no one told me the world could get this cold

11/14/17

another crazy week here in riverside. still working on getting used to the bus system. only got lost like every single day this week haha i love it.

a lot of becoming familiar with the area this week, got some investigators and they're awesome! we got this guy from Jamaica named Glasspole and he is seriously the coolest. haha yeah his name is literally Glasspole. or GP for short. he had so many questions about the gospel. mostly about authority. when we told him that we have the proper authority to baptize he like freaked out haha he thought it was incredible that guys so young could do something so big. he also pointed out something interesting about the restoration that i thought was cool. he LOVES the Joseph Smith story and he went on to say how perfect it was for Joseph to experience the first vision at 14, and how if he was older or a bit younger it would have been much easier for people to toss away the thought of him telling the truth about seeing God and Jesus Christ later on. interesting way to look at it. such a cool guy though, a ton of faith. with him we have a few others that are all doing great! haha this one guy that came to church claims he has absolutely no feelings. doesnt feel attractions towards anything or anyone, cant feel happy or sad or anything. i walked up to him and was like hey thats a sick hat. just some basic RVCA hat, and he like got so excited haha and we just talked for forever about it and he was laughing out of nowhere and everyone was like what the heck how. so i dont know, the spirit works in cool ways. wasnt even that cool of a hat bro. 

got a weird text forwarded to us from the sisters from a member saying "please call this guy hes hit rock bottom." haha so yeah i called it and i ended up having like an hour conversation over the phone with this guy that was considering giving up on everything, and it ended a million times better than it started, we went over a ton of things and considered all of his options and it was actually super cool to see the change that occurred just over a phone call. hes doing a whole lot better now, he lives pretty far away so we cant meet up but i gave him the number of the missionaries nearest to him so we'll see where that goes! it was a cool experience to be able to see how much God can do for His children through us. im certain nothing i could have said wouldve made a single difference to this guy, he was pretty set on giving up. the Spirit did some amazing things, im super grateful to have been able to witness that. always keep in mind the difference you can make in someones life just by talking to them, even if you feel like youre not good enough to help them, the Lord wants to help them more than anything and He will use you as long as youre willing to go forward. 

was reading Mosiah this week and studied the chapters with Abinidi and man there are so many things to learn from him. it was interesting reading his words, for some reason whenever he talked i heard Mike Dalton's voice in my head speaking his words. such an awesome guy, super grateful to have had such awesome leaders growing up. thank you so much guys. 

man it got super cold here out of nowhere. like it was already kinda cold and i figured yeah so i can do this canada isnt thaaaat bad but then out of nowhere last week it went like super cold mode and i think i gave the reaction everyone here is expecting from some arizona kid. like what the heck how is this even possible?! its so cold your bones just hurt haha i dont even understand how this is even a thing. we got lost wandering at night and the wind picked up and the muscles in my face like froze somehow, haha so id like smile or yawn or something and the muscles would lag and it felt like my face was made of old taffy or something. i got some sweet winter gear so ill be good now but like seriously what the heck, how is this cold even a thing. and everyone has been like oh yeah its not even winter yet, it gets like way colder than this. wat. so yeah im experiencing real cold now. haha i love it though. 

ah man everyone here has been so awesome to help us out. we came in with no food or anything and ran out again pretty quick this week but the members helped us out so much. its been so awesome to see the Lord's hand helping us so much through these members. offering rides to us when we're outside walking in the cold and giving food and everything. such an awesome area and so many nice people. the ward is great, they had the primary program and i kinda zoned out for a sec and they were doing little individual songs from some of the little kids and i totally heard Reese singing up there and freaked out so excited haha and this little blonde girl up there looked exactly like Reese and sounded like her and ah that was sweet. miss those girls.

but yeah, everything is awesome, still crazy getting used to everything and trying to get like four hundred less actives to church haha its an awesome challenge! but im so excited. i love the work and the mountains the Lord gives us to climb. i think a lot back to shoveling rock and walking up to the pile and seeing a fat nasty pile of rock that you know is going to take so long to do, and its going to absolutely wreck your back and kill your hands, but the only thing you can do is haul out and take it head on. and nothing is more satisfying than seeing your hard work when you finish. i remember that when Marty Smith had me come up to his cabin to work and the first truckload of rock came and dumped like 25 tons in front of us, and i was like ah jeez... and then the second truck came haha that was so awesome. how lucky are we to have a Heavenly Father that is willing to give His children sometimes big sometimes smaller trials just to teach us and become more like Him. i love this gospel so much and i love you all!! 

lost and cold and afraid 

found a super cool river or creek or something

is there a way to tell when the camera takes the picture on a timer?

everything is freezing over. and im a pro already at sliding across ice

when our food is too cold we just eat it outside. and then run back inside really fast cause its cold. 

Good morning!  We woke up early this am to check on Kennadie’s act score, but she was asleep. So dad used her phone to check and she got a 32, same as last time. Which is still really good, and most people really do get a high score and kind of stay there. I mean, 36 is perfect so 32 is pretty amazing. You should see people’s reaction when they ask what her act is and dang-she is just a junior!  Then Kennadie came running in and said dad was looking at September’s test scores, and she really got a 34!!!!!!  Lots of screaming and jumping up and down, except dad who was pooping so he had to stay sitting. So basically what that means is admission into whatever college, scholarship money (at BYU it’s one year, full tuition, and any semesters after that as long as she keeps a 4.0, but that’s too much pressure so she is just gonna work to pay for school) but the high score makes her stand out for other scholarships hopefully!  Now she just needs an online job to pay for school while she is going!  Housing is pricey (almost as ouch as school) so she will for sure need to find something. 

       So how is the new area and companion? And apartment?  And no car ☹️ I don’t know how you can forget your jacket when you don’t have a car. Don’t you take one step outside and go “holy fetch my jacket!!!”  That stuff gives me anxiety. You know how I get-I am picturing you a frozen elder popsicle because you didn’t think you needed a jacket. So promise me you’ll take better care of yourself and your companion too-make sure he is keeping himself warm and safe. 

      Dad said you were somewhat stressed but didn’t want to worry me. I wasn’t though-I knew that you just needed a couple days. You were going to get a win and realize you’ve got this. That the Lord is in charge and He’s got this. Just stay organized, use a planner, don’t over schedule or double book yourself and let the spirit do it’s job. You are an amazing person.  (I had to erase kid there)  just like everyone else, you have to learn and grow, but once you do, you just take off. Like those sheds you built. You had to figure that out first. But you got fast and efficient then took the job to another level. Let yourself have your learning and growing time. It’s totally ok. Have the same patience with yourself that you have for a new elder. 

     So things here are so great. Girls are getting along. Really well. I am so grateful for them!  Reese has impressed me so much lately. Just things she doesn’t know I am seeing, like a friend asked for her advice on how to deal with some mean friend drama. Her response was “even though you didn’t do anything wrong, still apologize. Say you want to be friends and do better” that kind of stuff. ❤️ then she told me about some language and inappropriate stuff on the bus so I was going to tell the school. But she didn’t want to get bullied by the mean kids for telling so I said I’d do it anonymously. But she decided she wanted to stand up for what’s right and didn’t care what happened because of it. (I’ll still just make sure it’s somewhat anonymous so she is safe) and any time Lucy Pothier asks, Reese goes to play there and Shawnie says Reese is so kind to Lucy. She really likes that Reese doesn’t take over just because Lucy does things slow and it would be faster (they play legos for hours) but just patiently instructs her on what to do with each piece. Deann wells is Lucy’s vision aid, and was telling Shawnie about our family (and Whitney) and Shawnie was like, yeah this all makes sense.  And she thanked me for raising such good kids. 

     So all those awards I told you about last week-they were all for Reaghan. In one week. Lol. She and her friend group are just so good, teachers and aids will see them at lunch and talk to other teachers saying “those are the good kids. Watch how they act...” because they look out for kids without a friend or special needs kids that are sad, they clean up after themselves, and if someone joins them at their table they are totally welcoming. Reaghan is playing lots of viola. She is hoping to test up for orchestra freshman year. She steals my cutest clothes constantly, brand new with tags and all. But she looks so beautiful in them, I just can’t say no.  She and Kennadie have a friendship that is so fun it’s hard to believe they are 2&1/2 years apart. 

     Kennadie has been trying harder to be patient and kind to Reese which helped our family and Home so much. She still struggles to want to do social things but is always happy to go to church and mutual. She got her yw in excellence award last Sunday. She spoke about divine nature and it was smart and eloquent and sweet. She really did take the projects seriously and I saw a change in her. We are all excited for her and this time in her life. Remember how busy, crazy and all-about-you senior year is?  She is mostly just excited for college though. 

 So last week. I told you I made beans for Kennadie’s service project-so that blew up and I got more orders than I could possible fill so I stayed up, making beans through the night one night, and for 3-4 days just made beans constantly. And at 5:00 Kennadie and I would deliver them. They were a huge hit. So yeah, im bean lady.  We made like $600 profit in just two days, so that’s a pretty good fundraiser. But the service project just turned into Ken handing them a check. Or maybe we will go buys some bookshelves and toys. We will see. 

     Work is good. So so good. I love being home and the work isn’t hard. I’ll sometimes say as I’m sewing- “I’m making money! Like right now, sitting here, I’m making money! That’s crazy!”  Hey-sorry if you see some of these I️ in peoples emails. There is some flaw in a recent update or something so when you type I or im it does that instead. So there’s that explained. 

We sent you your Christmas gift from Home last week (it also capitalizes the word Home, so stupid) and I was so sad, I forgot to take a picture of what we did!!!😭 so when you open it make sure you get some good pics. Sis Phillips told us to clearly mark “for Christmas” on packages that are for Christmas, so Dad  wrapped ours in Christmas paper. Sadly we had to put that in another box, so when you get this package, if you open it and it’s got a Christmas box inside, that’s for Christmas. Maybe that one could be Christmas Eve (before church), since it’s got a Christmas tie in there and a stocking you can set out for yourself. Then just save the amazon packages for Christmas morning. :)

We love you and pray for you every day. If you could add Kade rothisburger to you prayers that would be great. If we didn’t mention he was in a horrible accident a few weeks ago. He was in a coma and now has his eyes open and can sort of obey some commands. But they need a miracle. Thank you!!  Can’t wait to hear from you-your letters are the best part of our week. ❤️ love you so much. Love-Madre 

haha she told me she actually got a 34! such a smart kid. new area is great! companion, im working on it. i just need a whole lot more patience. gah its a work in progress. haha dont worry im bringing my jacket everywhere now, and there are a bunch of ladies here that always want to take care of us and make sure we arent cold so ill be safe haha. ill be sure to be safe. yeah ive been a bit stressed, but its getting better! i talked with president for a while about it. itll be good. thank you though, that really means a lot to hear you say that. it makes me feel a whole lot better haha i thought telling you would stress me out morehaha but thank you so much. im so glad the girls are all doing so great, i miss them a whole lot. ah theyre all so amazing. getting awards, scholarships and insane educations and all this what the heck haha. you raised some fantastic girls. its funny to hear all this while being away, i feel like my family is this super famous hollywood best friends with the president of the world family. but its cool cause you guys are even better than that. but yeah. ah im so excited thank you so much for sending things!!! im so excited!! you guys are seriously so sweet. haha yes im so excited!! ill think up something good for reese!! ah wait what the heck?! they found the dog?!?! thats incredible!! but poor dad, hes too awesome.