Letters to my Children

Hello Elders! I hope you are both doing well. Blake, it was good to talk to you yesterday. I hope you can start getting some consistently good sleep. I wish there was something I could do for you! Ty, I look forward to talking to you soon. It sounds like you have a fun p-day planned? Going to a national park if I remember correctly? Dad and Michael and I are having a grand adventure in Taiwan!   The younger boys started school Monday morning and I worked at Davis High taking yearbook photos Monday and Tuesday.   Tate has Natalie Hewitt as his first grade teacher. Everyone told Tate that Mrs. Hewitt was the worst. I told him that Mrs Hewitt was awesome, but he was bound and determined that this was not going to be a good year. But he came home from school the first day and said it was better than he thought it would be! Jett is in Mr Bullard’s class, and he said it was worse than he expected. Lol. Can’t please everyone! But Jett has a ton of friends in his class, so I think tha...

Hello Blake! I enjoyed talking to you yesterday and also reading your email. It’s fun to hear about what you’re doing and all the ways you are trying to amuse yourself while being tethered to the hamster wheel. I know conditions in the MTC aren’t the best, but hopefully someday you will look back with fondness. Max Jenkins said today that his mission president liked to teach that “There is no growth in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the growth zone.” You are being expected to grow in ways that will be challenging (and boring and frustrating) to you. But that’s all part of the plan to make you a better missionary and a better person.  You can do it, and you’ll be better off for it! Hello Ty! How was your week? Hope it was good! I’m looking forward to talking to you and hearing about your work this week. We had a busy week, but not too exciting. I’m mostly trying to get myself organized for the new school year and ready to go to Taiwan next week, which I’m really looking forward...

Hey Blake! It was great to talk to you today, and I loved your email. It’s fun to hear about your experience and watch you navigate this new phase of life. You are just at the verrrrrry beginning, and being a missionary is going to be hard. Keep working at the language! It will come, and pretty soon you will be thinking in Cambodian and trying to remember the word for things in English. The food lines sound like the worst. But you can do anything for a few weeks, amiright?I didn’t notice your hair looking funky today, so hopefully Adam did a good job on that haircut! I’m dying thinking about you telling people you’re serving in Iran and their eyes getting big a believing you. They are probably writing home to tell their parents about the new missionaries headed to Iran, and this is how Mormon rumors and urban legends begin! Hey Ty! Fun to talk to you today. Nice haircut! Sounds like you and Blake are both needing a touchup! Good luck with all your extra training prep this week...