9/30 Letter #88

Hello Brother!!!

This has been a really crazy week. It ended with Sarah making a visit to Arizona. Why? Well, to see me of course, and because she is applying for an aide position at Mesa High School as well. We were going to go to a double ward campout together, but she came relatively late on Friday, so we didn't want to go to the mountains to set up a tent in the dark, so we ended up staying a motel in downtown Mesa, the cheapest we could find. We had a good evening. She wanted to come with enough time to go to the Mesa Public Schools district office, but they closed early on Friday, so we arranged for her to stay with my good friends Carlos Santos and his wife, Elizabeth.

Well, you probably heard about the BYU/Washington game. It was almost a shut-out. Uncle Steve said that the penalties would hurt them and, boy, was he right!! It was totally sad to watch and we wondered why they kept on going before half time instead of taking a knee. And we lost our ranking. I think we are at like 33 or something. :( There really isn't anything else to say. Let's just hope they get their act together before next week against Utah State. I will say some prayers. Actually, I probably jinxed them. I had gone to the temple with Sarah that day and while in the Celestial Room, I prayed that BYU would win because they were the Lord's team. Well, goes to show me that God has a sense of humor. Either that, or BYU is just an inconsistent team. At the end of the third quarter, I went upstairs to get some water for all three of us, and it was just painful to tell Janell, who was upstairs, that they hadn't even made a point yet. Honestly, by the end of the third quarter, we just really spent the time talking to Uncle Steve and having Sarah get to know him better. He recommended that Sarah and I try intermittent fasting. Me especially, since we have a diabetes history in the family. Sarah enjoyed talking with them.

For some good news, I started my new job at Amazon. They told me to come at 7:45 PM even though I had signed up for a shift at 4:30 PM. I was a little confused as to why but I figured it could have been because they had paid me for 3 hours to fill out a bunch of paperwork at home. But it turns out that they just got my schedule wrong entirely and wanted me to work until 4:30 in the morning. Oh that was soooooo long! I am glad I had taken off Thursday so I could sleep the next day, but I was really nervous about coming in on Thursday with that schedule because I never could have gotten to work on Friday morning. Well it took a lot of work and they finally did fix my schedule so I can come in at the proper time. I have one more week of training and then I get to pick my own schedule. I am hoping to work on Saturdays and then after school from 3:45 to 8:30 for some shifts. Hopefully I can pick up so many hours a week.

Also, in the three hours that I was there before 7:45, I walked to a sandwich place called Which Wich? They let me take my computer and use the WiFi since I was a customer. I really liked the waiter/cashier, as he was super helpful and he gave me a free drink from the fountain. It was definitely a good experience.

You asked about the job, and I don't blame you. They honestly weren't very clear in the instructions about the things that I was hired for. Well, it's a desk job on the sixth floor of a building in Tempe near ASU's stadium. I found out that like you told me, Amazon doesn't have paid drivers do their deliveries. Well, they are paid, but it's kinda run like Uber. Anyone can pick up the packages that need to be delivered, take them on an assigned route and get paid for the two hours that they work. But like I said, anyone can do it for some extra cash on the side. So, the cool thing is, the main thing that I am paid and am beginning to be trained for is assigning drivers routes on the computer for all the grocery type Amazon orders. They call it Amazon Fresh. I've noticed and have been told that there are other different jobs that we all can be trained for at a later date, when we get working in Fresh done. It's pretty cool. I was also trained in how to make calls and follow a script when a package hasn't been delivered. Not my favorite, and then also how to make Amazon employee badges (it's okay). But I have really enjoyed learning how to work Fresh. It's a lot of multi-tasking, as you actually sit at a desk with three large computer screens in front of you, which can be maneuvered with the mouse, and on the screens you open up and Excel checklist, and Excel program called a Velocitron, you open a chat called Chime, and 4 or 5 different sites that are mapped out. The thing that makes it difficult is that the checklist tells you to do the things (time), but there are a lot of times when you have to do five things at once or it'll ding at you.

I was able to make friends with my fellow trainees: a black lady from Wisconsin and a lady that worked as a school Psychologist in East Mesa named Kelly and a man that worked as a substitute in Mesa. So really good camaraderie between us. The supervisors are pretty cool and laid back. Actually, there are times when there is a lot of down time. So that's cool. The break room has a view of the Rio Salado (or Salt River), and since I have been there at night, it is super cool to look at. The day view is cool, too. And I like that it has a type of Curling board. It's really fun and cool. So, besides the late nights, good experiences overall. Also, making acquaintances with the people that are relative "experts" has been pretty cool too. I shadowed a guy named Alex and a girl named I can't remember.

While Sarah's been down here, after church we were looking at any apartments in the vicinity of Tuscany Palms, seeing if there were other places we could look. Plus, we had gotten a number of man who is the owner of an apartment complex across the street. Well, we never got ahold of him but as we were driving across 8th Avenue, we turned in a nice looking place and saw a for rent sign.We called the number and this nice old man named Ed came out and showed us a really nice place for not a great amount of money. And the qualifications are less stringent than Tuscany so we decided to apply. We didn't have the money to put it down a deposit, but Sarah called her sister-in-law Kirsten, and she gave us some money so we could reserve it right then. It was a huge blessing how kind they are. They just gave it to us on the spot.

We got a call only a few hours later from our credit application and they said we passed! So we just have to put down the rest of the deposit and then it's October 15th when we move in. I am so amazed at the many tender mercies that the Lord has laid out for us in our move to Mesa. They have been perfect and so huge!!

It was so nice of Carlos and Elizabeth to allow Sarah to stay with them the two nights. What was really cool is that we got a text from Carlos on Friday saying that the previous Branch President heard about our situation and that he was willing to offer a room in his house for us. This was before we had found Pine Ridge after church. But how nice these people are. People pulling through to help us out is so nice.

Church was super dooper good. It was so cool to introduce Sarah to the different people in our branch. And they were all so nice to her. It was also fun playing the Organ during Sacrament meeting. Sarah actually played We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet (in Spanish) during combined 5th Sunday meetings.

Carlos and Elizabeth invited us to go to Maricopa (a city), Arizona with them to visit Carlos' parents after church. We finished with the Pine Ridge application and headed over there. We carpooled and Carlos' parents are super nice. She made a type of Mexican Estofado, tortillas, and beans. They were so good, but what was even better is the conversation we were able to have with his Mom. She was so nice. We played games with them, including a jumbo-sized card Uno and Phase 10. Fun night.

I love our new branch that we are almost official members of. Sarah loves the ward and the building too. The building is older and architecturally detailed. She said it looks like the St George tabernacle. I can see how this is the perfect place that the Lord has made for our little family.

Work has been really interesting too. Jennifer bit one of the Aide's hand (Tiffany), enough that it left bruises, etc. Not as much drama about changing people's diapers. Like I said, I took Thursday off.

Thank you for having faith in the mission. If you continue to have faith and do hard things, the Lord will lead you to lots of miracles. One of my favorite lines from Dad to me, and that I'd like to extend to you, is you are going to do miracles out there.

Love you so much and have a wonderful week!! Send me a line, please,

John

PS, Sarah actually wrote some of this letter for me, and did it in what she believed was my voice. It was pretty close.

9/26 Inspired Idea for Sarah to Come out Here and My First Day/NIght at Amazon

This day has been wacky....and it's only going to get wackier. Let me explain.

This morning Sarah was talking like she was going to come here and stay here, because that seems like the only option, and really, it does...since, I need her to earn money along with my money to afford Tuscany Palms. However, Sarah came up with a brilliant idea a few minutes ago, one that doesn't have her living in her car or on her own at a campsite, at least not yet. The idea is for her to come this Friday, go to Mesa Public Schools HR and finish applying for the job. Then, there is this scheduled campout that the Guerrero Park Branch has been invited to with the Udall Ward, the ward that meets in the same building. (However, on Sunday, Carlos told me that hardly anybody goes from the ward, but it is a good cover story even though we're not trying to cover anything up). She's going to spend the night with me on Friday night at the campout and leave for California the next day. Also, instead of using 401K money to buy a package from Tyler Watson, Sarah's going to use it to put down on our house. Sarah emailed Tuscany Palms and asked if us starting our new jobs and money will work for what Tuscany Palms needs. So, in fourteen days, we may have an apartment.

I was so conflicted before Sarah came up with that master plan. I want Sarah here, and she needs to be here to apply for the job. However, I don't want her to be all by herself. I want an apartment for Sarah and I to be in. That plan above is definitely going to work, it has to. Otherwise, we are probably going to campout from the time that Sarah gets her job at the school. Things will work out. This idea came to her as I was praying, super-conflicted-like.

Another reason why this night is going to get wacky is because in an hour and a half, I start my job at Amazon that will go into the night until 2AM. I don't really know what to expect. These next two days hopefully won't be killer. I'm not working at the school tomorrow, so that should help. However, I only got 23 hours this week. I didn't plan it out well. I was suppose to go earlier, to accrue more hours, however, I had to take Gracie to school in the mornings, and I didn't communicate my need with the tios. Oh well. The thing that will probably be the hardest about the next two days will be Friday morning when I only have had about 5 or so hours of sleep, and I have to work the whole of Friday. Then spend the night with Sarah, etc. But at least I have the weekend after that.

School was pretty good. Jennifer bit Tiffany's hand, and she had to go to the nurse to get it checked out. I think she bit pretty hard. Also, I could tell and she told me that she was frustrated at lunch. No walking for Gavin and me today. So, not really much more to talk about. Eva has a lot on her plate for tomorrow, and I'm not even going to be there to help out. Whoops. What am I going to do? Nothing.

Well, I'm happy that everything is coming together, after I was so conflicted. I'm sitting in a Which Wich restaurant several blocks from the Amazon building. I got there at the time that I was suppose to, 4:30, however, I kept on getting emails about how the time was for 7:30, which is the ACTUAL time I'm suppose to be there. I have an hour and a couple of minutes. Hopefully this job is super good.

9/25 Kick in the Pants again and Amazon Working

Sarah pretty much has a job here in Mesa! Guess what it is? IA at Mesa High School, with me. We had the idea last night that I talk to Patrick about getting Sarah a job today. Which I did, the moment I got to school today. He said there is one job available and Sarah can have it. But that leaves one question:

Where is Sarah going to stay when she needs to get the stuff necessary to be done, especially at Mesa HR?

Well, Uncle Jesse made it clear today when he got home that he had heard, and that he doesn't want Sarah to come stay at this house with us, and practically that, I need to do everything I can to get a place for Sarah to stay, so we're not living in the street. I'm paraphrasing, and it wasn't as mean as it sounded. He actually was very respectful.

That got me thinking if CAMPING really is our best option, which I'm thinking now is not. Well, I feel like we just gotta get the cheapest month to month apartment that we can find, and we have been looking, and fast so that she can come out here by the move in date which would be October 2, next Tuesday, one week.

We have a lot to get done this week, and hopefully it isn't too hard to handle for both of us, because, believe me, Uncle Jesse's words, while respectful, were like a kick in the butt.

We can do it. We want month to month, so as soon as possible, we can move to our desired location: Tuscany Palms. It can be done.

I spent the good part of my evening working on the Amazon Docs and modules. Hopefully I can do well tomorrow and Thursday. I'm taking Thursday off at school this week and next week. I start tomorrow at supposedly 7:30pm.

Gavin walked with me twice and I got more than 13000 steps.

Eva found out that I can play the piano, so she's going to bring one tomorrow. Not a real one. We'll see how it looks. There were only four students for most of the day. Brady came and left for doctors appointments and came again.

I didn't see Aunt Kerry at my lunch time because her office was closed.

I took Gracie to the gym after school today.

One more day to go until I get paid. And Amazon is a weekly pay period.

9/23 Letter #87

Dear Jacob,

Lots has happened. Where to start?

BYU played a good game yesterday. It was a rough start though. I saw a tweet that was like, why does BYU always play to the level of their opponent? Fortunately, that was the first quarter only. Momentum changed in the second quarter with a blocked field goal by Corbin Kaufusi, several interceptions, and 24 points later, they were leading at half, McNeese only having 3...but of course, they scored first. It was on BYUtv, so I was able to watch the rest of the game later. Unfortunately, I had already gotten a spoiler of what the final score was before I could resume watching. Dumb phone, haha. I watched the 2nd Half later that night with Sarah. The second half was a little slow, and by the end of the game, I was falling asleep. I couldn't even watch the postgame show. Yeah, we ended up watching it really late. Tanner deferred to Zach Wilson after several plays in the second half. He did pretty good, no touchdowns though. They ended up with two more field goals to make the end score 30-3. And I think we are now ranked 20. CRAZY. Can you believe it, we now have a 3-1 record after the first four games? Washington next week to look forward to. That'll be the test, for sure. If we win, we will have a 4-1 record, which was unthinkable before this season started. And to be ranked as well is another story. The BYU 2018 season is a crazy story.

That same evening, I was invited to eat dinner and celebrate Gracie's 14th (or 134th) birthday at a restaurant called Bobby Q's, which is a Famous Dave's without the Feast. It was Gracie, Uncle Jesse and Aunt Kerry, me, Janell and Steve, Peter, and Aunt Ann. The food was really good. Amazing really. One of my favorite lines from that party was someone asked Gracie, I heard you can deadlift 140 lbs, is that true? And Gracie said yes. Then Uncle Steve comments: I deadlift 240 lbs every morning when I get out of bed before I go to work. Haha. It was a nice atmosphere. We were sitting out on the patio. Uncle Jesse was asked to pick up the candles for Gracie's cheesecake. Well, he  pulls out a 1 and then a 3. We were all like, Jesse! Gracie is 14! He gets a big smile on his face and pulls out a 4. We stuck with the joke and put all three candles on the cake. He also picked up some sparklers to add. It was super nice. Can't believe Gracie is that old. It seems just like yesterday you were holding her and reading a book to her. She's growing into a remarkable young woman.

Sarah and I had a temple date this week on Friday again. We both did initiatories. I originally wanted to do an endowment, but I arrived too late. It was good though, since I go pretty much every Friday evening, I recognized the same ordinance worker in the initiatory booth. It was actually kinda special to run into someone that I know. It seems that happens a lot to me, which is really good. I'll be sad. Gilbert Temple is closing down for the whole month of October. Which means that I will have to head to the Phoenix temple for all our temple needs, since both Gilbert and Mesa will be closed. I think Mesa will be closed until 2020 for renovations.

I have an unofficial calling in the Guerrero Park Branch. Last week I told the music chairman, Hermana Castaneda that I play the piano. Well, I was asked to play the organ today. The last time I played an Organ was at someone's funeral. But it was actually really cool. The chorister told me to look at her to get the beat right. She also said some other stuff that I didn't understand. I played four hymns, one of which I didn't know that well. It was cool to choose the different settings depending on the type of hymn I was playing.

I got to church early this morning. Why? Jocelyn Fenus Palmer called me on Friday evening and told me her husband, Wes, was in Phoenix and needed a ride to the Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, as his Uber wasn't working and he didn't have that much money to begin with. I picked him up early this morning and drove him. He's here because he is getting a trucking job, and here he learned the different basics of truck driving. My first time in the Sky Harbor was actually not that bad. It is comparable to the Salt Lake Airport, maybe a little bigger, but still manageable. I got out alright using the GPS.

I slept in the parking lot of the church for a while since church didn't start til 10:50. I got in a conversation with our Elders. I can't remember their names but they seem to be pretty good guys. One is a transfer from Nicaragua Mission. They both are in the 20 month or so mark. I also met the sisters for a bit. We had a lesson on Jonah that was really good.

I think I told you last week, but Carlos Santos and his wife invited me and another couple over for fish tacos after church. His wife, Elizabeth, made some really good fish tacos, probably the best I have ever had and I asked her for the recipe and she told me it was a secret, haha. I got to meet her sister (who's name I cannot remember), and a couple from the ward named Alex and VidiDiana and their little 5 month old baby who was smiling at me a lot named Natalie. Alex, Carlos, and I got into a conversation about the second coming and events leading to it, things about Missouri and Iowa, and Adam-ondi-ahman. Then we played a game called Last Word, which is very similar to the game STOP! that we play as a family, in that a category card is flipped over along with a letter card and in a matter of a few seconds, you have to be the last one to come up with a word that goes along with the category, and whoever has the Last Word, wins a step towards the finish on a board game. I was third, but I wasn't as competitive as I normally was. It was definitely a fun time and I look forward to introducing Sarah to them. I did show them pictures of our wedding and our proposal. The girls were all like: Awwwwwwe!

It was definitely just a regular week at work. With Special Ed kids, anything really can happen. Gavin has been really hyper the last week. On Monday, he ran outside 3 times without permission. The first I was able to catch him right outside the door before he got to far. But the second time he got far. I took out a radio, for caution, and two boys who were visiting from Ms. McGraff's classroom that were visiting us, came following. On the radio, I announced to the security guards that Gavin got loose. Fortunately, he ran to the fence and we calmed him down and walked around, and ran a bit. The third time, I was helping change someone in the bathroom, when another teacher told me he got loose again. I stopped what I was doing and grabbed the radio, alerted the security guards and ran after him. He ran to the fence, which is his normal routine for walking outside. And we were able to get him to walk back after he got to the fence. The security guard followed us on a bike both times.

It seems all the craziness happens at the end of the day, right after one of the aides Tiffany leaves. On Friday, we were about to feed them snack before it was time for them to go home, and one of our potty trained kids, Ryan, didn't warn us that he had to go to the bathroom, so when he got to the kitchen, he just wet his pants and a big puddle was dripping underneath his wheelchair. Ryan is probably our most high functioning kid, which made the occurrence a bit strange. One of the aides took him to the bathroom to wipe him up and change him, and I was asked to mop up the pee on the tiled floor in the kitchen.

I had to leave class early on Wednesday, but I heard that Jenna, one of our kids that gets easily distracted, wandered off on the way to the bus. Fortunately, the teacher was praying and hoping to find her before something happened to her. These can be normal occurrences.

I left early because I had an interview with Amazon on Wednesday afternoon. Well, it turned out to be less of an interview and more of a hiring event. I had been discouraged because the scheduled time of work that I had chosen to work would leave me staying up really late at night in north Tempe. But after they did the cotton swab drug test and taking a picture for an ID card, I asked the hire-er questions, and she said after the first two weeks of training, which is that set time that I chose, I will be able to schedule my hours based on availability of shifts. That was super good news. I thanked her and happily drove home from the event, listening to music as I went. So, hopefully I get to start a new job this week. It definitely was good news.

There's also been a lot of drama between the different aides that visit our classroom during the day and our aides. We just got a fourth aide named Celia, that use to work with some other kids in a different classroom. Well, that girl she was working with got an aide named Lynn. I guess Lynn is not a very nice person to other human beings (even though she's always been good to me), and not very good to the student she is with. And, to top it all off, she comes with another student who is in need of someone to change him before he eats, and she wasn't willing to do that. Well, the start of the week, specifically Celia, was saying that she wasn't suppose to change kids, nor feed Buddy. Anyways, it's gotten better by the end of the week, but at the start of the week, I was really annoyed with how the aides were treating each other. It just wasn't good feelings, and these kids demand and deserve our undivided attention and we need to put differences aside, and serve these kids to the best of our ability. Those are my pent-in two cents. But of course, it's gotten better, like I said.

I've been able to make friends with the girl that comes with Buddy, named Savannah. She's actually a sweet girl who just needs some good attention. Otherwise she gets into trouble. But it has been nice getting to know her and making a new friend. Also, there is a boy I help change named Jesus. He's pretty cool. He calls everything mostly blue, and sometimes purple. And Buddy squeezes my hand really hard.

Sarah went to her dad's birthday party in Torrance this weekend. She skyped me in a conversation with all those who were in attendance. She also was able to go to the LA County Fair with her sister, Athena. She had a great time at both events. Also, Mom and Dad invited her for dinner on Thursday. I had asked our parents to look for the title to my car, but they didn't find it, so Sarah called me and skyped with us and asked me to find the Title, which I did. Then, I was able to get Kerry in on the call, and Ann who was visiting. They had a good conversation. The only one who was missing was Aunt Kristen, darn.

We're preparing for Sarah to come out here really soon. Can't wait to give you the news. BTW, we just got a PO BOX in Mesa, if you want to send us stuff. It is:

PO BOX 449
Mesa, AZ 85211

I'm glad you liked the comics that I sent you. I have a few more that I liked this week and a meme about your and you're. Send me a line, if possible.

Love you,

John

9/22 Gracie's Birthday and another BYU win

I had a wonderful evening with Gracie and the tios and Uncle Steve, Janell, Aunt Ann, and Peter, at Bobby Q's eating ribs celebrating Gracie's birthday. It was a lot of fun. The family is so nice to me, and Aunt Ann actually gave me a Wedding card for our wedding with a $50 mastercard gift card. The half a rack of ribs was super good. Super tasty, and the spicy bbq sauce was really good as well. A little pricey, but like I said, the tios are so nice to me.

I was able to talk to Uncle Steve about the first half of the BYU vs McNeese State football game, which is what I was watching before I went to the party. He gave me a first half score spoiler, as I hadn't watched the complete ending of quarter 2. Steve and Janell had gone to the temple. Also, Aunt Ann expressed a desire to possibly go to the temple with me one of these days. Ann got Gracie a lot of little presents, culminating with a Chanel red leather purse. Uncle Steve got her a hardcover Pride and Prejudice.

Aunt Janell congratulated me on getting a job with Amazon. They were being very supportive with me tonight. More than I thought they really were, as they kinda let us down at the beginning of our trek out to Arizona. Of course, we weren't entitled to have a place to stay with them in the first place. So, I'm glad that they were showing some support to me.

Sarah went to her Dad's birthday party in Torrance today. They were celebrating with Uncle Ken as well. Sarah took the phone and showed me everyone there at my request. Lots of support. She and I are going to watch the ending of the game when she finally gets home. I know the score already, but I want to see how it all plays out.

I went to the Mesa Post Office to get a PO Box and change of address slips. It cost $30 for 6 months. That should be really good. I also did quick trips to DI and Deseret Book.

I get to pick up Wes Fenus, Jocelyn (my cousin)'s husband tomorrow and take him to the airport at 7 in the morning. It should be good.