The Dads Testimony to the Missionary and other family stuff.

Dear Tyrell
I'm sorry I don't write as much as I should. Things get busy and I don't take the time to let you know how proud I am of you. Mom talked with your companion's parents this week, I'm sure she will fill you in on the details. We bought a car this week that runs on natural gas. It has saved us a lot of money so far. The only down side is the places are limited to fill it up. It's used and has a lot of miles on it but it is new to us. The suburban is on its last tire. I hear a lot of good things coming from that area. Your Mission President sent us a letter two weeks ago and told us what a good job you are doing. You will never know how much you have changed the world in these short two years, but you do. With all the things happening in this world, it’s great to see positive and uplifting things taking place little at a time. Stay focused and work harder than ever. Time is getting short. It's time to take the things you have learned so far and put them to work. For me the last six months became the most productive because it took until then to get things right. Staying focused gets harder the closer you get to coming home. But if done right it will become the most productive time of your mission. The Gospel of Jesus Christ Is moving through the world like a forest fire and you are a part of that fire. I may not say much about my thoughts and feeling about the Gospel but it is the way back to our Heavenly Father. The Savior Jesus Christ is divine and he is the head of that great and glorious plan. By following his plan can only bring you happiness. I do believe that.

Well son take care and work hard and pray often. You are in our thoughts in all of our prayers every night. You couldn't make me any prouder than I am. My Mission President when I first arrived in the mission field gave me some good advice. He said you only have two years to make the best of your mission and then you have the rest of your life to think of it and talk about it. That is so true. There isn't a week goes by right now that something happens that reminds me of an experience I had while serving the Lord. I Love you and think of you often.

Love Dad

Letter from the Missionary to the Dad
Hey Dad thanks for the e-mail, it always gives me a boost when you send me something. This week has been good but a little bit challenging, at least in the end of the week on Wednesday we had exchanges and it was actually a really good exchange. I was with Elder U, the missionary that sat next to me on the plane ride over, and he's been struggling a little bit. The last couple of areas he's been to have been areas that he came into a whole lot of clean up and so he's been losing his joy for missionary work. I hope the exchange went well, he said he was going to do better by the end and so I now have to call him every once in a while to follow up on how he's doing. Thursday we had weekly planning and exchanges so it was kind of hectic. Elder Seastrand and I got back together Friday morning, planned for an hour, then drove to a township about 30 min away and then switched again. I then had to drive back having only gone that direction once and you guessed it, I missed our exit and we lost a whole lot of time. By the time we got back to the area, we had missed our appointments and only had time to visit our Bishop before we had to travel to another area again.(we cover two wards) Well this time I got pulled over in a routine police stop that they do around here, missed another exit and missed our last teaching appointment as well. I think the only effective thing we got to do was tract for 20 min and have correlation with the other ward mission leader. I've got to admit I was a little frustrated but after looking back, a lot of good happened. I got to talk a lot with Elder Kelly (the missionary I was with) and see things that we both could improve. His district is doing the best in the zone so he shared a little about what he's been doing. Now on Friday morning we were supposed to attend our districts district meeting and do splits with the Assistants, but I made the mistake of leaving our phone with Elder Kelly and didn't notice until we had already made it back home. So we had to pick up the assistant and the go back again to get our phone. Man I had a headache, but I learned a lot. I've recently been working on having much more meaningful prayers and it's paid off. On Saturday we had an appointment and I prayed that he would be able to accept the message. I also prayed that if he wasn't home we would be able to find someone who was prepared and I asked if it could be a Father led Family. Well we got to the appointment and no one answered when we knocked so Elder Seastrand called him and sure enough he wasn't around. Hoping that we could receive answers to our prayers, I spotted a lady that was walking down the street and started talking with her. She said she had a family, but unfortunately they are in Angola, she told us she would call us if she wanted us to come and then walked away. As I turned around a man was pulling into his driveway and he waved to us to come and talk with him. He invited us in and we taught him and his wife. That was really powerful and a definite answer to prayer. Over all it's been a good week and its crazy how fast time flies’s because this transfer is in its last week and it feels like I just got here. You should send me some crazy stories about your mission.

Love MilkToast
AKA The first little Alonzo Jones boy that got called this name
whenever they had to do hard work chores on the farm funny thing is he hated being called this..


Dear Elder T. Jones Letter from the Mom
Where do I begin there was so much that happened that I hope I can keep it all strait.

1. Mc of course tried to drive over the log that you saw and now the sub is in full need of repairs that will cost almost more then its worth to put into the car. So Dad got a car that will hopefully save us a small fortune as the price of gas goes up up up. The red truck took the amount it would cost to pay the car payment to fill up in gas and that just made Dad cringe into getting the new car that I am sure you will get when you come home.

2. Tue night after wrestle practices, C had a learning lesson on listening to the shouts of the Holy Ghost and the consequences of what happens when you choose not to. He said before hitting a 200 pound back of the head that he could hear a voice saying don't do it and was looking at D B but his lips were not moving and hearing "don't do it don't do it" and then just doinging it any way cause by that time he was in defense mode and mad. Thus a broken hand called a boxer break, we had xrays on Wed morning fanagled an appointment to hurry and do a half cast which meant we went to Provo on Thursday and got a special cast allowing the wrist and knuckles to move made to be able to still wrestle by a sport orthopedic hand specialist. While waiting to get into the cast maker we went and met your mission companions Mom, Dad and little sister. We had a rather fun get to know, even got to watch Elder Seastrands try for Broadway (well ok rest home, Oklahoma sing out as a priest) while we we there. Rushed back to get the cast on and then rushed to meet with the team that was playing laser tag before the State Wrestle tournament. I went home went to work on Fri and then Dad and I turned around and went back up to stay the night but missed C's matches as they were early in the day. He won both of them that day. The next day Sat. he won the first a kid that he beat all year those are the photos of him doing his squeeze on this kid, The kid really hates him and is the one who tried to hit him and the ref intervened. The next kid got ahold of his hand and he had a hard time getting it a way, after that his fire was a bit gone from the pain he was having in his hand along with the fact that he couldn't hold on with anything but the one hand. The kid beat him by one point after that was the Millard kid and without the two hands he just couldn't do it. So he places 4th but next year he says that will not be how it will play out. The cool thing is that he is the only freshman on that stand all the rest are Jr. and Seniors. That alone was an accomplishment.

3 Mc went on his first Kondike and they won that made him feel really good and he even stayed alive and didn't freeze and it hasn't been the warmest kind of winter this year. I didn't even have to hardly help him pack he had it all ready to go on Thur when I got back from Provo along with having the chores done and the fire all stoked up.
Jo helped me by watching the boys and of course talking Aunt Amber into helping her so she could go on a date Sat. day along with T talking his Mom into helping him on Fri night so they could go on another date with his big brother and new friend. Next week Jo will be bringing this new friend to Church as she is not a member and she has invited her to go to girls camp with her too. She fully intends on helping her to become a member so watch out the girl is getting missionaryish. T and Jo have tried to stoke the fire twice now and I fully recommend that they should make sure that they have a different source of heat in thier houses when they are adults as they suck at it and we have to fix it every time after. Mc wishes that he had been awake to help them because he ended up with the cold shower this Sunday morning after the take an hour shower girl got done with her luke warm one.
Today superman was on and Jer saw it and went up and put his PJs on then told me that he needed new super pants because there was a hole in the middle and the power fell out. Never laughed so hard, he also does not fly he rides his mot-er bike to the rescues. He alternates to a dog for Z's benefit periodically through the day.

Dad finally feels better and Mom is so glad that there is only one more week of wrestling because I am so tired of it now. I will have to go again to Provo so C can get a cast that is permanent and to make sure that nothing got riped up while wrestling. We have to be back by 2 so its going to be the craziest drive ever.


I have a really cool Hello Jones family on my facebook from a fellow that I think you know that just flew in from Columbia by the name of Will Casper.
Justin Carter is in LA performing at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival his group made it to the finals and preformed on Sat. Thats about all I know of that.
Robbie and Nathan return from their parts of Africa in two weeks it will be interesting to talk to them if I run into them.
I haven't heard updates on your other cousin missionaries so sorry no word but they must be doing great still.
It seems so strange to sit and think that almost two years have gone by and yet it isnt feeling like that much time as past all at the same time. Especially when I look at the basement and its not getting done very fast so there is still not a room to put you into at the moment. Not that you are very concerned about that I am sure. I am so grateful for all the things that you are learning and gaining that will help you to be the very best father and leader and continuing server to the Lord which is what our lives are supposed to be balanced with. Well I dont want to take up any more space because I want you to take up the space with what your mission is teaching you and helping you to gain that will help you be a better person.


 Love you have a super great week and teach many beautiful Children of God.


1. Does anyone ever ask for extenstions to thier missions these days? Are you, just wondering?
2. What one thing would you want us to send to you this next month?
3.Please tell us one scripture that has helped you this week.
4.When should a person ask the missionaries to meet with one of there friends?
5.How do you prepare for fast sundays as a missinary?

Missinary Letter back to the Mom
Well, I did write alot about this week on Dad's page, so you'll have to ask him to read it. Other than all that not much has happend. Other than we deep cleaned our flat and our car today.
I can't belive Will is already home. You need to send his mailing address to me so I can write to him. I havn't heard from my buddy in long time. I did get a letter from his sister though.
I got a letter from Sam, he filled me in on everything that has happend lately and you'll have to fill him in that I got some of his Christmas letters from the ward, he said he didn't get very many.
You'll have to give C my congradulations he's doing really good. You'll have to tell him to watch his temper though so he can do even better. I know plenty of wrestlers who lost their chance to wrestle because of stuff like that.
Well sorry it's short, but I did write stuff to Dad, you'll have to convince him to let you see it and put it on your blog.
Love Elder Jones

Personal Testimonies of some in our family.

1.Dad says you know walking along fall in a hole or walking along and slip in a ditch has there been anything like that in what you would call a walking accident?
1.Well not that I can really think of. Just bicycle accidents. I've definitely got a lot of mud on my shoes recently because there is a lot of dirt roads in Motupa and it's the rainy season.

2.WHAT IS THE EXACT PRICE OF A BOTTLE OF SUNSCREEN please. We are all wanting to know by now, ok, make the conversion from their money to our money please.
2.Well I can't really answer that because I haven't shopped today yet. ( a tiny bottle is 17$ in our American money finally told to us over the phone.)

3. Please give us more detail on the Christmas tradition that means so much to you. The eating of any old kind of foods or just the breakfast stuff that is in your stocking because we never ever ever at any other time of the year are allowed pop tarts and carnation milk drinks. Or are you talking about the family get together dinners?
3.Exactly! the pop tarts and the carnation milk drinks!

4. Tell us what to do about the skype computer to computer and their name so I can add it to my list please.
4.Well I've never used skype, but I assume we can do the computer to computer thing and my Mission President ok'd the the video thing, but I'm not sure if I personally want to do that part. If it's ok with you maybe just the voice thing.

5. Who can be here for the calls?
5.Well I forwarded the the e-mail President Poulsen sent, but the answer really is none but family.

Well let me set something straight. I'm not sure if you understand correctly what I meant by fight for my testimony. My Testimony is solid! I've never had the testimony that I've had while here on mission. But that's just the thing isn't it. Out here I'm devoting all my attention to the Lord. Therefor my testimony is strong. What I meant is that if you want to have a strong testimony you have to fight for it. You have to keep the commandments. You have to study your scriptures and say your prayers. And on mission, you have to be obedient! The days when I do exactly what I'm supposed to and I don't let the Natural man get in, then I feel my testimony grow. The days that I give in to temptation and falter are the days I don't feel that growth. Most days I grow, and I strive everyday to do what the Lord expects. There are days where I could have done better and I could have said or done something more to improve the situation but I don't and those are the days that I struggle. Everyday is a day to improve :)

Anyway, for the week it was great. We, for the first time on my mission, organized and completed a wedding, so that our investigators could be baptized! It was really quite funny. Bro Manzini of the district council came to do the wedding and he even did the whole " you may now kiss the bride" thing and I'm not going to lie it was funny to see Dear Brother Samuel (50 something years old), and his wife kiss each other. It was even funnier to see Dear Bro Frans (68 years old) Stretch out to kiss his wife and his wife run away. She said she was to old, and that there were to many people around. Either way we had a blast, and they are now legally and lawfully married. This Friday was their interview and they past, but I was a little bit worried that this last Sunday, dec 12th, was going to be to soon and I didn't know what would happen if we asked them if we could move the date back, so I just prayed and asked God to help with the situation so that the best possible thing would happen and on Saturday, President Swanapoel asked if we could just move the baptism to the 19th. I'm pretty sure it was an answer to my prayers because it gave us a good reason to give Brother Samuel and Frans so they didn't even get frustrated or upset. The interview is still valid and they are very prepared, it's just that we now have one more week to speak with them, prepare them, and resolve any hidden challenges.
Well some more awesome stuff that happened is we Set TWO very solid appointments, with TWO white father led families in TOWN. Which doesn't happen very often. The first was a family we had met before and set an appointment with the wife, but when we went back they weren't home. So on Saturday we went back to their house and found the Husband. we explained to him how we had met his wife and left a Book of Mormon, but we had missed them the second time. He said let me go get my wife and they both came back to speak with us. The wife at first seemed to think we only wanted to talk with her so she suggested we come to her work, but the I said " we would really like to meet with the whole family" so she looked at her husband and he gave a shrug of approval and said sure. We set an appointment for this coming wed at 6:00! man I'm excited and I sure hope we don't mess it up. The second family was a family that we had tracked to before but only found the Domestic worker we had left a Restoration pamphlet with here and one for the Owners so when we came back a lady came to the gate and we asked if she had received the pamphlet. She said yes but that she hadn't read it. We explained who we are and what we teach, then she asked "what makes you different from any other christian church?" we tried to explain the restoration but she said "any church has their own story" Then I pulled out the big guns.... The Book of Mormon and I said " well we have a book called the Book of Mormon and it is an evidence that what we say is true." We also explained that we only ask people to pray and search for themselves if our message is true. Then in an effort to kind of brush us off (at least it seemed to me) she said "I'd like to learn more about this book, so I'll read it then give you a call" then adding in the whole act really nice and genuine she said "but is there anything I can do for you guys?" and with all the sincerity I could muster I said " honestly, there would be nothing more to lift my spirits then if you would allow us to set an appointment to come back and share more with you." after a thoughtful second she said " ok, you can come Wed at 1:00 and my husband will be home" boy did my heart jump for joy! the Book of Mormon is powerful and I love it! It always seems to make good things happen. When you introduce it, it makes people curious. When people read from it they feel the spirit, when you teach from it no one can argue with what you say. It's just awesome. I don't have much more time to write, but Saturday we had the branch Christmas party and alot of our investigators came so it was a good fellow shipping activity.

Anyway I love you all
Elder Jones

The phone call I must admit I am ecstatic, Why do you have to call our land line why can't we go computer to computer so it is completely free? I have been doing a practice run with Estella she phoned over and taught us how to make it work because her and her Hubby skype to Japan all the time. So anyway we are awaiting your response and will do whatever is best just help us to know what we need to do like give us their contact name and we will add it this week and be prepared to go at 8:00 sharp. The only thing I am worried about is the fact that all the kids are crazy and perform for the video camera so Estella was laughing so hard. They have a hard time talking in turn also so I hope that all can be heard correctly on your end, they sure are loud here on this end. Does the computer you are going to use have a mic and a video cam on it we will be using Dads and it is all cool and set up to go now.
J and C came up with the crazy idea to have our tree right in the middle of the room so we keep having to dance around it, I admit it is making me a bit crazy to have it in the way so much.
The boys have been going to practice on Tue and then Wed having a match sometimes then back to practice on Thurs. K is wrestling with the Jr. High group because he just couldn't stand to wait. So Wed night they had matches in Millard and we barely made it in time. K scooted in and was right away out on the mat against a kid who was lots taller than him. He wrestled 4 matches he did not win but he just kept at it even with a stupid nasty coughing. The boys were all lots older than him mostly because at his weight of 85 they are lots older than him. He has the keep going attitude though so that's good now that he has gotten over his fears. Mc had to be talked into going and that was with a compromise that he not have to do the dance at the middle school. He ended up doing six matches most were Millard boys. Two he won and he never backed down once. He is so very very good but when he isn't in to being willing to do it there is pretty much nothing that will change his mind.

C lost at a NSHS battle of the axe to a kid he has won over and over through the years. It was kind of a shock to him. This weekend Fri they are in Juab and he pinned two and then one was won by points. The next was exhibition status and he lost but it still counted as a win for him this kid was a Jr. He said it is kind of harder since he had broken his ribs, he feels a bit slower and not as aggressive as he was in the past. There is some hesitancy that he gets but he hasn't figured out how to get over it. Saturday he wrestled all day and was supposed to have five. The first match he pinned and the second match of the day about tore his shoulder out because the Payson kid had an a full nelson and pulled the shoulder out with his head pushing against. The next match he was really sore and had been iced but he still pinned the kid but it did him in because the kid had an under hook that really finished off the sore shoulder. After that C had to talk to a trainer and they wouldn’t risk him getting hurt so that he couldn’t go the rest of the season. So the last two matches he had to do a bye in their favor. He has been on ice and heating pads with my tense machine pulsing all weekend trying to recover. Dad will most likely make him have xrays to make sure it is all ok in the morning so he can move forward since he has a match on Wed. We made it back to the ward Christmas party and really had a fun time participating in a reenactment of old time Christmas in Navuo. C left early with J because he had had enough of the pain and needed to lay it down but the rest of us had a blast, we wrote letters to all the missionaries in our ward and saw how a wagon wheel was made and ate from a famous bakery just kidding.

Devin sent home maple syrup that he taped out of a tree all on his own. I got to see pictures of him with his tongue hanging out there licking the sap as it dripped out. His companion is from Fillmore and he even wrestled with him during High school.
I haven't heard how Sam is doing so I will have to get an update.

On a more quiet private note Dad is wondering why you seem to struggle keeping your testimony? He well we are trying to understand what you mean when you say this. You are out teaching others this wonderful truth and way to help themselves return to the savior and yet you are having a hard time. I have whisper to remind you since you were such a young child that when Papa gave you that blessing that all you had to do was to have faith and you would be healed you took that and prayed every night that the problems that the medicine created in having scary dreams of hurting someone would leave and the hunger that plagued you would be taken away. You would tell me that you knew that you would be better soon and then 4 months later they told you that you could run, run and run. I remember we were in Milford with Dad and you went up and down that hill in front of the hotel running like crazy. Most of all you had the amazing faith to believe what Papa said that you would be fully healed with not a trace left of damage on your heart valve. Remember that's what the cardiologist said at your last visit “no one would be able to tell that you had been ill at one time except her and only because she had the records to prove that you had visited her”. The most important part of the whole thing is that you took the faith and grew it till it became the truth in your life and you were better. You prayed and believed that Heavenly Fathers promise would come about. Pres. Cottle said something to that affect also that you would grow and your testimony become stronger as you served the Lord. Dad says praying for deep testimony strength, that will help the Lord increase you and your testimony to an iron strength, ( he didn't say it just like that with those words but that is what he was trying to get at as we were talking about his concerns in this area for you so I am now trying to put it into words again to tell you about it) Sorry I wish I could have recorded exactly what he said. Anyway as you have said all the answers are in the scriptures and confirmed through prayer so now I better quit sounding all preachy to you the preacher boy of the moment.
Well it is Sunday the first of this letter was written throughout the week especially the private note part. Today as I sat in Relief Society and the lesson began I was amazed to be hearing pretty much what I had written to you about all the gifts that the Lord gives to us if we ask or are blessed with them through priesthood powers or they are told as to which one we are given in our patriarchal blessing. Now take the time to read D&C 46 and then read Moroni 7. What amazing things are said in those scriptures that can affect us for good if we choose to accept and use those gifts and listen to those angles that the Lord has working for him when we have faith. Moroni 7 will help you to grow your testimony especially as you pray.
Today we are reading about Papa and how he is working so hard to know the Japanese language while he is serving sometimes the gifts that we are given take time to be developed to, such as gift of translation for Papa, it came over time. My gift of faith came from many hard experiences of just keeping belief in the Lord until by the time Jeremy was born there was no way anything was going to keep me from believing that he would do anything but live. I will send some of Papas journal to you, it is so very fun to read how he is working within his mission. Makes us relate to you.
On a side note J and C have cleaned their letters out of their email and so they wonder if you would be able to forward to your address their letters so that I can print them off that way to keep for you? I told them I wasn’t sure if the LDS mail was like yahoo and kept letters and stuff like that or if after you read them they were just gone, I am assuming that its just like any other kind of email and has storage but will not be something you can get once you leave the mission field so anyway please forward so that we can complete the book we are doing for your mission letters.
Well smiled and keep really busy make sure you write in your journal even if it’s a boring day Papa did and it is still fun to see the note for the day as he served.
Have a super great week.

Love your family

The Lord works in Many Ways.

1. Lennie how is he doing almost ready to be baptized the day after the biggest Pioneer Celebration that Utah can muster, did you remember that was a Utah holiday?

1. He is going to be baptized this coming Sunday.

2. Please buy the card reader we want to see pictures of you again.
2. I can't afford a new one until I have about R120, that equals about $17. If you could help me with that it would be nice.

3. Did you move out of your apartment this p-day?
3. No we haven't moved out yet, but that is a good question because I haven't been thinking about that much this week and we may need to find out.

4. Did any of Lennies friends make a baptism commitment yet?
4.Yes they did, and we are now teaching one of his friends whole family. Unfortunately one of his friends fell subject to the false rumors about satanist and has been dodging us lately.

5. Chase Hathaway served in the township just over from
Tazneen and told a story about monkeys and being curious have you had any come close to you and be curious about what you might be doings?
5.Was the township called Lenyenye? I have seen monkeys quite a lot around here but they always run away from you when you get close. I ll have to try and feed them

6. Have you gone on any P-day hikes in the jungle yet?
6.Nope I haven't and I'm not sure when I will. I would love to do it but the problem is that it is kinda dangerous and my companion wants nothing to do with it.

7. Now the boys wonder if you have seen giraffes up close?
7.Yes I saw Giraffes the same day I saw elephants. I have plenty of cool pics to send

8. Faith must be tried to be called faith tested. What do you think about this saying that I heard the other day. Any thoughts about how our family was faith tested by Jer's birth?
8. I'm not sure if that is the exact quote, but it kinda makes sense. If you have faith but nothing ever tries it then it hasn't been tested much.

Well this week has been an interesting week with a lot of frustration at times. But this Sunday was a great reliever of the stress. There is a lady who we have been teaching named sister Beverly. She has been taught for about 6 months. She was doing everything she is supposed to, to gain a testimony except one thing. and that is to pray. Every Sunday she was coming to church and she was participating a lot in Relief Society activities. But every time the subject of baptism came up around her so did all of her excuses. Since I have been here, Elder Makosa and myself have seen a lot of changes in her and she started to progress closer and closer to the goal but still until recently she has struggled with the idea. Then Yesterday, we came to her house at the end of the night to talk with her and I told her how frustrated I have been this week. She started to quote from the bible in an attempt to cheer me up and she was saying something about how the road to God is a rough one and the road to Satan looks nice and easy. As she was saying these things it was helping me, but I was only kind of half listening. As she talked she started to mention how great a day she had had and how she had loved church. Then out of now where she said..."and I'd like to be baptized next Sunday"... At first Elder Makosa and myself didn't think much of it, but after going over the statement again in my head I asked her to repeat what she had just said. After doing so Elder Makosa and I almost fell out of our seats. She said that she had heard about the mention of Lenny's baptism coming up and it made her think a lot about it. She said she went home and knelt down to ask God if that is something she should do. She said after praying she had never felt so good and so sure about something in her life and she has decided that that is what she wants in her life. We ended up changing the lesson for the night and instead just shared our testimonies. We told her we would make sure to review some things with her and then schedule and interview. She accepted that she might not be baptized next week, but would wait until she could be interviewed. What an experience! it just goes to show how powerful prayer can really be. I encourage all of you to continue praying about the truth and really come to know for yourselves if the church is true. It is our testimonies that drive us to live the gospel and do what is right. If we can each have that spiritual witness to the truth then when our faith is tested, we will always pass the test.

Well, I love all of you and hope you are doing your part to learn the gospel, nothing comes free, especially the best things.

Elder Jones

The Family says.
Wow if life slows down I am not sure what we might do around here. Maybe I should go backward with the weeks happenings.

J isn't eating again this Sunday morning, this time the sticky mouse catching pad was set by the stove top and it finally caught the dang mouse that somehow is getting on the top of the island. 13 years in this house and that has never been a problem and this summer we can not get rid of them. She said Mom are you trying to starve me two Sundays in a row and I can't handle it. Heehee. evil laugh at least it's caught now.
Arrived home late last night from an afternoon at the Smith family reunion. Photos were sent of our family doings there. Drive was eventful the car had an awful smell and all of a sudden us in the back yelled we wanted out because it smelled like smoke. I have never seen little people haul out so fast. For some reason there was oil spurting on the engine and making it burn up causing the smoke. Dad never did figure out why and Darren, and Golden stayed behind us to make sure we arrived home safe which we did or I guess I wouldn't be writing this to you. When we arrived at church today Darren came up and said it's the strangest thing.
When we stoped to see what was wrong with your car I asked Dad -Golden to look at the 4wheelers he was hauling and check all the tie downs. He had the big 5th wheel that they haul hay on and there were like 4 or maybe 5 plus a dune buggy and a mini bike strapped on. As they were looking at why our car was shooting smoke Golden found that one of the big huge 4 wheelers straps were broken and not even latched on. If he had pulled to the side
Darren was on the wheeler would have rolled off the trailer at that point but there was a hill so he had gone off the opposite side of the road. Can you imagine that wheeler coming off and someone hitting into it in the dark of the night not to mention the loss and cost. Well we went ahead as they I guess retied it down and we ran into the worst wind and storm we couldn't even see the road for a little bit. By the time they got to the storm it was most likely not the worst of it and didn't blow the high trailer over and they did have a bit of rain to have to see through. We may never know what danger was prevented but I felt a thrill run through me of confirmation that there must have been a reason to slow us all down as we were traveling home. The car never blew smoke again and we got home just fine. I also realized that at that time you would have been doing your morning study and prayers and so maybe what words you spoke protected us also. Darren even said that he had kept feeling that he needed to check the 4 wheelers and hadn't yet but that gave him a moment to stop and say hey Dad you look while I help them. J got to drive the team of Belgium's and had a blast and then they let her and K get up on their huge backs. She said ok I will just stay here all night. We thought her Hobbles was a really tall horse. Those are monstrously huge.
Fri we spent doing the water at Whites and shoeing the horses so that Hobbles will run faster. J had a barrel run of 16.4 and is going to do the rodeo at Scipio on the 24th. So the horse had to have a nail job. Wed and Thur the white truck kept me stuck in town trying to get little things fixed on it so it could be inspected. Tue and Mon is a blur and to many things happened in between there. Tonight I had to go help Sondra pack the last of the things into her car so she could go to Chads military graduation and they are moved out. It's strange to see the cabin empty and wonder if another honeymooner will get married and move into it soon.
C spent the whole week up at a place called Camp TIFEE and loved it he swam the mile and only one leader beat him. Brother Howell said he must be the energizer bunny because he just never gets tired. We went up to the reunion and him and Mc proceeded to spend the night again 6 nights of camping for that boy. J says you need to answer her note and that she loves you lots. Everyone has there eyes on her and the Bishop gave her a hard time for walking down town with holding a boys hand and then the next day he sees her riding bare back down the road in town. She was so embarrassed she wouldn't talk to him. He said it's ok it's natural and laughed she still was all goofy about being teased. Ron Brown called and was happy to hear that you were out serving the Lord he thinks your a great kid. Well the summer is hot and very raging busy for the next three weeks. Parades rodeos and showing lambs and then quiet peace because school will start and then its time to get wood and harvest the garden. The time is flying by faster and faster it it just amazing to see it that way. I love you lots and can't wait to hear the weeks adventures. Oh ya Dad says we are going to all go for a family Home evening Horse ride tomorrow since he is going to be home early for once this week. They have been going over time which is a blessing because there for a little bit he was getting worried that we wouldn't have enough because of short hours at work. I love you we all love you can't wait to hear from you. Love Mom