Dear Brother,
This Sunday has been truly amazing. I know sometimes Sundays are hard, because we have to look back, and really consider what we can do to better ourselves, and being in a different place that isn't home yet can also be hard, but then there are Sundays like this that the spirit is felt immensely and you are grateful to be alive. I was with Uncle Steve, Aunt Janelle and Gracie on Saturday, and we were talking about just that. Sundays, Janelle said, in Peru were always the hardest. She expressed that now that Morgan is in Europe with her family, that it takes getting use to being away from things that are familiar. I've always loved the word familiar, because it comes from family...but as we make the place we are a place of "family," we then grow to love where we are at. It hasn't been easy being away from my wife. But, I'm grateful for family, and the strength they provide, and the ability to be able to talk to her and send my love as we prepare for her to move to Arizona with me. Slowly, but surely, Arizona is becoming home, and as soon as I'm reunited with my Spouse, it will be recognized as Our Home.
I guess I am grateful today because I was able to go to the Guerrero Park Branch for the second time since I've been in AZ. I've been ward hopping since being here, or in Cali or Prescott. But no ward or branch has had a pull on me like the first one I scouted out: Guerrero Park. Honestly, when I first got to Arizona and I was searching the area of Mesa for a Spanish Branch or Ward, I felt the most spiritual pull from the building that the Guerrero Park Branch meets at. I have attended two or three other wards, and none had that same pull. There were people that were still nice to me in the other places, but, I truly believe and hope that we get an apartment that is in the Guerrero Park Branch boundaries. We have our eyes on an apartment complex called Tuscany Palms. Now comes the hard part of applying to live there.
We just got finished watching the LDS Face2Face devotional in Nauvoo, Illinois with Quentin L. Cook and two church Historians (another reason why I am feeling so blessed and motivated today). The devotional was super good. I was so impressed by the kind of people those historians were and their answers to the hard questions and their great testimonies of the Gospel. One thing I took is that the church is not trying to hide things that happened in the past. That the Book of Mormon is a great teacher of truth. That we can learn from those of the past, those past saints. I am actually so excited for the new Saints book that just came out. The church released the first 8 chapters of the book on the app and online before Tuesday last, and I just ate them up. Not only that but the Gospel Topic Essays are amazing. After the devotional, I felt really grateful to be descended from polygamists. I also felt the power of their testimonies of Joseph Smith. I think I have read all four accounts of the First Vision and am grateful for the differences in scope. I liked the historian's analogy that imagine you are telling the story of your spouse of future spouse four times throughout your life. If you recounted the event (1) on the day you met her, (2) on the day of your wedding to family and friends, (3) as a letter to your 18 year old daughter, and (4) to your posterity like granddaughters and grandsons when your like 80 years old; of course the accounts are going to be different. I definitely see it when I tell the story of how I met Sarah to different people and especially when I help or hear Sarah tell her version of the story. Each time, I am like, hmmmmm, I wonder how she's going to tell it this time. Or even when I retell it, it's different each time. I feel my faith growing even more when I read those different accounts.
Well, I sent you that video of the game recap. We lost by three, but it feels like more because of how poorly our offense was playing. I was able to watch the game with Uncle Steve and his friend, Brett, at his house in Mesa. It was super cool to be invited to that (even though we lost). It seems like the offense couldn't establish themselves in the game at all. There were probably 10 or so three and out plays, which was super frustrating. Like Spencer said, it seemed like the defense was trying to Will a win, but it wasn't taking. The defense was playing their hardest. Probably my favorite play of the game was the fumble recovery and the TD that resulted from it. Unfortunately, it was Tanner Mangum's 25th birthday. I know, super rotten birthday present. Uncle Steve was commenting, wondering when they were going to replace him with the second string quarterback. Also, he was upset and saying stuff like they should fire Kalani, and they shouldn't have fired Detmer. I don't know. It was definitely a let down from last week's game. Arizona actually got trounced yesterday as well, which kinda took away the luster of our performance last week. Uncle Steve said it, next week is going to probably be excruciating, as we play Wisconsin.
US Open finished today. You probably guessed it, Djokovic won in three sets, second set being really close, ending in a tie breaker. Nadal is out because of knee injuries. This is Djokovic's third win at US Open, and if Del Potro won, it would've been his second, but alas, the underdog failed to play. Serena was actually beat yesterday by Osaka (an up and coming woman's tennis player). However, there's been some controversy in the game, Serena getting after the officials for sexism and other stuff like that. They penalized her three times (I don't think in a row), and I heard on the news that she was fined some money for he penalizations. So, you know, run of the mill crazy tennis controversies happening, nothing too big, haha. You be the judge. Unfortunately, what does that mean...we have a couple months to wait for the next major. Is it Australian Open (I can't remember)?
Work has been not too bad, of late. There was one day this week that by the end of the day I could hardly function because of end-of-the-day anxiety. But fortunately, that was only one day out of the four. I think it was Thursday...Gavin has been really interesting. He doesn't use a wheelchair, so he's free to go whereever he likes whenever he likes. Well this week on Th. or Wed. he went in the bathroom (by himself like he usually does). Well, all of a sudden, we hear the sound of loud running water and he runs out of the bathroom. I follow the teacher in and we find that he has turned on the faucet to the shower that is in that bathroom, and the water was spraying directly at the back of the shower, so we couldn't really reach it. I got up on the toilet and grabbed the handle to turn it off. Well, that is one thing. But, probably not too long afterwards, like an hour or so later, he walks into the bathroom again. We didn't really think much of it. Usually, I am the one that supervises him when he goes in, checking in on him every few seconds. Well, he's on the toilet, when I look in, and he had stripped down; everything from his shirt and underwear, to his socks and shoes. Oh boy. So, I run in on him and tell him he needs to put all his clothes back on. He doesn't listen. And he gets up and makes for the shower. That would've been crazy. So, I kinda pin him down back on to the toilet. He's just sitting there, smiling, not wanting me to help him put on his clothes. Well, each time I try to put an article of clothing on him, I said a small prayer that he would listen and let me do so. Each time, he didn't resist and finally, he put all his clothes back on. What a stinker, haha!
Anyways, I told the teacher what had happened. The following day, for some reason he was going to the bathroom in the other bathroom (there are two in the classroom). (I had thought the teachers had conditioned him to do so that day, but come to find out he was just doing it of his own accord). Well, that would've been all find and dandy because there are no showers in the second bathroom. To our dismay, he went number two in there, and the toilet is only capable of flushing number one, haha. Long story short, I ended up using gloves and tissues to pick up the article, and take it to the other bathroom to flush. I really didn't want the teacher to do it, so I volunteered. Anyways, fun times with Gavin this week.
I've been the go-to guy to get the food from the cafeteria for the kids' lunches. They give me a tray and a bag to go pick it up. We fill the bag with juices and fruit and milks and we use the tray to carry the four different trays. I don't mind doing it, but my arm get's tired from lugging the food from the cafeteria all the way back to the classroom, which isn't by the cafeteria. I've also taken to feeding the brother and sister combo, Brady and Jenna. We use special scissors to cut up their food so they don't choke. If Brady doesn't like the taste of his food, he spits it out. I've also been feeding Jennifer, a girl that can only eat foods in liquid (I'm not really sure why). Also, she has an apparatus in her belly that we feed her water through. I've actually never done it because no one has taught me how. You gotta be careful with Jennifer though, she is really good at throwing her applesauce-like bowl away in any direction. She'll get it all over the place. The rest of the kids eat their food on their own. Afterwards, we have a hoop and a plastic basketball that Ryan and I play with. The ball isn't good for throwing at long distances in the hoop because it just bounces off. I've noticed that Ryan is really good at shooting and making baskets up close, but when you ask him to pass it to you, it just doesn't register. He's in a wheelchair, which makes it amazing that he makes so many baskets.
On Friday, I got a remarkably great compliment from a young lady named Jamie Peterson that goes around helping the Special Ed teachers with their work. She pulled me aside and told me that I boost the children's morale, that I am a happy person to work with, and that I do a good job every time she has been spotlighting me. I was glad to be recognized for the work I've been doing in there. It definitely doesn't make the job a dreary thing to overcome when people recognize you like that.
Also on Friday, I had an early morning job interview with Revolution Prep, the online tutoring company. I watched their introduction video and came with lots of questions to ask the interviewer, Aja. The interview went well, and I expect to hear back from them tomorrow. I hope to be starting the second job soon.
Gracie's been sick a lot this week, unfortunately. They took her to the doctor and determined that she had bronchitis. It reminded me of the time I stayed home with Briana to take care of her when she had bronchitis and we watched the movie Il Postino. Uncle Jesse has come down with something as well. I hope they get better. Gracie actually found out that she can sell stuff at her school. So, she bought gum to sell at $1.50 a pack. She's dealing in high society now, haha. It also reminded me of the time I did my best to sell fundraiser snacks to high schoolers to raise money for my tuxedo for Madrigals.
Sarah's time in Utah is coming to an end. Shaunna's mom actually passed away on Friday or Thursday. They had the funeral for her on Saturday. Shaunna has several stuff to take care of this week, but the projected date for their return to California from a three week stay, is this Thursday. Sarah spent time this week going to a conference in Utah, and she came out as motivated as ever to sell packages to clients and to get many clients. It was really good for her. She spent time with our sister going to the BYU Bookstore. I asked her to pick me up a game-day shirt, but they didn't have any my size, so she ended up not getting me any, however, I think our sister, Sarah, volunteered to pick me up one when they pop up again in our sizes. Sarah, my wife, wanted to go with Sarah to the football game, but it didn't end up happening, as I think our sister went with other friends. But it was okay, because I don't think my wife stayed awake for the whole game anyway.
So, another week another dollar, haha. It's been super good. The projected reunion of my spouse and I is sometime at the end of this month. Hopefully all goes well, and prayers would help. I hope you and Elder Toomer are having the time of your lives and that you didn't kill him his first week, haha. If you get a chance, send me an email, please and thank you.
I love you bud, take care,
Your brother,
John
