Dear Elder Stew:
It seems I have all these great things to tell you during the week, and then when I sit down to write a letter, I’ve forgotten them all. Thank heavens for my desk calendar to remind me what I’ve done It sounds like you’ve had some challenges as a new Zone Leader and with a new companion – nothing you can’t overcome – just things to help you dig deep and grow. Dad tells me you’ve been seeking his advice – he’s got great advice to give, I appreciate the way he looks at problems and looks for peaceful solutions. That’s bit ironic coming from a “litigator”. Grandma Maxfield also tells me you’ve enlisted her to be a pen pal to one of the Elders from Peru that needs some love and support. She’s so happy you’ve asked her to help, I’m sure it’s nice when you’re in your 80s to be asked to do things. Also, she has a talent for sharing her talents with others. Of course, everyone likes to feel needed and that their talents matter to others. I think that’s a wonderful aspect of service in the gospel, you enlist the people around you to work together to solve problems. In the process you help everyone involved from those who are being served to those that are serving.
Last night the YW watched a “Face2Face” webinar the church did for the Youth with the Piano Guys as their guests. This is the group of LDS musicians that takes their piano to places like the Great Wall of China, or the cliffs in southern Utah, and then films a YouTube video. They are a YouTube video sensation. Last night they had their grand piano on top of the conference center with a small, selective group of youth, along with 2 youth moderators that fielded questions. The questions came live via twitter and facebook, they were also pre-‐submitted on the lds.org website and the audience even contributed a few. We had all the YW over here for dinner and then sat down to watch the live “fireside”. It was spectcular to think of kids all over the country and world participating. The views were amazing – they managed to get some sunset shots over the great Salt Lake as well as some shots with the temple in the background. The music they play is inspiring – last night they did a mash-‐up of I Need Thee Every Hour and Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (our families favorite song since Maren sang it at Charlie’s baptism and Robby’s farewell and ROCKED it).
Well – the biggest news of the week was our trip to Snow Canyon and Irene announcing her pregnancy disguised in a scary campfire story. She’s due in May. That makes 3 babies this coming year. Catherine (boy), due end of December, Michelle (?) due April (I think) and Irene. Yeah!!! Love all these cute kids we have in our family. As for Snow Canyon – it was awesome, as usual. I don’t know if you remember much from that trip – the canyon is really small so it’s easy to get around and all the hikes are kid friendly, short and sweet. We first did a slot canyon just outside of St. George – it wasn’t a real slot canyon, more of a crack in a rock. It was so small that Dad’s belly didn’t fit and he had to turn around. At one point I couldn’t even turn my head from side to side. It was very short, thank heavens, because it gave me a bit of anxiety – Charlie did it like 4 times. Our campground was perfect! Away from all the other campers with a place for the kids to explore that led up a
It seems I have all these great things to tell you during the week, and then when I sit down to write a letter, I’ve forgotten them all. Thank heavens for my desk calendar to remind me what I’ve done It sounds like you’ve had some challenges as a new Zone Leader and with a new companion – nothing you can’t overcome – just things to help you dig deep and grow. Dad tells me you’ve been seeking his advice – he’s got great advice to give, I appreciate the way he looks at problems and looks for peaceful solutions. That’s bit ironic coming from a “litigator”. Grandma Maxfield also tells me you’ve enlisted her to be a pen pal to one of the Elders from Peru that needs some love and support. She’s so happy you’ve asked her to help, I’m sure it’s nice when you’re in your 80s to be asked to do things. Also, she has a talent for sharing her talents with others. Of course, everyone likes to feel needed and that their talents matter to others. I think that’s a wonderful aspect of service in the gospel, you enlist the people around you to work together to solve problems. In the process you help everyone involved from those who are being served to those that are serving.
Last night the YW watched a “Face2Face” webinar the church did for the Youth with the Piano Guys as their guests. This is the group of LDS musicians that takes their piano to places like the Great Wall of China, or the cliffs in southern Utah, and then films a YouTube video. They are a YouTube video sensation. Last night they had their grand piano on top of the conference center with a small, selective group of youth, along with 2 youth moderators that fielded questions. The questions came live via twitter and facebook, they were also pre-‐submitted on the lds.org website and the audience even contributed a few. We had all the YW over here for dinner and then sat down to watch the live “fireside”. It was spectcular to think of kids all over the country and world participating. The views were amazing – they managed to get some sunset shots over the great Salt Lake as well as some shots with the temple in the background. The music they play is inspiring – last night they did a mash-‐up of I Need Thee Every Hour and Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (our families favorite song since Maren sang it at Charlie’s baptism and Robby’s farewell and ROCKED it).
Well – the biggest news of the week was our trip to Snow Canyon and Irene announcing her pregnancy disguised in a scary campfire story. She’s due in May. That makes 3 babies this coming year. Catherine (boy), due end of December, Michelle (?) due April (I think) and Irene. Yeah!!! Love all these cute kids we have in our family. As for Snow Canyon – it was awesome, as usual. I don’t know if you remember much from that trip – the canyon is really small so it’s easy to get around and all the hikes are kid friendly, short and sweet. We first did a slot canyon just outside of St. George – it wasn’t a real slot canyon, more of a crack in a rock. It was so small that Dad’s belly didn’t fit and he had to turn around. At one point I couldn’t even turn my head from side to side. It was very short, thank heavens, because it gave me a bit of anxiety – Charlie did it like 4 times. Our campground was perfect! Away from all the other campers with a place for the kids to explore that led up a
secluded canyon. We even had a covered pavilion with lights and electricity which
was helpful when it rained Sunday morning as we were trying to pack up and leave.
We took some great hikes – do you remember the lava caves? We did all 3 of them
this time (last time we only did 1). It was a bit scary a few times as we passed young
children down deep holes and over deep crevasses. It’s an excellent exercise in
team building and trust. At the very end of the tunnel it opened up into a cave and
we all turned off our flashlights and marveled in the COMPLETE darkness – freaky.
It was so dark, that we all noticed a faint glow off in the corner and realized in was
an abandoned, very old glow stick, but it still gave off enough light to penetrate the
darkness. I’m sure there’s a good FHE lesson for that The kids rock scrambled
until their heart’s content. We climbed petrified sand dunes, rock canyon, rock
overlooks. We played in two different sand dune areas – one with red sand, the
other with white. The white sand was particularly fine; imagine the sand in an
hourglass. We all took off our shoes and ran around and rolled down the hill. At one
exciting point the children (while playing around the campground) found a
TARANTULLA. All the adults heard was screaming girls, we thought someone was
mortally injured. When Jared went running to investigate – the girls were running
back to campground almost hyperventilating and the boys were pocking the poor
spider with a stick. It was the biggest spider I’ve every seen outside of the zoo.
It was such good family time! Everyone was there except Blake (he just got a new job at Zion’s bank and couldn’t leave, Kelsey and her family, Brett and Brandon. Of course the cooking was amazing too. We had dutch oven enchiladas and BBQ chicken. We also did a beef brisket on the coals. Dad, Will, David, Jared, and Dave H. whipped up awesome pancake breakfasts every morning and Sydney only ate 8 pancakes because Brett wasn’t around for her to have an eating contest.
We love you and miss you. We include you in our prayers EVERY time we pray. We pray for your companion, your investigators, that you’ll be safe and listen to the Holy Ghost, and even that you’ll have fun! Have a GREAT week.
Love, Mom
It was such good family time! Everyone was there except Blake (he just got a new job at Zion’s bank and couldn’t leave, Kelsey and her family, Brett and Brandon. Of course the cooking was amazing too. We had dutch oven enchiladas and BBQ chicken. We also did a beef brisket on the coals. Dad, Will, David, Jared, and Dave H. whipped up awesome pancake breakfasts every morning and Sydney only ate 8 pancakes because Brett wasn’t around for her to have an eating contest.
We love you and miss you. We include you in our prayers EVERY time we pray. We pray for your companion, your investigators, that you’ll be safe and listen to the Holy Ghost, and even that you’ll have fun! Have a GREAT week.
Love, Mom
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