We made a quick trip to watch our niece Annie sing The National Anthem at a Portland Timbers soccer game last night. She did fantastic! It was fun to re-connect with Greg's family, even if it was just for a few short hours. It made for a long day, but it was worth it to watch Annie shine!
Ryan is off to Bull Prairie on a field trip today. Since there was so much snow at Outdoor School, they decided to make a special day just for fishing. He was excited!
Gen is excited that she gets to attend a birthday party this weekend. So much for relaxing on Saturday!!! I haven't checked yet to see what Matt will be up to. With baseball season ending, he just might have to spend a day with his Mom. (And I promise no scholarship applications, graduation shopping or any other boring "Mom" activity that I usually do to you Matt). He begins work at the Boardman Parks & Rec district on Memorial Day weekend so I imagine his last weekend of "freedom" will be spent with people his own age :)
Alex has been getting up on his own every morning by 6:15 and getting ready for school. Showers......dresses....eats.....makes his bed.....and is ready to go by 7 a.m. I can't help but wonder the amazing change in his ability to get up for school without being harassed by his Mom.......Could it be a young lady??? Only time will tell! Strange phases those teenagers go through. :)
Received another email from our favorite missionary:
Dear Family,
Thanks for the updates. Life sounds like it is still an adventure back home. I’m glad to see that all is going well in the campaign and that the kids are all doing great in school. I know things are busy right now but with the school year and the campaign winding down, things should be calm again soon. Life here is intense. First off earlier this week, I finished the Book of Mormon in Portuguese and it was awesome. I never really realized how much I loved the Book of Mormon. I think this was a really good experience for my testimony. Also I was able to give my companion a blessing. I've never given a blessing before. As I blessed him, I could feel the power of the Lord. Man it was so crazy!! I couldn’t believe how weird it felt. And afterward, I couldn't remember a single word I had said. I could only remember how powerful it felt to be giving that blessing. Afterword, he got up and hugged me and it was all I could do not to cry. The spirit was so strong. Also later that week we went proselytizing (I can’t spell that word). We gave out all 6 of our Books of Mormon in the first hour! It was crazy. We gave out our first 2 in like 15 minutes. Then when we only had like 10 minutes left before we had to move on to our next area, as my companion and I walked we said a prayer. We asked the Lord to place the last 2 Books of Mormon that we had and said we know that he could do it. As we began to return to the van, we saw a girl leaning up against this hotel wall. We decided to go talk to her. Her name was Lauria and she ended up being our best contact. We talked to her and gave her a Book of Mormon and showed her to 3rd Nephi 11. As we left, she began to read. 40ish minutes later, we drove by to go back to the MTC (after we had gone to our second area) and she was still reading the Book of Mormon! It was by far the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. You could tell she was well off by her clothws and usually those people don’t talk to you. She totally listened the whole time and she was reading the book we gave her!! It was so cool. Oh btw also really cool, I just ate at a Brazilian barbeque. The kind where they bring you meat and you just cut it off a stick. I probably ate 16 pieces of meat. I’m going to go die now. Everyone agreed I ate the most. It was so crazy. Anyways I have to go now. I love you all very much! My next email will be from the field! cho!
Love Elder Smith
Have a great weekend!
Ryan is off to Bull Prairie on a field trip today. Since there was so much snow at Outdoor School, they decided to make a special day just for fishing. He was excited!
Gen is excited that she gets to attend a birthday party this weekend. So much for relaxing on Saturday!!! I haven't checked yet to see what Matt will be up to. With baseball season ending, he just might have to spend a day with his Mom. (And I promise no scholarship applications, graduation shopping or any other boring "Mom" activity that I usually do to you Matt). He begins work at the Boardman Parks & Rec district on Memorial Day weekend so I imagine his last weekend of "freedom" will be spent with people his own age :)
Alex has been getting up on his own every morning by 6:15 and getting ready for school. Showers......dresses....eats.....makes his bed.....and is ready to go by 7 a.m. I can't help but wonder the amazing change in his ability to get up for school without being harassed by his Mom.......Could it be a young lady??? Only time will tell! Strange phases those teenagers go through. :)
Received another email from our favorite missionary:
Dear Family,
Thanks for the updates. Life sounds like it is still an adventure back home. I’m glad to see that all is going well in the campaign and that the kids are all doing great in school. I know things are busy right now but with the school year and the campaign winding down, things should be calm again soon. Life here is intense. First off earlier this week, I finished the Book of Mormon in Portuguese and it was awesome. I never really realized how much I loved the Book of Mormon. I think this was a really good experience for my testimony. Also I was able to give my companion a blessing. I've never given a blessing before. As I blessed him, I could feel the power of the Lord. Man it was so crazy!! I couldn’t believe how weird it felt. And afterward, I couldn't remember a single word I had said. I could only remember how powerful it felt to be giving that blessing. Afterword, he got up and hugged me and it was all I could do not to cry. The spirit was so strong. Also later that week we went proselytizing (I can’t spell that word). We gave out all 6 of our Books of Mormon in the first hour! It was crazy. We gave out our first 2 in like 15 minutes. Then when we only had like 10 minutes left before we had to move on to our next area, as my companion and I walked we said a prayer. We asked the Lord to place the last 2 Books of Mormon that we had and said we know that he could do it. As we began to return to the van, we saw a girl leaning up against this hotel wall. We decided to go talk to her. Her name was Lauria and she ended up being our best contact. We talked to her and gave her a Book of Mormon and showed her to 3rd Nephi 11. As we left, she began to read. 40ish minutes later, we drove by to go back to the MTC (after we had gone to our second area) and she was still reading the Book of Mormon! It was by far the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. You could tell she was well off by her clothws and usually those people don’t talk to you. She totally listened the whole time and she was reading the book we gave her!! It was so cool. Oh btw also really cool, I just ate at a Brazilian barbeque. The kind where they bring you meat and you just cut it off a stick. I probably ate 16 pieces of meat. I’m going to go die now. Everyone agreed I ate the most. It was so crazy. Anyways I have to go now. I love you all very much! My next email will be from the field! cho!
Love Elder Smith
Have a great weekend!
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