Weekly Email - 10/25/21

Hola Elder Salsa,

First things first – if we are able to actually talk with you, we need to know when and how.  We had hoped to get in touch Sunday since you indicated you had permission to do that then, but we didn't have a plan in place.  So, can you tell us when you'll be available (if you will be) for next Sunday?  We would all love to see your face and talk with you if we can.  Let us know when and how and we'll make it happen!

It was great to hear that you are serving with a companion in Mexicali – way better than stranded at the airport in Tijuana all week. (Did that Sister you were waiting for ever show up?)  I am also glad your companion speaks English – I can't imagine how lost I would be if I were unable to communicate with my comp.  I think Heston said today he had several native companions, and they couldn't speak any English.  Immersion is a great way to learn a language, but I can imagine it would be very difficult in the beginning.

This week is the last for soccer regular season.  The Lady Bulldogs will go to playoffs, but Jenelle suffered a hyperextended knee in last week's game and may not be healed up to play, so we'll have to see.  Zerrick has his last JV game on Tuesday and just a Monday practice for JV2.  I think both kids have mixed emotions about their season coming to an end.  Happy to have a little more time for homework, sleep, and general body recovery, but sad at the end of the fun they have been enjoying.

Jenelle is having a team dinner at our house on Monday – which is causing us a little stress, but hopefully the girls appreciate it.  Mom's making creaming Italian chicken and in total, there will be three batches.  She's also making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  That reminds me to ask if you've had any chocolate treat that has some spice to it – I hear chocolate and spicy peppers is a popular flavour profile, but it is not mine.

At church today, I don't think I was on my A game during sacrament meeting – I failed to really glean something meaningful from the talks today.  Brother Dean shared a story about losing a dart at a very young age.  His mom prompted him to pray about it.  He did and then proceeded to go to bed.  His mom asked if he had asked Heavenly Father to help him find it and he replied in the affirmative.  She said if he had asked for help, that he'd better put in more effort so God could direct him to the dart.  He said he had asked Heavenly Father to just make sure the dart was in his hand when he awoke in the morning.  It was both funny and a teaching moment for him.  But it also made me wonder when we lose that pure, child-like faith and start doubting in the Lord's ability to perform miracles. Is it good or bad that we don't think that is something to pray for?

We had a BYD this evening and I thought it turned out well.  The YW were in charge and it was focused on goals.  They invited someone to come and speak about each of the 4 goal areas: Physical, Intellectual, Social, and Spiritual (that doesn't make for the best of acronyms).  Each speaker did a good job and to me the overriding theme is that you need to set small achievable goals instead of lofty, unattainable goals.  Small steps.

For Spiritual, Elder Tavarez gave the example of reading the BofM between now and the end of the school year – 7 months works out to 2.5 pages a day.  He estimated how long it would take an average reader to read 2.5 pages and that you'd have 16 hours of awake time in a normal day and that to read the BofM, you'd need to dedicate 0.7% of your time each day to the Lord to read.  It was nice to have that breakdown to see this goal shouldn't feel overwhelming to you and that small daily action could lead to a much larger result.

Sister Dean talked about Social and that we should do what we can each day to expand our circle of influence.  That might be a simple call or text.  It could also be reaching out the hand of fellowship to someone you don't know.  Again, small attainable goals.

Intellectual was talked about by Sister Ward and her focus was more about preparing for the unexpected.  She said how her Mom had worked to get her degrees and then intended to not use them at all.  When her Dad was no longer in their family picture, her Mom went to work in the school teaching English.  She was prepared for this unexpected turn of events because of her degrees and her willingness to remain certified by being a substitute for may years beforehand.  I guess she looked at continuing, formal education as a door to keep open just in case.

Brent Davis spoke about physical goals.  He said new years resolutions fail within the first two months 80% of the time.  Lack of willpower, stamina, not really committing were a few reasons why people give up.  Another is that people set way too lofty of goals for themselves – basically setting yourself up to fail – and so, they do.

Our youth have wonderful leaders who are here to help, coach, and guide them along.  They are loved and their leaders want to help them reach whatever goal they have.  And we love you as well and want you to be a successful missionary.  If there is anything we can do or say in order to help you reach your goals, please let us help.

We love you and are excited at the possibility of talking with you sometime.

Dad