With All Our Love

Dear Tanner,

. Miller would like to know if you've seen anybody with guns or knives? He also wants to know if you've seen a scary animal? And last, he's wants you to know he's interested in you bringing home the fruit that will not let you poop for five days.

. Sawyer wants to make sure you bring home some Brazilian coins and paper money to share with everyone. A chess set would be wonderful!

. Cooper wanted to know if you've seen a capybara yet.

Have you gotten the package? I hope so! It should be there by now. I hope you can feel all the love we have for you in the little things we send. I have another box ready to go with your blanket and bars. I just need to make sure with you that it's not too close to transfers if I put it in the mail this week. _______

I forgot to mention in last week's letter that Stevie has been really sick with mono. And then that day she was admitted to the pediatric unit at Dartmouth. For some reason the virus hit her really hard. She had a fever above 102 for nine days up until then. She's been released from the hospital, but still suffers with a fever and hives. Her brother, Kaleb, on the other hand, is very healthy, and tearing up the boards in New Hampshire. He's on varsity as a sophomore, and now starts, with double digit rebounds and points. Aunt Becky sent a clip for us to see.  I couldn't get over the difference in style of playing.

The boys enjoyed their last two days of vacation by going to a movie with Dad, and to the driving range with Hunter. They were going to go to the gym at the church and have a massive nerf gun war, but they ran out of time. They also Wednesday morning began early, as the school routine was back in full gear. Thursday we added seminary, and it all came to a grinding halt when we were hit with a really nasty cold-type virus.  You feel as miserable as when you have the flu, but there's no fever or respiratory involved. I haven't been this sick in so long. I had to cancel seminary Friday morning. I seem to have the worst case. I left church early today so we wouldn't perpetuate the germs.

For our New Year's Eve celebrations, you would have enjoyed the craziness! I introduced everyone to the crazy tradition of running around the house in bare feet. One man grabbed a KNIFE and went around in the hopes of having success as a surgeon. One lady grabbed a wedding ring, some boys who wanted to be smarter took books; one who wanted to be more organized  grabbed a calendar. I grabbed some scriptures. Duh! We used a pizza stone and everyone helped make different combinations. I was in charge of kid activities so I did the usual airplane making/flying contest, tinfoil boats penny weight contest, nerf gun target contest, tallest mini-marshmallow standing #1 contest...throw in count downs with a pot and spoon on the stairs every half hour, and there wasn't much down time.

Saturday we had three basketball games, fulfill our assignment of cleaning the church, and a birthday party. The boys were all invited to a birthday party at the pottery place in Pullman Plaza. They had a great time painting ceramics. Even Breyer painted, a pony, and loved it. The family was so generous to include so many. The basketball games were fun to watch. Cooper's made big strides, and gets way more playing time. And, he's been positive about his experience. Sawyer had a top-notch game, with nine points in the first quarter. Miller has a little fan club that cheer for him more than me. It's nice they think highly of his efforts to give him a cheer. It's not offered to other players so readily. While the boys were cleaning the church I stole away into the family history center, which happened to be open. I think I worked for twenty minutes before they found me! Family history is so fun!

Dad left for Fort Lauderdale, Florida Wednesday morning. He had a presentation to give at a conference, mostly done because his tenure review is this month. Pray for him. With Marshall announcing cut-backs last fall, he's not sure what his chances will be. He came home Saturday evening in time to fall into bed to ready himself for early morning church.

He did bring a box of saltwater taffy to share. Yours are in your box ;-) He was able to stop by the swimming hall of fame, just the outside, and the fishing hall of fame.  His jewel of a find was the old Dodger spring training facility. He now wishes he had grabbed a cap of dirt from the field and a splinter from the bench.

He also saw the outside of the world golf hall of fame. All of these sport related facilities were interesting, and contained a lot of history and records, but he said it best when he said, "It's no fun if you don't have anyone to share it with." He did enjoy taking Ted Williams picture, as he is one of a few in two halls of fame: baseball and fishing.

I don't know how much news you hear where you are, but I loved this little report I found on the church website: "God knows your circumstances and your faith," Elder F. Michael Watson this week reassured Samoans impacted by a recent, devastating cyclone this past weekend [22-24 December]. Still recovering from the effects of Cyclone Evan, and deeply concerned by reports received by the Church's Pacific Area Presidency, Elder Watson said, “I came to find out what is happening here. The group first visited the area of Apia, where the Church’s meetinghouse still housed 300 people displaced by the storm. According to local leaders, two-thirds of the people were members of other faiths.  He concluded each meeting with the following words from Alma 7:27 in The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ: “And now, may the peace of God rest upon you, and upon your houses and lands, and upon your flocks and herds, and all that you possess, your women and your children, according to your faith and good works, from this time forth and forever.” The world is increasingly in turmoil, as I'm sure is very evident where you are, and the division between good and evil widening, but the gospel brings such hope and peace to our lives.

Also in church news, "A suspected stomach flu that hit LDS missionaries in the Missionary Training Center has been nearly contained, Utah County health officials said Thursday. Thankfully the virus isn't dangerous - it's the 24- to 48-hour stomach flu, and most of the missionaries have recovered by now. Samples are being processed and the department should know Friday exactly what is ailing the sick missionaries, who are preparing to serve around the world." Can you imagine being in your CTM with everyone sick? So glad you escaped before flu season hit.

Just a random thought, I think you should take your picture with each of your companions. You don't need to lift them, like your last one, but record each companionship with a photo. We got your letter to the ward this week, thank you! It will be shared next week. Our church began meeting at 9 a.m. today, and everyone is a little rusty in the earlier meeting time. Hence, I didn't get the letter to the Bishop in time.

Another random thought, this one courtesy the missionary moms. "Can I tell you one weird  effect of Brazilian culture on my son?  Okay, two things--he can never eat enough now to get full and he has lost all comprehension of what it means to be on time. When I asked him, "Didn't you have discussions to get to on time?" He said, "You could never depend on the bus timing, so things happen when you get there. Church in Brazil is always 15 minutes late"  Crazy! Have you experienced this laid back approach to life there? I already know how happy you'll be to eat my cooking ;-)

Cousin Greg had an eagle ceremony this past week. Your uncles wrote about it in their own way, so enjoy their details. Unfortunately, there have been no details as to what his project was, as of late, so I can't share that with you, but hurrah for our growing eagle's nest. Porter has one merit badge and he's done. He needs some motivation to get his paper work entered on-line (new).

I came across an article about BYU students who mapped trillions of dollars in aid worldwide. I thought of you because you're so passionate about helping others, and making a difference in the world. It said, "In a quiet, windowless room on the Spencer W. Kimball Tower’s eighth floor, a dozen fellow students sift through trillions of dollars of foreign aid and put it on a map for all to see. One such task might include publishing the 248 locations that receive funding through a soil quality grant from the Swiss government to the country of Nepal. Going one country at a time, the students tag the location of every known project funded by foreign aid. It may sound mundane. But attention to small details is how BYU students show a very big picture to international decision-makers – including the U.S. Secretary of State. “At first we worked in collaboration with the World Bank to geo-reference all of their aid,” said BYU political science professor Daniel Nielson. “They said it couldn’t be done, but with 12 interns we did it in about six weeks.” Seen on a map, patterns emerged that previously were hidden in the World Bank’s spreadsheets. In Kenya, most funding concentrated in the southern part of the country. Kenya’s poverty rates are actually higher in the previously overlooked northern regions. “On the maps you can see huge, eye-opening things,” Nielson said. “If you looked at where health or education projects were going, they weren’t going necessarily to the places with the highest mortality rates or the lowest literacy rates.” In Malawi, a nation that receives health-related aid from a variety of entities around the world, the maps show what’s already being done and where. Nielson said the maps can reduce duplication and assist specialization. The mapping initiative is part of a 10-year-old program named AidData. Nielson launched AidData in partnership with the College of William & Mary and a non-profit called Development Gateway. As testament to the value of their work, AidData recently earned a $25 million grant from USAID to make more geo-spatial tools to monitor and evaluate foreign aid. U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said AidData “will help USAID advance its use of data and analytics to improve decision-making.” BYU students’ skill in foreign languages certainly helps this global endeavor. BYU teaches more students at the intermediate and advanced levels in more languages than any other university in the country. And when they are not gathering and verifying data, they get to apply it to their own projects. Two former students chose to study the impact of education grants given to developing countries. They found that many donor countries require the recipient country to take anti-corruption measures and that these country-to-country grants measurably boost school enrollments. They published their research in the journal World Development. The experience as a BYU undergraduate helped the former student to earn a spot in graduate school at Princeton."

That's about it! Being under the weather has taken chunks out of my normally busy schedule that you might otherwise have found so interesting! This week in seminary we're studying in Acts about the gift of the Holy Ghost being conferred upon the apostles. What a change happened in Peter! The Spirit is the conveyor of all that is true, and is able to bear witness in a way that we mortals cannot. It's been fun studying about all the things the Spirit was able to do with the people listening to Peter.

It's fun to listen to you and all the things you can do on your mission. The boys eat up every word. Of course they're always looking for the extra exciting superlatives, but nonetheless your example is wonderful. Keep up the great work. You're doing wonderful things with the Schenewark name.

Love,

Mom and Dad