April 30, 2012

A very happy day late birthday to my dear, dear friend and cousin! I love you Cass and I hope that home life is treating you very well. I would love to hear from you and I will try and get a letter out to you hear soon. You now have the same amount of schooling as me and will soon pass me!!! haha. That is wonderful, I love you Cass, Keep being you. This all is real. Find your vision and go for it. You are amazing!

Thank you for the emails from-

Grandma Clegg- I am glad to hear that you got my letter ok. I had to give it to another Elder to send and I am glad that he is a trust worthy fellow. I appreciate the updates on your lives so much and I hope that you are enjoying the warm weather. This week was our first week of winter. We leave the house bundled to the max and we look very similar to mafia members I am sure. I sure love you Grandma… please tell Grandpa the same. Thank you for your legacy.

Lindsay Hayes- So great to hear from you Lindsay. All my family said they loved having you over. I am glad to hear that you are enjoying you time back at home and that you kicked  BYUs trash in the grade department. Atta way. To try and answer at least one question, I am doing great.  I love everyday and love the mission routine. Everyday has new challenges and new things to learn. Have a great spring and I will for sure drop you a letter with in the next few weeks. Thank you for taking the time to write and for being a great example. Have a great week! You are awesome!

And of course the mighty clan of Jerome:

Well this week sounds like it was a very (no surprise) busy one for all of you. I am glad that all the events in Boise went well and the weather is getting better. What a pretty time of year. I can hear the killdeer and the sprinklers out my window now...

To explain the pictures:

                    The first one is of the peeps that we received in the Easter package from you....

      The next one is of me on the phone which is substantial amount of time talking to the Elders in my district.

and the third one is of the Familia Garcia, whom I have really come to love so much. They are waiting to be married and will be baptized shortly after. They are amazing. I love them so much.

Thank you so much for your prayers this week and Mom thank you so much for your story on Prayer. I am excited to read it in greater detail. I have thought about Papas letter a lot too this week. After I read it I dreamt that I was with Papa and Grandma Crouch and we were in the Conference center listening to President Hinckley talk about education. Later this week I also dreamt that we were all at Alex's bball game and with a couple seconds left Alex went to dunk it for the win and, you are not going to believe this Al...you rim checked yourself!! I ran down to the court and was so passionate about it . I was so upset. So Alex - Work on that dunk before you go up for that buzzer dunk ok. ha ha-

This week was a really good week. I was on exchanges with Elder Hansen here in Santa Rosa and we learned a lot and had a great time. I am really learning a lot about the importance of exchanges because they really help us grow as a district. We had 8 people in the church last Sunday and that was really great. Lots of them need marriage and so hope we can see the fruit soon, but probably not for months. We keep looking for those who are ready to be baptizing sooner. The ward here is getting along better. We have three or four families really strong but other than that we are lacking. I love the families that are here they are young and very good families. The ward mission leader and Bishops families are very dear to me.

Well I had some computer issues at the start so I am trying to make this as clear but short as possible. It was a great week and things are starting to feel normal. I just want my district to have success.

Dad- Thank so much for your email and your update about the lodge. I am glad that you enjoy the scriptures. I hope that you have a great week and that all is well. I am very excited to talk to you all. I hope that everything goes well with all the equipment and everything getting back up to Redfish. I sure love you Dad. I hope that you have a great week. I feel your prayers so much. Your the man....

Mom, Thank you so much for you email. I am so very excited to read more of it tonight. You are wonderful. Sounds like you are doing well and being the amazing super woman like always. When I think back I seriously do not know how you did / do all the things that you do during the times that Dad is at Redfish. I have said this before, but the sacrifice that you make will be one that will be rewarded beyond your imagination in the future. I hope the kids can help out a lot. I am sure prayer helps you a lot, and straight good ol’ will power. I sure love you Mom. Please know that I feel your prayers and that I do the same for you. Have a great week and enjoy the weather.

Mikesell- I remember having experiences that are similar to the one that you told me. Some days it just kind of smacks you in the face. I am planning on writing you a letter with all the ideas and advice that I can think of but I would just encourage you more than anything to prepare yourself spiritually to leave. It will be harder than you think right now, but you are going to rock it. I am very excited for you. But now just enjoy your time and don’t let a day go by without learning, progressing, or moving forward in some way. Spend every second you can with the Fam. I love you Mikesell!v I miss you so much and I hope that you have a wonderful week. I hope that you legs heal up quick. You are amazing.

Brennen- I sure love you brother. I miss you man. I can’t tell you how many good things that I hear about you.  I hope that you have a wonderful week and keep enjoying your tennis experiences. May Heavens richest blessing be yours buddy and keep standing strong into the face of temptation. I love you. Keep being the good example and helper that you are. I love you!

Alex- Hey Brother! I sure hope that everything is going well.  Those running times you knocked out this weekend are insane. You are going to break five minute mile by your sophomore year.  Keep at it buddy that is so great!  And be sure to keep working on your dunks. I love you bother and I hope that you have a great week!!

Harrison. I love you little buddy! You will have to write me on Moms laptop this week. I want to hear what is going on in you and Calls life. I hope that you are having fun. I great big bear hug for you buddy. I love you.

McCall- You are too beautiful for your own good. It sounds like you are doing lots of fun things with Mom and going to a lot of fun places. I sure love you Cally and I hope that you know that. I know that the three sentences that you hear from me every week may make it hard for you to know that, but I pray for you so much and I love you a lot.

So I will try to call about three o’clock your time on Mothers Day. I will let you know next week after I coordinate with the other Elders but that is what we will plan on tentatively.

I wanted to talk to you about something that I learned in the Book of Mormon that I thought was really cool. The first thing I would invite you all to read the in 2 Nephi chapter one. The other little thought that I had was as I was reading in Mosiah 29 I found something interesting. In Mosiah 28 it talks about how the Jaredite plates were translated by Mosiah and then in Mosiah 29 he talks about how he wants to do away with the king system and put in judges rather than have the people choose between his sons. I was asking what would have helped him to think to do that and I realized that probably days before he had just translated a whole set of scriptures that talked about how an entire civilation had been destroyed by a very similar situations. I thought that was a great example of how we can liken the scriptures for ourselves.

My family, I know this is real. I know obedience brings blessings. I know that you all more potential that you can imagine. Live up do it. I promise you there is no goal that you cannot achieve. Get your vision and go for it. I love you all and I testify of our Savior. I love him.

May this week is wonderful and may the spirit of spring bring a new sense of service and gratitude for life and family, friends and all the blessings that we have.

I love you tons.

Elder Austin