Boys:
Another week in the books. It's snowing tonight in Northern Utah... finally. I almost have the first round of cabinets I'm building done and I think they look pretty good.
One of the other things I've been working on is the home automation system. I've got the lights turning on at sunset and turning off at 10pm. Pretty cool and Mom is happy about it. I'm trying to figure out the mathematical calculation of Sunrise and Sunset. So far there are lots of sin and cosine and radians... it's been a long time since Trig...
It's Christmas time. It means that a lot of the people you meet this time of year are thinking about family and parents. We are thinking about you and hoping that you're enjoying your time in the mission field. We pray that you will do your best and that the people you meet will be be kind to you.
I remember my first Christmas in Minnesota. I was in a three-some with Ragle and Christensen. Christensen didn't want to be on a mission and Ragle was close to going home. It was cold and I so much appreciated people who were kind to me. We didn't have many discussions in Hutchinson and Willmar Minnesota. I grew to love the members in the area because they were so kind to us.
One of the first experiences I had was will the Jack Risewitz family in Litchfield. They were poor but they did everything to make us feel comfortable being there. One night their little baby was sick and screaming uncontrollably. They did what the scriptures exhort and called for the elders. Elder Packer gave a blessing and healed that child. It was a true miracle. He left me with a piece of wisdom far beyond his age. I still can quote him... "Remember Elder, the Lord loves little children and delights to bless them."
This is Caleb's last week and we certainly look forward to having him home with us this Christmas. It's going to be a great week. A golden sliver of time in our eternal family.
We love you,
Dad
