A Missionary Letter

Dear Ty,

We have been thinking and praying for you and your companion unceasingly.  You are doing such a great job.  Keep trying to be kind and love him.  Pray for the ability to see him as God sees him and hopefully you can start to serve him with Love in your heart.  I know it’s hard.  Heck, very often I have to pray to see people as God sees them.  Even my own kids…when they are being difficult.  It’s a great life skill.

Yesterday we were studying spiritual gifts and being unified in Christ.  It was the Come Follow me lesson for this next week.  See 1Corinthians 12-12-22.  We need everyone in this great big church.  “12 For as the body in one and hath many members, and all the member of that one body, being many are one body so also is Christ.”  Even though we are so different we are unified in our great church through the Sacrament each Sunday.  WE talked about where ever we are in the world we are unified in that we all partake of the sacrament.  Which means we are all one big Church in Christ.  Christ is the Sacrament.  Then of course we LOVED in 1 corinthians when it starts to talk about Charity.  The pure love of Christ.  1 Corinthians chapter 13.  It’s a classic and always a good one to review.  

Our lives…In Primary we are getting ready to have the primary program except it will be different now that we have a shortened meeting schedule.  Our program is more singing and less speaking.  We tried to have children learn scriptures that they will recite as a class.  Yesterday was the first practice and no one really knew their scriptures.  We perform on Sept 15th.  So hopefully by then we will have our scriptures down.  We are only reciting words of Christ.  

My favorite scripture lately has been Matthew 11:28-30  The kids recite it at the end of the program and last week at conference we heard it multiple times.

 “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Such a great scripture to remember and have in your mind as you face challenges or come upon people who are facing challenges.  Christ will come to us where we are and give our souls rest as we come unto Him.  What a great promise!  

This week Blake and I visited Esmi and brought her flowers.  She had a swollen Lymph node and the drs. weren’t sure what it was.  They did multiple tests and they thought it might be lymphoma which is a cancer in your lymphatic system.  They spent a ton of time in the hospital running test during the first week of school and it was rough because she couldn’t do any of the fun class trips last week.  She was a champ though.  Her mom texted me though and they found out that it was just MONO!  So yay!  She’s going to be ok.  

Grant is heading to Yosemite to spend 3 days there with his 6th grade class.  He’s excited.  Dad and I are going to go to Utah wed night to have a meeting with the designer for Montana and see the BYU vs. UTAH game.  Then the whole fam is going to Montana for the long Labor Day weekend. :)  

Grandma and Grandpa are celebrating their 47 anniversary on Sept 2nd.  You could send them a happy anniversary email and I’m sure it would mean a lot to Grandma.  :) 

Will is taking off for School tomorrow early morning with his family.  He’s nervous and excited. :)  I told him to not be afraid to introduce himself and have a great time.  Paige said it best, Embrace the green jello!  Be ok with all the weird Utah things that sometimes happen.  

Well tonight we are holding a farewell for the Tabaska Family who are moving to Austin Texas next Tuesday.  We are throwing them a party at the park.  

Did you get any of your packages yet?  I have the family pictures ready to send to you.  Is there anything else you would like sent with them? 

Just let me know.  I love you my boy!!

Mom

A Birth A Death and Someone turned 40!

July 28-Aug 4 2019

Dean Lloyd Andrews was born on July 28th Sunday.  Lindsay had a c- section because her blood pressure was high and baby’s heart rate was dipping.  Grandma and Grandpa are spending 3 weeks in Seal Beach.  Mike and Lindsay are enjoying being first time parents.  Mike is “sleep deprived” and trying to sleep when the baby sleeps. :)  I think they are loving having a baby.

Monday, we had a funeral for Virginia Fowler on Monday.  She was an older lady in our ward who passed away at 92.  She had 3 sons and it was interesting to see the different paths her 3 sons made through life.  Only 2 of her sons were present.  One son stood and very eloquently gave her eulogy.  One son gave the closing prayer and with a shaky voice plead to know if she was ok.  He ended the prayer in sobs, hoping for some solace in her passing.  The last son wasn’t even present.  While death can be a lonely and sad outcome for those that are left, it’s a graduation to the next part of life.  I saw this quote today by President Gordon B Hinckley, who I absolutely love.  “Death, though bitter to observe, is not the end, but is, rather, only another graduation from which we go on to a better life.”  That brought me comfort as I thought about death.  Virginia is now reunited with her husband and her parents.  I know it’s not a fun topic but I’m sure you will encounter many people who are grieving losses. What a great opportunity you have to comfort those who need comfort as you teach them the great plan of happiness.  

I made a soup and rolls to take the funeral.  It was a broccoli soup and I made enough for our family.  Blake and Grant didn’t like it much but I thought it was pretty good.  :)  The rolls were a hit.  Monday night we all went to Dad’s hockey game.  Scare Bears and watched them win.  They are doing really well in their division-tied for 1st with another team.  Tuesday we got stuff done around the house.  Blake and I had eye apts and I am going to get some reading glasses to see music etc.  It’s a very low prescription but I’ll send you pictures when I get the glasses. :)  Brigham Robinson came over and spent tons of time at our house.  Grandma and Grandpa went to Seal Beach to welcome Baby Dean to the family and take care of Lindsay and Mike.  

Wednesday I took the boys to Half Moon Bay.  I love going to the beach.  I love just hearing the waves roll and crash.  I laid down on the blanket and started to read until I fell asleep.  It was so relaxing.  Grant Blake and Brigham were skim boarding for a few hours and then we hit up McDonald’s for ice cream.  It was a great day.  

Thursday I went to the airport and met Janet and Elizabeth in San Diego to celebrate Janet’s 40th belated birthday.  We ate dinner on the beach, 

walked around The Hotel Del Coranado-where we were staying.  

We played Nerts, ate chocolate and tried to sneak into the hot tub at 10:15.   (It closed at 10) We got kicked out really quickly and so we went back to our room and filled our large tub full of water and all sat in the hot tub.   It was a very fun night.  The next morning we all went for a short run with Elizabeth (I’m still sore!)  ate breakfast, went into the hot tub for reals.  

Bike Riding

Elizabeth had to go back home for a really big swim meet that her kids had.  We had a great time.  Janet and I continued by heading to the spa and getting Swedish messages.   Then we rented bikes and biked around the whole island of Coronado.  I loved it.  I love using bikes to see the surroundings.  They were beach cruisers so they had really big seats and our bums weren’t sore at all.  Janet had a good time.  She said that she hasn’t felt so care free and relaxed in a really long time and that she loved it.  I’m so glad.  We read by the pool, ate good food, painted our toes and watched a movie.  We ended our trip by heading to the San Diego Temple for a session at the castle.  :)  

It was a great way to commemorate turning 40!!  

A selfie with Moroni

I got home Saturday night, unpacked, cleaned up the kitchen and starting opening up windows in the house.  It has been so hot and our air isn’t working.  :)  Then Dad had a hockey game and I decided to go and support him so I could see him.  It was a good choice.  The team they ended up playing was so bad they won 9-1.  Dad scored two goals and had two assists.  Once I saw a goal I decided to read my book that I started on vacation.  It’s a book about Alaska called "The Great Alone.”

One thing that I found out this week was that Grandma and Grandpa Johnson were sealed in the Idaho Falls Temple when they were sealed as a family.  I had always assumed that it was the Seattle temple but the Seattle temple wasn’t built yet…I don’t think.  ANyways I was looking at the family cookbook and saw the picture of Grandma and Grandpa at the Idaho Falls temple when the family was sealed.  If you remember, we went to the temple last year on our way home from Montana.  We stopped and did baptisms in the Idaho Falls temple and that it the temple Dad’s family was sealed in.  Such a great find.  :)  

Allysa bore her testimony today in fast and testimony.  It was powerful.  I think my favorite part of her testimony was that she said that when she was having a hard time she was told to rely on Jesus Christ.  She said that was hard because she didn’t feel like He was there.  She said looking back she can see how He was there through it all.  Sending her blessings in the form of people and supporting her.  She told the story Elder Uchtdorff shared in conference when the Lutheran church was destroyed and rebuilt.  I’ll see if I can send you a copy of the talk she referenced.