Last week of January

Hello Sister Missionaries,
 
I look back on this past week and wonder what did I do and where did it go?  Monday was a holiday MLKing day.  Tuesday was the start of the spring semester.  I only had 8 students sign up for my accounting class so the decided to cancel the class.  So I will not be teaching accounting this semester, which is probably fine.
 
Work is always busy at the beginning of the semester.  I have been spending alot of my 'spare' time on the scouting recharter for the church.  We changed the Young Mens Presidency and so we needed them to fill out new scouting leader forms, etc.  Wed. evening we had the FAFSA night at Elko high school.  Thursday night we had mutual.  Thursday evening, I was up all night on the pot again.  This time instead of throwing up, it was the rocky mtn quick step.  It was like water running through me all night long.  So I did not go to work on Friday.  They only thing I ate that the other family members did not eat was a pomegranate, and perhaps that was too much for my weakened system.
 
Friday night I did go to the games and do the clock.  Boys blew out Fernley by 62 points.  Cody had 5 points, a 2 pointer and 3 for 3 at the line.  Cody did not play much as he is in Klekas' dog house for some reason.  Cody does not know why.  I guess Thursday night at practice he was getting on cody alot and did not let him participate in practice the last 45 minutes.  He usually plays on the scout team against the starters and Stephen Klekas told him to go in and Coach Klekas asked him, "who told you to play?", and stephen said, I did and he told Cody to go sit down.  So who knows what he did or did not do.  He played sparingly against Fallon as well.  We beat Fallon as well and now only have 6 league games left until regionals.  Nick Meo said, Klekas is probably seeing his window of opportunity for a state championship closing and is getting grumpy and nervous.  If he can't win with this group of boys, he will never be able to win. 
 
I have alot to do with year end payroll and quarterlies, so I am going to be extremely busy this week as well. 
 
Hermana Nielsen, mom and I were both very impressed with you  counseiling of the other quarreling sisters.  We thought that was good advise. 
 
Sister Nielsen, we hope you have are able to accomplish the reasons the Lord has sent you to this new area.  Hermana Nielsen, we hope you are understanding and learning to say everything in spanish and teach with the spirit.  We are excited to see who you end up with and what area you will be serving.
 
I am not sure if I told you this before, but Serima Thompson the girl on spring creeks bball team, is suppose to be getting baptized in the church as well.  Now we will have to like her as she is on "our team".
 
We love you both and pray for your continued success.  We hope you have a super week.  This gospel is true!!  Whether the people accept it or not, it is all worth it and all part of Heavenly Father's plan.  Enjoy all these moments you both are experiencing as these are truly some of the most special times in your lives.
 
Love
 
Dad

It feels like Spring

Hello My daughter missionaries.

This week passed by super fast. Monday was normal day. Tuesday we played Lowry and the girls won and the boys won by 17 or 18 points.  It was a 3 or 4 point game at the end of the 3rd quarter and elko clamped down the 4th quarter.  I think Cody was 3 for 3 from the line and another 2 pointer.  Connors only had 2 points and their big tall 6'10" guy only had 6 (their best offensive players).  But as mom is describing the games did not get started until way late and we got done 10:30 or 11:00 pm at night.  

Tuesday I had to go to Winnemucca to meet with students for financial aid. That evening I went to Lowry high school for FAFSA night and I did not get home until 9:30 pm.  So 2 late nights.  Cody left for vegas on Thursday.  They played Green Valley high school on Friday and beat them by 17 points, cody only had 1 2-pointer.  Then they played Cheyenne High school on Sat and beat them as well.  Cody only shoots 1-3 times a game he needs to shoot more.  He had a 2-pointer and 1 for 2 from the line.  Elko played Las Vegas today, they are the number 4 team in the state and Elko is the number 9 team in the state and Las Vegas won 50-47.  Cody had 1 2-pointer and 3 for 3 from the line.  They will come home today.

We had Lilly a girl from our ward stay with us Thursday night through Sat night as her parents went to SLC.  But all she wanted to do was hang out in Erin's old room and text boys all day long.  I was happy when they picked her up.  I don't want Summer and Carly around that influence.  Sat. morning we woke up and it was 48 degrees in our house.  The furnace had gone out.  So I got on Youtube and watched a bunch of videos on how to fix a furnace, and sure enough I found the problem, the ignitor had burned up.  But all the furnace stores that sell parts were closed on Sat. and Sun.  So we had to live in the cooler for 3 days.  They were open today and I went down and bought the part for $35 and it works great now.  Saturday I had to work for about 4 hours, but I had big plans to get alot of other things done, but spent it mostly on trying to fix the furnace.  But $35 is a lot cheaper than a $150 service call.  The van has a dead battery and I need to fix it as well, but have not had time. 

 Sat. night we went to Jessica Shumways wedding reception.  It was very simple and quit nice.  They had a hot chocolate bar, and you could add different things and flavors to your hot chocolate.  When we went to bed that evening I had some stomach pains and didn't think much of it, but I was miserable during the night and ended up throwing up all night.  So I stayed home from church as I did not want to infect any others. I think it was the 24 hour flu.  I don't have time to be sick.

Sister Wright called us Amber and is trying to make arrangements to be here for your homecoming.  We told her we feel like we already know and love her and we have never met her yet.  She is working as an ordinance worker in the Provo temple.  She and her family are going back to visit Hawaii sometime in Feb. or March.  Mom thought she sounded just like you Amber.

Well Erin, you need to watch your soccer skills as they must be sending uncertain messages to other Elders, hahaha.

Today I had off from work for MLK day and after I fixed the furnace I just spent 4 hours over at Silver State Fire trying to get their payroll issues straightened out and help them with W-2s and W-3.  So here we are late in the day and I have not sent my letter yet.  

We are so happy you both are serving missions.  We love you both and pray for your continued success.

Have a super week.

Love you both,

Dad

Aloha and Hola

Hello Sister Missionaries,
 
We had another good week.  We played Spring Creek in Bball on Tuesday.  The boys won by 23 or something and the girls lost by 13 points.  In the girls game it was a 2 point game going into the 4th quarter.  And Camille tried her old bag of tricks and tried playing all the starters the entire game and they were too tired to compete in the 4th Qtr.  I am sure Erin knows what I am talking about.  I think Cody had 6 or 8 points, but he was the 3rd high scorer for Elko.  They traveled to Sparks and Truckee this weekend and he had 3 points against Sparks and either 2 or 4 against truckee.  They won by 25-30 points but it seemed alot closer on the radio, we just could not shake them.
 
Pahrump was Pahrump, just meeting with all the people/students down there with no jobs and wanting financial aid to help support themselves.  It is a different place down there.  I left Wed. and got back around 7:30 pm friday night.
 
Sat. I had to work and teach the GBC orientation class.  So I worked for 1/2 day and then tried to do some scouting registration that Bro. Harris left for the last week and did not do anything on it.  Sunday was full of meetings from 8 to 3:00 pm.  We did not have any one over for dinner and I worked on scouting registrations in the evening.
 
Amber, would you like to speak the 3rd week of Feb. or the 4th?  The 3rd is 2 days after you get home.  I am not sure if that is too quick or not.  Would you like to have a week to get your feet under you before we have visitors and have you speak?  Just let us know.
 
I don't have alot of other information.  School starts next week and I have a ton to do to get students paid and get my class ready to go for the next semester.
 
Have a super week, we love and pray for both of you.  Erin it sounds like you love the MTC down there playing soccer and having a good time.   I loved my time in the MTC as well.
 
Amber keep working hard right up to the end.  We know you are there for a reason, let the Lord work through you to accomlish his purposes.
 
Love,
 
DAD

A fresh Start to a New Year

Hello "sister" missionaries,
 
It was great to get your emails and hear how you both are doing.  Erin made me laugh with her and her Comp. for Ecuador who rocked the streets of Lima.  Just think Erin, in less that a month you can be doing that for real.  After you learn the language, the missionary work is a lot more fun than studying the language all day long.  We were sorry to hear that one Elder went home.  I'm sure if he would have stuck it out he would have been fine.
 
That girl that Whitney referred the missionaries to who got baptized before Christmas name is Emily Anderson.  So Whit has 2 baptisms under her belt in 5 months as a member.  She is an example to all of us.  She and Tricia went back to school at 5:00 am this morning.  I am always glad when she leaves and I think she and Cody spend too much time together when they are here.  They both need to go to BYUI and find a nice return missionary up there to date.
 
Last night about 8:30 we were done with FHE and scriptures and prayers and were getting ready for bed and a knock came at our door.  Cody did not want to open it as he thought it might be for him.  I could see a cardboard thing on the front porch with Cody's name on it, so we turned off all the lights and sat there and watched out the windows and front door to see if we could catch them.  Cody snuck outside behind the bushes where the Jimenez and our property lines are and waited.  He saw a head pop up behind a pickup by the Johnson's house so he snuck down there and saw Romney Goulding running.  AJ Jordan was with her and he blind folded Cody and asked if he saw her.  Cody said yes, so AJ said just act like you didn't.  Any way Romney is asking Cody to Sadies.  She had a picture of her as a baby and said she has been waiting to ask him to Sadies ever since she was a baby and to watch tomorrow how see was dressed to see how she had changed.  Mom said it was her curiosity that allowed Cody to catch them.  Just like a arsonist who lights the fire and always stays around to see people's reaction.  They never leave.  Romney was the same way, if they would have left, Cody would have never known.  Cody said he is "native" and can catch anyone.  It was fun though.
 
Mom and the girls and cody and Whit went to Frozen on Thursday night.  That is a new disney movie.  The girls really liked it.
 
Cody played well in their games Friday and Sat.  He had 0 points on Friday, did not shoot the ball once and 8 points on Sat.  3 for 3 from the field and 2 for 3 from the line.  Sat. game was against Dayton and that great running back and linebacker for Dayton played for them, so the motivated Cody to play well.  He wanted to guard that guy. Cody says he is going to have to start lifting again as that guy was bigger and stronger than Cody and Cody did not  like that.  Klekas does not want Cody to lift weights during the bball season.
 
On new years day, Cody and I went out to the archery range to meet up with those guys and we took some old bows (one of Cleons and one they gave Cody there at the range) and we took some old arrows and went around and shot the animal targets.  It was a ton of fun.  I haven't shot at the range for many many years.  We both had a blast.
 
Well as mom said, I have been called to serve in the bishopric again.  I think I am more nervous now than I was when I was younger for this calling.  I have more time obligations now than I had back then and I believe my time is more limited.  I felt more relaxed after I was set apart.  Bishop Bryce is President Shumways nephew and when he was bearing his testimony, he reached back and grabbed a hymn book to read the words out of a song, and President Lewis said, holly smokes, he really is a Shumway.  President Lewis gave Bishop Bryce a wonderful blessing.  One thing he blessed him with is that he would remember the names and needs of all his ward members and then when he is released he would be blessed with the gift of forgetfulness, that he would not remember any of the problems, issues, etc that he had delt with for the members of ward.  I thought that was neat.
 
Well, I hope you have a great week.  Elko bball plays Spring Creek at Elko tomorrow, so we will see how that game goes.  We should beat them badly but you never know.  I go down to Pahrump on Wed. to meet with students.  I had to wait and go to the bball game and leave the next day.
 
We love you two and are so happy to have 2 daughters on missions.  We pray for your success daily and know that you are both great missionaries.  Have a super week.
 
Love Dad