Letters to my Children

Hey Ty— I hope you have had a great week. Was this the week of the mission leader seminar with all of the general authorities? Was it great? Did you get to serve them the sacrament? Jett wants to know! Is it over and do you have access to the gym again? Ok clarification—That headline about the mother and the snake—it kept popping up at the bottom of other news stories I was reading. Because I’ve been googling and taking about and thinking about snakes a lot lately. And our phones are listening to us and basically can read our minds now, so they advertise to us what they think we want to see. But I DO NOT want to see headlines about snakes eating mothers. Anyway. I went back and read the article. And it really happened. A (human) mother lining in Indonesia went missing. They found an enormous snake, cut it open, and pulled her dead body out—clothing and all. Horrifying.  I saw another picture of a ridiculous snake today. This time it was not in our yard thank goodness. But it was in Mal

Hey Ty— It was so good to be able to talk to you twice this week! I’m sorry I was a bit distracted when you called last night. We were just finishing up a game of Isle of Cats, and my brain still does not quite understand that one. Dad won of course. I’m really sorry to hear the news about Sister Bybee’s thyroid cancer. Dang it. I hope she is able to get the treatment she needs to bring her back to good health. And I hope it doesn’t disrupt her mission plans. Bah. Poor thing. She’s too young for that! My aunt Kathleen had thyroid cancer too. She had her thyroid removed and takes medication to replace the hormones. But as far as I understand she is still very healthy and active. Bummer about the gym being closed and not being able to go to the temple anymore. Man. Bad timing! Couldn’t they just wait a few weeks? I remember Michael really struggled during home MTC and the first winter of his mission just wanting to be outside. It’s a tough transition to being in class all day. But enjoy

Dear Ty, I hope you have had a great week. You’re becoming an MTC veteran—you’ve now been there long enough to see friends come and go while you remain steadfast and immovable! How did the early-morning send-off go for your temporary companion? Hopefully you were able to go back to sleep for a couple more hours when you got back to your room. Now you’re back with your original companions? I don’t know if you will see Cooper at the MTC this week. He’s really struggling. I hope he’s able to work it all out and find a solution that works for him.   I’m glad to hear that you got to listen to President McKay speak. My guess is that people are still talking about how amazing his talk was! Hopefully he gave you some good thoughts to think on and consider. I really did mean to send you your birthday treat this week, and again it didn’t work out. Will you be surprised with donuts this week? Wait and find out! At least you have 10 pounds of lifesavers to console you. This was a really nice week.

Dear Ty, It’s so good to hear from you! I hop you had a wonderful and memorable 19th birthday! I’m so glad your friends made it special for you. I’m excited to see this duck tie you told us about. I hope you enjoy your week with Elder Salima before he heads off to Detroit. That’s got to be disappointing to not get his visa in time. But also kinda cool that he will get to serve in different places. Holy smokes! How is Sister DeMille supposed to learn Marshallese in Seattle? Count your blessings that at least you get some formal training in language! I still can’t stop thinking about Sister Enger and her 20 ice cram sandwiches. How is that even possible?! Was she sick for days? I’m glad you’ve had a chance to go to the temple again since you didn’t get to go much before your mission. It must be nice to get out the MTC for a bit, and the Payson temple is beautiful. It sounds like you are having a lot of great learning experiences. Soak it all in! This is what we’ve been up to: 1. I got a