Our Christmas photos

Here they are. We didn't take many pictures once the unwrapping was done. We got too busy, I guess.

Denisa and her family came over, and a couple of other friends we've known and shared Christmas with for 17 years now. It was a wonderful day.
Everyone was healthy (though Elaine still sounded terrible from her recent illness), and the weather was great!

My kids are jealous of your Utah snow, but I was loving our warm weather! It got to 83 on Friday!
























Unfortunately, Lynette came down with Elaine's virus on Saturday, so some plans Craig and I had made got canceled so I could stay home with her.
We've pretty much been having lazy days just playing games and enjoying each other.






Elaine's ballet production is coming up. She starts with rehearsals again on Tuesday, and then has her first performance on Saturday. She is very excited. This is what she lives for all year long!
This year they are doing "Orphan Annie". She is a chef and a hobo. She also gets to perform on pointe for the first time.

LaDawn

After the holiday

The good thing about peanut brittle is that it stays good almost indefinitely. Hands off, dad.

We had a very white Christmas. We still have close to two feet of snow in some spots. I spent a couple of hours shoveling on Christmas and I wasn't sure everyone would make it even just across town. They all did, but everyone got stuck in front of my driveway when it was time to leave.

We had some happy grandchildren in our house on Christmas Day. Harvey was a little overwhelmed, but got over it quickly. They each made a good haul on presents.

Today is finally sunny and Creed and I watered horses this morning. It is supposed to snow again this evening. We were going to drive to Nevada today to visit Anette's parents, but we have postponed that trip until New Years. It is supposed to be sunny and slowly warming all of next week.

Christmas 2008

Dear family,
We don't have any pictures to post since we didn't take any. Ruth and I just sat around and watched the snow falling. so far it snowed for two full days and we received 12 t0 15 inches on the level. We went to Kaye and Dee's for Christmas dinner and Tom and Monica's family were there also.

We made it to the temple today but it was a very slow day as for the normal endowments etc. but we had seven own endowments and two weddings during our 6 hours plus two rescheduled to a later time.

There is one advantage to our not getting to Flint's for Christmas. Ruth made a big batch of peanut brittle for Flint and it is very good. Too bad Flint.

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas everyone! Here are some pictures of us Christmas morning, and me modeling the apron Mom made. I wish we could get together on the holidays, but it is also nice to be home having our own little celebration. We got to talk to Sam yesterday as well. He is doing well, and we are all getting anxious for his return.

-Newel

Ready for Christmas

We are all ready for the big day tomorrow. We are sorry that Mom and Dad won't be with us. It won't be quite the same. They didn't want to fight the winter weather and the temple schedule.

Here are a few pictures from Tagg's first birthday and building gingerbread houses. If you are younger than 2 you have to do it mostly naked.

Samuel's Mission E-mail December 22, 2008

Everyone:
It's actually been kind of rainy here this last week, so we've been having to deal with the damp. I can't say that I really mind, though. It's nice to have a change.
As for the week, we tracted and street contacted basically every day this week, so I'll just focus on the other things that happened. On Tuesday we had our Christmas Zone Conference, with our mission pictures and Christmas dinner and everything, so that was pretty fun. Wednesday was just tracting and contacting (in the rain). Thursday was weekly planning, and in the evening we visited the Burkhardt family. We had prayed the week before about families in the ward we should visit, thinking that we would work with them to get some referrals. But lo and behold, we called them and they were all going through some kind of family crisis, so I guess the Lord had a different purpose for us in mind. We ended up talking with the Burkhardts about trials, the Comforter, and trusting in the Lord. Sister Burkhardt's father died over the weekend, so hopefully what we shared is helping.
On Friday evening, we had a Christmas Devotional with President and Sister Blackburn. They talked about gifts we give to Christ. Saturday was just tracting and contacting, and Sunday was, as well, after Church. Today we don't have an activity, so we'll have a lot of time to get ready for the week.
Well, everyone, have a merry Christmas! Remember Who it's about, and think of what He would do.
Elder Samuel Stephens

Samuel's Mission E-mail December 15, 2008

Everyone:
It's strange to think that this is my final transfer. It doesn't seem real to me yet. Of course, that's what all missionaries say. Except the truly trunky ones who wish they were already home. I'll try to not fall into that category.
As for the week, on Monday Elder Mijares got all of his stuff packed and ready to go, and he mailed off a lot of boxes of stuff that didn't fit in his luggage. He went with one of our zone leaders who also finished his mission on Tuesday morning, so I spent Tuesday with Elder Gonzalez, our other zone leader. It was a pretty good day-- we worked hard, it just wasn't in my area.
On Wednesday, I met up with my last companion, Elder Spencer. He's from Mesa, Arizona, and has been out for a little over a year. Oddly enough, no one knows which one of us is supposed to be the senior companion. Fortunately, I don't really care--I prefer to think of a missionary companionship as being made of equal partners anyways. He is the district leader, though, just as Elder Mijares was. On Wednesday, he got settled in, and then we tracted for a while.
On Thursday, Elder Spencer had one of his fun leadership meetings, so I took Elder Jenne (pronounced like Jenny), a new missionary who is being trained by one of the other district leaders, out tracting for a little while. We before and after the meeting, Elder Spencer and I did the normal weekly planning, and tried to think of some new things we could try in the area.
On Friday we had our normal zone meeting in the morning, and then we helped a family move their stuff into a storage unit. They're living for a while with one of their relatives in the ward. Afterwards we tracted for a bit.
On Saturday morning Elder Spencer had another of the beginning-of-transfer leadership meetings, so I went with Elder Jenne and helped a family move out of his ward. In the afternoon we tracted for a bit, and then Elder Spencer did a baptismal interview for one of the zone leaders' investigators. After that we kept tracting, but then I got the feeling we should go street contact. Elder Spencer suggested we go down by the beach, so we went down there. We didn't have much luck--it was really windy and pretty chilly, so there weren't a lot of people around--so we headed back to our car. Just before we got to it, we bumped into an older lady who explained to us that she couldn't find her car, so we let her get in ours and we went looking for it. We did find it eventually. The Lord uses us in a lot of ways, I think. In the evening we went to the Ward Christmas Party.
On Sunday, we had our typical church meetings, and then we street contacted and tracted. There wasn't really anything else big that happened that day.
Today we helped Elder Haws and Elder Holmes in our district help one of their members move (we've had a lot of moving this week), and we went to a meal at a member's home who invites the whole zone over every transfer. All the missionaries brought "white elephant" gifts, and we had a lot of fun trading them around. I found some floppy diskettes in our apartment, so I just had to bring them.
I can't remember if I mentioned this earlier, but Elder Mijares stumbled over this Ensign article a few weeks before he left that I really liked. It's in the February 2005 Ensign, and it's called "Seven Lessons on Sharing the Gospel". I highly recommend it. The last couple of lessons he shares are particularly powerful.
Elder Samuel Stephens

Winter happenings in Plano

We've been busy with normal December things. Thank goodness everyone is well again. The first photo is from our Dicken's Downtown festival. Craig takes the kids every year while I go to a party with my quilting friends.

The second photo is from this last Friday when we went to a local Lutheran Church's "Journey to Bethlehem" that they do every year.
We hadn't gone since James and Elaine were small, so we figured we needed to go again. They have a replica market village inside their church, and then outside they walk you through six scenes representing events leading up to the nativity. They have real animals in all the scenes; the most popular are the camels. Fortunately, it was not very cold. The first time we went it was freezing.

This week we are having typical Texas weather. Yesterday it was 79 degrees, today it is 29. And the forecast is for it to be 72 by Thursday. Unfortunately, those 70's only come one day at a time. It seems they are usually surrounded by 30's!

Samuel's Mission E-mail December 8, 2008

Everyone:
Well, we have transfers on Wednesday. Elder Mijares is leaving, so I'll be with one of the zone leaders tomorrow.
As for the week, starting on Tuesday, we tracted a whole bunch. We decided to do twenty-four hours of contacting for Elder Mijares's last week, so most of our days were pretty much just tracting. On Wednesday we tracted, and then on Thursday we had a car-free day, so we did some street contacting after we planned.
On Friday we had our normal zone meeting, and then Elder Yuill wasn't feeling well, so Elder Mijares went out and worked with Elder Weber while I took care of Elder Yuill. On Saturday, we decided to street contact from our apartment to the beach. We had some decent sucess. When we got back to the apartment, Elder Mijares couldn't find the keys, so we started to backtrack. Oddly enough, though, first I and then Elder Mijares thought we should check our car trunk (we had gotten some cards out of the trunk before we left the apartment), but we didn't go back until Elder Mijares thought to check a picture we took of him at the beach, and he didn't have the keys in the picture (he usually wears his keys on a little belt clip), so we went back and--sure enough--the keys were in the trunk. I kind of wish we'd listened to the prompting sooner, but I guess we had to learn. In the evening we helped out with the Palos Verdes Regional Orchestra Christmas Concert, and that was pretty cool.
On Sunday we knocked Elder Mijares's last doors, we watched the First Presidency Devotional, and we taught Leo.
Well, it's been really weird knowing I'm only six weeks away from what Elder Mijares has been experiencing, but I'm also a bit excited to find out who my companion will be. We'll find out shortly, I guess.
Elder Samuel Stephens

Samuel's Mission E-mail December 1, 2008

Everyone:
Well, this has been a pretty quiet week. I'll go ahead and get into the details:
Tuesday of last week we did some street contacting, and while doing so I started to feel really weak. We came back to the apartment and I took my temperature, and it came out at 102.7, so we stayed in the apartment the rest of the day. I was feeling better on Wednesday, though, so we got out and tracted for a bit, and then Elder Yuill called and said he was pretty sick, so I stayed with him while Elder Mijares and Elder Weber did some more tracting. Too bad we couldn't have coordinated and both been sick on the same day, eh? I did appreciate the rest, though--I still wasn't feeling 100% on Wednesday. For that matter, my nose still hasn't cleared up since then. Oh, well.
On Thursday, we did our weekly planning, we went and kept some people in a convalescent home company for a while, and then we had our Thanksgiving dinner. We went with Sister Paris's family. Sister Paris is Samoan, so... there was a lot of food. Not only was there turkey, we also had pork and pot roast. It was really, really good.
On Friday we got back to work with some tracting and street contacting. On Saturday I was on exchanges with Elder Haws in my area, and... you guessed it, more tracting and street contacting. I can't say much of anything exciting happened during all of this.
On Sunday we had our church meetings and tracted and street contacted more.
Well, I think that's pretty much it. I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. Stay thankful!
Elder Samuel Stephens

More Changes

OK, the NASA picture of the day never changed pictures, so I took it out. I also changed the game at the bottom because parking was just too hard!

Isaac Learning to Solder

Here is a picture of Isaac learning to solder. He is working on a kit to build a telephone. You may notice some new additions to the blog, such as the NASA picture and the game. Scroll to the bottom to play a parking game.

Samuel's Mission E-mail November 24, 2008

Everyone:
Well, the weather's been a little bit more moderate this week, but it's still a lot warmer than it is back in Indiana. It feels more like early October then late November.
As for the week, on Tuesday I was with Elder Yuill. Unfortunately, that was one of the days he was sick on again, so we didn't get out to work much. We did visit Maria Luisa, Beatriz, and Blanca again. We're probably going to have to drop them because they're not keeping their commitments. We've been debating about maybe just going over once a week to help them with English as a continuing service project.
On Wednesday, we had interviews with the Mission President in the morning, and then we tracted a bunch to make up for the lost time on Tuesday. On Thursday, we had our normal weekly planning, and then we tracted and street contacted.
On Friday, I was on exchanges with Elder Heughly over in San Pedro. We tracted a good bit, helped clean the Cabrillo Branch building, and visited a family that was getting baptized on Saturday. Then on Saturday, I was on splits with Elder Weber. We tracted a lot to help make up for Elder Yuill being sick a lot.
On Sunday, we had our normal church meetings, and then in the afternoon we went to the baptism of one of Elder Yuill and Elder Weber's investigators, street contacted a bit, and taught Leo in the evening.
Today we had a "Turkey Bowl" football game with another zone for our preparation day activity.
Well, I think that's it for now.
Elder Samuel Stephens

Rachel loves to use Elaine's digital camera to take pictures. She wanted me to send this one of Devon.

We are all doing the sick thing AGAIN! And getting mighty tired of it. We are having about 18 people here for Thanksgiving, so I sure hope we are feeling better by then.

LaDawn

Newel,

I've been trying to send you calendar pictures but they keep bouncing back from your bigreaders eamil address. Is it working?

Flint

Samuel's Mission E-mail November 17, 2008

Everyone:
Well, this has been a pretty good week. I'll start with last Thursday. On Thursday of last week, we had an extraordinarily long weekly planning session (for some reason neither of us could stay focused so it took longer than usual), and we went and helped Maria Luisa y hermanas with their English.
On Friday I was on companionship exchanges with Elder Johnson down in San Pedro. I found out there's a Stephen Street down there. There's also a Samuel Street just north of my area. Too bad they don't intersect. I'll still have to get some pictures of them. There is a Madison street in my area. Anyways, while I was with Elder Johnson, we tracted for a good while, visited a less-active (who was Spanish-speaking, and Elder Johnson is a sign language elder, so that was interesting), and taught a man named Skip Hand (Yes, that is actually his name).
On Saturday I went with Elder Weber for a while and tracted because his companion was sick again, and then in the evening Elder Mijares did a baptismal interview for some of the Zone Leaders' investigators. On Sunday we had church, and afterwards we had the very great opprotunity of watching the Mexico City Temple Rededication broadcast. It was interesting being able to understand both the English and the Spanish translation of the talks given by President Eyring and President Monson. Translating would be a hard job, even if you are natively bilingual. In the evening we taught Leo.
Well, this is the other poem that came to me the other week. I was thinking of 3 Nephi 11 when I started this one. This one's a bit more introspective, so, well... you've been warned.

If Christ Came to Your House Today
If Christ came to your house today
Would you ask for Him to stay?
Would wonder keep your words at bay?
Would you bathe His feet with tears?
Would His words silence all your fears?
Would you let Him stay for years?
Or would He make you feel uneasy?
Some mem'ries make you feel queasy?
Would your thoughts make you ashamed
When you saw Hands for you maimed?
Would what you had done yesterday
Make you wish he'd go away?
Or would you recognize His voice?
Would you thank Him for His choice
Which made the morning stars rejoice?
Would your eyes ask Him to wait
When He said, "I can't be late
To go prepare the righteous' fate"?
Or, with apologies profuse,
Would you start to make excuse?
Would you say your daily chores
Meant He had to go out the door?
Would you start to feel relieved
When He no more could be perceived?
May we live in such a way
That if Christ came here today
We would plead for Him to stay.

So, like I said, a little bit introspective. A lot of the phrases are meant to call to memory passages of scripture. There's still a couple lines that don't quite roll right, but... poetry's never really come easily for me, but this one did.
Elder Samuel Stephens

Samuel's Mission E-mail November 12, 2008

Everyone:
Well, we had our temple day today, so I'll have a little bit more to write about this time than usual. On Tuesday of last week, we did a good chunk of street contacting and tracting, and we also taught Maria Luisa, Beatrice, and Blanca. On Wednesday, Elder Mijares got called on to do a musical number with Sister Inks during Zone Conference on Thursday, so he had to practice a bunch. We also street contacted for a bit.
On Thursday we had Zone Conference, and it was pretty good. I can't say I had any blinding revelations, but each time you learn how to work a bit better. On Friday, we taught Devin in the morning, and then we did our weekly planning. We also street contacted a bit.
On Saturday, I went out on splits with Elder Weber, who is being trained by Elder Yuill, an Elder in our district who's been sick pretty frequently, so I took Elder Weber out so that he could get out of the apartment. We did a lot of tracting and street contacting, and had a meal together at Olive Garden (the sister who was feeding us that evening invited Elder Weber and Elder Yuill, too).
On Sunday, we had our normal church meetings, and we were rather disappointed because Devin didn't show up. We've still been trying to re-contact him. We also street contacted and tracted.
Monday of this week was a normal work day, so we tracted and street contacted for four and a half hours. We taught a lot of lessons but didn't get any return appoinments. On Tuesday we had our car-free day. We helped out in the morning with moving some props and set pieces for a play (some other missionaries got permission to use their car for the service project and picked us up), and then we helped move a couple refrigerators (the members who asked us to help gave us a ride for that), and we taught Maria and crew, and we still had some time for street contacting in the evening. And today we went to the temple.
Well, for some odd reason, I've written a couple poems recently, which is really odd because I never write poetry. I was thinking of this one today in the temple:
Faith lifts us higher,
Repentence brings us low.
in Baptism we take the name of Christ,
and the Holy Ghost makes it so.
I know, not very poetic, but hey. And it still needs a title.
Elder Samuel Stephens

Samuel's Mission E-mail November 3, 2008

Everyone:
Well, the new transfer has begun now. It's crazy to think that I now only have one transfer after the current one. So anyways, we've had a pretty good week, so I'll get straight to the details.
On Tuesday, we did a fairly good-sized chunk of tracting, and in the evening we got transfer calls. As suspected, Elder Mijares and I stayed together, so I guess I'll get to see what a last transfer is like (again) right before I have my last one.
On Wednesday, we tracted even more, and we got a referral for Devin, who had been being taught outside of the mission (he has a girlfriend who's leaving on a mission soon who lives in Northridge, whereever that is). On Thursday, Elder Mijares went to the Zone Leadership Meeting, so I tracted for a bit with Elder Webb, one of the other district leaders' companions. We ended up getting the assignment to make a Book of Mormon costume, so we spent most of the rest of the day making that. We also met briefly with Devin to show him around the ward building.
On Friday we had our normal zone meeting in the morning, in which we introduced the Book of Mormon costume, we tracted, and then in the evening, since we had to be in early for Halloween, we planned. The Zone Leaders actually street contacted with one of them wearing the costume and apparently had a good bit of success.
On Saturday, we tracted a bunch more, and we met a man named Leo. He seemed really prepared--he'd been asking God about why there weren't prophets and apostles around any more and things like that, so we taught what was probably the most detailed first lesson I've had with someone. We're pretty excited about going back this week.
On Sunday, we had our normal Church meetings, we stopped back by a couple people we'd taught that seemed interested but couldn't make a return appointment, and we visited the Reeds, a part-member family, and found out that Brother Reed was recovering from some back surgery.
Well, we're pretty excited about the couple of new investigators we have. I've been joking with Elder Mijares about how we'll find all these investigators right before he goes home and then I'll baptize all of them right before he goes home. We'll have to see if it works out that way. Here's to making my last couple transfers my best!
Elder Samuel Stephens

Winter comes to Utah

Creed and I made our last attempt at elk hunting for the year on Saturday. He had a permit in the Solider Summit area at the top of Spanish Fork Canyon. We saw a few elk when we first got there, but as the sun came up the roads started to turn to slippery mush. There was several inches of snow above the 8,000 foot level. We had to back down several hills when we could not make it all the way up even in four-wheel drive.

So we ended early and went home to rake leaves. Most have fallen and we filled the back of the pickup a couple of times.

Katie and Harvey spent much of the day at our house. We played outside and Tank would bring a stick to Harvey, Katie would take it away from him and give it back to Tank. This went on for a long time until Toby finally took the stick and played keep away. It was very entertaining.

It is pouring rain right now and the snow is building in the mountains.

Jed and Cally are doing well. It won't be long before we have another grandson. I feel a little sorry for Cally because Harvey is a handful. I think it will be a real challenge to keep up with two little ones. Jed is very busy, in spite of the weak economy. He is doing cabinets as well as countertops now.

On the other hand, care sales have been very slow and Jake is looking for a new job. Lindsay has gone back to work and is in training at 1-800-CONTACTS. After the training she might get to work from home.

Jenine and Brandon are plugging away at school and work. Brandon can see the end of his undergraduate work now and is thinking more about starting his dental school. We still see them often but miss having them downstairs.

Creed is just working full time and making preparations for his mission. This will be his last holiday season at home for quite awhile.

We hope all of you are well.

Calendar Pictures

We need pictures to make our annual family calendar. If each family would send us 4 or 5 pictures of their family doing things this past year, it would help a lot. If we download pictures from the blog, they will not be of a high enough resolution to look good in a printed calendar.

Thanks,
Newel and family

These are our Halloween photos. Elaine's pumpkin is carved with Pointe shoes, in case you can't tell. In the second photo, the middle witch is a friend of Lynette's. James dressed as a Starfleet officer, for a Teen Halloween party, but we didn't get a picture of him. Elaine just put on a black shirt and a Halloween cape from a previous year and called it a costume.
Our teens did not go trick or treating, but in our neighborhood their were huge groups of teens going door to door! Most of them were dressed up, too, though not usually very modestly! I have never seen so many teens trick or treating. I guess there's no "too old" around here.

Our weather got cold for a few days. Just long enough to start the illnesses up. We've been passing around several viruses in our house. James got a cold, which turned into a secondary infection. He was off the antibiotics for two days before he got sick again (right after Halloween). He graciously shared with me, so I've been miserable all week. I think in the past three weeks, everyone in the family has been sick except Craig. I don't know how he has missed it.

LaDawn

robotics

James competed in the robotics match with his school this year. They came in 5th out of 13. In the second picture, James is the driver. Unfortunately, while he was the driver, one of the wheels quit working, so he really couldn't do much at all except get frustrated! Still, he had a great time and is planning on doing it next year, too.

Halloween Costumes

After seeing all the cute pictures of kids in costumes on Jacob's and Cally's blogs, I thought I should post some of our pictures. Our kids are too old for trick or treating now, but we had fun at the ward Trunk or Treat. The girl in the Wonder Woman costume is Abbi, Mariana's best friend.

Samuel's Mission E-mail October 27, 2008

Everyone:
Well, we get transfer calls tomorrow. I can't imagine they'll move either of us, but you never know.
As for our activities this week, on Tuesday we helped Maria Luisa and her sisters with their English, we tracted and street contacted, and we went back to some people who said to come back, but they weren't there. On Wednesday, we street contacted and tracted and taught some good lessons, although we didn't get any return appointments. On Thursday we had our typical weekly planning, we tracted, and Elder Mijares did a baptismal interview.
On Friday I was on companionship exchanges with Elder Stoddard. He actually just arrived in our mission--he was serving in the Torreon Mexico mission (the elder from my MTC district who went there was his zone leader, interestingly enough) but got sick and had to go home for a few weeks, and then he was sent here--so he's still getting used to LA. We street contacted for a while, finally contacted this referral near the beach we've been trying to contact (and he wasn't really interested), and I answered a lot of his questions about the mission here. Which reminds me, I've heard from Elder Bird now. He's doing a lot better, but the missionary department told him it'll be at least six months before he might be able to return to the mission field.
On Saturday, we attended a couple baptisms of people Elder Mijares interviewed, we invited some people to the Ward Trunk or Treat, and then we went to it ourselves and helped clean up afterwards. On Sunday, we attended a couple more baptisms after church, talked with the Eliches, who are a part-member family, and talked some with the Lisseys, who are some of our ward missionaries.
Today we had a zone breakfast with some members that apparently do this for the zone at the end of each transfer.
Well, I can't think of too much else to say right now. The Church is true!
Elder Samuel Stephens

Samuel's Mission E-mail October 20, 2008

Everyone:
Well, this transfer has gone really quickly. This is the last full week, and then transfers are two days before Halloween. I doubt either of us will get moved, but stranger things have happened.
As for the week... let's see, I wrote on Wednesday, right? Well, later on Wednesday we tracted some, Elder Mijares did a baptismal interview, and we visited Wendy. We're pretty sure we're going to drop her the next time we visit her--she's not really progressing at all.
On Thursday, we had a car-free day, so we used our bikes. In the morning we planned, and then in the afternoon we tracted for a bit and did some street contacting. We also tried to visit a couple part-member families, but without any luck.
On Friday we had our normal District meeting, we tracted and street contacted, and that's pretty much it. On Saturday I was on exchanges with Elder Johnson in the Palos Verdes area. We did some street contacting and tracting, and in the evening we helped out with an activity the Chinese Branch was holding (no, none of us speak Chinese-they had it mostly in English). It was kind of a combined concert/DI drive that they had invited a lot of non-member friends and such to. It was pretty cool.
On Sunday, we went to the Spanish Cabrillo Branch sacrament meeting in the morning to try to get to know a few members that could help us with teaching Maria, Beatriz, Rosie, and Blanca, and then we went to the Malaga Cove meetings. After that we street contacted a bit and then we went and taught the above-mentioned four sisters. Maria and Beatriz really seem to be progressing, but we need to work more on including Blanca and Rosie (Maria and Beatriz ask a lot of good questions, but Blanca and Rosie just kind of sit there for the most part it seems). Teaching a bunch of people at once is harder. In the evening we worked on visiting some part-member families, and we did actually talk with the Harlines for a little while.
Today we're actually having some kind of fall activity involving pumpkins up at the mission home, so we did some tracting and street contacting in the morning before doing our shopping.
Well, I think that's it for now. Keep your testimonies strong--share them with others!
Elder Samuel Stephens

Keepsake Quilting Website

The photos of Elaine's and Lynette's quilts are up now on the website: http://www.keepsakequilting.com/challenges/halloweenkidsgallery2.aspx

Also, the article about the winners is here:
http://www.keepsakequilting.com/challenges/halloweenkids08.aspx

Elaine is still trying to decide how to spend her $200 certificate.

LaDawn

Samuel's Mission E-mail October 15, 2008

Everyone:
Well, I've been realizing just how little time I really have left to be a missionary recently. I'm trying to use it to motivate me to work harder, and most of the time it works. Sorry this is a bit late--Columbus Day kind of threw us off (why do all the library-closing holidays have to be on Mondays?).
As for the week, last Thursday we had our normal planning, and then we taught Maria Luisa, Beatrice, Rosie, and Blanca. I don't remember if I mentioned them last week. They're four Spanish-speaking sisters we tracted into and taught. Hopefully they'll be good--they seem really humble and they seem to recognize the Spirit well. They all work on Sundays at a hospital or care home, though, so that will be a challenge. After that Elder Mijares did a baptismal interview.
On Friday I was on companionship exchanges with Elder Yuill. Unfortunately, he was sick that day, so we didn't really get out to work.
On Saturday, we helped set up for the Stake Primary Luau (I think you can find pictures of us there at JMichaelWest.com or something like that--I'll have to double-check what the brother's website was), then we tracted for a bit and contacted a member referral named Tina. She seemed nice, but we caught her at a bad time, so we'll have to try some other time. Then in the evening, we served more at the actual event of the Primary Luau. It was pretty fun, and we all got lava-lavas out of the deal.
On Sunday, we had our normal church meetings, we tracted, we helped Maria Luisa and Beatrice with their English, and we attended the baptism that Elder Mijares did the interview for.
On Monday we had a pretty standard preparation day, except for not being able to e-mail. On Tuesday I was on exchanges wtih Elder Haws. We tracted for a good while, tried to contact a couple referrals and less-actives (one referral looks like it's for an abandoned apartment complex, and one less-active has probably moved), and we had dinner with the ward at a ward picnic.
Well, that should catch us up. Remember--endure to the end is part of the Gospel, too!
Elder Samuel Stephens

Lynette's quilt

Elaine Won!!

Elaine just found out that she won First Place in the Keepsake Kids Quilting Challenge!! She won a $200 gift certificate!
This is the third year she and Lynette have entered (and actually, the third year that Keepsake Quilting has offered it). Each competitor is given the same six fabrics to use. You are allowed to add up to two fabrics of your own, but must use at least four of the fabrics they give you. Elaine was done with her quilt when she realized she had only used three fabrics, so she quickly added the little white mouse in the bottom right corner. She is more than thrilled to have won!

I thought Lynette's quilt was just as good, but sadly, she didn't win anything. Maybe next year!
I'll put her picture in another post.

Choir Concert

The Junior High had a Choir concert this evening, and Mariana sang a short solo during one of the songs. I thought I would try posting a video to see how it works.

--Newel

Latest updates from Highland

As Dad and Mom indicated, we were able to have baby Harvey blessed and sealed Friday. It was a wonderful day and Cally and Jed had lots of support from friends and family. The birth mothers parents (who Anette and I knew from our singles ward at BYU) were also able to attend.

It was an eventful week for us. Thursday Cally also found out that she and Jed are having a baby boy. I think she is about three or four months along.

No one from Anette's family attended because the prior weekend Anette's mom had a couple of heart attacks. She has actually had several over the past three years or so but refused to go to the doctor. These finally got her attention enough that she went to the emergency room in Mesquite Sunday night and they transferred her by ambulance to St. George. Tuesday morning she ended up having heart surgery with five bypasses. So Anette spent much of the week down there prior to the sealing.

Thankfully her mom is recovering at home now and is doing well. Anette will be going back down soon to take care of her. Creed and I will be left to fend for ourselves for several days.

Sunday night Toby had surgery to have the pin removed from his leg. He is laying at my feet right now under my office desk. He should be fully recovered in a few days. He still has a plate, several screws and some wire in his leg but those will stay put.

We had snow on the ground Sunday morning. It has been cold since Friday but we are supposed to be back in the 70s by this weekend. I'm hoping for a nice November because I'd like to get in a couple more fishing trips.

Dear family,

11 October 2008 not much has happened since my last entry until this weekend. Havey’s adoption was finally completed on 2 October an we went down to Flint’s this week end to witness Harvey’s blessing and temple sealing to Jed and Cally which took place 10 October. All went well and we had a good time. We had a dinner after the sealing at a Mexican restaurant and had 25 people there for dinner.

Thursday I went to the grocery store and on the way home a man tried to make a “U” turn right in front of me. There was no way to avoid hitting him. Our car was only slightly damaged but his car was damage much more severely. Since he was at fault we are waiting to hear from his insurance company, “State Farm”.

Since completing my back treatment my back has been slowly getting painful again. The Chiropractor charges $150 for follow up treatment, so I have been investigating possible alternatives. The best alternative to going back for an additional Spinal decompression system seems to be using an Inversion table. On the way back from Flint’s we stopped in Layton at the BIG 5 Sporting Goods store and I bought a WectCo Inversion table. I will see how it works.

We had our first measurable snowfall. Thi is much earlier than normal. Maybe this means we will have a good winter withenough snow to provide water for next year.

We visited Lloyd last Saturday and I took som picture of the scenery up Imigration Canyon.

Love you, Dad

Samuel's Mission E-mail October 8, 2008

Everyone:

Well, as is obvious by now, we went to the temple today, so that's why I'm e-mailing today rather than on Monday. But, to bring you up to that point:

On Tuesday of last week, we tracted for a while, worked on inviting some part-member families to come to church, and we taught David Lindsey, who is a less-active. I have a feeling he's not really going to go anywhere--just the kind of guy who's nice and likes visits but doesn't really want to change his lifestyle.

On Wednesday of last week, we tracted for a while, and again tried to contact some part-member families and less-actives. On Thursday we had our normal weekly planning, tracted, and... yep, tried to contact more people. On Friday, I was on companionship exchanges with Elder Hoffman (since my companion, Elder Mijares, is a district leader, I'll be going on exchanges several times this transfer). We had district meeting, tracted, and taught David again.

On Saturday, we watched General Conference in the Palos Verdes Stake Center. In between sessions we tracted a bit. On Sunday we watched the rest of conference, tracted, and tried to contact a couple of referrals down near the beach that we got recently.

On Monday, we tracted and tried to contact all those people again. While tracting, we actually taught a lesson in Spanish (which is rare in this area) to two sisters named Maria Luisa and Beatrice. Hopefully they'll be good investigators. On Tuesday we didn't have as much luck tracting, but we did have interviews with the mission president in the morning, and in the evening we talked with the Reeds, who are a part-member family that seem like they could be good.

Well, I think that's everything. Keep Conference in mind--it was really good. Hope everyone took notes!

Elder Samuel Stephens

London

Elaine and Craig are home from London. Elaine had a great time and didn't want to come home.

Harvey is officially adopted!

Friday was the court hearing to make Harvey's adoption official. Anette and Creed were there, along with Lindsay, Katelyn and Tagg. He had croup last week and is just getting over it now. He is a happy, busy boy.

Unfortunately I could not be at court. I was in Washington D.C. for a few days for a business trip. I was attending an advertising regulatory workshop. We had enough time to visit the Lincoln Memorial, and to drive by the White House and the Capitol. It is nice to be home again.

Brandon's grandma spoke in coference this morning. She gave a wonderful talk about missionary work and her conversion.

We are looking forward to Friday when we get to go to the temple to have Harvey sealed to

Cally and Jed.

Samuel's Mission E-mail September 29, 2008

Everyone:
Well, we're getting settled into routine, here. This was an interesting week. Starting on Tuesday, we tracted a bunch, and we tried visiting a couple part-member families as part of our zone goal. We did talk a bit with Amy Morelock, a non-member daughter of a part-member family, but nothing came of it.
On Wednesday, we had our Zone Conference. Elder Callister of the Quorums of the 70 was our main speaker, so it was pretty good. He talked a lot about how we have to remember how important this is and act accordingly. By the time we got back from zone conference, we pretty much just had time for dinner.
On Thursday, we visited Alma Campos, who was someone who waved to Elder Mijares and Elder Ashby (who was in this area before me) and invited them over. We found out she had been attending another ward but had moved. Apparently the missionaries never started teaching her, so we're going to start. We also tracted a bit and had our weekly planning.
On Friday, we tracted for a good while, and we worked more on contacting some part-member families. On Saturday, we did service for the Bluemels, an older couple in our ward, by helping them put back some dirt they'd moved from the side of their house while it was being painted. In the afternoon, we tracted some more. We also got a call from Alma telling us that her daughter was sick so she wasn't going to make it to church.
On Sunday, we had our normal church meetings, tracted, and finally got in contact with another part-member family, the Frenches. Elder Mijares and Elder Ashby had been teaching them before, but had lost contact for a bit. We'll be visiting them again next week to teach them again.
Today, for our activity, we played tennis with our district. Or, rather, half of our district played tennis and the other half played basketball.
Well, I think that's it. Hopefully Alma will progress--it's a good sign when they've been to church before and liked it.
Oh, and a quick note--please try to hold dinner appointments with missionaries down to around an hour. We like talking with you as much as you like talking with us, but that just makes it harder for us to find a way to say that it's time for us to go. So please make it easy for us.
Elder Samuel Stephens

Antelope and fish

I finally got the antelope I was after on Friday. I went with a friend from the ward and we had lots of fun. Saturday morning I went to Yuba Lake with Jenine to get pictures for an article for Cabelas.

Taekwondo Tournament

We attended our first Taekwondo tournament today. We are still newbies so we learned a lot from watching what everyone else did. Mariana did well in her free sparring competition. You can see her scoring a point with a kick in the picture. Isaac enjoyed the breaking competition.

Samuel's Mission E-mail September 22, 2008

Everyone:
Well, I'm now officially in what may be my last area. It's called Malaga Cove. If you have a map of LA, it covers the southern part of Redondo Beach, Torrance, and Lomita, with a little bit of Rolling Hills Estates thrown in. So, some of it is kind of rich. My companion is Elder Mijares, from Colorado (His ancestry is from Spain, though). He actually goes home in December, and he's a district leader, so I'm junior again. There's not really much Spanish in our area (I did speak Spanish with one guy yesterday), so I guess they figure I don't need to work on my Spanish or something (or maybe they've just despaired of it ever being good, haha).
As for our week, on Tuesday we tracted and got ready for transfers. On Wednesday I transfered over here with Elder Mijares, and we tracted.
On Thursday, Elder Mijares had a meeting, so I took Elder Fliton (who's being trained this transfer) tracting for a bit, and then we had weekly planning, Elder Mijares did a baptismal interview, and Elder Mijares took me to meet a couple important people in the ward.
On Friday, we had our Zone meeting (Have I mentioned our mission goal this transfer? Our goal is to increase the number of investigators we have at church by 50%), we tracted, and we worked on contacting a list of people that Sister Alexander, a counselor in the Relief Society, gave to us, and found out that a lot of them had moved.
On Saturday, Elder Mijares had another meeting, so I took Elders Webb and Fliton (the other district leaders' companions) and we helped clean the Malaga Cove ward building. After the meeting, we tracted and worked on the list some more.
On Sunday, we had our church meetings, so I got to meet Brother Madrid, our Ward Mission Leader, and various other members. We also tracted and spoke briefly with some less-actives that the ward had asked us to visit.
Today, we played some kickball with the zone.
Well, I think that's it. Hopefully we'll find some investigators here soon. Given that this is probably my last area, it's about time for me to try some different things for working here. We'll have to see what we can do.
Elder Samuel Stephens
The time is far spent; there is little remaining to publish glad tidings by sea and by land
Then hasten, ye heralds; go forward proclaiming: Repent for the kingdom of heaven's at hand
--Hymn #266

Update

Dear family,

I guess we need to update our life for you. It doesn't seem like we have anything significant to tell you. Ruth is busy teaching the neighbor girt to sew and to design her own clothes. I just try to keep busy. My latest project is to prepare a history of mom and dad's life in Star Valley for the Star Valley Independent news paper. They are trying to compile a history of the early days in Star Valley. I will send copies to the paper, the library in Afton and the mayor of Alpine when I get it completed. In working on the history I've discovered that two of the brothers that we work with at the temple (the Weeks') are cousins.

We are still enjoying beautiful weather. The garden is almost done for this year. We had lots of peaches, cucumbers, squash and tomatoes. I've been keeping the neighborhood supplied with goodies this summer. It will all come to and end pretty soon. I'm sure we will get a killing frost fairly soon now. Our butternut squash is the size of pumpkins.

Mom here, We were over to visit Grandpa K. last Friday. He is about the same, not anything major wrong. He would like to be out on his own but realizes that is not possible. He is using a wheelchair to get around. He moves it with his feet because he can't stand for very long. His hearing is getting worse as is his eyes so it makes it harder and harder to communicate with him.
He went out with Dee a couple weeks ago to get a sub sandwich and drive around in Dee's truck. We can never get him to go out with us.

We will be down to Harvey's sealing. Just hope it doesn't get postponed again. We love you all and wish we could afford to visit more often.

Dad and mom

No hurricane damage in Utah

I feel a little left out because we have been having a beautiful fall. We've had a little rain and wind, but nothing that would constitute a significant storm. We are glad the Texans are okay and I am impressed that Newel's family could go a week without power. I'm sure that would be a huge challenge.

We are just plugging along. Creed is working full time now at the car dealership and also playing soccer several times a week. It is quite different now that he is playing at an adult level. There are some big strong bodies and some major collisions.

The past two Saturday's I've left right after his morning games to drive to
Wyoming to hunt antelope. My area is near Evanston so it is only a two-hour drive. I haven't shot one yet because I am looking for a really big one. I hope I get lucky soon. Anette went with me last Saturday and it rained on us much of the time so we did not see as many antelope as usual.

Jenine and Brandon are now living in their own apartment in north Orem. We added one more person to our household though. Parker Edwards' family used to live in our neighborhood but moved to Washington two years ago. Now they are trying to relocate back to Utah. Parker is living with us so he could go to school here and not have to switch. Parker has been a friend of Creed's for many years.

We are all looking forward to Harvey's sealing in a few weeks. He was with us much of yesterday. He is a happy boy and I think he must be powered by Energizer batteries that never run down. He knows how to tease and I think Anette is going to be a frequent victim.

Thanks for the birthday cards and wishes. I'm feeling old a lot lately--especially after moving hay or digging holes.

We're glad everyone survived the storms.

We're Fine

Well, after a huge build-up, with the forecasters telling us how bad it was going to be, and to be prepared for high winds and power outages, we got next to nothing! We've had much worse just from thunderstorms. It was kind of disappointing actually! It went just east of us. We got lots of rain, but not even any flash flooding.

We've had beautiful weather all week. Sunshine and temperatures in the high 70's, low 80's. And cool enough at night to need a quilt on the bed. It's like fall!

I haven't been able to post because our week has just been extremely hectic. We had our normal school routine, plus a girl's activity day that I was in charge of, plus a little birthday get-together with Lynette's friends. I even forgot to send Newel a birthday card. Then the day before his birthday I figured I would just call, but I never had a chance! I was busy with teaching 11 kids in a co-op class at my house in the morning, then I had an emergency preparedness dinner at my house in the evening. So, I hope you had a good birthday, Newel, (once the power was back on)!

Oh, the kitten's name is Jet. We tried Stormy for several days, but it just didn't seem to work. She and Devon get along fine, but Devon still gets a little too excited, so we still have to watch them pretty closely.


LaDawn

Samuel's Mission E-mail September 15, 2008

Everyone:
Well, this transfer ends on Wednesday, so I may be in a new area and almost certainly with a new companion come next e-mail time. Depending on where I go, it may also be a Wednesday the next time I get to e-mail.
So, as for this week, on Thursday we had our normal weekly planning, and then we had a car-free day, so we had to walk over to my old apartment (which fortunately is not far from my current apartment) and pick up my bike. Before we did that, though, we got a call from some Spanish speakers who were visiting a relative of theirs in the Downey hospital that wanted a blessing, so we walked over there (also not a large distance) and gave him a blessing. After we picked up my bike, we tracted and had dinner.
On Friday, we had our normal zone meeting, and then we had Downey 3rd correlation. Then Elder Brixius went tracting with Alex Grow of the Downey 1st ward while Elder Monita and I worked on the programs for the fireside. On Saturday, we had Santa Fe Springs correlation, we practiced for the fireside, we tracted, and we visited a couple people we had invited to the fireside to see if they were coming.
On Sunday, we had church, and then in the evening we had the fireside. It went really well--the choir that sang was formed of missionaries and stake members, and they did a really good job. Elder Harper, one of our zone leaders, is very talented in the musical field, and he did a great job of organizing and practicing with the choir and everything. My part, the visuals from some of the church movies that were timed to coincide with parts of the songs, went pretty well. There were parts that were still rough, but that's just because we had to make do with what we had.
Well, we'll see what this next transfer brings. It's crazy that I've only got three more transfers here on the mission. Hopefully I'll be able to show that I've learned something.
Elder Samuel Stephens

Happy Birthday Flint!

Happy (Belated) Birthday Flint! I would have sent something earlier or called, but we have been somewhat distracted this week.

-Newel

6 Days Without Electricity

We have had a very interesting week. On Sunday about Noon, the remnants of Hurricane Ike found their way to the Madison area. We didn't get any rain, but we got 60-70 mph winds. Lots of trees and branches fell all through the area. Our house survived with only 1 shingle flipped up, but others suffered much worse. By Sunday evening, about 90% of the people in our area were without power. Lots of trees and branches fell on power lines and knocked out power all over. The top picture shows the tree that did in our neighborhood. It is hard to see but that is a power pole on the ground underneath all of those tree limbs. Because the power lines were damaged in so many places, it took the power company a long time to get around to us. We just barely got our power back this afternoon. (Friday)

Since there was no power for the city well pumps, our water pressure also dropped. They managed to get the pumps going on Monday, but then there was a boil water order on for the next two days. Isaac and Mariana have been out of school all week. We have been having lots of barbecue dinners in the evenings. We also had plenty of chances to play family games and read by flashlight. Tonight everyone is enjoying the luxury of a warm shower. This has definitely given us a chance to see how prepared we are. We were lucky that a friend at work had power and an empty freezer, so we didn't lose our freezer full of beef.

On Tuesday, Mariana had the chance to go to the temple and do Baptisms for the dead for the first time. We were glad that trip did not get canceled or postponed.

So if we got 60-mph winds in Madison, what was it like in Dallas? How did LaDawn and Denisa's families fare?

--Newel

Happy Birthday LaDawn!

LaDawn,
We wish we could be there to celebrate your birthday with you. Have a great day!

Samuel's Mission E-mail September 10, 2008

Everyone:
Well, Elder Bird flew out on Wednesday last week, so now I'm with Elder Monita, my district leader, and his companion, Elder Brixius. So, as for what we've done this week:
On Wednesday, we dropped off Elder Bird and I moved into Elder Monita and Elder Brixius's apartment. Then we went and did service at the care home, as usual, and then in the afternoon we tracted a bit. This means that we're the only missionaries in both the Downey 1st and 3rd wards.
On Thursday, I turned 21!!!!! Amazing, that. I like to say that every year I look back at myself a year ago and say, "Man, I was immature back then!", but out here on the mission it's more like every three or four months that I look back and say, "Man, I was a bad missionary back then!". I guess it means I'm always improving, right? So anyways, we had our weekly planning, and then in the evening we visited some of Elders Monita and Brixius's investigators.
On Friday, we had our normal district meeting, had Downey 3rd correlation, and tracted for a while. On Saturday, we had a "zone blitz", in which the whole zone came to the Downey 1st area and tracted in it for a little while to make up a bit for Elder Bird's not being able to get out. In the afternoon, we visited a couple more Downey 3rd (They actually refer to the Downey wards as D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5, which I, of course, find quite amusing) people.
On Sunday, we had Downey Stake Conference, and that was pretty good, and then afterwards we worked on the fireside for this Sunday (I worked on hooking up a laptop to the projector and playing some video segments timed to coincide with the songs, Elder Monita worked with the translation equipment, and Elder Brixius worked on figuring out the chair setup). Later on, we visited the Francos, a less-active family in D1 that's been starting to come back, and tried without sucess to visit a couple other people to invite them to the fireside.
On Monday, we tracted for a good while, and we actually had someone who slammed the door twice! Apparently they weren't satisfied with the first slam or something. In the evening, we tried to visit a couple D3 people but just ended up setting return appointments with them.
On Tuesday, we did some service for a sister in D3 (who just happens to know a Verlin Stephens... we're investigating that), worked on programs for the fireside, and then in the evening Elder Brixius went with a brother from D3 while Elder Monita and I went to an appointment (he wasn't there) and then to D1 correlation. On the way there, Elder Monita noticed a couple who had pulled over to the side of the road that had another couple helping them change a tire. We got out to help them, too, and it turned out that the one couple went to put air in the tire (their spare was flat, too), so we waited with them for a bit and ended up talking some about the Gospel and inviting them to the fireside. As we did, I felt the Spirit and knew that the Lord had arranged things this way for a reason. Eventually they just used our cell phone to call a tow truck (their cell phone didn't work, for some reason, and it turned out the tire's valve was broken). Hopefully they'll come to the fireside and recognize the Spirit there. We never made it to our correlation meeting, but they had it without us and discussed pretty much everything that needed to be brought up. The Lord truly works in mysterious ways.
Today, we went to the temple. Traffic was horrendous for some reason this morning, so we got there late, but we just went to a later session.
Well, transfers are next Wednesday, so I've already only got a week with Elders Monita and Brixius. Who knows what next transfer will bring?
Elder Samuel Stephens

New sealing date for Harvey

Jed and Cally have had to change Harvey's sealing date because of a delay in his adoption court hearing. The new date is October 10 at 5 p.m.

Harvey sealing date

Samuel's Mission E-mail September 2, 2008

Everyone:
Well, this week has been a bit different. Elder Bird is going to be flying home tomorrow for some surgery and recuperation time, so I'll probably be stuck in a trio with my district leader and his companion for the last couple weeks of this transfer. This has been a very difficult time for Elder Bird, and he's kind of worried about being able to come back to the mission after his surgery, so if you could keep him in your prayers some, that would be good.
As for our week, it wasn't all that eventful other than that news. On Thursday we had our normal planning and Elder Bird had his doctor's appointment where he found out he needed surgery. Since then he's pretty much been ordered to take it easy, so we haven't been getting a whole lot of missionary work done.
On Friday, we had our district meeting, and Elder Bird rested, pretty much. On Saturday, Elder Brixius and I did some tracting in our area while Elder Monita kept an eye on Elder Bird, so that we could actually have some work done in our area this week. We also stopped by with a couple members to talk with them about inviting people to the fireside in a couple weeks.
On Sunday, we had church as normal, and then we had dinner with the Langs, who told us about a couple people they knew that may be ready to be taught soon, which was exciting news for us. On Monday we had our normal preparation day, except that we couldn't e-mail because of the holiday.
Today, we've been preparing for Elder Bird to go home. He'll be flying out tomorrow morning, and hopefully coming back as soon as he's recovered from his surgery. So, this next week should be interesting. While it does mean I'll be getting back to a normal work schedule, I must admit I'm sorry to have to see Elder Bird go this way. There's not much reason to think that he won't be back, but it's still kind of a sad time.
Elder Samuel Stephens

Samuel's Mission E-mail August 27, 2008

Everyone:
Well, I'm writing on Wednesday again, but it's not because of going to the temple. Or, it is, but not in the normal way. I'll get to that in a bit. Starting with last week:
Last Tuesday, Elder Bird had a doctor's appointment in the morning, and he wasn't feeling that great the rest of the day. In the evening, we had a practice for the fireside, so I talked with Elder Pepper and one of the ward members about what I was going to need. On Wednesday, we had our zone conference. It was a pretty good one. In the evening we had our correlation meeting for Downey 1st.
On Thursday Elder Bird wasn't doing so great again, so we worked on the media stuff. Basically, I looked through parts of some of the Church videos (Finding Faith in Christ, The Testaments, and Joy to the World, mostly) and wrote down what clips I wanted (I.e. from 56 min 25 sec in to 56 min 50 sec in or something like that).
On Friday we were on companionship exchanges, so Elder Brixius, companion of our district leader, was here with me. We tracted for a good while (trying to make up for the times Elder Bird hasn't been able to), and in the evening we visited a couple people and invited them to the fireside.
On Saturday Elder Monita took Elder Bird with him to clean out an apartment the mission is closing, so I was with Elder Brixius again. We tracted a while in his area, and then in ours, and then Elder Bird came back and we returned to our normal companionships.
On Sunday we had our normal church meetings, and then Elder Bird was feeling really bad, so we had to rest. It always seems to be worse for him the day after he does something physical.
On Monday, we had service up at the temple! We went up and raked up mowed grass for several hours. Then we came back and showered and had dinner. Then on Tuesday Elder Bird was feeling really bad (probably because of doing the service on Monday), so we rested again. In the evening, we had our correlation meeting with the Downey 1st ward, including one of our new ward missionaries! We had two new ward missionaries called on Sunday to help out the one we already had, so I'm pretty excited about that. I think this is the first ward I've been in where I'll really be able to work closely with the ward missionaries. Of course, part of that was laziness on my part in the past, but... it's never to late for repentence!
Well, that's been our week. We don't really have any big plans for today (just fireside practice in the evening), but Elder Bird does have another doctor appointment tomorrow, so hopefully they'll be able to do something to help him out. !Perseverar hasta el fin!
Elder Samuel Stephens

Kitten

Here are a couple of photos of our new baby. We're still kicking around names. Some we've considered: Pancake, Splat, (Craig's idea), Olympic Silver, Annalise (Rachel's current favorite name for everything), Jet, and Stormy. The last two are the current favorites. Right now she just get's called Baby or Little One. She has decided she's ok with Devon most of the time, but Devon gets too excited and plays a little rough. She likes to put the kitten's whole head in her mouth to try and chew on her. We will have to watch them closely for awhile.

(I have no idea why the first sentences are underlined and can't figure out how to undo it!)

Comments

Anette,
I have changed the settings to allow anyone to comment. I think you haven't been getting answers to your comments because we haven't gotten into the habit of looking for them. I for one will start paying more attention to the comments from now on. Please let me know if there are any other changes I can make.

By the way, I enjoy looking at your kids' blogs. Does anyone else in the family have blogs that we could link to from here?

-- Newel

Comments Anyone?

I am hoping the person who created this blog page (Jack?) would be willing to adjust the comment criteria. I know on my children's blog pages you can comment by clicking on the word comment at the end of each post. I have enjoyed writing, themand you all, a quick line or two with each post. However, it is discouraging to never get a response to a comment made AND it is very time comsuming to have to create a user account with each separate posting of comments. Half of the comments I write are not posted because I have to repeat the many steps needed to post because the blog page does not accept announmous postings. (I always sign my name when I write so you know who it's from.)

We have never gotten inappropriate comments or comments from strangers on Cally's and Jake's blog pages.

So how do you feel about that request and would everyone be willing to write a personal note or two in response to the few comments I and others make?

Anette
P.S. I find this to be a safe way to make comments and it will not open doors to porno ads or unsolicted mail.

Summer's over!

Well, James went back to school on August 8th and today is his last day of August term. Then he'll start the regular fall term on Monday. He is attending Richland Collegiate High School, which is a charter high school at a local community college. He should graduate with a high school diploma and an Associates Degree. It is a rigorous program and should keep him pretty busy for the next two years.

We'll start our homeschool with the girls on Monday, also. They are not happy about that. They have enjoyed playing with their friends day in and day out!

We do have a new household member again, though it is still undecided as to whether she will be a permanent addition. Tuesday evening as I was driving home with Lynette and Rachel after dropping James and Elaine at the temple, I passed what I thought at first was a dead baby bunny, only when I looked down at it, its head moved. It was a tiny gray kitten. I quickly looked behind me to make sure there were no cars directly behind me (this was in rush hour traffic on a six lane road!), I stopped, jumped out, scooped her up, and jumped back in the car. Fortunately, she didn't run from me. She was too shocked and scared to move. I can't imagine how she got there. I wonder if one of the cars in front of me dropped her out of a window. She couldn't have been there very long or she would have been squashed.

She has a sprained back leg, a scrape on the nose, and some fleas, otherwise she is healthy. The vet and I guess she is about 6 weeks old. When we offered her food, she didn't know what to do with it at first, so I'm not sure she was even weaned yet.

She seems to be adjusting well. She purrs very loudly and is starting to walk around and explore a bit more. Our only problem is the dog. Lately she has become a good rat exterminator. And the kitten is about the same size and color as the rats she has been killing. We're hoping we can teach her that kittens are "friends, not food!"

Well, the kids are bugging me to come play Upwords with them.