email from Matt on July 28, 2014

Dear Family! 

We live with the Swensons. It is a 53 year old man who hasn't been married and his mom lives with him. They are so nice. He is a pharmacist. We live in their basement and have our own kitchen and stuff. It is really a nice house. We are starting to learn the area a lot better. I know it is Heavenly Father that is helping us to learn this area so quickly. 

Church was amazing yesterday! It was such a busy day. Literally the whole day was going from one meeting to another. Our stake president is President Howell. He is an awesome man and super serious about doing missionary work. We had a meeting with him yesterday morning with the rest of the stake presidency and the high councilor over missionary work. He talked about how embarrassed he is as stake for not providing more teaching opportunities for us to teach. He is on top of things. I really need to step up my game. We were in a gospel principles class and this lady told us she has a foster daughter who is 12 and really wants to be baptized. For some reason she couldn't before, but they met with the court people and now she can. So we are meeting with them tonight. Such a miracle! When you have faith, work hard, and are obedient God blesses you! There were quite a few members who came up to us at church and told us how they have people for us to teach!

We were running a little late yesterday morning. We walk outside and on our car someone took a car marker and wrote just married on the back window and hearts all over. It was pretty funny. We aren't sure who did it. We didn't have to time to clean it off before we went to church so it sat in the parking lot like that all day at church. 

So as a district leader we teach district meeting which we have every Tuesday. Last Tuesday was my first one as district leader. It went horrible! I don't have one tomorrow because we have zone conference. We also do baptismal interviews and I did my first one on Friday for the other Elders. 

Bob Strickland in my last area got baptized on Saturday. I went back for it. Elder Dean was able to come back to it too so it was nice to see him. Chris and Cindy were there. They still haven't heard word on if he can get baptized or not. Jesse was also there. I think I told you how her dad was in and out of the hospital. Well I guess last week her friend got murdered. So the other Elders really haven't been able to meet with her. She just needs to be baptized! She wants to so bad but all these troubles keep happening in her life. 

I think a lot of missionaries struggle with depression. I think at the beginning of my mission I struggled with it a little. I am doing great now though. I feel so blessed. I think I'm learning that when you put trust in God that great things happen! 

I've heard of that movie it sounds super good! I'm glad your visit with grandma went well! 

That is awesome about Cody! Mom you can do it! I know you. It won't come off strange or like you're selling something. You even said that he is looking for it, but he just doesn't know it, but YOU do. God has put him in your life for a reason! I'm excited to hear how it goes. 

I love you guys! Keep up the great work. 

Love Elder Alpin

email to Dad:

Hey! Yay on doing temple work for grandpa! Grandma is so cute I love her! 

There is a neighborhood in our area that is growing so quickly and there are so many young couples. They have two elders’ quorums because the classes are so big. 

How was priesthood session? I met a lady here that is in the other ward that meets in your guys building. I can't remember her name though. I forgot to write this in mom's email. Our stake president got us tickets for the rodeo they had in Bluffdale. We got permission from President Chambers and we went.  My first rodeo! It was fun. We were hoping to find some people to teach but everyone we talked to were members! 

I haven't got your pictures yet. I want to see them. I'll send some in a sec. I got my camera cord! 

Love you

Matt, Elder Dean and his old district

Elder Dean put Matt's name tag in Jello...yum!

email home July 21, 2014

Hello!

I'm glad to hear you are doing good! Have fun at the temple doing grandpa's work! 

This week has been kind of crazy. Elder Dean and I both got transferred. So they whitewashed my old area in Sandy. I'm so surprised too because we just started teaching so many people! I got transferred to Bluffdale. I like it here. It is the southern most part of our mission. There are a lot of horses and the houses are more spread out. Most of the houses are also super nice. We are white washing the area. 

I am training a new missionary named Elder Morelock. He is from Laie, Hawaii. It has been tough because neither of us know the area. They weren't really teaching many people before we got here so we haven't taught much since we've been here. I feel like we spend most of our time getting lost. 

The members here are great though. They are super missionary minded. They even feed us lunches here. We have a car too. So I will probably be gaining some weight. Yikes! 

So yesterday was our first Sunday in the area. We gave talks in one of the wards. Elder Morelock woke up sick and puking. So we went on splits and only I went and talked. Elder Zwick, from the seventy, was there and talked as well. It was super good. After that we spent most of our day at the house yesterday. Elder Morelock slept most of the day. I felt so bad! It was only his 5th day out and he was sick! He is all better today though. It has been really overwhelming lately. I also became a district leader, which I've never been before. This has been the majority of my week...

Love you guys!

Emails Home July 14th, 2014

From: Matthew Alpin
Sent: ‎Monday‎, ‎July‎ ‎14‎, ‎2014 ‎1‎:‎18‎ ‎PM
To: JAMIE ALPIN

Hola!

This week went by fast. It was good though. I feel like one of us will be transferred. I think me. My feelings about transfers always seem to be wrong though. Yes I will be able to go to Jesse's baptism. She isn't getting baptized on the 19th. We haven't been able to meet with her for two weeks because her dad has been having heart problems and has been in and out of the hospital. She did tell us about a really cool experience she had though. On Monday night at like 3 in the morning she couldn't sleep. So she started reading Joseph Smith history. When she got to the part where Joseph Smith was baptized she started crying. She said it was just so powerful. She is so ready to get baptized! I fasted for her dad and we've been praying for him a lot. Hopefully he gets well soon so she can continue to progress. Sorry about your work schedule that is kinda lame.

There is this lady named Julie. We talked to her about three weeks ago. She said she almost got baptized but was turned off by members of the church. So she wasn't interested in meeting with us. We waited about two weeks and came back to talk to her. We noticed that her yard needed some work so we offered some help. She said yes! So on Tuesday we went over with some people from the ward and dug up her dead grass. It was such a great opportunity for members of the ward to fellowship. She was so appreciative for our service. She said we could come back and teach her. So we are going back this Tuesday. 

Holy Cow grandpa is old! That sounds like it will be fun. 

I hope you guys have a wonderful week! You're great. Love you!

Email to Dad

Hey! Nothing much is up. Missionary work of course! It has been an awesome week this week. Yes transfers are Wednesday. I'm nervous! Don't remind me I only have 7 months. I've almost completed my sister mission! I'm glad to hear your tests came back well! Yay 2 pounds of fat is awesome! I got my old glasses fixed when I bought my new glasses. They fixed them for free. My new ones are kind of heavy and aren't the best to wear when I"m super sweaty all day. I am wearing them today though. Glad to hear things are going good! You are great!

Love you!

Matt

email & pictures July 7th, 2014

Dear Family,

Earlier last week I was feeling pretty down and hopeless. I began to pray. As I was praying the thought came to my mind to read the Book of Mormon. I grabbed my Book of Mormon and the thought came to my head to read Mosiah 3. It was so clear that was what I needed to read. I took some of the scripture out of context, but I read it and I knew that God heard me. In verse 4 really stuck out to me and also verse 12. I know that God answers prayers. It is because he loves us so much. After this I was no longer sad, but committed to go and work hard.

We had an amazing week. We were able to reach so many of our goals! So many miracles!  We met with Jesse on Tuesday. She said she can't wait to be baptized. We committed her to be baptized on July 19th. She is praying about it to see. She told us she also wants us to teach her 12 year old daughter so they can get baptized on the same day!

One of the relief society presidents called us earlier this week and told us of a couple that was moving in. We stopped by and helped them move in some stuff. The wife is active and the husband is not a member. He was going to start meeting with missionaries where they lived before but then they moved. He basically put himself on date to be baptized on the 26th of July. Then we met with him 4 days in a row. His name is Bob. He is about 60. We went to temple square with him on Saturday. It was kind of an awkward temple square lesson for some reason. 

The fourth of July was good. We went to a ward breakfast and two barbecues. One of them we went to was a neighborhood one and I saw a family from my last area in Kearns! Their friend just moved into our area so they came with them to the barbecue. It was so nice to catch up with them. We didn't watch any fireworks. We heard a ton of them though. 

I'm glad you had a good visit with Elder Law and his family.

I love Sister Christensen! She just got called as the Relief Society President in her ward. Yesterday was her first Sunday as it. She let us come and teach for 15 minutes in Relief Society. It was fun. She is too nice. Her oldest daughter would be the same age as me. She died in a car accident as well as Sister Christensen's mom and I think her dad died too. I think it was when she was a junior in high school?  So like 3 years maybe? 

I'm glad they reached out to Elder Kniffen. What city is he serving in? That is cool about Elder Grant's experience with the General Authority. I'll have to try that out. Transfers are on the 16th. Coming soon! Whenever we mention transfers to Sister Christensen she gets so sad.

I love you guys! Thank you for being so supportive. Ya'll are great. You are great missionaries too! Keep up the good work.

Love,

Elder Alpin

These pictures are from while ago. The first is when it was raining really hard we wore trash bags. Then the other one is from the temple and you can kind of see how my chin was scabbed. 

Letter Home & Pictures 6/30/14

Hello! 

I am glad to hear about your classes. Follow up is so important. It talks all about it in Preach My Gospel. Do you remember Elder Ballard's talk from conference. It was all about persistent, consistent followup. 

I'm glad ya'll are doing so good.

Alison emailed me last week I think and told me how Sister Hunt came and visited her. Mom.. Sandy is pretty big and there are quite a few missionaries here. It would be tough to find me I think. We aren't supposed to get visits from friends or other people. 

I don't know how I'm doing in the heat. Ok I suppose. There are a couple barbecues going on on the 4th of July with some non members we will probably go to. I'm not sure what we are doing for pday today. 

We've been teaching an 8 year old girl and her less active grandma for awhile now. The 8 year old (Shauntay is her name) got baptized yesterday. She wanted me to baptize her so I did. Her grandma came to church the past two Sundays, which is awesome! 

On Saturday we seemed to meet every ex-mormon anti in our area. Those kind of people make me so sad. I just don't understand how they can be deceived so easily. 

This week was really tough-mentally, emotionally, and physically. I just want to cry right now. Don't worry though. I'll get over it eventually. 

Sorry I can't really think of much to say. I hope you have a wonderful week. I love you! 

Email & Picture from Matt on June 24. 2014

Hello!

So I went to Doctor Katz yesterday and I am all better. No surgery for me! The piece he pulled out was literally the size of a gummy bear. It was way bigger than when you did it. And it was all white. It turns out it isn't behind my ear drum and isn't going through the bone. Such a blessing! 

Oh yeah so I was on exchanges with Elder Hansen. Elder Hansen came out with me. He is a good elder. I think he is only 24 though. We were sitting outside the church building waiting for one of our investigators to show up and this guy pulled up and his truck and talked to us for like 15 minutes and then wanted to call ya'll. I'm glad you had a good chat. 

Sister Summers grandson went into the MTC last Wednesday. They stayed the night at her house before he left. It made me think about the night before I went into the MTC. Crazy to think about. He is the one that is going to the Detroit mission. Elder Kniffen is his name so keep an eye out for him!  

What ever you make for Elder Law and his parents will be perfect! 

We just got back from the Draper temple about an hour ago. It was so amazing. I think it was the first time I really received revelation in the temple! It was so awesome. 

We gave talks in church Sunday. We talked about family history and temple work. 

We had interviews with President Chambers this week. It was good. He asked me a couple of questions. Basically what do I want to become at the end of my mission. Then we set goals to get there. 

So on Saturday I was just biking a long. I was making the transition from the road to the sidewalk. There was a little puddle. My tire slid and I fell off my bike. Don't worry though. My chin caught the fall. Now I have a big scab on my chin. It could have been a lot worse. Thank goodness it wasn't! 

Have a wonderful week! 

Love Elder Alpin

Elder Alpin & Elder Dean at the Draper, Utah Temple

Email From Matt June 16, 2014

Hello!

It sounds like you guys had a wonderful week! How long is Kailee staying for? I'm glad you were able to spend time with Alison. She's a pretty cool kid. I am so proud of Ryan too! What a good kid. My Father's Day was good. We got some delicious cookies from one of the wards because they had some left overs. One of our bishops had a baby last Tuesday. We stopped by on Saturday and got to see it. It was so small and cute! I'm so amazed that we can create people. It just boggles my mind that God trusts us enough to do that. I've been thinking about families a lot after that. I studied about families today during my studies. What really stuck out to me is how central the family is to the plan of salvation. We lived together as one big family with God in the premortal life. We are sent to Earth in families to learn, love, and prepare to return to live with God. After we die we can live as families in the presence of God. Without families we could not reach our full potential and experience the greatest amount of joy. God truly knows what he is doing having families, father and mother and children. It is so beautiful and delicious! 

We took Chris and Cynthia to temple square on Tuesday. We watched God's Plan for our Families with them. I love that movie. I almost cry every time. Chris started to cry. He truly wants to teach his children good and he knows that is it through the gospel of Jesus Christ that will happen. We are still waiting to hear back from the first presidency to see if he can get baptized. It won't be for a couple of weeks until we hear back. He hasn't found a job yet so I'm not sure how they are doing financially. 

Elder Dean and I went running on Thursday for workout! That is the first time I've ran in months! My thighs hurt for two days! I didn't think my thighs would be hurting because we bike so much. 

This week was a tough week. A lot of our appointments cancelled and it seemed like there was no one home! It was a little frustrating, but it happens.  

Yesterday evening we went to the stake center to use the bathroom. You'll never guess who was there! Jenny Oaks Baker! She is a violin player and Dallin H. Oaks' daughter. I have that one Disney CD of hers. Anyways there is a performance or something going on this week and they needed a place to practice. I didn't talk to her. I only heard her playing and saw the back of her head, but how cool is that?! 

Moses 7:26. I read that this week. It made me mad! Satan cannot win.

It was super hot this week. The past couples of days have cooled down though so it has been nice. It has been a couple of weeks since I've heard from Katie. Hopefully I'll get a letter today. 

Church was super good yesterday. I taught young men's. 

I have my ear appointment today. I am so excited! I hope they make it better. 

Sister Summer's grandson goes into the MTC Wednesday. He is going to the Detroit mission so he will be there in a couple of weeks. Maybe he will replace Elder Law. 

I hope you guys have a wonderful week. You are awesome. Keep up the great work! Love you much!

Elder Alpin

26 May 2014

Sawadecup! Jambo! Talofa! Malolehleh! Heyson! Konechewa! Onahasayoh! Hola! Salam!

I've learned a lot of different ways to say hello. How are you today? I'm glad you had such a wonderful day at church. My day was pretty good too. I got your card today! Thank you! I enjoyed it. My ear still feels the same. I have a doctor’s appointment June 16 to get it checked out.
Memorial day is good thus far. No barbeque.

We went on exchanges this week. I'm grateful Elder Dean is my companion. He is a hard worker and we get along great. I think we'll probably get changed when transfers comes in like a week! #disappointing

As a mission we have a 31 day Atonement packet with different talks and scriptures for us to read. It is so awesome! I love it. There is so much to learn. 

My mind is going so blank! My week was good. Nothing too exciting.

I love you guys! 

elder Alpin

Hey Dad!

Thanks for the email. I enjoy hearing your wonderful testimony! I enjoyed the pictures you sent. That was forever ago! I was reading 2 Nephi 2 today. I love this chapter so much! It just makes the Fall and plan of salvation so much easier to understand. I love the plan of salvation so much. It is so beautiful!  

I love you.

19 May 2014

Happy Monday!

2 Nephi 27:23 For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith. 

This scripture is true. This week has been amazing! Miracles happen.

We were biking and saw a guy and girl outside. We talked to them. She is a less active member and he isn't a member. We asked if we could share the gospel with them right then. They said yes and welcomed us into their house. He was almost baptized about 3 years ago. The only thing keeping him from being baptized was getting married. They had been together for six years. He had a head injury when he was 17 and has gotten a disability check from the state for the past 20 years because of it. They rely on the money for rent and bills. We talked to them about faith. The spirit was very strong. We put him on date to be baptized for June 14. I left that lesson thinking that it would take him awhile to get baptized. We came back on Thursday for another lesson. Before we started the lesson they told us they are getting married Saturday! We were shocked! They called Bishop that Tuesday night after we left and told him they wanted to get married. We asked what made them decide to actually do it this time. We had paraphrased Matthew 6:26 and that really stuck out to them. The spirit was definitely working on them. They got married on Saturday in the bishop's office. It was only us and a couple from the ward they had come to it. I am so amazed at their faith!! She doesn't work and stays home to take care of their two young kids. He had a job at goodwill, but got fired about a week ago. His working capabilities are kind of limited too because of his handicap too. And now he lost that check from the state. It was such a miracle! Now he really wants to be baptized too.

I'm glad you had a great birthday mom! It sounds like fun! I thought that birthday card was pretty funny. Do you know how Kennedy's birthday went? I loved all the pictures!! Owen and Lily look so old! 

We also started teaching a 8 year old boy who is active. He doesn't want to get baptized until after he turns 9 though which isJune 8. None of the people we are teaching came to church. We seem to be having a hard time with that. I haven't given a talk in church in a long time. 

Oh that handcuffs things.. We came to the church building and the scouts were there. For their activity that night they had a police officer come. 

I love you guys! Have a wonderful week. :)

Elder Alpin

12 May 2014

Hola Taco Bell!

The rest of our night went well last night. They fed us some delicious dinner. It worked out with skyping with their son. I am doing good today. Skyping and talking on the phone just isn't the same as talking in person. Elder Dean had a good visit with his family. How is grandma doing? 

I'm not sure what size shirt I wear. It would be kind of awkward to check right now in the library. Maybe I'll go buy some more today. 

We had our movie night on Friday. The table set up looked so good! The popcorn was so good. Everything went good except one thing. There was about 40 people there.. none of them were nonmembers or less actives! That was a little frustrating. Almost every member there we talked to though told us how they made invitations and tried to get people there. So atleast invitations are being made! 

We met this guy a couple of weeks ago who speaks Farsi. He is from Iraq or something like that. He speaks very little English so it was hard to communicate with him. We ordered a Persian Book of Mormon and gave it to him. We stopped by the next day to see if he had read from it. We had to have his nephew translate for us. He said he has been reading it and it reminds him of the Koran and he will keep reading it. It was pretty cool.

The other day we were talking to a guy and he said "Every time you speak with someone you leave a part of yourself". I think that is so true. So hopefully you leave a good part of yourself! 

I love you guys! It was good to see you yesterday! Have a wonderful day!

Love Elder Alpin

5 May 2014

On May 5, 2014 1:14 PM, "Matthew Alpin" wrote:

Dear Mom & Dad,

I love to hear all about your missionary experiences. It makes me so happy! Mom there is no Moroni 11! How could you fall for that one!? That is funny. The spirit is always so strong at baptisms, without fail! 

We met with Cole and Codee on Friday. They had lots of questions about killing Laban and also Adam and Eve. It was hard for them to understand why God would give us contradicting commandments. We did our best to answer their questions, but I don't think it satisfied them. We told them we would go home and study it some more. So I've been studying about Adam and Eve for the past 5 days! I've learned so much too! You should study it. They unfortunately didn't come to church yesterday. The complaint of the week from everyone we talk to: the members are so judgmental. I am so tired of hearing that! 

My bike tire is currently flat... for the third time this week. I don't know what it is about me and bike tires! 

We had zone conference on Wednesday. I saw Elder Needs there and said hello. It was super good! They talked about the Atonement a lot. I'm amazed at Christ's patience and humility during the Atonement! I need to be more like him.

This week went by so fast. I can't even think of what happened. I feel like I just skyped with you guys not too long ago, but I'm excited to see you Sunday! It will be good. 

I feel kinda bad. I want to write more, but can't think of anything to say! If your on the computer talk to me.

Love you!

Elder Alpin

On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 11:24 AM, Jamie Alpin wrote:

Hey not only is there not moroni 11, but there is no D&C 138....or 12 step pamphlet! You know that killing Laban thing is really hard to understand.....especially when you first hear it. Sooooo are the members judgmental? I know the Elders who have family in UT, especially if they have pioneer history say they can be pretty uppity.  So what do you say? Is there some reference in the scriptures that can help you?

On May 5, 2014 2:04 PM, "Matthew wrote:

Something I have learned on my mission is that there is always two sides. Members can be judgmental, but it is all about whether you want to be offended or not. 

You explain it as it's written in the scriptures. Study it. I learned a lot about Nephi's experience killing Laban too. 

Thank you.  Good point...and your right about the offended thing....but feelings are sensitive things...and where people are in life. It takes a soft heart not to be offended. Love you

21 April 2014

Hola Family!

It didn't feel like Easter yesterday. I'm surprised that we didn't get any candy. It is OK though because I have too many sweets anyway. 

We didn't meet with the girl from Chick-fila because she was 20. We had to pass it to the YSA elders. It was tougher to ask people at Wal-Mart than I thought it would be. The only person we asked was the cashier and she was already a member. My boldness has really decreased this week. I just get really turned off to talking to everyone because I don't like rude people. I know that shouldn't stop me from talking to people. Paul would teach people with boldness whether they were rude or not. A lot of them were rude too. I like what I read today. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto the salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16). If I am not ashamed of the gospel and if I love God, I will talk to everyone. I'm sorry to hear that Staci is moving. Now you can really say, "HEY! Check out my church! It will help you because it's helped me." 

Maybe I'll get the same Easter postcard from her today. It sounds cool! 

The talks yesterday in church were so good. It just clicked to me how important the resurrection is. Sister Christensen talked. She is one of my favorite people. Her daughter died about two years ago, as well as her mom and step dad in a car accident. Her daughter was like 15. Her talk was a tear jerker. Please don't die while I am on my mission. I would be a hot mess. I won't if you won't, ok? 

We have quite a few investigators. They all seem to work a whole bunch and don't want to make time to meet with us. So that has been frustrating. We aren't teaching as much as we should. 

It is definitely spring here and it is beautiful. I love it.

I can't think of anything to say.. If you are on and have questions and want to talk I'll be one for like 30 more minutes probably.

Love you! 

25 March 2014

Hello!

Usually what Sister Stamm does is send the missionaries an email and tell them to call her, but she never emailed me so I think she forgot. That is ok. I don't need cake. That is pretty funny about the banana story. I did get your email from last week.

Last Wednesday we gave a guy named Andrew a tour of the church building. It was the first time I've ever did one. It didn't go the best because he was kind of mad at us the whole time. He is YSA age so we referred the YSA elders to him. They stopped by his house. I guess he didn't like that too much. 

We just started teaching a guy named Shawn. We are going to give him a church tour on Friday. I'm excited. He seems interested. A couple of weeks ago I was on splits with Brother Molling. We were driving and he pulls over to talk to this guy (Shawn). Apparently just a week before Brother Molling had been on a walk and met Shawn outside so they talked. While I was with Brother Molling he asked Shawn if he minded if we (the missionaries) could stop by his house sometimes. He said sure! See how simple missionary work is!? It all starts with a simple invite. We met with Shawn on Sunday and invited him to be baptized. He said he wanted to take things one step at a time, but defiantly wasn't opposed. 

Things are starting to pick up. Elder Dean has a lot of good ideas and is a hard worker. He has been out 5 months. He is a twin. His brother is serving in the Denver Colorado South mission.

Saturday Kambree got baptized. She is the one we took to temple square a couple of weeks ago. Elder Munton came back for it. As much as we didn't get a long when we were companions, it was good to see him. He is in West Jordan now. I don't ever see Elder Needs. We never get together as a mission any more. We used to all the time when President Miller was the mission president. We actually have a mission fireside on Friday. I'm excited. It will be the first time the mission has gotten together since July 4. We are going to the temple today at 3. The Draper temple. I am excited. 

We talked with this awesome family. They are the Nielson's. They are super missionary minded. Their daughter is a beehive. There are three active beehives in that ward. And then they get 6 nonmembers to come. Either to church or mutual. 5 of the 6 nonmembers even have their own scriptures and have been reading and marking them. Many of these young women have been asked if they want to meet with the missionaries and they say no. We did a family home evening with them last night and they had one of the nonmembers there. They make member missionary work look so easy because it truly is. I haven't heard from Sister Simmons in a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll get a letter today from her. 

Last night we went by this family the bishop asked us to go by. They are all less active members. There is an 8 year old girl who isn't baptized and wants to be that lives there. We shared a message with them. It was the grandma, her granddaughter (the 8 year old) and the second cousin. We talked about trials and how we can overcome them. We asked them if they ever had trials they've had to overcome or something like that. The 8 year old girl talked about how her aunt had died, but it was ok. The grandma started crying and the spirit was really strong. Then we left. We were a little bit down the road when the second cousin came running after us. She is about 20. She stopped us and told us that she just wanted to say Thank you for not giving up on her family. It was pretty cool. It actually scared me because it was dark and this lady is like yelling at us and running after us. I didn't know who it was.

Have you guys heard about the Groaper? Apparently a guy on the campus of BYU goes around groaping women and they call him the groaper. We've been joking and laughing about that. Also this morning there was a mountain lion in our neighborhood. The schools were on lock down. I don't know if they have found it yet.. 

We haven't been riding bikes because Elder Dean's bike is getting fixed. 

Jacob 2:8. The word of God heals the wounded soul. Then the footnotes talk about the word of God being powerful. The primary song "scripture power" is true! That really stuck out to me though. I've been learning so many good things in the scriptures now. I love it! 

I can't believe I'm going to be 20. I feel like I just turned 19! I feel like I'm 17 still. I'm getting so old. before you know it I'll be married with 10 kids. Of course we have dinner plans. We have dinner plans every night. 

Yes I still exercise. I try to be obedient! 

Herre are some pictures! Enjoy. Loveyou! 

The first is someones door mat.

There is a park called bear park in our area so we had to get a picture with the bear.

This is from Kambree's baptism. That is her grandpa and mom.

Hola Dad!

Sorry to hear about all the sickness. That is no fun! I'm glad the Bishop visited you. He is doing his job! :)

This week I learned in the scriptures. Jacob 1: 10-11. The people loved Nephi because he protected them physically and spiritually. They thought very highly of his name. It made me think of all the different names we represent. Such as our family name, the church's name, Christ's name, the company you work for. Are we living a life where people remember our name for good? Just a thought.

I am doing really well. It has been warm, the work is picking up, Elder Dean is great. Nothing to complain about. 

That is a funny picture. Thanks!~

Love you!