2/26-2/27 High School, SDC, and OBGYN appt

I DID HIGH SCHOOL!!! Sure, it was only three periods worth, but, it has been done. Sure, it was two periods of band: jazz band and ensemble, and one period of chorus watching a movie, but it was done. I went to Colton High School yesterday for the first time. It was a bit scary, for sure, but in the end, it all worked out. I assessed that ensemble plays extremely loud. Jazz band was super cool. They both took over and in jazz they did solos which were really cool. The chorus class was 60 or so people big. Some wanted to leave to other classes when they found out I was showing a movie. I let them. 3 girls wanted to go to the nurse, not all at the same time. A little fishy, but I let them. We watched the first hour of Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

Today was so nice. Instead of having me do the 2nd grade class I signed up for at Lewis Elementary, Julie Barrios, the office manager, had me go do Mrs. Melissa Reyes' SDC class, with Mrs. Bonnie and Mrs. Wendy. They were happy I was there and I was happy to be with them. The kids, including Zarek, who gave me several hugs and high fives. I also had a good time with Adelina, telling her to write down her numbers to 100. Gordo was a mess, but we had him doing things that mattered. He was pinching me at times. A girl named Natalia from another 1st grade class told me hi and gave me a hug at recess time. Good day.

I went out with the missionaries at 4 today to see Sandra. It was a good appointment. We taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through Joseph Smith. She read his experience with awe. Although, she said she had heard many people give fanciful accounts. But we committed her to reading the book of mormon. I told her that I wanted to invite her to church. She said she doesn't get up so early.

Don't know why, but I was feeling a bit anxious before the appointment. Sarah went to the Gynecologist today. She told her to get on 7 different types of medication. One birth control pill to help get her period synced. I can't remember what the other meds were for, but she was hesitant in taking all of them...so we'll see what happens.

I took Miguel's to Arno yesterday, Sarah's dad. Sarah had to collect her urine, so she didn't want to go.

We're going to the tax man tomorrow at 1, after my doctor appointment.

Tomorrow should be good.

2/25 Letter #57

Hey man,

How are you, brother? I hope you are well. I was wondering, what is Elder Lin's first name. Wondering because the Olympics have been in Korea and they were mentioning the names of the Koreans. Just wondering.

So, I saw Black Panther, except, it wasn't on the day I had originally planned. Why? Well, I had made a mistake. Sarah and I were planning on seeing it with Gus and Arcy and Axel at the movie theaters at Ontario Mills. Except, I thought they were seeing it at AMC. Well, I had looked at the text wrong, and found out later that they actually went to Edwards. Oops. What can you do, right? So, we just moved things up in our schedule and went on the Etiwanda Falls Hike instead during that time. It actually turned out to be a miracle doing so, because it would've been either really cold or really hot, and we met some people on the trail that Sarah got to make friends with. A lady named Latanya Mathews. She was hiking at a nice pace and we kept her company all the way up to the fall. She was an inspiration to both of us, because she's apart of this kinda club that walks/run/bikes 1000 miles in a year. Like I said, inspiration. We got her contact info and now we're going to add her on Facebook.

The falls were pretty cool. Obviously, the hike back to the car was much easier than to. The trail is super rocky, like pebbles and bigger rocks scattered everywhere. I think I would hike it again if someone asked me to. Since it was President's day, many people were out on the trail. We'd get a "You've got like 20 minutes worth left." and comments like that on our way up. Sarah and I did not bring enough water. Actually, we didn't bring any water. Our bads. Fortunately, we didn't get dehydrated, but we definitely learned from our mistakes, and on our next hike, we will bring the much needed water. I told Sarah that it probably wasn't a wise idea getting water from the falls, no matter how enticing they looked.

Black Panther. It was good. Better than I had anticipated. Gus described it as cool and fresh. I enjoyed it, and you know how apprehensive I was about going. Believe me, I bet Sarah was annoyed about my indecisiveness about going to see this movie. We saw it yesterday, right after the Gonzaga v. BYU game. They weren't doing too well, so we left during, actually, to get to the theaters in time. We were going to go after the hike, but Sarah wasn't feeling too good, probably because of the hike, plus, the theater was packed and we could only find seats closer to the front. So, we actually got a refund on our tickets, which is a blessing. All I have to say is: Marvel did it again. Next Stop: Thanos and his Infinity War that they've been hinting at ever since The Avengers. I'm sure it'll be great. That doesn't come out til May.

The week was long. I was glad when it was Friday.

The Elders asked me to go out with them one of the days. It was one of the days where I wasn't so busy, so I went. We were going to see that lady Sandra that they saw with me last time I went out with them. Unfortunately, she cancelled right when we got there. Elder Brower was on exchanges with an Elder Hawks. He was also a Spanish missionaries of 4 months. He's still learning, but he started his service in the Mexican MTC. We did the back up thing and went to a family's house called the Kistamens (sp?). They are an active couple that have been in Chile the last 7 weeks. They have older married children and they are elderly, but were super nice. Dad knows them. Elder Hawks, after the fact, told us that he only caught about half of the conversation because she was speaking really fast Chilean. I guess my spanish isn't really that bad and I should be grateful I can understand people. I mean, I'm attending a Spanish Ward!

Speaking of church, today was good. Sarah invited me to join her primary class during Sunday School today. I did, and boy was I impressed by her teaching, and by the caliber of kids she has in her class. She's pretty good. She teaches in both spanish and english, and the kids respond to her teaching really well. I wish I knew their names and who's kids they are to tell them how impressed I am with them.

The Elders taught the Young Men today about Our Purpose here on this earth and how it relates to the Plan of Salvation. They were able to teach in English, so don't worry. They did a good job. I was able to participate in a volleyball game that the wards of the Fontana Stake were playing yesterday morning. The Juniper Ward won ALL their games and were reigning champs, even the Tongan ward. We didn't play against Christina Parisi's, don't know why. The funny thing: I only knew one person on our team, I think the rest were his friends. I did my best to be friends to them.

We had FHE at Sarah's dad's place on Monday (with Miguel's Monday, of course). We played a game that Sarah played when she was little and we bought at DI called Huggermugger. A word which means secret. The game is all about words and Sarah did very well at it, as well as Arno. Me, not so much. I think it was because I tried the Anagram ones.

Sarah finished her work at Monoprice this week and she is currently seeking other employment, as well as expanding her Lifecoaching business.

Oh, yeah! One more cool thing about this week is that on Wednesday, the Youth of our ward had a Mini-MTC activity as put on by Hermana Garcia. My jobs were to usher in the people to their seats and to keep time by ringing a bell every fifteen minutes. They had President and Sister Dixon of the Redlands California Mission speak to them. Then, the kids were divided up into pairs and trios to go to some classes. Sister Garcia made all of them missionary name tags which were super authentic looking. Not just that, but they also had super authentic looking plaques made and hung in the Relief Society walls. Sarah was asked to play the piano for them so she was there by my side as well. We had chips and Salsa and Pan Dulce for refreshmants. The classes were how to teach a scripture and another one was Russian class as taught by Yuliya Lopez. She just talked to them in Russian flat out. Then they had a mock-door knocking activity where members were asked to be a certain type of investigator including a golden family and a cold person watching futbol. Then they had a panel of ex-missionaries from the ward, an elder and a sister missionary as well. All in all, great activity. For some reason, I was feeling a bit anxious by the end. But still good activity.

Also, I got to teach one of my deacon's elementary school classes for like an hour...Edward Guillen. It was pretty cool.

Other than that, I can't think of more to writes, so with that, I bid thee please write for I look forward to Miguel's and Missionary Monday.

Love you kiddo, so much!

John

2/24 Black Panther and Volleyball

We saw Black Panther today. It was actually really good. I liked his family and Killmonger was a cool looking villain, and arguably (as stated by other people) one of Marvel's best antagonists to date.

I also went to Volleyball this morning and played on a team that won all it's games and said they were from Juniper Ward. I only knew one guy named Jose. I also saw _______ Sanchez, a previous member of the singles ward and I got to talk to him a bit. Brother Parisi was surprised that I played volleyball. For the end games, I was only adult playing on a team. I did get penalized for touching a ball on the other side.

Sarah made her laundry bag today after a revelation that she had the screws all along.

Then we went to Shaunna's house, but Sarah started feeling bad. So, we didn't continue cleaning, but I did however finish vacuuming.

We went to the hat, ate it at home while watching Jerry Before Seinfeld on Netflix.

Watched the Gonzaga vs BYU game, but left to go watch the movie instead because we were losing.

2/22 2nd/3rd combo and a bit of Rain

It was a good day today. I was at Grimes Elementary in Mrs. Cortez's 2nd/3rd grade combo. I've taught her class before and she was happy to see me, which I wasn't expecting, really. The day went by alright. I noticed one of my students, Arianna, wasn't happy, but something changed after lunch and she was her usual stuff. Fortunately for me, the teacher wasn't in all day. She was testing first graders. She only made an appearance once, and it was at the very end of the day to tell the kids that they have a field trip to look forward to. They're going to Jurupa Hills High School to watch the high schoolers put on a production of Tarzan. Maybe I should look into that. We couldn't do PE because it had rained. But fortunately, I was able to let them out for recess. I made a boy cry who was playing teatherball. He felt like an injustice was done to him and he was crying.

I got home and had a good day. Sarah did a lot of changes. First, we decided to postpone going to the temple until tomorrow night for date night. Then she was going to go to Kaiser Permanente, but then had to come home because her cell phone was dying.

I was able to call mom. She's doing good and told me that Sarah is in Irvine doing a thing with her job. They flew her in from Salt Lake. Pretty cool, but Mom doesn't think she'll have anytime to see us.

Still sick with a cough and somewhat headache every time I cough. I just need a day where I can sleep.

Sarah's last day is tomorrow. She did turn in the part-time receptionist application, so we're seeing if that will be her gig from now on. But we still have to wait and see.

We had a talk tonight about what I want. I wanted to do the laundry but she wanted to cuddle.

2/21 Mini MTC and Natalia

Today was good. I got to make a connection with Julie Barrios, the office manager of the Lewis School, again. She's a nice lady to make conversation with. That's why I go into the secret staff lounge, because she's always in there eating lunch and I get to talk with her. She asks about my father-in-law. Not just her, but Bonnie too asked about him, too. They also preceded to tell me about an SDC sub that got shot over the weekend, it being out of the blue. It was a real tragedy for them.

I taught Mr. Harris' first grade class. In there is a girl named Natalia who, every time I teach SDC and am out with the kids at recess, gives me a hug along with her friends who say HI Mr. G! It's really quite endearing. It was nice being in there with kids that like me and know me and thing I'm the bee's knees.

I came home and did some washing of dishes and other stuff before I left for the church.

I met Jesus there and begun to take the seminary/Relief Society room apart for the panel of return missionaries. Sister Garcia was in charge of it all and she had asked me to usher people in. Sarah hadn't shown up so as I was about to play the piano for her she showed up. I then did the ushering and then Hermana Garcia asked me to be the time-keeper for the 15 minute classes. Sarah sat with me as I time-kept. She also had gotten me a Jumbo Jack from Jack in the Box. We talked to my Dad, who was there for a High Priest Group Leader meeting. He was giving Hermana Garcia a hard time because his meeting room was taken.

I started feeling anxious while Sarah and I started to play the piano. And I was anxious up til the time that Sarah and I came home and talked about Seinfeld. All the mistakes Sarah and I were making playing the piano were exemplified. Sarah was a big help in the end. She was telling me stories about her parents and grandparents.

2/20 Edward Guillen's 6th Grade Class, and the Kistamens (sp?)

It was cool. I was at Sycamore Hills today and I was roving. Laurel sent me to do two six grade classrooms. However, in the process, I taught 4 of the five periods/classes. The last class I taught was Edward Guillen's class. He is a newly made Deacon in our ward, and I connected with him at church and found out that he goes to that school. During the PE I was looking for him and finally found him wearing a red sweater. He said hi to me. And he seemed to be a good student.

I was in Mr. Gonzalez's class in the final hour of school. I was assigned to read Career Day and Clifford in Dog School with a bright girl named Leilah. She was upset to begin with because instead of doing her normal Monday routine, she had to skip computers and read with me. She was a super good reader though. She impressed me. I was also surprised with the fact that school ended early. Laurel had me doing menial work in the morning and when I saw her again, eating food with her daughter Olivia, she told me that Olivia liked me and I was nice.

So, getting out early, I met with the missionaries at their apartment to go see Sandra. However, she wasn't there and neither was her daughter. I got to meet Elder Brower's new companion on exchanges, Elder Hawks. He's only been out 4 months and he went to the Mexico MTC. We decided to go to the Kistamen's house because Elder Brower was told to by a sister. She is from Chile and has been there for the last 7 weeks. I didn't know her, but when Brother Kistamen came out I had to give him a hug because he was familiar. I told them about how we were new in the ward and a little about Sarah and I. Hermano Kistamen has some sort of disease. But, I didn't get it. I called Dad after the fact, but he didn't know either. It was nice to talk to him.

I made Sarah dinner. And now I'm going to watch some Flash.

2/18 Etiwanda Falls and President's Day off

2/17 Letter #56

Hey Jacob,

It’s been an interesting week...but something that makes it good is that tomorrow, Sarah and I have the day off. I actually didn’t have to work on Friday either this week, which was really nice. It was a good thing, too, because we had to get lots of things done. One of those things is that our toilet chain that is connected to the stopper got disconnected and we couldn’t fix it ourselves manually because there was a shelf where the toilet back was. So, we asked the landlady if she could send a maintenance guy and voila, after working for like 15 minutes, he took the water out of the bowl and reconnected the chain and now it works fine. Another thing is Sarah wanted me to ask him if he could connect the water hose that is connected to our fridge to the fridge. I went out of my way to ask him and he did it, which was so nice. Now we have water and ice, which is crazy nice. On Friday, I met Sarah at her work because they were having a potluck there. They had rice and chicken, and afterwards, we went to the Monoprice store to pick up some cords for charging my phone for the car and the room. Unfortunately, I didn’t pick the right connection for the cord, so we’re going to have to return it ASAP.

We’re going to go watch Black Panther tomorrow, which just came out last Friday. I am still up in the fence about this movie, because it seems to have a lot of Black Power mentality, etc, but we’re going to watch it with my usual friends, Gus and Arcy, Axel and the rest of their family. Afterwards, we’re planning on hiking some mountain, whether it be close or far.

I had a tough time at work on Tuesday. It was hard because the teacher, a first grade teacher, kept walking in in and out and started teaching herself when I didn’t teach exactly the way she wanted it. It got harder when I started feeling anxious and I felt all those little first graders were conspiring against me. They weren’t really, but it still made a hard day. She came in in the middle of a math lesson I was teaching and told me practically to start over from square one. Not only that, but I had been teaching them this lesson for at least an hour and the kids were getting restless. But I felt like it was my duty to reteach this and this made the kids even more rowdy, because otherwise we would’ve been out for PE. To top the cake off, she came in at the very end of the day and a paper that I had told them to put in their backpack, she made them take it out and put it on their desks. I was late in getting them out and our classes got mixed up with other classes. So, all in all, not a very good day.

That said, I had two good days, too. Both were at Jurupa Vista. Monday was the SDC class and Thursday was Mrs. Martin’s class. I love going to schools where the teachers are excited to have me come teach their class, and I don’t have to be expected to do perfectly. I’m planning on finishing out the year, but after this school year is over, I want to get a new job...maybe through Apple One, the employment Agency that Sarah got her work through. Sarah’s job is moving to Brea, so this next week is her last week in the job. She’s not planning on going with them, so she has to find a new job as well. She’s going to apply for a receptionist job that our apartment motel complex is offering. Hopefully she gets it. She’s turning in the application tomorrow.

I got Sarah flowers the day before Valentine’s. On Valentine’s, the youth of our ward went to do Baptisms for the Dead. It was a pretty amazing time. You know, for these events, we always hope there will be enough adults with the Melchizedek Priesthood, and boy did we score this month, we probably had at least 11 adults, and we only needed 7. It was cool too, because one of the boys was a new deacon doing the baptisms with the youth for the first time. His name is Edward Guillen and since he’s a deacon, he’s in the quorum I oversee. This afternoon in church, we explained to him the proper manner of passing the sacrament. We told him a lot of information, but he got most of it down, I think.

We had to leave the church at 5 so Sarah was still working that night til then, so she showed up afterwards. She asked me if I could take food she had cooked to her father, who lives in Redlands and who is going through a lot of ups and downs recently. I dropped the food off. We actually went to his house for FHE on monday and bought him some food then too. For FHE we played Apples to Apples with three people. Even though he was feeling a bit loopy he still had a commanding lead in the game. At the end, we had to do a tie breaker, because we both had like 11 green cards. I won. Sarah was way behind, haha.

This week was Melany’s birthday. We were able to go and celebrate it with her and the family. Wiwa was working. Ammon had turned on The Men in Black. We looked at how old that movie was. Can you believe it is 20 or so years old? It’s crazy. Wiwa invited Sarah and I and Mom and Dad to the house on Saturday for a Peruvian dinner. We had Carne Asada and Anticuchos, rice and beans, and Maracuya. Boy was everything good. Sarah and I had signed of for our Elders for dinner, so I asked Wiwa if we could bring them over. He said of course, so they got to share in the good meal. Joseph Anthony, Anila’s brother is here visiting from Peru/New Zealand. It was nice to see him and talk to him. He had some questions about Disneyland that he asked us all, and we all gave him our two cents worth of information. He’s here for that, to see family, and to go to Utah to visit old mission companions. Pretty fun.

Well, I hope all is well with you in Pennsylvania. We love you. I think about you constantly and know you are doing great things. Dad let Sarah and I come over to eat Estofado that mom had made. It was delicious. My Sunday was pretty stinkin amazing.

Take care and send me a line and some pictures.

Love you,

John

2/16 Two Surprises and Lunch and Dinner

I had two surprises for Sarah when she got home today, all done by someone else. First, the toilet got fixed and Second, the maintenance guy also helped us hook up the water and ice maker to our fridge. She (and i) were very happy about these developments. To be able to go to the bathroom and flush and to be able to go to the fridge and receive ice and water was just great.

For date night we watched the first two episodes of The West Wing. Sarah and I got into a little spat (I think it was because I was a bit hungry. The first episode didn't have a previously on The West Wing. We found out later because it was an episode in response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

We went to the Chinese restaurant that is on the corner or Linden and Valley for dinner and date night. The meat was good, but the rice and chow mein was only a little good. We ate there, which was nice.

Sarah got me lunch, which was several things from the pot luck at her work. She told me to come to her work and park in the cul-de-sac and wait. After that, we went to the Monoprice store. We accidentally got the wrong cables for my phone. On our way out, we bumped into one of her coworkers. She was super nice and I found out she was one of the people to help us with cookies at our wedding.

Sarah found out that she doesn't have to work on Monday, yay!

I paid our rent yesterday. Didn't get the receipt, so hopefully all works out.

We watched The Time Traveler's Wife for date night as well. She liked it and it made me tear up a bit.

2/14-2/15 A Low-key Temple Valentines and Mellany's 14th birthday

I went to the temple with the youth yesterday and it was really nice. Hermano Noriega asked me to be in the confirmation room, and it was cool, doing the confirmations of all the people. Hermano Cuadras took over for me when my voice was lacking. I met Sarah outside the temple later and she told me to take food to her dad while she did initiatories. After she was done we talked to OUR sealer, President Miller and then we talked to Brother Hardy, our favorite temple attendant. Besides temple, we didn't do anything special for Valentines day.

We went to Mellany's birthday party tonight and had lots of fun watching Men In Black, the first one and I played cards with Ammon and partly with dad. We had pizza and fried things that were good. We also said hi to Joseph Anthony, Anila's brother who is visiting for the time. He's going to Utah as well.

I talked to Mom after work today at home because I worked at Jurupa Vista. She's doing good.

Mrs. Martin's class was pretty good today, no complaints.

2/13 Super duper anxious First Grade experience and Shaun White's gold

I had one of the worst days at work that I've had in a long time. Part of the stuff that made today bad was Mrs. Finn kept on walking in and out of the classroom at her leisure. It started off bad, because there were no subplans, and when I walked in with the class, Mrs. Finn was typing them up. She started teaching the class, which took the authority of the class from me to her. She came in after I had taught a math lesson, and she told me that I had done it all wrong and that she wanted stuff done in this way (not in so mean terms)...which put me on the edge because instead of going out to PE, I took the time to finish the lesson correctly. This was bad because we had already been on a math lesson for about an hour and the kids were already restless and needed a break. The kids combined against me because of this and I don't think I taught it right even with all that extra time spent, because I was really self conscious and the kids were acting really annoyingly. They weren't totally bad, just infringing on my self-consciousness. I was already on edge but then I had to go outside and do the yard duty, and I only had one health referral, and it turns out I needed three of them, unfortunately. I was praying that nothing else too bad would happen, then the teacher gave me a sec to go to the bathroom. At that point I had a bad taste in my mouth and my mouth was super dry. So I took the time to drink water from the faucet before I went back out. All the kids were begging me to go outside and complete PE, but I didn't allow them to, because we had much more left. The teacher came in right at the end of the day and I had already told the kids to put the last assignment away in their backpacks and she goes around and tells the kids to put it back on the desks, right at the time that I was taking the kids out to be picked up for the end of the day. Then, if that wasn't enough, my kids accidentally got mixed with so many other kids coming out of the gate so I wasn't sure how much I could do to get them home. It was just a horrible day. I was expecting the teacher to be really mad at me for messing up, so I apologized to her when I faced her after the kids were gone, but she was really nice to me, bolstering me up as much as possible. Unfortunately I was already in such a bad place that I wasn't really taking in the nice words. She didn't know that I am a veteran substitute. She asked me if I was getting my credentials. I told her no. Then she told me that I needed to find my niche, whether it be high school, middle school, upper grades, or lower grades. I told her I like 3rd grade and SDC. She told me to pursue it and not to give up. Like I said, she was very nice to me. I had to run away though, at the first chance I could. I didn't even stay to right down notes for her as to how the day was.

So, I came home, and I couldn't make myself lay down. So I cleaned (partly because our bed wasn't made). I made the bed, and washed the dishes. Then, I went to buy Sarah flowers for Valentine's Day

Sarah wanted to make Jambalaya, but she forgot to bring her wallet. So I met her at the grocery store, where we bumped into Hermana Cuadras and her daughter Margarita. We got meat, which is something we don't really always get, like sausage, frozen chicken, and ground beef.

The Jambalaya was really good.

Oh, and I witnessed Shaun White get his third gold medal in the Men's half-pipe snowboarding! It was amazing!

2/12 San Diego Temple talks and FHE at Arno's

SDC at Jurupa Vista was good. I used a microphone again today. All the other SDC kids were nice to me at the bus stop. Don't know why? But, it was a good day. I ate 22% of some cupcakes that were brought for all the teachers. There were nine, and I ate two.

Mrs. Ceja went to visit missions in San Diego this weekend. Then she came up to me and showed me a picture of the San Diego temple and asked if I knew of it, because she thought she recognized the temple in the background of our wedding invitations. She was excited to show me the pictures and I was excited to tell her more about temples. She told me that she really wanted to visit it but couldn't because she wasn't the one that was driving.

I visited with mom after work today. She gave Sarah and I tons of food, so much so that Sarah wanted to pay tithing on it. She also gave me the hymns made simple and spanish children songbook.

I got Miguels for Sarah, me and Arno and we went to visit him for FHE this evening. We played Apples to Apples and Arno almost beat me, even in a not medicated daze that he was in. He ate half of his burrito and asked us to get him two Subway sandwiches. He was so so tonight. Still dizzy. He asked for my hand when he got up. He didn't want us to go in his bedroom because he pees his bed.

We're doing our best to help him, including calling his bishop and his sister Aunt Carol.

2/11 Letter #55

Hi Jacob!

How are you doing this fine week? Things here are good. I've been sick ever since Tuesday or so. It started after I took my father-in-law to the hospital. So we think it stemmed from there or so. It was a sore throat that led to a cold then to a cough and no voice. All of Friday, at Jurupa Vista, in Mrs. Martin's 3rd grade class I had to use a microphone that was connected to an intercom for the students to understand me. It made class fun...plus, I forgot my whistle so I had to somewhat do my best to shout at students on the playground.

Yes, my father-in-law was hospitalized on Monday. We were planning on visiting him Monday night for our FHE activity. So, Sarah called him the day of and found out that he had fallen, twice. That he had been helpless, because he pretty much lives alone in a trailer park with several roommates that don't really care about him. I got out of work first on monday so first thing, I headed to Redlands where he lives. I first wanted to assess the situation before I took him to the hospital because he could still be good. But he was in pretty bad condition. He usually can walk alright by himself, but when I picked him up he was wobbly and off balance. He needed to hold onto my arm in order to keep from falling again. I took him to McDonalds to get a quick bite to eat but then HE made the final decision to go to urgent care. I took him there, but he couldn't find his insurance card and the receptionist told us that he would most likely have to go to the emergency room in a hospital anyways. So we went to Redlands Community Hospital and there we met Sarah who had just gotten off of work. We were seen, but we did a lot of waiting around, and I mean a lot. We got there at six pm and by 11pm they decided to keep him in the hospital. He was in a hospital bed sleeping so after so much waiting, we left him to be admitted. We were both very tired, and like I said, the night of I got a very bad sore throat. So much so, that in the early morning, I went in search of Chloraseptic. Nothing was open as early as I went so I had to settle for some cough drops until the next day.

I had my first mutual with the Young Men on Wednesday. We worked on getting all the young men Family Search accounts. It was interesting. Brother Nievas was the teacher, and most of our young men know english very well, more than spanish. So, he asked me if I could translate for him. I, probably, no I did, add words to his translation, and at some points he spoke in English. Also, the Young Men's President's wife Veronica spoke to them because she knew of things to tell them in relation to Family History. Two of our boy's (who are brothers) family history was done all the way to the 700s AD. Their grandma, who is a big family history buff, did that line. Of course they were related to Kings and Queens and Princes and Princesses. They were pretty proud of their selves, but we also told them to work on their other lines. We had this activity because this week is our Baptisms for the Dead temple trip. Yes, February 14th, Valentine's day is the temple trip.

I had my first psychiatric appointment on Thursday with a Kaiser Permanente doctor. It went well. I am cutting back on several very sedative medicines and focusing on really just two instead of four. Told mom and dad, and also my wife. They are going to watch out for me.

We also finished Legend of Korra season 1. It was very good. So we were counting and we've finished 4 different seasons of 3 different tv shows: two of Stranger Things, one of The West Wing (although, we are almost done with the second), and a season of Korra. She really liked the first season. I think Season two is where they do something that I like, although, Sarah will be reading this so no spoilers for her. I did love when Korra was visited by her past lives and they restored her bending power and she in turn restored Beifong's metal bending. That is a very powerful moment. However, season 1 could stand on its own. All loose ends are tied up...so I don't know when we'll start watching season 2.

We didn't make it to the temple this week. We have to go on a different day then Wednesday because of mutual, and I think that through us off. We were going to go on Friday, but the Elders called Sarah and asked if I could go on a visit with them. We, of course, said yes. So, I went on a visit with them and then treated them to In N Out, because they didn't have a dinner appointment. We saw a lady in their apartment complex named Sandra and her daughter Mikaela. This was a quickly set up appointment, so the elders didn't know how in depth we were going to get. The mother had told them that she had a rebellious daughter and a good daughter, and so the elders decided to teach them from the first lesson about how god loves us and he has given us families. Sandra told us that her parents let her go free on her own at 18. That she was from Columbia, and that she was divorced. She remarried and is now applying for legality to live here legally. Of course, all this was in Spanish. I shared my testimony on prayer, and how I know that God does listen to us. She is already pretty religious, but is open for us to come visit her and her daughters again. The missionaries were great teachers and it was good being with them on Friday. Their names are Elders Houskeeper and Brower. They've only been out 7 months and 6 months respectively. Tall guys, 6'2'' and 6'4".

I had a great day at church today. Names are finally sticking, of my boys, and of some of the adults. With Sarah's encouragement, I decided to offer my services and teach a family of 3 boys and 1 girl how to play the piano. I start this Tuesday. I hope I can do my best in teaching them. They will be paying me. Their last names are Guillen. Hermano Guillen is 2nd counselor in our bishopric. I also felt good today because for Young Men, President Noriega had us play a game of Jeopardy all about the Plan of Salvation. I helped the young men with all their scripture questions. We did pretty well. It was quite fun.

Sarah's in her Self Reliance Class right now and I just had my second one. Sarah's doing the Own Business one and I'm doing the Education one.

The Winter Olympics start this week in South Korea. Because of the time difference, things are on way late, so Friday night we watched the curling one just for fun. I know, why curling? But it was just something fun to watch that evening.

Also, we caught the last few minutes of the BYU San Francisco game yesterday. Boy was it a thriller. They tied and went into overtime with enough points in five minutes to beat them by two. Boy was it amazing.

Well, that's life for us these days. I can't wait to get rid of this cold/cough. The biggest thing I miss is my voice, but mostly being able to sing at the top of my lungs. Hopefully it will leave.

Well, you know the drill: drop a line if you have time. Even if you can't, I always look forward to Missionary Monday and seeing your letters. BTW, I used your Seton Hill University pictures in one of my posts on Instagram and Facebook. I loved the irony of COFFEE TALK. A lot of other people did too, including some of Sarah's family and Isaac Rubalcava said that if he knew about the event, he would have book the first plane out of ONT to Pennsylvania (jokingly, of course).

I love you.

John

2/10 Blueberry glazed French Toast and Ontario Mills Mall

We stayed up super late last night.

So, we sorta slept in. Then, after a little while of getting ready, we went to Kaiser Permanente to get Sarah's lab work done. It only took about a half hour of waiting. In the mean time Sarah cleaned out her wallet and we talked to this black couple who sat across from us. We also quizzed ourselves on some Spanish words.

We then went to eat at La Bufa. Drinks is where they get you. I got Chile Verde and Sarah got some Flaquitos. We boxed our food when we were done, and then went to Shaunna's house to do our cleaning of her house for the $100 that it takes for a month's worth of cleaning. We got to talk to her and she gave us oranges and a pitcher for later. We showed her how to use Pandora and YouTube videos.

Then we deposited money into our joint account. Then went to Sam Ash and walked around the Ontario Mills Mall. We got an Auntie Anne's Pretzel that was cinnamon and sugar. We walked through Victoria Secret and also the Disney store and Lego Store. We were looking for Bed Bath and Beyond, because we have a gift card, but it was no where, not even the place I remember last seeing it.

Sarah sent me into Food 4 Less to get some needed groceries. I had to call her to bring in some bags in for our groceries.

She then made French Toast and a blueberry glaze. I thought it needed maple syrup, which we do not have.

We watched the beginning of Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. We got our whites washed in the laundromat by our apartments. They are some really nice laundry facilities.

Tomorrow is Sunday. We're going to fast for my sister and her Baby and her husband.

I also have Church and Self Reliance classes. She even has a class tomorrow too.

2/9 Mistaken Rumors about where we reside and Missionary Friday

I was at Jurupa Vista this morning for Mrs. Martin's third grade class. No big complaints from the day. Biggest problems might have been Skyler, a really tall black girl. Also, Carly Davies forgot her photo money for spring pictures so I had to run back with her and leave my class with the photo person who said she would take care of them. It was funny, a man over the fence looked like he was taking pictures of the kids, so Mrs. Towne was asked to take care of him. She yelled at him to stop, but it turns out, he was only plucking his hairs from his chin with a mirror. Big mistake on our part, but a little sketchy nonetheless.

For some reason, all the teacher there thought I had moved to Ohio or Utah, so I corrected them and said I was at an Open House. A new sub named Omar thought I meant I was in Utah looking for a house and asked me how much it was.

I went home and dad was cutting the grass, so I helped him by sweeping up the excess grass. Then I helped Mom who came home shortly afterwards. Told them about the medicine change. We got a check from Aunt Kristen and Uncle Kent for $50. I cashed it and at that time I got a call from Sarah saying that the Elders needed someone to go to their lesson in 10 minutes.

I contacted them and parked in the Sizzler parking lot and I met the missionaries at their apartments, where they had the lesson with a mom named Sandra and her daughter named Mikaela. The lesson was all in Spanish, but I shared my testimony on how God answers prayers and loves us like family. I took the Elders to In N Out, where I left them after I got our hamburgers.

I was feeling a bit anxious after that, but Sarah helped calm me down. She had gone to a particular store to by stuff. Then we had a fun night watching two episodes of The West Wing and finished the first season of Korra by watching three episodes. Then we watched some curling when Sarah went to sleep on me.

2/8 Medicine changes and Arno and Vision boards

Went to the Psychiatrist today and he told me I was "over-medicated" and told me to stop taking Lithium because there really wasn't a trace of it in my blood analysis and to decrease the amount of Thorazine/Chlorpromazine I take. Sarah's concerned and I'm sure my parents will be too when I tell them about the change.

Today was good. I picked up Arno after I went to a music store in Redlands. I cooked chorizo for him. Took a nap, and then took him home at his request.

We didn't go to the temple today, and instead did our vision board. We're going to the temple tomorrow for date night.

We watched an episode of The West Wing and Korra.

2/5-2/7 Family History with the Hombres Jovenes and a Sick Bout by me and my Father-in-Law

It's been a crazy last three days.

We were planning on visiting Sarah's dad on Monday, however, Sarah called him to see if we could come over and she found out that her dad had fallen during Sunday middle of the night and so she asked if when I came home, that I could go check on him and perhaps take him to the hospital. I did check on him after work on Monday and found him in a dizzy state. I took him to McDonalds to get something to eat and afterwards, we went first to urgent care, but since we couldn't find his insurance card, and since they said we might have to anyways, we went to Redlands Community Hospital, to the emergency room. Sarah came later and we were in there until 11pm. He was told to wait overnight at the hospital, but we were there for all of his tests and things. The doctors think it was a psychiatric problem and there was nothing really we could do about it.

Monday and Tuesday I worked at Lewis Elementary in SDC for Mrs. Melissa Reyes. I was with Ms. Wendy and Ms. Bonnie, who are probably my two most favorite SDC aides that I work with. Also, I had told the sub manager, Julie Barrios, all about my father-in-law's admittance to the hospital on Tuesday, so she was really concerned, and at the end of the day when I turned in the keys and I had told her I wasn't feeling good, she let me know that I could take the Wednesday (today) off (which I did) as long as I let her know beforehand. She was so nice to me. On Monday, she shared her lunch with me, two ribs. The night when I took Sarah's dad to the hospital, Monday, I had the beginnings of a sore throat. But it got worse overnight. In fact, I woke up at 3am with a terrible sore throat and so I decided to go get medicine in the middle of the night. I wasn't successful. Target, CVS, and Food 4 Less, were all closed, so I had to settle with some cough drops from the local gas station. I came home, and got whatever sleep I could get left. Tuesday at work, needless to say, was a very hard day for me. I was cold so much that I needed to zip up my coat in the classroom, and the air conditioner wasn't even on.

Mom brought Lucy and Jesus' table over so we could make it a desk. Mom told me to stay at home and not get Arno sick. She got us some Dairy Queen burgers and she stayed and chatted with me and we listened to Jacob's sister missionary's talk on the radio that he sent in his letter.

I really did better today. I got to sleep in til 11am and then I cleaned up the house, putting the new vacuum together and vacumming and making some macaroni and cheese for dinner.

Then I went to mutual and a meeting with the Young Men's president and first counselor, Jesus Noriega and Adolfo (Fito) Rubalcava. The meeting was good. I volunteered my time to different things, like our Baptisms next week and a session of volleyball in two Saturdays. He gave us the lesson schedule.

Then it was mutual time and we were with Hermanos Nievas, to learn more about our family history and to sign the young men up for accounts. Brother Nieves taught us about the importance of family history and I did the translating from Spanish to English for him. I got to know the boys pretty well...at least get on a first name basis with them. There is Josh Mondragon, the boy I know well because Nahomi is his sister and best friend to my brother. Isaac Garcia, the priest and Bishop's son. Then there is Edward and Luis Guillen, and Aaron and Jojo, or Joseph Jorge Tovar, who have their family history done back to the 700s AD. And Jorge was there as well. He gets a ride from Jesus. Edward and Luis have a sister named Vivi who is going to Kaiser, and Edward is in 6th grade going to Sycamore Hills. I told him I might see him there one of these days. So very good day with the young men.

I spent my day learning Blackbird by the Beatles on the guitar because it was the prominent song of Boss Baby, a movie I watched on Netflix today.

Tomorrow I have a doctors appointment early morning.

2/4 Letter #54

Hey Brother,

I hope you enjoyed all the Instagram Roger Federer pictures I sent you. He really is a great guy, always so humble, and I hope he always is that way. I was so happy, though, to get a good night’s sleep before a Sunday (instead of staying up late watching a tennis match). And then being able to pretty much stay awake during church (unlike last Sunday).

Church, though hard because of the language, was good. We got new callings on Wednesday and we were sustained and set apart today. Sarah is a primary teacher, and she also has opted to play the piano when the piano player isn’t there. She taught the 8-10 year olds with a one day warning. She really loved doing it though. She loves the kids already, after one week, and can really be there for those kids. The kids were really good for her as well. She taught them about animal sacrifices and about having a broken heart and a contrite spirit. I’m glad she had such a good time.

I am super excited about my calling. I get to work with the youth, in particular, the young men, of the Juniper Ward. I am now the 2nd counselor in the Young Men’s Presidency. G-sus Noriega is the President, a 31 year old guy that is really nice and really cares about these young men. I should know the name of the new 1st counselor, but I can’t remember. The boys are all awesome. Joshua Mondragon has been really nice, as well as Isaac Garcia. I sat in quorum meeting today where an Hermano Olguin gave the lesson. Isaac introduced me to the young men. I gave a brief synopsis on my life, including a small bit about coming home from my mission early, but in the end loving every second I was out there and being okay with coming home and how such a thing blessed my life...that God has had a part in every aspect of my life, and then I shared my testimony. The kids, acting funny, asked me my credit card # and SSN, which I kindly offered them. I look forward to working with these men.

This was a hard week work-wise. I can’t remember so much about it...more like I don’t want to remember. I’m looking forward to this next week, though. I have a good SDC class the next two days and I have Jurupa Vista on Friday. It’s been quite a while since I taught at Jurupa Vista. I’ve been teaching a lot at Birney, which has been giving me lots of so so experiences. They just don’t like me there. I tried Rogers on Friday, but instead of teaching second grade, it was first and I just lost control.

For date night this week we got take out from Sub Stop and watched Dan in Real Life, which Sarah liked. We were going to go out swimming, but decided to swim on Saturday. Remember how cold our feet felt at Bridal Veils, well, that is how cold it was that Saturday afternoon. Sarah  jumped in without testing the waters first, and it was cold. I just submerged once, but we couldn’t handle it.

We invited Mom and Dad over for dinner Thursday night. It was super cool to have them over at our house for a meal. We made fried chicken, mashed potatoes and cabbage salad. Afterwards we talked and later we played STOP!, which Mom won, followed by Sarah, Dad, and me. Dad wanted to make “boxing athletes” a category, haha. I was able to go watch the BYU Gonzaga game with Mom and Dad on Saturday. We had Pizza and Buffalo Wings. Sarah wanted to finish cleaning up the house, organize the boxes of stuff we have. We actually want to put a table there from Lucy and Jesus in the corner by our door. She was done with all of the boxes when I had returned.

We lost that game, unfortunately. It was sad, because the last 4 years we have beaten them at the Kennel. We were really holding our side of the game, until the last minute and a half of the game.

Anyways, it’s been a good week of sorts. I’m looking forward to this next week. I had a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday, but it was just a preliminary appointment, and I have another one this week on Thursday. In it, I’ll talk about the medicine I am taking and get refills. Hopefully, this time around I will get them for 6 months, like my previous doctor said I was going to get. All this is through Kaiser Permanente now.

We are just getting home from a Viewing of Sarah’s sister-in-law’s mom. We were able to see two of Sarah’s sisters and a brother and her mom. Even though it was a solemn time, it was nice to talk to the family and to her nephews. Her brother, Richard, has five boys, and we talked to the oldest, and the 3rd or so oldest shared a comic he had made, in the style of Dave Pilkey. It was pretty cool.

Now I’ll leave you. I love you, Jacob. Take care and send me a line.

Love,

John

2/3 A Cold Swim and the Gonzaga BYU Kennel Curse is Over

We tried to swim today, but the water was so cold.

We cleaned the house.

Went to Cafe Rio.

And i went to watch BYU play Gonzaga at my parent's house, which we lost, unfortunately.

However, life is good.

2/2 Hard first Graders and 6 more Weeks of Winter

Today was an early start for us and me. I had to get to Rogers, where I thought I would teach 2nd grade but instead the class was first grade. It started out all nice and dandy, me explaining the rules and everything, but right off the bat, and the office warned me, there was a girl named Briana (and for some reason I really want to call her Sarah, because of her temperament, like my sister) that wouldn't give me the time of day, no heed. Then there was Marcos, who I knew was going to be bad because he had his own behavioral chart.

The teacher did not make her plans well. A lot of reading at the carpet, which makes sense because they're first graders. So I played Simon Says with them, along with singing Once There Was a Snowman, Popcorn Popping and the Hokey Pokey. They enjoyed all those things, but as the day wore on, so did the class's temperament. It was extremely hard to get them to do work at the end of the day. And what added to the mix of bad was that Marcos choked two girls (don't know how hard) but wouldn't go to the office at my urging/request. So, we had a defiant little bludger.

I came home worked. So, I watched the rest of Cars 3, which is pretty predictable, but leaves you guessing how they're going to get from point A to point B.

Then I drove to Sub Stop to pick up a turkey avocado sub, and I got an Italian sub.

We were going to go swimming, but we postponed it for tomorrow, since Sarah got out of her work late.

It was pretty hot. Punxsutawney  Phil saw his shadow for Groundhog day today. Six more weeks of winter portended.

For date night we watched my copy I reserved from the library of Dan in Real Life. Sarah really enjoyed it. We then watched Korra, and the West Wing. We got interrupted during the movie by Sarah's mom, calling us to give us some news of different stuff. Sarah was a bit annoyed by her mothers shame. She ended the call fast.

We do not have too much, for once.

First Month of Marriage by Sarah Rebecca Gonzales

Happy Sabbath, everyone. 

The date today, January 28th, marks four weeks since my husband John and I got married. It's been a remarkable four weeks and even in this short amount of time, I can see why Heavenly Father desires that His children get married, and what a blessing it is. I am more motivated and have better support to continue in my goals with a husband by my side who is loving, encouraging, and engaging in sharing the burdens of this life together. We can both see how the difficult trials before we were married have prepared each of us individually to both make the most of time in our lives together (by not making the same mistakes we have made in the past) and also to see the contrast between what has happened in the past and what we are encountering now. I definitely believe that our brief stints of sorrow has better prepared us to receive and appreciate the joy. 

We honeymooned in Huntington beach where we did a lot of relaxing and very good eating. Certainly the highlight of the trip was a lovely gondola ride where we ended up learning some of the history of Venice and talking about Italian politics. I sure love learning! We also had another quasi-honeymoon experience where we went to Utah for our open-house. It was incredible to see and reconnect with so many people who came, even people from Idaho, roommates that I hadn't seen for almost seven years, people that I had only met through mentoring but found over the internet so I didn't know face-to-face, and of course, one of the highlights were Rex, Julie, Alex and his son Benny Pond. And of course, I consider my friends in Provo my Utah family. The furthest traveller was my bestie Sylvia who came from Illinois. Sarah Mabel Jensen and her family planned to come, even though she just had another baby only a few days earlier, but the storm the night before changed their minds. Many thanks to sister Jami Evans who basically put on the entire thing. 

We stayed with John's grandmother (truly a marvelous woman) in Hurricane and got to visit with some of John's aunts, uncles and cousins who lived nearby to see us. Everyone that I've met is just wonderful in John's family. We stayed as well with Victor and Lynda Sorensen, (our cousins in Orem) and are certainly grateful for their goodness, their warmth and hospitality. It was nice again to have a relaxing time with the fast-pace of wedding planning and then going almost immediately back to work. We have hit the ground running! 

With this new beginning, both of marriage and of the new year, John and I have created goals and habits that will continue to fortify our lives. We wake up every morning and read our scriptures, pray, sing, make our beds, eat breakfast and make lunch and get ready for the work-day. We find that our goals have been facilitated by the mercies Heavenly Father puts in our path. For example, one of my goals is to grow my business. I have received  three or four new clients just in the past two months for my business and that has brought in greater income. That also helps us in our other goals of saving and getting out of debt and becoming more self-reliant. John has been blessed to find a substitute job almost every single-day since we have been married and is waking up earlier to accept the assignments that were otherwise too early to go to. Our marriage helps us work harder to build the life together that we desire. We both went to the doctor because we have really good health insurance now and are focusing on my physical therapy (to get back to running, etc. after my accident) and to focus on eating healthier. John and I go to the gym multiple times a week and much more motivated to cook at home since living in the same apartment helps our lives be at a (slightly) lower pace and we get to plan our time together. Other blessings have come from the development of the self-reliance classes at church, where the introduction to the new classes started this evening. I am taking the growing my small business course and John is going to the class that will help him learn how to get back into school so he can pursue a master's degree in music therapy. 

We live in a lovely little gated community in Bloomington, California (just bordering Fontana where John grew up), in a 550 or so square foot apartment. We have been blessed with a vision and the resources to take this (what might seem to some as a small) cozy space and turn it into a place called home. Mom came over just this weekend to have a mini-vacation and she helped a lot in helping us organize our apartment. We have a lot of food storage and have been finding creative ways to store it where it is accessible and not tacky. I love to cook but feel less motivated if I'm not in an organized kitchen, but everything fits perfectly and it really does look good. 

We have been given a couch, a rocking chair, a dining table and chairs, a rocking chair with ottoman,  a coffee table, a mattress and a bookshelf all for free, have made our own end tables and will soon make a desk, and all of our other furniture (bookcase, dresser, drawers) only cost about seventy dollars. We have been very, very blessed. 

John is a really good cook and makes many of our meals, either from his own repertoire or according to my instruction, and the food is always very delicious. He does so much of the cleaning also while I am at work and the laundry facilities here are state-of the art brand new and  at a relatively reasonable price. 

We had the sister missionaries over for dinner the other night where I made cauliflower and potato soup from scratch and John made corn-bread casserole. The elders also happened to stop by (they didn't know the sisters were coming) to get to know us since they were in the neighborhood. We like our ward although, with the honeymoon, the open-house and a stake and a regional conference, we have only been once, although we have already made some very good friends. John and I got asked by our bishop to come and meet with him this Wednesday night and it's probable that we are going to get callings. 

My job will be ending on February 25th since they will be relocating to Brea and I didn't want to go with them. It was a difficult choice, but building my business is my ultimate goal so we feel that working part-time for me will be a good thing so I can really make gains with the momentum that I already have. I look forward to finding a new place to work and if it's half as awesome as Monoprice then I would be really blessed. This week I'm going to start looking for new and better work. 

John and I find the a theme throughout this month has been receive. Our Heavenly Parents have placed miracles, gifts, blessings and inspiration in our path to help solve every problem and all we have needed to do is have the faith to ask and work for them and the humility to receive them. We received so many wedding gifts and miracles, and as know, the greatest gift of all from our Heavenly Parents was the gift of Their Son. 

Thank you for being in our lives, for your love, inspiration and support.  We love you all so much.


Sarah and John Gonzales

2/1 Mrs. Linda and Dinner with Mom and Dad

Today was really great. I was at Sycamore doing Mrs. Pierce's SDC class. I got a lot of help from Linda, who is an aide that is super nice to me and makes my days go by like nothing. Two things, there was a fire drill, but the kids were really good, and there was an assembly about raising money for heart awareness. I wonder how successful these things (fundraisers) really are. They said that if they raised like $4000 they would donate $300 worth of playground equipment. Which sounds good, but Sycamore is already equipped with sound playground equipment.

The other SDC class (Mr. Gonzalez) was also ran by a sub, and he seemed to be on top of his game, calling kids by their names and greeting me. I did my best to call the children by their names by the end of the day...names like Jasmine or Omar or Gael or Angel or Benjamin or Matthew G. They really are good kids, even Lizzie and/or Aiden.

We invited my Mom and Dad over for dinner. We made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and coleslaw salad. All were very well received by everyone. We had a nice time chatting. We moved the table so we could fit four people. Then we played Stop!, which I humbly lost. The parents were impressed by how nice the house looked. We showed them around after we were done eating.

The house smelled like gas when I got home, so I kept the door open for half an hour, and the smell of chicken really helped.