I am writing you a day early, because, I have time today, and I probably won't have time tomorrow, as tomorrow is a big activity day for us, in that we're invited to the Branch President's house for dinner and after the Stake has a musical fireside where I play the piano for our Branch in said fireside. What a crazy week. I'm just saying, days leading to Christmas get really, really hectic. Although, that's what I think, but probably next Friday when I get off for a two week vacation, I'm going to be in heaven. That said, I'm still working a 20-hour week the week of Christmas, so yeah. And if I play it right, I will be able to work on New Year's day and get time and a half. However, with Christmas comes Sarah and my first wedding anniversary. It's pretty crazy. A year already. I think we are thinking of going to a Peruvian restaurant for our anniversary, but I guess we shall see, right?
I can't believe that this is letter #99 to you. I guess, for those who are reading, I wrote Jacob a letter everyday while he was in the MTC which I sent to him via DearElder.com. That's why there are 99, and not 70 or so. I love you, Jacob, and I like informing you to our happenings.
Sarah's at work right now, but she called me with not so happy news. One of her best friends who's name is also Sarah (I know her as Sarah Mable); well, she has two kids and her oldest, who was only like 3 or 4, got into a car accident and passed away. It is definitely devastating news. These are one of those things where you wish that stuff like that would never happen, but where you gotta trust in the Lord that he will pull you through this hard time. You also hope you can be a good presence in that person's life and let them know you care. I can't imagine what she is going through right now. I would never wish this to happen on anybody, not even people I don't like (which are few, if any). It's sad on so many levels. We'll definitely pray for her.
Today's been a great day otherwise. Besides the fact that I wanted sleep this morning (you know, my only day off and one where I didn't have to get up early for work like normal), Sarah had a friend from Torrance come have breakfast with us. We fed her crepes which Sarah made, and Sarah asked me to make the sausage from ground sausage. It was super good, really. Sarah's friend's name is Jenny Bruner, however, I asked myself to say the breakfast prayer, and in the prayer I called her Jenny Brewster or something. It was quite funny afterward. We just talked for a while. Sarah noticed, though, that I was struggling to stay awake so she said that I could go back to sleep.
So, I did. Well, probably about an hour or a little more after sleeping for a bit, I notice I am getting a video call. Briana and Cohen gave us a call. I gave her a video tour of our apartment and then we chatted for a while with Briana. It was a nice chat to have with them. I also chatted with Sarah, our sister, for a while on my way back home from work today. It was funny, we were chatting about the music that we listen to again, and Sarah mentioned that she had gotten an email from Spotify, where it compares your year and shows you the things you like to listen to. I'll send you the picture of the stuff from my year. It's actually quite eye-opening. You're like, how did I even listen to all this music? Cohen is looking dapper as ever. Like mom says, he's probably the cutest baby ever. I told Briana about how I put his and my other niece his age from Sarah's side in the temple roster. Also about how I secretly want them to get married. Of course, it's not a secret.
YES, We finally made it to the temple, after a two or so week hiatus. We went on Wednesday. It was really cool actually. We decided to do sealings, and since it was so late, like 7 or so pm, we were the only couple doing sealings and we had three temple sealers to ourselves. They guessed that we were newly married because in the waiting room we were sitting close and holding hands. We told them about ourselves. The interesting thing was is that since we were the only couple, they let Sarah sit in a chair instead of kneeling at the alter. I guess this can be a common practice. Of course, I didn't want to purport that my knees hurt too (since I'm a man, haha). We saw a missionary from our Branch there as well. He was there for the first Baptisms for the Dead that their recent convert had been. It was nice to sit in the Celestial Room and talk about our things. And Pray. I love praying in the temple. I feel so close there. That night, I took Sarah to see a big Christmas tree that is close to our house in Downtown Mesa (which is actually where we live). It was nice to walk and talk and take some nice pictures.
For date night we did several things. Usually day of, or days before, we discuss what we want to do for date night. Well, I've been wanting to introduce Sarah to a Gyro place called George's Gyros, which is a restaurant that Aunt Kerry and Gracie took me to when I visited them for the first time. The funny thing about that is that she ordered an italian sandwich, haha. She tried mine, though, and liked it a lot. We had to eat fast (and we were dressed up) because we were invited to a baptism of a young woman in our ward that the sister missionaries had been teaching. Sarah was asked to give the Baptism talk and she did a great job. Later I asked her how she could do so good and with so little preparation. And she said that the topic of baptism is so broad that she has lots of material for it. Like she had prepared backup talks just in case she was asked in her mind. I was super impressed. The sisters asked me if I could play Baptism for them. I did so, but I forgot to play the written "Intro." It was quite funny to me, but only Sarah noticed. The baptism was nice. Our branch President was asked to perform the baptism. The funny thing is that for some reason (maybe he's out of practice), he lifted his left hand instead of his right to the square, and did a backwards baptism. I let the witnesses know and they fixed it. They had tamales and cake afterward. Definitely a nice baptism. The girl's name that was baptized was Valeria.
After that, our date night wasn't over, we went to the famous Giving Vending machines here in Gilbert, one of five in the world. Of course, since it was Friday, everyone and their mom was there, but it was cool to stand in line and choose from a selection on the menu, things that we could contribute. In all, we spent probably around $40, but we definitely could have spent more. We got donations of mac and cheese, water, some sensory toys for kids, and pacifiers for babies (thinking of you, Cohen). The fun part was standing in line talking to the people in line, and to the missionaries that were manning the event. We learned that there are always missionaries there, at least until 9pm, and then the local single's wards do the rest of the 24-hour manning. We met an older couple. And the funny thing about them is they wanted to buy a GOAT, which surprisingly was one of the options on the menu. It isn't one of the cheap options, though. But they wanted to do so because they had nicknamed a son that was on the mission in Argentina "Super Smelly Goat Lover" as he was growing up and especially as he was performing sports. It was pretty cool getting to know them.
You'll be proud, I had a missionary conversation with someone at work. He is an atheist. But the funny thing is the person he is staying with bribed, or goaded him into going to church tomorrow, and he was telling me the story, and I was saying "way to go" in my mind. I told him to definitely try it, and also that we aren't some cult. I was training him in Fresh. I was also training someone today in PEL. I had actually misput in my phone calendar that I was in PEL today. But it was cool to talk to the guy about video vlogging and stuff, as I am really interested in that stuff with my family now. He also told me he gets into gigs where he records choir concerts and other events on his free time. His name was Doug and the other's name was Robert John, haha.
Well, I can't wait to talk to you in a couple of weeks with family. I look forward to Mondays all the time, and I definitely look forward to Christmas and Mother's Day calls. Right now you are my favorite missionary, and I try to brag about you with all the people I know. Especially when I mention I have a brother.
I love you.
John
