Welcome to the Big Mingle!
We’ve all heard of the Big Apple, or the Big Easy, well, Provo, is the Big Mingle. Its good to be back.
Arriving Tuesday night, I stayed at TanMarie’s house that night, before finally going to my new apartment Wednesday. Its spacious, it;s clean, it's quiet…it's expensive. While I do have a private bedroom, I share the actual apartment with three others- Jeremiah, Austin, and Derik. All three are currently students at UVU.
A quick breakdown: Austin and Derik are longtime friends from the way out in the boondocks town of Filmore, Utah. Biggest attraction/ point of interest? The Maverick gas station. They both graduated in 2014 (same as me) with Derik doing one year of National Guard before serving a mission in Chicago, (returned one month ago) and Austin serving a mission in Washington before going to Snow College for one year, and now here. I haven’t gotten to know Jeremiah as well, he grew up mostly in Albuquerque, NM, before heading to the D.C. area. He’s been at UVU for a couple years now. They all have been friendly, and seem organized and clean. I’m calling it a win, and look forward to our year together.
Annemarie also took me shopping at Costco, which was a huge help. I think I’m stocked for this semester. Its going to be good.
My first night there, I felt like a celebration was in order, so I decided to cook salmon (can’t do that often!) I might just move the coaches over to the kitchen table, they are COMFY! My packing was admittedly done without as much thought and preparation as usual, and I left a couple things sort of important (belt, bedsheets, camera, etc. ) so it was nice to remember I had a coaster (shout out to the Bach’s!) It’s nice to feel at homw.
I’m waiting to hear back from a couple companies about ”real jobs” but Friday I was happy to be rehired working with BYU Special Events – and turned right around and worked that night's soccer game, which saw BYU go down in a fantastic game to #1 UCLA. For three hours, I stood on the bleachers telling students, ”no, no, you can’t sit there, those seats are reserved.” ”But they are empty?!!!?” ”Yes, but that’s because the people bought them so they don’t have to show up 2 hours early like y’all to get seats.” Attendance record was set, 5,700+ showing up, 700 being standing room only. It was a spirited, nail-biter of a game.
After an early UCLA goal, BYU had a couple opportunities to tie it, the best coming with 10 minutes left, on a breakaway and with the goalie leaving the box, the BYU player kicked and the ball hit the crossbar. So close. A lot better than football on Saturday. One roommate from freshman year contacted me, and he took me first to Buffalo Wild Wings, where we decided not to wait three hours, and went to Texas Roadhouse. Nothing like a ribeye. Thanks Kevin! And then he dropped me off at Uncle Ben’s and Aunt Joy’s house where we (Hutchins family, Aunt Jenny, Stevie, TanMarie) enjoyed each others company and tried to ignore what LSU was doing to BYU.
First day of church today. Wrong time to be a clerk. We welcomed about 100 people into the ward. It has a good dynamic. Next week will be a regional conference at the Marriott Center, but after that, I should receive a calling……..
I git Porter’s bike he left. Left locked up with no key. I visited the campus police and they came out and cut the lock off. Our conversation was tough. "Are you a freshman? No. But the bike is parked on the freshman dorms? Yes. Actually, on the women’s freshman dorms? Yes. School hasn’t even started, how did you lose the key already? Its complicated. Do you have ID to prove its yours? No." I tried explaining, and after a thorough interrogation, they decided to simply take my info down in case anybody reported a stolen blue bike, but as one officer said, ”If I was going to steal a bike, I wouldn’t steal this one.”
On my mission, I gained such a strong testimony of the prophets, and loved every single second of general conference. However, it was essentially relegated to that, as we read only from the scriptures and a couple other books in the ‘missionary library.’ I’ve been patiently waiting to use BYU’s library, and during this laid back week have feasted on the word. Reading biographies of men like L. Tom Perry, and Boyd K. Packer, it is obvious at once they have been prepared, chosen, and guided from on high. I am so thankful for living prophets. I know as we emulate them, we are emulating our Savior.
Ok, heading out, going to mingle in the Big Mingle. Have a great week!
Hunter
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Friday, September 1, 2017
Letter #4
Hola mia familia and other peoples,
These week had some big ups, not really any downs, but it wasn´t quite as jam packed as last week.
I´m joyous to hear that my letters are somewhat decent. The keyboards are all in Portuguese so any word I type comes up misspelled. Hopefully you can understand most of what I try to say.
NEWS UPDATE: Last week, in the thrilling prequel episode, we heard the story of a young man stricken with some mystery illness and the heroic attempts of our protagonist, though some would say somewhat foolish, debonair (is that a word) gringo, and his attempt to rescue.
Episode 2, Rebirth of a Dead Man
The Brazilian whom I carried off spent five days in the hospital but is now back in the arms of the CTM. Diagnosis, a raging, flaming, antibiotic resistant lung infection which, when coupled with the Elder´s rather severe asthma, resulted in dizziness, breathing problems, duh, some sort of hallucinations, and the loss of 20 pounds in four days. But he´s back and the cafeteria people are shoveling food into him.
FIRST DAY ON THE STREETS OF THE THIRD LARGEST CITY IN THE WORLD
In case you didn't pick up by the subheading, we banged out a couple of hours on the center square of Sao Paulo on Saturday. Elder W and I had minimal success but got some good stories out of it. We talked to five people, and they turned out, in this order:
1- Spoke English, profesional soccer cheerleader, had to run off to follow the other cheerleaders
2- Only spoke Japanese, not a thrilling conversation for sure
3- Initially thought to be a woman, was in fact not a woman, not a long conversation
4- Nice Indian couple, spoke English, but was against their religion to speak to missionaries about religion or something like that. Not great English, but Indians yuh @LukeMerrit
5- Midget dwarf man probably about 90 years old, but still spry enough to call us American trash and sprint down the street (Just saying, I definitely could have beaten him in a race)
FOOD*
(*May not be considered food by some)
I had ham crackers this week. Not ham with crackers, ham flavored crackers. Tasted about like the equivalent to taking a slice of lunch meat and wiping it on a saltine. Not too bad though.
All the songs are awful to sing, mostly just because the lyrics have to many syllables to sing to the same tune as in English.
Our bus got robbed, or was attempted. We were rolled up to one of three stoplights that people actually stop at and this dude pops off the curb and starts banging on the driver's window with a handgun and telling him to roll down the window. We peeled out. In a bus. YUH
FUNNIEST THING
I do take credit. We have an elder who should be on crutches but refuses to hop on them. So, we took his crutches back and replaced them with polio crutches. And strapped them to his arms. He´s on them for good now.
That´s about it.
Much love, eat your fiber,
Elder Me
These week had some big ups, not really any downs, but it wasn´t quite as jam packed as last week.
I´m joyous to hear that my letters are somewhat decent. The keyboards are all in Portuguese so any word I type comes up misspelled. Hopefully you can understand most of what I try to say.
NEWS UPDATE: Last week, in the thrilling prequel episode, we heard the story of a young man stricken with some mystery illness and the heroic attempts of our protagonist, though some would say somewhat foolish, debonair (is that a word) gringo, and his attempt to rescue.
Episode 2, Rebirth of a Dead Man
The Brazilian whom I carried off spent five days in the hospital but is now back in the arms of the CTM. Diagnosis, a raging, flaming, antibiotic resistant lung infection which, when coupled with the Elder´s rather severe asthma, resulted in dizziness, breathing problems, duh, some sort of hallucinations, and the loss of 20 pounds in four days. But he´s back and the cafeteria people are shoveling food into him.
FIRST DAY ON THE STREETS OF THE THIRD LARGEST CITY IN THE WORLD
In case you didn't pick up by the subheading, we banged out a couple of hours on the center square of Sao Paulo on Saturday. Elder W and I had minimal success but got some good stories out of it. We talked to five people, and they turned out, in this order:
1- Spoke English, profesional soccer cheerleader, had to run off to follow the other cheerleaders
2- Only spoke Japanese, not a thrilling conversation for sure
3- Initially thought to be a woman, was in fact not a woman, not a long conversation
4- Nice Indian couple, spoke English, but was against their religion to speak to missionaries about religion or something like that. Not great English, but Indians yuh @LukeMerrit
5- Midget dwarf man probably about 90 years old, but still spry enough to call us American trash and sprint down the street (Just saying, I definitely could have beaten him in a race)
FOOD*
(*May not be considered food by some)
I had ham crackers this week. Not ham with crackers, ham flavored crackers. Tasted about like the equivalent to taking a slice of lunch meat and wiping it on a saltine. Not too bad though.
All the songs are awful to sing, mostly just because the lyrics have to many syllables to sing to the same tune as in English.
Our bus got robbed, or was attempted. We were rolled up to one of three stoplights that people actually stop at and this dude pops off the curb and starts banging on the driver's window with a handgun and telling him to roll down the window. We peeled out. In a bus. YUH
FUNNIEST THING
I do take credit. We have an elder who should be on crutches but refuses to hop on them. So, we took his crutches back and replaced them with polio crutches. And strapped them to his arms. He´s on them for good now.
That´s about it.
Much love, eat your fiber,
Elder Me
Thursday, August 31, 2017
With All My Love
Dear Elder Schenewark,
Okay, your letter was hysterical. Tanner's friend, Matt Stone from BYU emailed me. He said, "I read every one of Tanner’s and Hunter’s letters, and they were great, but Porter’s are hysterical. Thanks for posting them!" Your flair for writing wasn't something I expected. I never know what to expect when I send a son out on a mission, and learning more about you through your letters is always such a nice surprise.
I'm sure by now you've heard of Harvey, the category 4 hurricane that came shore north of Corpus Christi, This has been one of my favorite pictures, the shot from space:
The flooding though, is devastating. Houston received 52 inches of rain. That's 200 inches of snow. The professionals are talking about how the Texas economy is no more, because of how much work it's going to take to recover. Even the Houston temple has water inside. All missionaries are accounted for, provided with extra food and water, and will soon be part of a massive clean-up. The 52" is the highest amount of rainfall that's ever fallen in North America.
Port Arthur is also flooded. Even their emergency shelter had to be evacuated. Dallas, San Antonio and now Fort Worth have been shelter cities. Your father has had messages all week from people in other states looking to come to Texas to help the flood victims. Unfortunately, Granbury is not the ward in charge ;-)
And because all the oil refineries are in Houston, and the pipeline from the refineries is not pumping, we are running out of gas up here near Dallas. Everybody made a run to get gas, and the pumps in the city are almost dry. The price has gone up $.40.
Hunter made it to Boston safely Thursday evening. We had spent the morning getting his two big bags under fifty pounds. I think they both weighed in at 49.98 lbs. I've heard he got up the next morning at 5 a.m.for a golf game with Uncle Aaron; played massive Scrabble games with your grandmother, intense chess games with Uncle Aaron, knuckle dragging contests over who controls the remote with your grandfather, wood pile work at the Whitcombs, Rummikub contests with the Bachs, working at the church store house with Uncle Aaron...the fun never ends. He left yesterday for Utah, and is excited to be back at the Y. Finding a wife weighs heavily on his mind, as well as finding a job. He's contacted the event staff supervisor, who is excited to have him back. He also hopes to be a part of the wait staff at a Brazilian steak house.
He left Boston Tuesday, and has landed in Utah. He was able to successfully retrieve his belongings from Uncle Ben, with Megan's help. He had far less cooking supplies than he remembered, and has been at Deseret Industries several times. AnneMarie picked him up from the airport, lent him their extra vehicle while Tanner was away on business in Chicago, and took him to Costco for supplies. So nice to have help!
I got to see Cooper play in his first tennis meet. It was 99 degrees, but really feels like 106 degrees. I just sat in the stands and it was sweltering. He hurt his shoulder muscle working on his Eagle Scout bench, and wasn't able to get his usual slam first serve over the net. Only his second lob serve. His net game was a bit off as well. All his games were close, but he lost his match. His second meet he won both his matches.
Cooper heard about the airport's fundraiser, and was dropped off Saturday morning for their pancake breakfast. The high school's experimental airplane club was there as well. He was hoping to go up in an airplane for free, but only airplane take off and landing watching were offered.
Sawyer is now playing football for the middle school. He was told by the athletic director he could just kick, because of his brain cysts. He likes Sawyer, knows what a great athlete he is, and is excited to have him involved on his team. So Sawyer has been very diligent practicing, and getting Dad to help him kick.
Miller and Breyer begin soccer today.
Your bank account has $77.77, via phone; I still need your accounts and passwords list you were going to make for me.
I had five widows in the ward over for dinner. Seeing your father walk in the door, not knowing, was priceless. He handled the surprise with aplomb, and left us alone. Later, I realized he wasn't really surprised as there were a lot of cars in the driveway. What was I thinking?
Well,I'm falling asleep at the keys this morning. Know of our love for you. Give us a good update. Save those pictures. Be safe.
Love,
Mom
Okay, your letter was hysterical. Tanner's friend, Matt Stone from BYU emailed me. He said, "I read every one of Tanner’s and Hunter’s letters, and they were great, but Porter’s are hysterical. Thanks for posting them!" Your flair for writing wasn't something I expected. I never know what to expect when I send a son out on a mission, and learning more about you through your letters is always such a nice surprise.
I'm sure by now you've heard of Harvey, the category 4 hurricane that came shore north of Corpus Christi, This has been one of my favorite pictures, the shot from space:
The flooding though, is devastating. Houston received 52 inches of rain. That's 200 inches of snow. The professionals are talking about how the Texas economy is no more, because of how much work it's going to take to recover. Even the Houston temple has water inside. All missionaries are accounted for, provided with extra food and water, and will soon be part of a massive clean-up. The 52" is the highest amount of rainfall that's ever fallen in North America.
Port Arthur is also flooded. Even their emergency shelter had to be evacuated. Dallas, San Antonio and now Fort Worth have been shelter cities. Your father has had messages all week from people in other states looking to come to Texas to help the flood victims. Unfortunately, Granbury is not the ward in charge ;-)
And because all the oil refineries are in Houston, and the pipeline from the refineries is not pumping, we are running out of gas up here near Dallas. Everybody made a run to get gas, and the pumps in the city are almost dry. The price has gone up $.40.
Hunter made it to Boston safely Thursday evening. We had spent the morning getting his two big bags under fifty pounds. I think they both weighed in at 49.98 lbs. I've heard he got up the next morning at 5 a.m.for a golf game with Uncle Aaron; played massive Scrabble games with your grandmother, intense chess games with Uncle Aaron, knuckle dragging contests over who controls the remote with your grandfather, wood pile work at the Whitcombs, Rummikub contests with the Bachs, working at the church store house with Uncle Aaron...the fun never ends. He left yesterday for Utah, and is excited to be back at the Y. Finding a wife weighs heavily on his mind, as well as finding a job. He's contacted the event staff supervisor, who is excited to have him back. He also hopes to be a part of the wait staff at a Brazilian steak house.
He left Boston Tuesday, and has landed in Utah. He was able to successfully retrieve his belongings from Uncle Ben, with Megan's help. He had far less cooking supplies than he remembered, and has been at Deseret Industries several times. AnneMarie picked him up from the airport, lent him their extra vehicle while Tanner was away on business in Chicago, and took him to Costco for supplies. So nice to have help!
I got to see Cooper play in his first tennis meet. It was 99 degrees, but really feels like 106 degrees. I just sat in the stands and it was sweltering. He hurt his shoulder muscle working on his Eagle Scout bench, and wasn't able to get his usual slam first serve over the net. Only his second lob serve. His net game was a bit off as well. All his games were close, but he lost his match. His second meet he won both his matches.
Cooper heard about the airport's fundraiser, and was dropped off Saturday morning for their pancake breakfast. The high school's experimental airplane club was there as well. He was hoping to go up in an airplane for free, but only airplane take off and landing watching were offered.
Sawyer is now playing football for the middle school. He was told by the athletic director he could just kick, because of his brain cysts. He likes Sawyer, knows what a great athlete he is, and is excited to have him involved on his team. So Sawyer has been very diligent practicing, and getting Dad to help him kick.
Miller and Breyer begin soccer today.
Your bank account has $77.77, via phone; I still need your accounts and passwords list you were going to make for me.
I had five widows in the ward over for dinner. Seeing your father walk in the door, not knowing, was priceless. He handled the surprise with aplomb, and left us alone. Later, I realized he wasn't really surprised as there were a lot of cars in the driveway. What was I thinking?
Well,I'm falling asleep at the keys this morning. Know of our love for you. Give us a good update. Save those pictures. Be safe.
Love,
Mom
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Monday, August 28, 2017
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Letter #3
Family and Friends,
Week two, in the books, the Portuguese continues to progress, but nothing super exciting there.
Last Friday I did manage to haggle with the street vendor and get the price of the jersey he was selling reduced drastically. Spicy
HIGHLIGHT #1
I was the on sight person for what looked like patient X for a Brazilian version of world war z. While Elder Webster and I were walking to the basketball court to surely ball up, there was a Brazilian elder from northern brazil who we found unable to breath and was too dizzy to stand. I scooped him up and ran down the hallways to the Whitaker´s office, an elderly couple with zero medical training. I put him on the table where he got covered by a blanket and was convulsing pretty wildly. Not gonna lie, pretty scary. The Whitakers called a taxi because the public ambulence would take an hour and a half to get there and the private ones wouldn´t let you pick the hospital. This old dude rolls up in a minivan, the biggest car I´ve seen in Brazil BTW, and I strap him in the back and off he went. Initially, I was told it was probably Malaria or Denge which are both pretty big in his state.
HIGHLIGHT #2
While I do enjoy the mystery meat, sometimes I get scared and ask. Only once actually. Once a week, the workers take all the meat from the last week and make a little stew with it. Last week I found a baseball card sized piece of tendon in mine, and I´ve managed to get through the tongue and the huge pieces of only fat. BUT, this week I drew the line. I was chowing down and I bit down on a bown, not super uncommon, you just pull it out and keep going. When I pulled it out, I found that it was a whole rack of ribs. What kind of ribs can I fit in my mouth?? Good question, thanks for asking. Mouse ribs. They were actually pretty good, I just had to make sure they weren´t rat related, I don´t know if I´m ready for that step yet.
HIGHLIGHT#3
The jello here is weird. Normally it´s a half liquid, half jello combo, that you can drink or spoon, your choice. This week, we had Pepto Bismol flavored jello, which wasn´t the worst, just the most letter worthy. Two elders, not I, decided to go head to head in a contest. They tied at 22. *Clap Here* However, there was a clear winner. About five minutes later, one of the elders came out of the bathroom wearing what was now a bright pink shirt. Nothing but respect for the man.
HIGHLIGHT #4
Got my first nickname this week, not what I was expecting. Because Elder Johnson in my district is taller than me, he gets all the tall person jokes and nicknames which is fine by me. I do howver, get called Big Schenewarky, just like Tanner said I would. But, the first one that stuck was ´´Rei Delas,`` pronounced Hey Dallas, which is a slang for King of the Ladies. Don´t worry though, my heart is locked.
HIGHLIGHT#5
All the Brazilians ask me about my fiancee. Because I wear my CTR ring on the right hand ring finger, with the shield on the inside, all the Brazilians assume it´s my noiva. My teacher thought it was genius becuase she said it´ll keep some of the flirty brazilian females away. Thus, it´ll stay for now.
HIGHLIGHT#6
We went to the temple in Campinas again, super nice and ..........
HIGLIGHT#7
IT WAS FINALLY SUNNY AGAIN. We had about a weeks worth of rain that has gone away finally. It was about 80 which gives me zero reason to complain.
That´s most of what happened this week. Please remember the Brazilian elder in your prayers.
Much Love,
Elder Rei Delas
Week two, in the books, the Portuguese continues to progress, but nothing super exciting there.
Last Friday I did manage to haggle with the street vendor and get the price of the jersey he was selling reduced drastically. Spicy
HIGHLIGHT #1
I was the on sight person for what looked like patient X for a Brazilian version of world war z. While Elder Webster and I were walking to the basketball court to surely ball up, there was a Brazilian elder from northern brazil who we found unable to breath and was too dizzy to stand. I scooped him up and ran down the hallways to the Whitaker´s office, an elderly couple with zero medical training. I put him on the table where he got covered by a blanket and was convulsing pretty wildly. Not gonna lie, pretty scary. The Whitakers called a taxi because the public ambulence would take an hour and a half to get there and the private ones wouldn´t let you pick the hospital. This old dude rolls up in a minivan, the biggest car I´ve seen in Brazil BTW, and I strap him in the back and off he went. Initially, I was told it was probably Malaria or Denge which are both pretty big in his state.
HIGHLIGHT #2
While I do enjoy the mystery meat, sometimes I get scared and ask. Only once actually. Once a week, the workers take all the meat from the last week and make a little stew with it. Last week I found a baseball card sized piece of tendon in mine, and I´ve managed to get through the tongue and the huge pieces of only fat. BUT, this week I drew the line. I was chowing down and I bit down on a bown, not super uncommon, you just pull it out and keep going. When I pulled it out, I found that it was a whole rack of ribs. What kind of ribs can I fit in my mouth?? Good question, thanks for asking. Mouse ribs. They were actually pretty good, I just had to make sure they weren´t rat related, I don´t know if I´m ready for that step yet.
HIGHLIGHT#3
The jello here is weird. Normally it´s a half liquid, half jello combo, that you can drink or spoon, your choice. This week, we had Pepto Bismol flavored jello, which wasn´t the worst, just the most letter worthy. Two elders, not I, decided to go head to head in a contest. They tied at 22. *Clap Here* However, there was a clear winner. About five minutes later, one of the elders came out of the bathroom wearing what was now a bright pink shirt. Nothing but respect for the man.
HIGHLIGHT #4
Got my first nickname this week, not what I was expecting. Because Elder Johnson in my district is taller than me, he gets all the tall person jokes and nicknames which is fine by me. I do howver, get called Big Schenewarky, just like Tanner said I would. But, the first one that stuck was ´´Rei Delas,`` pronounced Hey Dallas, which is a slang for King of the Ladies. Don´t worry though, my heart is locked.
HIGHLIGHT#5
All the Brazilians ask me about my fiancee. Because I wear my CTR ring on the right hand ring finger, with the shield on the inside, all the Brazilians assume it´s my noiva. My teacher thought it was genius becuase she said it´ll keep some of the flirty brazilian females away. Thus, it´ll stay for now.
HIGHLIGHT#6
We went to the temple in Campinas again, super nice and ..........
HIGLIGHT#7
IT WAS FINALLY SUNNY AGAIN. We had about a weeks worth of rain that has gone away finally. It was about 80 which gives me zero reason to complain.
That´s most of what happened this week. Please remember the Brazilian elder in your prayers.
Much Love,
Elder Rei Delas
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
With All My Love
Dear Elder Schenewark,
We're so looking forward to getting your letter this week. Even Hunter remarked, "It sure seems longer than a week between letters." Yes it does.
I'm going to send this off today, and will hopefully be able to jot you a little note before you are in front of the computer Friday. We thoroughly enjoyed reading about your limbo limberness. Having witnessed your flexibility first hand, we weren't surprised. That you kept everybody entertained on a rainy day? Again, not surprised. We love you and how full of life you are.
We're so looking forward to getting your letter this week. Even Hunter remarked, "It sure seems longer than a week between letters." Yes it does.
I'm going to send this off today, and will hopefully be able to jot you a little note before you are in front of the computer Friday. We thoroughly enjoyed reading about your limbo limberness. Having witnessed your flexibility first hand, we weren't surprised. That you kept everybody entertained on a rainy day? Again, not surprised. We love you and how full of life you are.
I love this picture of Rich and his boys. They spent Saturday at your grandparents house finding fallen logs, carting them from the forest, and chopping them up for firewood.
Uncle Aaron took them out on the lake in his boat, and then they went to a Red Sox game.
Family is SO fun!
LOVE this picture of your grandfather.
His health continues to be so fragile.
White nationalists had long planned a demonstration after the city's decision to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The rally quickly exploded into racial taunting and outright brawling with the presence of anti-protesters. Then a car drove into the crowd killing one and injuring many.This sparked many demonstrations and protests across the country. This is a picture from Boston, who had one of the largest gatherings. I loved the picture because of the man who looks like a leprechaun. I worked the protest in Dallas. Confederate statues are coming down all over the nation; Six Flags has changed their flags to be just six United States flags. Interesting times to say the least.
This is my favorite picture of the eclipse I've found, taken by NASA. It is the first eclipse in 99 years to go across the entire United States, and it was BIG news. People traveled for hours to be in the path of totality, where the sun was 100% blocked by the moon. 99% blockage still gave you a sunny day, albeit with a looking-through-cheap-sunglasses-look. Granbury was near 85%. In seven years Granbury will be in the path for totality.
Your cousin Meg turned in all her paperwork on Sunday,
and is so excited to wait for her mission call.
Funny story. I asked Hunter to take Cooper's lunch to the high school. Placing the lunch on the ground by his backpack wasn't enough, and it got left behind. Hunter told me once he was there, the secretary stated that they were only allowed to take lunches from parents, and called an administrator. Once he was cleared to leave the lunch, he had to stay and witness it being searched.
I've been asked to speak in stake conference. Taking Hunter to report to the stake high council, and responding to their request to say a few remarks, left an impression. How can you not be memorable after having three of your sons go to Brazil not be memorable? And Hunter is leaving for Utah, or it might have been him.
Dad begins his classes this next week. He's spent the week in meetings, which we all know he loves. Not. He has yet to come home and be excited about all that was accomplished in a meeting.
Breyer is still jumping up in the mornings to go to school. Her outfits have all been folded, stacked and organized in her little closet and picking out the day's outfit has become one of her favorite things to do. And, since this picture reminds me of her funny baby bump, I can let you know all is still well with your first niece.
Miler takes a bit more convincing to get up in the mornings. On the morning of the eclipse Miller took a pair of eclipse glasses and put them in his backpack. I didn't want to discourage him, but as I had signed a multi-page document for Sawyer to witness the eclipse as an eighth grader, I knew he would not be able to view it. I knew the school would go so far as keeping them inside for recess, and I was right. But Miller showed his teacher the glasses, and expressed a desire to see it, and she let him, after calling me. So proud of him for speaking up. That's difficult for him to do. So thankful for his tender hearted teacher who didn't brush him aside.
Hunter spent a good portion of the time after school on the golf course with Miller and Sawyer, as this is the last week he'll be around to do this with them. They'll miss him terribly when he leaves. I'll miss him more. He's such a quiet, sweet presence in our home. It's hard to have him gone for two years and think about him leaving again. Hopefully he'll call a lot on the phone you left for him. We got in. Thank you for the pass code.
Today I was telling him, "Hunter, look! There are twenty Canadian geese that landed in the backyard!" He just nodded. I love our transitory bird friends. I love that the geese come through Bentwater year after year. I love the hummingbirds that visit us July through October. They make our house into a home. You'll have such transitory friends as you stay in the training center, before they're sent off on their own mission. Enjoy the beauty each brings into your life. Appreciate them for their unique qualities. They'll bring into your life a fullness you'll miss when you leave.
Love,
Mom
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