I was thinking at church today that wow, today and probably the last few days (Friday and Saturday) is and was your last of those days on the mission. And, that this is probably your last official letter from me on your mission. Sadday! However, never fear, even though you and I will probably talk a lot when you return, I am still planning on writing a family letter. You were just the reasoning behind why I wrote a letter every week. But I am going to do my best to keep up with this writing, for you, and for all that receive this letter. Anyways, last Sunday. I honestly can’t believe it. It must be even more trippier for you than it is for me. Wow, brother...mission well served. Honestly. You stuck it out to then end. I wonder if serving a full-time mission is like “enduring to the end.” Now that I think about it, does enduring to the end refer to just your earthly life, or all of it? I wanna say the first because if we are faithful, we will have eternal life, which is never going to end. Even without that gift, we all have Immortality. So, I’m thinking it means for this life. You’ll have to school me when you come home, or in your next letter. But, that said, Great Job “enduring to the end” of your mission. You did it! That is quite the feat. I only wish that I could’ve...but I know that the mission I served was well served. In fact, I will never regret doing so, as many complications as I had. I love the people, and honestly, I think that is the number 1 reason I was sent out there...you know, the worth of souls is great, even if you don’t have any baptisms: the friendships and connections we make that’ll last a life time. I know that you most likely feel the same way. BTW, I love, love, love your talk. It is too bad we won’t be able to see it. But I am honored that you shared it with me and Sarah and the family.
Life is super, super good for us.
We finally relented and turned on the Air Conditioning in our house on Thursday. And guess what, it didn’t work. We are glad we found out now than in the heat of the Summer (which is actually right now, so nevermind, haha). So, we called our maintenance and the next morning they came and told us certain parts of the air conditioning unit on the roof of our apartment are not working. They said, while they work on getting everything fixed, that we could use their
Wow, it is now Wednesday, but better late than ever I guess…
In fact, I’m going to try to keep up with the weekly family letter, whether it be Sunday or another day of the week.
Well, I am currently at work at Amazon and I have some down time to do the rest of the letter. We decided to take all the shifts we could and bunch them up between Monday and Thursday (tomorrow), and same for next week, from Wednesday through Saturday. But that means picking up doubles and coming in early some days. I did a normal 10am-3pm shift Monday and Tuesday, but today I came in at 5:15am and I am doing two shifts today and my last shift tomorrow at the same time: 5:15-10:15am. After that, we will head on the road towards CALI, and arrive Thursday afternoon, and await your arrival the next afternoon.
With all the work, all in a condensed space, it doesn’t give us much time for ourselves. What I mean is that we have all this work to do, and so little time to do it, such as laundry, getting food for the trip, fixing up the car, some hobbies, and then I even had to go to church meetings yesterday. We also have had lessons that we have been giving.
Sarah started teaching swimming lessons last week, and they have been going really well. 2 lessons a week. For two brothers ages 10 and almost 9. Even though the they are different ages, they both have different skill sets, and the older brother is actually more afraid of the water than the younger. Well, since I’ve been going to her lessons to swim, the first lesson I spent cleaning the pool and the second lesson, Sarah asked me to spend time with the more apprehensive brother. While that was good for that day, on Monday, I gave Sarah advice to stay with the skill set that the older brother has, and teach them at the same level, same things, until the fearful one grows more confident. She actually did take it, and the lesson was super good for the nervous brother. She thanked me afterward for inspiring her to do that kinda lesson.
Wow, I am all over the place with this letter.
Father’s day was good. We got to see you, and spend it with Carlos Santos’ family and the Camargo family. I got into a conversation about the times that I went crazy on the mission. That was pretty good. Every time I tell it, it gets less hard each time. I even had to reminisce about mission times on Monday, because Elder McLaws invited us over to eat dinner with his kids and wife and have Family Home Evening with them. They now have five kids. 2 older girls and 3 younger boys, one of which is a new 2ish month old baby named Jace. We got there late, so the kids had already eaten, then I played around with the kids and got them all wild. Then we had a peacefulish FHE where we talked about the Sacrament and listened to the song Getsamane. Sarah asked about how I was during the mission and that is when we started to talk.
Sarah and I have been watching the 4th season of The Middle, because I found that at the library a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been enjoying sharing with her the things that I love about The Middle.
Sarah and I have been watching the 4th season of The Middle, because I found that at the library a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been enjoying sharing with her the things that I love about The Middle.
I know this letter is disjointed; it was written at many different times (in a car to Maricopa, at home, and several times at work) but I wanted to send you your last letter before you came home. I love you very much brother. Take care and safe travels.
Love,
John
PS........I am VERY excited to see you in less than 48 hours. Just saying!
