Dear Tanner,
Your letter last week was much better, thank you! But we still need more ;-) We were told the missionaries here got two hours for email! Is there anyway you can ask about the discrepancy in time allotted? Wow. That is a huge difference! We got the letters you wrote to Hunter and I...thank you very much! Hunter loves being called your wingman. He was worried a little while back that you hadn't written for a while, but now all is well. What a week. I know I say that every week, but truly this was the week of all weeks. Including today! When we hear of the work hastening let's just say it was in triple time over here. You wrote a lot about missionary work :-) Let me share with you just a few ways we've been trying to make you proud. But first, let's start with the news from the world over.
Elder Cummings was explaining the zones of Londrina to his parents, and said he was in the south, called Zone Londrina and the north zone is where you are, in Zone Tiradentes. He wrote that, "I did get to see Elder S. this week when we both had to go to the national police station (FBI) to get our overdue visas renewed, or else we would have been deported!! That was “fun” to sit in a government building all morning doing paperwork." It's nice he wrote about this, otherwise that little tidbit would have been overlooked. I hope he's in one of those pictures you promised to send this week.
We got a sweet letter from Elder Bennett. He said, "I had a blast serving with your son. He's an awesome young man, very dedicated in his decision to serve God. One of the best." I know he's in your zone, so I'm also hoping he made the picture cut this week as well.
Your cousin Greg is on fire. This is the portion of his letter I liked the best: He had an investigator at church, and after priesthood (the lesson was on priesthood blessings) "he pulled me aside and asked me, "Elder Hutchins, Do all of these men have the priesthood?" "Yes they do." He then asked me, "Then why is it that the teacher had to beg for volunteers to answer his questions, you would think that someone with that power would be jumping out of their seat at a chance to talk about it and share it with others." Reminds me that I have the gospel and need to share it!
And another laugh from Naomi: "The contacting numbers for our whole zone have doubled since I've been here. Honestly, you can't selectively contact! You don't know who's ready! Fun French Fact: Sometimes people laugh while they inhale. It's small, but weird the first few times you hear it. Not everyone does it. Mostly women. But there you have it!"
In Sweden, reminiscent of the Jamaican bobsled team in the 1980s, there are two dozen young Somali hoping to master the game of Bandy, a form of larger-scale ice hockey played outdoors on a large surface with more players skating at furiously high speeds and a ball instead of a puck.
In the news regarding Brazil, the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. surveillance sours U.S.Brazil relations. Ms. Rousseff has halted her preparations for a long anticipated state visit to the U.S. in October, and is demanding a public apology over a news report that the U.S. spied on her and her aides.
Closer to home, in case you're falling behind in your tech news, Samsung unveiled a smart watch, a new front in the battle over wearable devices.
More sobering is the study that found parents who yell at teenage children can cause some of the same problems as hitting them would.
One of the more interesting tidbits from the world of news this week was about two Amish competitor newspapers in Sugar Creek, Ohio, the city where we visited while playing summer league baseball. Because their population doubles every twenty years, and don't have access to television or radio, the newspaper business is thriving. The correspondents write weekly letters, and receive a free subscription for their efforts. There are no photographs, only drawings. Editing is minimal, such as letters that are too long, but for safety reasons references to elderly women living alone are removed, as well as correspondents who write about killing more than one cow, to avoid protests from animal rights groups. One such correspondent wrote, "The corn stands five feet tall, the temperatures are in the 90s and Johnny Byler got hooked on his head while fishing with a friend." They also write about who went to church, how eleven chickens went missing, who received dentures, and how washing 400 pounds of beets in the wringer washer worked very well. One lady wrote about her cousin sticking something up her nose, and a while later her mother noticed a sprout growing out her nostril, pulled on it, and out came a corn kernel.
Now that's the stuff I want to hear about! I love that you're immersed so fully in missionary work! I just want to hear about you some more. Your companion, your associates, your partners in crime. Cockroaches coming out of the shower drain was epic. Glowing in the hallway spectacular! Greg has been out three weeks, and his parents don't even know his companion's name or anything about him. But they do know he has a wonderful testimony! Missionaries. Such a blessing in our lives, aren't they?
News of a more local nature, your cousin Moriah arrived home from a service mission to Honduras. Don't have any details, only that it was a wonderful experience, and she let me share her picture with you!
Your cousin Abbey made varsity soccer as a freshmen, as well as Stevie. In fact, in the paper, it said, "Orton, who paced the attack with two goals, got things started at the three minute mark with an assist...Orton added her second of the game in the 68th minute..." I don't have pictures of them, but I do have one of little Meg! She's also playing soccer at her high school. Your female cousins are all very athletic!
You forwarded me the link to the new church introductory videos...did you see Aunt Jenny and Mason in several?
Today your two aunts, Becky and Jenny, walked in a walk-a-thon (26.2 miles) in honor of Grampy, to raise money for the 25th Annual Jimmy Fund, a fitting tribute on their 52nd wedding anniversary!
Today your two aunts, Becky and Jenny, walked in a walk-a-thon (26.2 miles) in honor of Grampy, to raise money for the 25th Annual Jimmy Fund, a fitting tribute on their 52nd wedding anniversary!
Speaking of your grandparents, your grandfather has been on an emotional roller coaster, I'm sure. He's caught between his spleen being too large, which is eating up his blood product, and his blood numbers all too low to receive chemotherapy. He's currently in Colorado visiting Zach and family, of which I'm sure you'll receive a report. But, there are some wheels turning that can only be considered a tender mercy. Uncle Rich's drug, one that has a high cure rate for non-smoking lung cancer, has been reproduced in a cousin format to help Grampy's kind of cancer. It's an inhibitor drug that I think targets molecular mechanisms that enable tumors to evade detection by immune system. Something like that. Also, Uncle Rich also has a new drug that specifically targets large spleens. He's going to be working with Grampy's doctor and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to see if Grampy can qualify for this yet to be approved, and still in trial medicine. Something like that. And we didn't even ask Grampy if we could.
All I know is that it all began in the bone marrow, and is still in the bone marrow, and I thought of this thought by Elder Holland. He shared his feelings about the deep-rooted faith of pioneers who pushed toward the Salt Lake Valley even after the deaths of their children. He said, “They didn’t do that for a program, they didn’t do it for a social activity, they did it because the faith of the gospel of Jesus Christ was in their soul, it was in the marrow of their bones.” He expressed, with tender emotion: “That’s the only way those mothers could bury [their babies] in a breadbox and move on, saying, ‘The promised land is out there somewhere. We’re going to make it to the valley.’ “They could say that because of covenants and doctrine and faith and revelation and spirit.” He concluded with these thought-provoking words: “If we can keep that in our families and in the Church, maybe a lot of other things start to take care of themselves. Maybe a lot of other less-needed things sort of fall out of the wagon. I’m told those handcarts could only hold so much. Just as our ancestors had to choose what they took, maybe the 21st century will drive us to decide, ‘What can we put on this handcart?’ It’s the substance of our soul; it’s the stuff right down in the marrow of our bones.”
I do know what's in your grandfather's marrow: It's the good stuff. It's the stuff that made up me and therefore you. It's the reason you're on a mission, and the reason you have the grandmother that you do. It's the reason the Boston stake is now two, and the 100th temple was built. It's a lot of stuff, down there in his marrow, cancer or not, and it's all the kind of stuff I'd want in my wagon.
Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, "Having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and keeping His commandments are and always will be the defining test of mortality..."Our doctrine is clear; we are to be positive and of good cheer. We emphasize our faith, not our fears. We rejoice in the Lord's assurance that He will stand by us and give us guidance and direction." Amen!
Hunter was in the Ironton Tribune. There was a nice line about him, "Fairland Golf team picks up 2 wins tonight vs River Valley and Point Pleasant. 25 stroke victory led by Hunter Schenewark's solid round of 40." He tied for overall first place.
Update on the guinea pig's name. Cooper has chosen Bugler Spud Dinner Schenewark. Welcome to the family!
Porter wrote a poem that was published in the on-line Fairland High School Newspaper, Dragon's Breath. It's called "Dreams."
When the sun goes away
The stars start to shine
And the moon comes out to play
The sky darkens as if to say
The day is done, night is here
When the sun goes away
The ocean's calm, waves cease in the bay
The stars twinkle melodious tunes
And the moon comes out to play
The animals fall asleep, their heads in the hay
A calm comes at the world
When the sun goes away
No birds sing, neither sparrow nor jay
From out of the caves, bats fill the air
And the moon comes out to play
Now gone is the night and here is the day
Until all is quiet tonight
When the sun goes away
And the moon comes out to play...
A few weeks ago Porter's friends realized that they would soon have a Monday holiday (Labor Day), and wanted to know if they got to come over for breakfast again. Last year, in January, we had a surprise birthday party for him, on the Monday holiday of Martin Luther King's Day, and they wanted to do it again. I freely admit I was less than enthusiastic, as I was looking forward to sleeping in. Seminary makes you want to have a little time in bed, remember? But Porter planned the morning, and I got up. This past Monday. Because there is one girl who is gluten free, we had an omelet bar, where they ordered the ingredients (green peppers, ham, bacon, onion, cheese), and a dad, resident chef from Marshall University, would make their omelets.
We also had parfaits with granola, fruit and yogurt, cinnamon rolls, blueberry coffee cake, etc. The works. There were about twelve kids that came, plus our kids, and two parents, it was a full table. They had a great time! I had purposely signed up to feed the missionaries, and put the time down as 9:30 a.m., so they arrived a little after the rest of the kids. When the missionaries arrived I told the kids that they knew you and that you played were serving in Brazil on a church mission for two years, and these were the missionaries assigned to serve in Proctorville, and that out of 75,000 missionaries all over the world, they now knew three. The kids loved the missionaries. Why I was surprised I don't know. I'd love a bunch of Tanners in my house any day :-) They had rubix cube twist-offs, lots of good food, a few magic tricks, and many cross country stories to share.
Saturday Dad made his annual trip to Cincinnati to see the game against the Dodgers, with Bro. Koth. Second year in a row your father's team lost, but it's always a great game! Cooper, Sawyer and Miller made the all day trek, and I'm sure you'll be looking forward to those pictures next week!
Love,
Mom and Dad
2 comments:
Wow! What a letter full of so much info! I'm tired just reading it.
Enjoyed reading about the Schenewark life! Hope all goes well with your Dad.
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