where's the bathroom and I know the Savior lives).  Then they ran to another table and had to make a paper airplane and fly it into the circle on the gym floor.  (Symbolic of leaving the MTC having learned their language).  Then they had to sew on a button, tie a tie, sing head shoulders knees and toes (with hand motions) and recite an article of faith.  Once all that was done they ran to their bikes and had to bike the length of the gym (w/helmets for safety) and then undress for their final time.

Ashley and Chloe

After everyone ran the relay Sam Stevens told about his mission and we had treats from his mission.  It was really good.

Katie is still enjoying polynesian dancing and basketball and achievement days and piano and girl scouts.  GO Go Go!  I can't wait until the polynesian BBQ at the end.  We get to go have dinner and watch her dance for her final performance.

Amanda, Cassandra, Brooke Devaney and Nikki Turner

Dallas is still giving us fits with his grades.  Always having to make up stuff after he misses a day for band.  He and Bryce are really getting to be good players.  I am impressed.

Well I hope had a successful happy week and can't wait to hear all the details.  LOVED your last letter.  So informative!!!

I found out we can dear elder you to the pouch and it is free but I think it takes awhile.  I wrote one to you this week and you'll have to let me know how long it takes to arrive.  I think it goes out every Monday.  I'll try to encourage others to start writing you there.  I know you would love that.

I saw Mike the Barber (bishop?) -- he asked about you.  I told him you were doing great and gave him your blogsite.  I gave him your photo and he said he had a wall he was putting everybody's mugs on who was out on a mission from your ward.  He said there are like 6 guys getting ready to go our right now and he was pretty excited.

Ashely, Chloe and Andrew Shopinski

Well I hope time is flying for you and you are loving every minute of it!

Did you ever get sick?  (I worried that it wasn't food poisoning that your comp got and that you'd be sick Tuesday or something) -- so ??? Did you survive really?

Everyone keeps telling me how funny and interesting your letters are and they love your personality.

Well Katie and Holly are demanding I come read to them so I better go entertain them and send them to bed!

Love you lots and so proud of you.  Know that you are well thought of and loved and prayed for often and by many!!!!

Love you! Mom.

01/14/11 David's death, temple endowments, photobucket

1/14/2011

How are things on the other side of the world? Totally LOVED your last letter.  So full of enthusiasm and information.  Really enjoyable.  Keep up the good work!

So things are pretty much the same here.  The week has flown by full of activities and work and housework etc.  It's Friday night and everyone is doing the usual Friday thing.  Dad and Dallas are in Hurricane doing Snow Canyon v Hurricane game.  Bryce has a nasty cold and is "vegging",  the girls have played all day and just finished their jobs and settled in to veg with Bryce.  We made some M&M cookies and the house smells yummy.

We had a busy week in court -- about 45 customers.  Took about 2 1/2 hours.  Seems as though we are getting more tickets lately which means more phone calls, more paper work etc.  I guess that's good.  I don't get bored at work! Job security!

I found out this week that my brother died.  In September.  He had a heart attack. I guess I did a good job of making myself scarse.  I talked to the lady that tried to notify next of kin and she said she spent 2 days and was stumped.  Couldn't find any of us.  I told her that was the way we intended it and I was happy to hear she had such a hard time finding us.  She told us some interesting things about him (he was severely mentally ill) he has assaulted several people over the past few years. Sounds like he was decent when he was on his medications and a handful when he wasn't.  I am happy he never made it out of prison because I think he would have harmed someone given the chance.  It is a relief to know that he won't be showing up someday and making life miserable.  Sad.

Suzanne and Dad are going to the temple tomorrow to get out her endowments.  They plan to get sealed in a month or two.  That's pretty cool, eh?

So what's the deal with pictures?  Are you able to upload and send them or is your time too limited?  Can you go to photobucket and dump there there? If you can my login is sgriffin@washingtoncity.org  Then just hit upload and dump there in there.  If not...I guess we'll figure something else out.

So tell us more about your companion.  Can you get his mom's email address?  I've been getting to know Sister Martinez and Sister Watkin's mom's and it has been so fun.  Plus I get a little bit different information that is nice to know!  It would be fun to get to know his mom too.

Tell us more about your area.  Are the bugs a problem?  How's the food? Are you sweating to death?

Is there anything you need? want? are missing from home and would like to get (that fits in a tiny box and can be shipped around the world?) -- (so you can't put me!!!)

Do you have a frisbee?  I couldn't remember if you ever got one.  Do they have those there? Do you want one?

I have to teach on Sunday and the lesson is about centering your life around Christ.  It is a good lesson.  I decided to try the idea you said about giving out assignments, to encourage people to come...so far I got two responses...would love to Sis G but I'm going out of town Sunday!  Ha.  That didn't work!  No worries.  Maybe if I do this EVERYBODY will stay home and I can go to RS...just kidding!  We should have a pretty small group Sunday though since 2 of my regulars already said they aren't coming.

We had 3 non members and 3 members this week on Wednesday and the girls had a ton of fun.  They giggled and carried on while we played games.  Sister Caldwell came and interviewed everyone about personal progress and encouraged them to try to start doing the activities.  It was good time.

Well I don't want you to spend your whole computer time reading from me so I'll sign off!  Feel free to send us snail mail letters if you have experiences you want to tell us about but don't have time to write them all during your computer time.  Hope you are keeping a journal (and that we can read it..tee hee).

Keep up the good work.  You are a great example to many people.  More than you could even realize.  Love you so much. Mom.

01/07/11 Luau and YW

1/7/11

Things are about like always here.  Katie and Holly are enjoying choir and piano lessons and girl scouts.  We get to start selling girl scout cookies soon.  We are going to a "cookie kick off" party tonight to find out about cookie sales.  Katie starts Polynesian dancing next Thursday and there is a LUAU in April that she will dance at.  Sounds kind of fun.  I'm excited to go to that.

The boys are staying super busy with band and YM.  They have been faithfully reading their scriptures...thank you for helping them develop a habit before you left.  It should serve them well if they will continue...and so far they are!

Court was super busy this week since a lot of people like to blow things off during the holidays.  Time flies when you are busy though so that was good.

YW we had 4 non members and 3 members Wednesday night...so I was pretty happy with that turn out.  We actually just got 2 more non-members so now I am up to 8.  Crazy!  So hopefully I'll get a baptism or two during your mission, eh?!  I invited the missionaries to come and they hung out and played with us a little but honesty they were kind of gun shy and wouldn't interact with the girls.  We need the sister missionaries to come and hang with us.  But they removed them from our stake so we only get the boys.  Oh well.  Next month we are going to the temple to do baptisms and I am going to arrange to meet the sisters at the visitor's center and take all the girls that can't go into the temple to the visitor's center.  That way no one will feel left out.  Should be fun!

So I can't think of any fun or exciting stories to tell you.  I hope you are adjusting well to your new world.  And if you get a chance talk to your mission mamma and tell her you love her and that she needs to start writing on the blog again!  She used to write all the time and nothing since Christmas.  Everyday I look for a short write up from her hoping for a glimpse of you...and nothing!!!    Tell her we LOVE reading about the missionaries and what's going on over there.  Makes us feel connected to you.

Well keep working hard and smiling.  Your letters sound so up beat and positive.  LOVE IT.  You are an inspiration and such a good example to us all.  I try harder because if you can give up your whole life I can give up an extra hour here and there, ya know!  Love you lots and waiting anxiously for your next letter.  XOXO mom.

01/11/11 Happy New Year

1/1/11

The New Year has come in pretty quietly.  We went to Grandma and pa's house and played mexican train dominos and ate goodies.  We had a nice time.  The kids have just been sitting around the house playing games and veggin.  It has been SO cold here.  We got snow and it has stayed on the ground for 3 days now.  It has been so cold that our hot water pipes are frozen in our bathroom.  We didn't have hot water until noon today.  Luckily the pipes haven't burst.

It really has been a dull quiet week here.  Just anxious to hear from you and hoping you survived your grueling travel schedule.  We facebooked your mission mama and she said you arrived and that your companion was Elder Weaver (where is he from, how long has he been out, tell us a little about him).  She told us what city you were serving in.  We googled it...looks like a pretty big city.  Probably bigger than anywhere you've ever been, right?  How is your place?  Are you having culture shock?

So anxious for details.  Hope you are doing well.  Love you lots!!!! Mom