tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24897553547930846952024-02-06T19:32:56.391-08:00Tate TalesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-23602166197658966582017-02-09T17:24:00.000-08:002017-02-09T17:24:09.905-08:00<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 24px;">
Happy Sabbath everyone,</div>
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Soon, we will need an ark! <span style="font-size: 18pt;">All is well, but very wet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Bethany gave a great talk today in church. She said that the Lord applauds our daily efforts. She likened our sins to a seams in a dress. If we make a mistake, we have to rip it out and make it right or we won't be happy with our dress. It dovetailed beautifully with our lesson in relief society where Sister Smith used a balloon and said that the reason it floats is because it's lighter--and we can rise above our challenges if we repent and not let ourselves be weighed down with sins.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Larry, at the moment, is trying to convince the dogs to "let go." They really hate to do their business in the rain. He's standing outside in a downpour telling the dogs to go potty. They, and the neighbors, probably think he's nuts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I have a lot of writerly things in the works. This week I was accepted to a workshop led by editors from Simon and Schuster and Harper Collins (two of the five big publishing houses.) I'll work in a critique group of five people. It was an honor to be selected, and I'm looking forward to their feedback on my work. The workshop is at Sundance at the end of April. </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">In March, I'm speaking on storytelling at </span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">a statewide s</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;">ymposium for gifted high school students. Also, I'm going to publish my short story, The Edit this week. I wrote it years ago. It's about my experience when I learned that the villain in my novel Hailey's Comments closely resembled an actual person by the same name--James Dunsmuir (not a common name.) I love writing and publishing the short stories. I like the novels, too, but they're much more work. Obviously.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Jared and Jen's baby shower is in a few weeks. It coincides with our stake conference (which was rescheduled.) This means I'll be at the shower in the morning and cutting pie and serving ice cream at the Saturday night session of stake conference. Our stake president has been called to be a mission president to Lansing Michigan and he will be released. Maybe I'll be released soon after? My nightmare is one Sunday I'll go to church and the rest of the presidency will all be released but me. Anyway, because of the change, all of our ward conferences were cancelled and will be rescheduled. Such are the burdens of the secretary.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Life is good. My children are well. Natalie is planning on a summer at Oxford and India. Nathan and Shirley are going on a cruise. Jared and Jen's baby is weeks away. Miranda likes her classes. Bethany and Brandon are busy starting a business and caring for their family. Adam should be here for dinner any minute. And, for the moment, we are dry as long as we stay inside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">We love you all,</span></div>
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Hi all,</div>
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It's rainy and cold here, just as January should be, reminding me of the California winters early in my marriage. Of course, I love it because it means I can hibernate with a good books.</div>
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Today, we're going to dinner at Nathan's to celebrate my birthday. I'm bringing sugar-free brownies. I'm fifteen days into my sugar-free year and it's become easy for me. The first week is always the hardest. My birthday was tricky as people who don't know my sugar-free ways brought me treats, but I survived. This week will also be a test as I'm going to a friend's for a craft night and that always involves sinful food and the following night it's my turn to bring the treat to my writers' group (fruit with yogurt dip.)</div>
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Thanks for all the birthday wishes. We celebrated at my favorite restaurant. Friends tried to take me to lunch, but I put them off so I could go to the book store on my own. (Lunch will happen this week.) Looking ahead at all the things 2017 has in store, I'm very excited. We're going to a cabin in Lake Arrowhead in February, Washington in April, and Canada in July. Life is good.</div>
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Our stake president has been called to serve as a mission president so he's being released in a few weeks. I know our presidency is expecting to our release to follow close behind. Although, I'm trying not to hold my breath since the last secretary held her calling for eleven years.</div>
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Larry has been knocking all of his financial goals out of the park so a lot of our discussions center on his retirement in about two years. On the other hand, I don't ever want to retire from writing. I haven't worked on a book since before Thanksgiving and I'm looking forward to starting on the third book in my Menagerie series tomorrow.</div>
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Our family is doing well. Adam has been in Thailand--he returns today. We're grateful he wasn't trampled by elephants or eaten by tigers. Everyone else in our family has been just as fortunate. I can only hope our country will fare as well in the upcoming years. I don't think I can watch the inauguration this week...</div>
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We love you all and hope that you will also be protected from the elephants and tigers. But please be careful of the monkeys. (There's no escaping the monkeys.)</div>
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Much love,<b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">From:</b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">k tate <kdtate hotmail.com=""></kdtate></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, January 1, 2017 6:33 PM<br /></span><div>
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Dear family,<br />
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Natalie and Miranda are still at home (for the moment) so we're still (somewhat) in party mode, but it's fleeting. Miranda leaves tomorrow at five a.m. She's returning to BYU earlier than Natalie because she's a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding. Natalie has a group of friends arriving tomorrow--three girls and three guys. We're not quite sure where everyone is going to sleep. They are here for another week.<br />
The Barnettes spent the weekend in Las Vegas. They'll return tomorrow. Winston--their Westie--will be over the moon to see them. He cries when they're gone. The rest of us miss them, too, but not with so much noise.<br />
It was really wonderful to have everyone here for Christmas. Larry pointed out that our family has doubled in the past ten years. We went from 8 to 16. I wonder where the next ten years will take us.<br />
I hope you all have wonderful plans for 2017. I love this time of year. I love putting the Christmas decorations up, but I love how good it feels to put them all away. I have high hopes for this year.<br />
It's so wonderful to have most of my children nearby. It's something that I never expected. There's no guarantee that it will last, but I'm pretty confident that at least Adam and Bethany will be close. (Especially Bethany. I doubt that Brandon will uproot his business. He's doing great.) Adam really likes his job, so he's not looking to move. Nathan is loving Google, but it's a huge company with lots of offices, so he could transfer at some point. But he just started last month, so that shouldn't happen any time soon--if ever. Jared though is a wild card. He wants to get his masters and life could take him and Jen and baby Tate anywhere. And of course, who knows where life will take Natalie and Miranda. Natalie just filled out an application for a study abroad in Israel.<br />
Life is so much more fun and interesting when you're sharing it with people you love. May you all have a fun, interesting, and lovely 2017,<br />
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<em id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3024" style="font-family: garamond, "new york", times, serif; font-size: x-large;">Kristy Tate</em><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><b>From:</b> k tate <kdtate hotmail.com=""><br /><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, December 4, 2016 10:21 PM<br /></kdtate></span><div>
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Dear Family,<br />
How fun to see pictures of Dad flying to Hawaii for the Pearl Harbor reunion! Happy travels, Dad, Dennis and Dawn.<br />
We (the stake relief society) put on a luncheon for the silver sisters in our stake. This was our third one and best attended with nearly 50 ladies. It's gaining traction, which is fun to see. It's hard to believe that I'll be going to my sixth year of ward conferences in a few weeks. Our stake is shrinking. We used to be bursting at the seams. Our ward is the largest in the stake with a healthy youth program and primary, but a number of the wards are limping along.<br />
Tonight we took our five year old neighbor, Victoria, to watch six year old Sterling sing in our stake musical production. She was pretty amazed when the choir started singing. When they sang Jingle Bells, she leaned over and whispered, "I know this one!" We're in the thick of the season. I have parties on Tuesday afternoon (friends), Wednesday evening (relief society), Friday night (Larry's office), Saturday night (my writers' group), and I'm volunteering at our stake nativity program on Sunday night. It's a lot for me.<br />
I finished the book I was working right before Thanksgiving and I won't start another until after the holidays. It's amazing how much time I have. A writer friend told me that when you're writing the logical side of your brain that keeps track of time shuts off and that's why time disappears. Now that I haven't been writing, I've been doing other things like I made an advent calendar similar to the one I made way back in Connecticut. I'm almost done with a quiet book I'm making for Gigi, and I'm really tired of making crafts. I can't wait to finish and clean up the fabric and scraps because I'm frustrated with how messy it all is. That's one of the nice things about writing--it's pretty tidy.<br />
We have some super exciting things happening in our family. Jared and Jen are adopting a baby boy in February! Bethany has organized an auction to help offset their expenses. (It's going to cost them $45 thousand) Bidding on our donations start on either Thursday or Friday. Nathan and Shirley are moving to Irvine this weekend! And Nathan is starting at Google tomorrow. The girls are getting ready for finals which means they'll be home soon. And it's always so fun to have them around. Brandon's dad is coming to visit and luckily both condos will be empty so the Barnettes will go to Oceanside for that weekend, which will be great for them. Brandon's business is doing really well...Adam really likes his new job. Life is good.<br />
We hope all is well with all of you. We love and miss you and pray that you're all having a wonderful holiday season.<br />
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<span id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3025" style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: large;"><em id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3024">Kristy Tate</em></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><b>From:</b> k tate <kdtate hotmail.com=""><br /><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, November 27, 2016 9:59 AM<br /></kdtate></span></div>
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Dear Family,<br />
I hope you all had a lovely holiday. Our house has quieted down, the turkey left-overs have all disappeared, even all of the pies are gone. Adam stayed the weekend, but went home last night. Nathan and family left this morning, as did the girls (taking Larry with them.)<br />
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Adam, the girls and their friend Samantha arrived Wednesday night. Jared and Jen celebrated with Jen's family and Nathan and Shirley were in Logan with Shirley's people. We started the morning by running around the lake for the Run for Kira virtual run. It's 1.25 miles around the Rancho lake, so it was perfect. Miranda and I went an hour earlier so we could watch Gigi and Sterling while the others ran. We were sad I was late ordering our T-shirts, but decided we could always run again when they arrive. We had eleven for dinner, which was a perfect number around our dining room table. The boys competed in their annual pie baking contest (Adam won with a raspberry/chocolate pudding pie, but Larry was a close second with a lemon meringue, and Brandon made a cranberry cheesecake Of course, we played lots of games and watched lots of movies.<br />
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On Friday, <span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols;">I got started on my </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols;">holiday decorating. It will be different this year because a lot of my decorations including my nativity scene (which is the most important) </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols;">are hidden behind Bethany's stuff in our garage. </span> We also went shopping and to the Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them movie (we liked it, but didn't feel as connected to it as we did the Harry Potter movies.) Then the girls watched the new Gilmore Girls episode while the boys played games.<br />
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On Saturday, Larry and I and the girls went to the temple in the morning, came home we all went for a walk on the beach and stopped for ice cream on our way home. Nathan and family surprised us with a visit. They arrived home from Utah to find that their furnace didn't work and wouldn't be fixed until Monday. Rather than freeze at their house, they came to ours! For dinner, we made our traditional turkey pizzas. (These aren't pizzas made with turkey. Instead, we all make our own pizzas that are supposed to look like turkeys.) Shortly after that the vomiting started. The stomach flu hits us almost every year. We wonder if we can blame it on the card playing--it's so tempting to lick our fingers when we shuffle. Or maybe it's the pizza making where we're using our fingers to sprinkle cheese and lay out peppers... Sigh.<br />
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So Natalie, Miranda, and Sterling spent last night vomiting. They were supposed to leave for Provo at six this morning. (Not Sterling, of course.) Larry ended up going with them since only Samantha was in any condition to drive. He's our hero. He'll fly home tomorrow morning. I was going to go--even packed my suitcase--but he doesn't mind driving in the snow and I hate it.<br />
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So, here we are, me and the Barnettes. Only Sterling is sick...so far. Nathan and family had intended to stay longer, but decided they'd rather be cold than sick. (I don't blame them.) And their landlord offered to bring them space heaters, so hopefully, they'll be okay (and not cold and sick, which is a possibility.) They're moving to Irvine in just a few days! Nathan is going to work for Google, which is super exciting, although a little sad for Jared and Jen because they'll be farther away from them, but closer to us!<br />
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We have so much to be grateful for...and we're grateful for all of you.<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, October 30, 2016 1:42 PM<br /></span></div>
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Dear Family,<br />
I'm home after my weeklong sojourn in Wet Washington. I had a lovely visit, but it's also really nice to be here. Everyone else is at church. I volunteered to stay with Gigi, who's sick (and napping) so things are very quiet.<br />
I spent Sunday through Wednesday morning with Dad. He's doing well, although he's really slowing down. He spends a lot of time watching football and napping, but probably an equal amount of time working in his shop. This gave me lots of time to give the downstairs bathroom a makeover. Thanks to contributions from Dennis and Dawn, I repainted, put up new curtains, and replaced the rugs and towels. It doesn't look great, but it looks much, much better.<br />
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On Wednesday, I went to a writer's retreat hosted by an organization of LDS women on Whidbey Island (very close to Bowman Bay.) We were right on the water and the location was magnificent. I met a lot of nice people, and I got a ton of writing done. I had a great time, but I don't think I'll do it again. I think I could be just as effective--if not more so--at the condo. There were skits, games, and workshops, but during those I almost always regretted the time I spent away from my story. (It was soooo girls camp.) The first night I stayed in a cabin. Even though I had my own room, the other women stayed up until the wee hours of the morning talking which kept me awake. The next day, I moved over to the "dorms" where the crowd was way more serious, and everyone had their own rooms. I loved staying in the dorms except for when I had to help a naked 70+ year old lady figure out the shower. (I really prefer people when they're clothed.) Also, I accidentally left behind my notebook with the outline of my story and my marketing plans for next year. I'm not happy about anyone finding either of those, but oh well...<br />
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I left late Saturday morning and returned to my dad's to say goodbye. (He was busy welding something in the shop and chatting with Dennis.) Rebecca and I drove into Seattle and wandered around the Amazon bookstore in the University District. After that, we went to the Day of the Dead celebration at the Seattle Center. Rebecca gives her students extra credit if they go. I, of course, didn't get extra credit, but I'm still glad I got to go. I had to get up at 4:30 this morning to catch my flight.<br />
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And now I'm home and real life resumes. This week, I'll publish A Little White Christmas Lie. Both my editor and Miranda think it's my best. I'm not sure I agree, but I do like it a whole lot. Tomorrow is Halloween. Nathan's birthday and Thanksgiving are right around the corner. Sometimes it seems as if the party never ends.<br />
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I hope wonderful things are happening for all of you and that all of your parties are happy ones.<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, October 23, 2016 2:39 PM<br /></span><div>
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Greetings from Arlington!<br />
It's soooo pretty here! I remembered to bring my camera on this trip and I'm looking forward to taking some pictures. The sun is out, although the clouds are hanging low. The leaves are magnificent. Washington really is a slice of heaven.<br />
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Dad is moving really slowly. Once he's upright, he does okay, but getting up and around is a workout. I'm going to work-over the downstairs bathroom. But I'm also going to dinner at Dennis and Dawn's and to lunch on Tuesday with Aunt Helen, Lynn and Sharon, and two of Aunt Helen's siblings and their spouses--the Burnells and Bairds.<br />
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The new neighbor is the care-giver for another 95-year-old World War vet and Pearl Harbor survivor. (What are the odds?) She was hoping this gentleman and dad could be friends. Sadly, they didn't hit if off. The man said when his ship exploded, he was thrown in the water and "some SOB grabbed me by the arm, pulled me into a boat, and pulled my arm out of joint." To which Dad responded, "That was probably me." And now, they're not friends.<br />
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Today in my dad's ward, this one man spoke and I swear he's spoken at every sacrament meeting I've attended for the last couple of years. He spoke at my Uncle John's funeral and then at least four of the last five meetings I've attended here. (Weird, right?) I pointed this out to him the last time I was in town and he said I was obviously a jinx. Fortunately, he's an incredible speaker and today he talked about his military service in Bosnia and how being earnest is different from being diligent. In the military, when a soldier receives an order, he is to take three steps back, solute, and then turn and run to fulfill the order. To walk away is an insult. He said that we should be just as anxious and earnest in doing the Lord's work. I'm beginning to think this man speaks every week in the Stillaguamish ward.<br />
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My writer's retreat on Whidbey Island begins on Wednesday. It's hosted by an organization of LDS women writers. Because it's not in the business of making money, it's really affordable: 3 days of accommodations, plus food, for $95. There are classes and workshops, but there's also a lot of quiet time for writing. Natalie called it a girls camp for introverts. I don't know anyone who's going, so I hope I'll make friends. And if I get close to finishing the book I'm working on, that will be bonus gravy. Maybe I shouldn't make any friends...I'd probably get more writing done. The book I'm working on, the second book in what I thought would be a trilogy, has taken a dramatic turn for the bizarre, and it will take way more than three books to end this story.<br />
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I'm looking forward to seeing Rebecca on Saturday. There are also some bookstores I want to visit in Seattle, which I'll do with or without Rebecca--depending on what she has going on and wants to do.<br />
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This past week we celebrated Adam and Bethany's birthdays by going to an Italian restaurant in town that's been a favorite for years. They catered all of our children's wedding receptions and open houses. They moved into a new, larger space--so pretty. But it also made me feel a little strange- as if we're all growing up.<br />
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Nathan has his second rounds of interviews with Google on Friday. We're holding our breath for him. His last interview went really well. Life is good. It's about to get even better because I made a pumpkin spice cake to take to Dennis and Dawn's and it smells like heaven. (By the way, Ellen--did you make the pumpkin butterscotch cookies? YUM.)<br />
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For those of you who aren't here to see the pretty foliage and eat pumpkin cake and cookies--I feel sorry for you. I'll take pictures, but you'll have to do your own baking.<br />
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God bless,<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, October 16, 2016 8:45 AM<br /></span><div>
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Hola All!<br />
We're in the thick of the Tate birthday season. Today we're celebrating Adam. Bethany's turning 30 (!) on Friday. Adam wanted enchiladas for his birthday, so we carried the theme a step further and got him a pinata. Imagine us swinging a bat at a paper sombrero this afternoon.<br />
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Natalie came to visit us this week. It's always fun to listen to all her crazy dating adventures in Provo. It was a really fast trip. She arrived on Wednesday night and left at 5 a.m. on Friday. Thursday, she went to the dentist and she and I went to the temple in the afternoon. I had a presidency meeting that night, so I missed going out for icecream with Larry, grandbabies, and Natalie. I'm not bitter...<br />
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Last night, a friend asked me to read an excerpt from my book at her Halloween party. She's a tremendously successful interior decorator and throws amazing parties. She'd asked me to do it last year, too, but I hadn't been able to attend. I was nervous about it because I wasn't sure what a book had to do with interior decorating, but it was great. Bethany filmed me and we're going to put it up on Youtube, even though I'm not very happy with how I look. Sigh. Although the orange I put in my hair does look good.<br />
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Yesterday, Bethany and family went to Lake Arrowhead. She posted a picture on Facebook of the boys in front of Grandma and Grandpa's house. So many happy memories of that place!<br />
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Tomorrow, Nathan has his first interview with Google (in Santa Monica.) Please keep a happy thought for him. He probably won't make as much as money as he could with his own business, but he thinks it will be good for him to get out of the house and be around people. Besides, Google is an exciting, innovative company.<br />
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For Bethany's birthday, we're going to tour the Gilmore Girls set! This is just a girls thing. Larry and Brandon didn't want to join us.<br />
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I'm looking forward to my trip to Washington! I arrive Saturday night, 9 p.m. My writers' retreat on Whidbey Island is Wednesday through Saturday and my flight is early Sunday morning. We had some drizzly weather this morning, so it put me in the mood.<br />
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All is well. Larry's preparing his gospel doctrine lesson on Jesus' visit to the Nephites. Chandler got his first violin this week. Sterling lost two teeth at once. Emmy has the stomach flu so Nathan's family couldn't come for dinner today. Jen's taking an eyelash extension class and she's going to practice on the girls (including me.) Life is good. I hope all is well with all of you.<br />
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Much love,<br />
<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /><b>Sent:</b> Monday, October 10, 2016 5:44 PM<br /></span><div>
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Hi all,<br />
I have a new goal to write every week. I sincerely doubt that most of you will want to hear from me every week, or that I'll have something to say every week, but looking over my year I realize that there are great big gaping holes in my timeline. And since Bethany keeps my letters and put them in a book, I feel like I need to mention some memorable things like the girls' homecoming, Emmy's birth, our trip to Europe, etc.<br />
<br />
But if I do this one week at a time, I won't get behind. So...this week...we caught a cat. It was wild and living in our garage among all of the Barnette's things. (Bethany's family is living with us and all of their jazz is in our garage--and so was the cat.) We bought two traps. Neither worked. The dogs were unable to ferret it out. Weeks went by. Finally, last night we chased it down and slammed a laundry basket over it. The dogs were crazy. This morning, Bethany took it to the pound. Which was sad, but we just couldn't have one more creature in our house. We're very full.<br />
<br />
Adam has a new job which he likes and which pays him more money. He's still doing business litigation. He moved out two days before the Barnettes moved in. He lives in a house with five dudes in Costa Mesa, which was 3 minutes from his old office. But his new office is closer to us.<br />
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Brandon's business is doing much better than they had dared to hope. On one day, he had 20 patients. Chandler has Ms. Pascall for fourth grade--she also taught Bethany and most of his aunts and uncles. Sterling is in kindergarten and Gigi hangs out here with me, Bethany, and the dogs.<br />
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Nathan's being treated for his depression. He has interviews with Google lined up. He has plenty of work, but he thinks it may help if he had someplace to go every day. Please keep them in your prayers.<br />
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Jared loves his job as a business consultant. Jen runs a reading program at an elementary school. They're working on their adoption papers. Jen went with me to a writer's conference in San Luis Obispo. It was life changing for me and super fun to go with Jen.<br />
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Natalie is teaching Chinese at the MTC and studying business and music. She'll be home this week for just a couple of days to get some dental work done. It will be great to see her. Natalie in charge of firesides for return missionaries to help them readjust to being 'home.'<br />
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Miranda loves her classes, new roommates and apartment. She's a visiting teaching supervisor.<br />
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All is well.<br />
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Larry's business is doing well. He was in North Carolina last week and San Diego today. My books are doing well. I've sold more than 200 of my latest release that came out two weeks ago. Of course, I only make .30 cents on that book. (It's only .99 cents until the end of October. 'Well' is all relative.) I'm ripping out plants in the side yard so I can put in new ones. Bethany's boys have been helping me--we pay them with Wendy's Frosty's.<br />
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We love you all and hope you're all healthy and happy. I'm looking forward to my trip to Arlington on the 22nd.<br />
<br />
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<span id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3025" style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: large;"><em id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3024">Kristy Tate</em></span></div>
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Dear Family,</div>
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Happy Sabbath! A lot has happened/changed in a few short weeks here on Sembrado Street, and I thought I’d take a moment to fill you all in. All is well, but slightly rearranged. (Not deranged.)</div>
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This week, Jen and I were scheduled to attend a writer’s retreat in Show Low, Arizona. A massive fire in that area changed our plans. Larry had specifically arranged business in Salt Lake City because he had thought I’d be gone. As it was, he left and I stayed. He was able to visit his ailing mom (she’s had a series of small strokes and is currently in a rehabilitation center) and hang out with Natalie, who’s at BYU for the summer term.</div>
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Adam moved out just days before Miranda moved in. It was as smooth as clockwork. Adam lives in a five bedroom house with a pool and six other dudes about 3 miles from his office. He has his own room and bathroom. For the first week, he didn’t even see any of his roommates, but then he hooked up his TV to netflicks. Someone asked if they could watch The Bachelor (or Bachelorette—I can’t remember which) and he said people came out of the woodwork. He loves being so close to work. We miss him.</div>
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Bethany, Brandon and crew have settled in. It’s been great. They’ve taken over cleaning the condos, our house, and Bethany does the cooking and grocery shopping while Brandon does the dishes. Chandler mows the lawn. Sterling cleans up after the two dogs. I’m not sure I’ll ever want them to leave. So far, Brandon’s business is doing much better than they had expected. There goal for the month of June was to have one patient. They now have 7, which is amazing because he only needs 8 to make as much as he was making at his firm in Nevada. Chandler celebrated his 9<sup>th</sup> birthday on Thursday. He wanted to go to Costco for dinner! Then we all came home and played pound the table—and he won.</div>
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I spent yesterday with Nathan, Shirley, Baby Emberlyn and Spook, the puppy. (Jared and Jen took Wren for the weekend.) Emmie, Spook, and I hung out while Nathan and Shirley went to an escape house and rock climbing. They have a darling house in the San Fernando Valley. Nathan’s going through intense counseling for his depression, so it’s rough. I thought it was silly for them to get a puppy when they had a new baby and a toddler, but then I met the puppy and I think he’s exactly what they need. He’s really charming, fun, and well behaved for such a little guy. Emmie and Wren, of course, are incredibly beautiful and happy. Nathan was also a really easy baby.</div>
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Jared and Jen are happy in Westwood. They’re working with an adoption agency. Jared loves his job, and Jen just got a job as nanny. (She starts this week.) Hopefully, she’ll love her job, too.</div>
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Natalie also starts a new job this week. She’s going to teach Chinese at the MTC. She likes her business classes because they’re easy and they’re full of cute guys.</div>
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Miranda was really homesick, so she came home for the summer semester. It worked out perfectly because Brandon is so much busier than he expected and she works for him in the afternoons. (He has a morning receptionist.) And she works on classes online and goes to the gym in the mornings.</div>
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The dogs and cat are getting along much better than I thought they would. The downside, of course, is that our world is a lot furrier.</div>
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Today, I’ll teach in relief society—which is not my calling, but I wish it was. I’m still in the stake. It’s been five years. I’ll also play the piano—which is also not my calling, but I also wish it was. This week, I plan on publishing my first blog book (a compilation of my blog posts about my last five years of my writing career.) I really had doubts about publishing this, but at the temple I felt that I should. I still have doubts, but Miranda’s been super encouraging, so this week if everything goes as planned, it should happen. I’m hesitant because if someone doesn’t like one of my fictional books—that’s fine, but if someone doesn’t like a book about me, it means they don’t like me…But no one will be forced to read it, and it will be free, or nearly free.</div>
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I hope you are all having a lovely Sabbath day. We send you all our love, Kristy</div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20pt;">Hiya!</span><div>
<span style="color: black; font-size: 20pt;">Girls! You are on the count down! Just about a month left! Natalie, did you get your credit card? Dad, I finished your history, but I have a lot of questions. I'll send them to you.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20pt;">The most momentous thing to happen this week is I sprained my ankle while walking with Julia. She had to run to Mollie's who came and picked up and drove me home. That was Wednesday. I missed my writers group (it was my turn to read) and my stake meeting. It's been very sad and lonely for me, and I'm sure Dad is tired for making our dinner, but it's been good for me re-evaluate how I spend my time and how I can be more focused.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20pt;">There's been some family drama and interesting turn of events. Adam didn't get the condo he wanted. He and Dad went to see another on Saturday and when they got there, there was a white erase board with the asking price crossed out and a new price fifty thousand dollars higher written in. Adam told them he was interested in the original asking price and she said that they had more than 250 people look at on the first day. So, that was discouraging, although it would be nice to think that our own house and condos are shooting up in prices.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20pt;">Brandon and Mike were going to sign a lease on office space in Denver, but Julie was so mad that she hasn't talked to Mike for four days. Bethany and Brandon are really reconsidering Denver, thinking that if Julie is mad now, how is she going to feel when they're in Denver with no income? They're going to look at houses in Vegas, and office properties in Santa Ana. If Julie changes her mind--attitude--they might go ahead, but they're pretty conflicted.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20pt;">Nathan is going to counseling and it's really helping. They've found he has depression, which is odd because he's accomplished so much.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20pt;">AND Jared is going to start work in LA on March 7th! Crazy, right? He'll have a week of training in Boston and then the weekend that you return, he'll be back so he can start working at his new job in Santa Monica. Poor Jen will stay in Provo until graduation.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20pt;">So much is happening in the family, and not so much to me. I've been lying here for four days waiting for my ankle to heal. I've gotten a lot of writing done, read three books, finished my dad's history. I went to church today--my big outing-- but only for sacrament meeting, and even after only that hour my ankle was throbbing. Sigh. They say everything happens for a reason, but I have to believe that sometimes that reason is that you've done something dumb like falling off the sidewalk.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 20pt;">I hope all is well with you. We love and miss you,</span><br /><br /><div id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3026" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue Light", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif;">
<span id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3025" style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: large;"><em id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3024">Kristy Tate</em></span></div>
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<span id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3022" style="font-family: garamond, "new york", times, serif; font-size: small; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.kristytate.com/" target="_blank">http://www.kristytate.com</a></span></div>
<div id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3014" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue Light", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif;">
<span id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3021" style="font-family: garamond, "new york", times, serif; font-size: small; font-style: italic;">kristystories.blogspot.com</span></div>
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ear girls and Dad,</div>
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Tanner Giar and Hayden Davis came home from the missions. They actually arrived on the same flight! They spoke in church today, but I was at a ward conference and didn’t hear them, which made me sad. But I couldn’t miss the Altisma ward conference since our president wasn’t there.</div>
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We are really excited and hopeful about a condo we saw with Adam yesterday. He made an offer on it. They have until tomorrow to accept it. Since we haven’t heard from them, it’s likely someone else got it. But Adam is hopeful.</div>
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We decided to wait until you come home before we plan our trip, that way you can be in on it. So we probably won’t be going before you go back to school in April. I hope that’s okay. We also want to be around when baby Emberlynn is born so Wrenn can come and stay, or we can go and visit them. We were in China when Wrenn arrived and we don’t want to do that again.</div>
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Today the Altisma ward choir sang Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing and afterwards President Brennan talked about the history of it. Turns out the man who wrote it had a wild youth but then became very popular minister. It was during that time that he wrote the hymn. Then, years later, he once again fell into sin. He happened to be on a coach when he met a young woman who—not knowing who he was—quoted the words of his own hymn to him. He said he wished that he could feel the way he had felt when he wrote the hymn. She quoted back to him how God’s mercy is still extended.</div>
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I saw Sister Jacobson at the Altisma ward. She’s getting a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Vermont. They call it the Harvard of Creative Writing. The program costs 50 thousand dollars. She has to read and review 10 books a month, write two critical essays a month, and write her about 40 pages of her own work. It sounds grueling, not to mention expensive. She spends three weeks there twice a year. And I know I shouldn’t be jealous, but I sort of am. I tell myself that I need to be happy with where I am and what I’ve been able to accomplish. Sometimes I wish I had someone telling me good job, or that I’m on the right path, or something.</div>
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I think I told you that I decided to turn my blog posts into a book—of sorts. So, I divided the posts into topics, thinking that I’d publish one on writing, one on health, and just one of random things. My main motivation is I’m afraid that somehow someday Blogger will shut down and they’ll all be lost. Since I’ve already written them, I might as well share them. I decided to do the writing one first since that’s what they predominately are. Guess what? 600+ pages of just writing posts…It will take me awhile to weed through them.</div>
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I’m almost done with the editing of my dad’s memoirs. My goal is to have his book completed by his 95<sup>th</sup> birthday party, which will be in Utah June 6th. So yeah! Both of you and Jared are already there. Bethany is planning on coming. I don’t know about Nathan or Adam.</div>
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Jared and Jen graduate April 21. You start school on the 26<sup>th</sup>. Aunt Ellen is speaking at BYU Women’s Conference on the 27<sup>th</sup>. I’m going to stay for that week. Brendan Larkin has a sound studio and I’m going to use it to make one of my books into an audio book while I’m there. We can also stay at one of Nancy’s houses if we need to, (she has three rental properties in Provo now) although the weekend of the Women’s Conference I’ll be staying at Ellen’s with Aunt Linda and Aunt Kathy.</div>
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Today in gospel doctrine we talked about Nephi and Laman and Lemuel and how they all saw things differently. Laman and Lemuel wanted to return to Jerusalem—they had no way of knowing that it had been destroyed and that the Jews had been taken into captivity or that all of Lehi’s possessions had been stolen. They didn’t know that they had been protected and preserved because they had followed (although often reluctantly) a prophet. I think that life is often like that. We follow the prophet, obey the commandments, and really have no idea what sort of disasters we’re protected from. We might even think what we’re doing is hard, but we have no clue has to how hard things might have been if we’d made different choices.</div>
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Dad and I have been going to the Family History Center on the Wednesday nights I don’t have my writer’s group. This last Wednesday, I found an entire family who weren’t in the Family Search system and was able to submit 22 names for temple ordinances. I seem to find someone every time I go. Poor Dad hasn’t been able to find anyone, even though he’s been there with me every time.</div>
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I hope these last few weeks are memorable and wonderful for you. We’re excited for your next chapter, but hope you finish your mission strong and happy.</div>
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Much love, Mom/ Kristy</div>
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Dear Family</div>
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It’s a Sunday afternoon, and Larry and Adam are both at church. I have just returned from attending another ward conference. It’s odd to have the house to myself on a Sunday. I had told myself that I would dedicate my Sundays to working on my dad’s memoir, but before that, I decided to tell you all that we are happy, healthy and well. I hope all of you are the same.</div>
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I will have been in my calling for almost five years now, making it the longest calling I’ve ever had. Although, I suppose if you lumped all of my years as a pianist together they would probably out number my stake stint. I know that stake callings are often longer than most. Attending the ward conferences is probably my favorite part of my calling. Our stake president always tailors his address to the specific ward he’s attending, and I love hearing what he has to say. It’s different each time. Today the bishop of the Lake Forest Ward spoke of 4 Ws—worrying, wearying, whining, and wallowing. He related it to church service, but I think it’s applicable in all areas of our lives. He said that often our progress is so slow that we grow disheartened and lose energy and enthusiasm so we’ll fall into one—or several—of the 4 Ws. He said that often we need to change our perception.</div>
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I related this to our condos. This past week, between my calling and my writer’s group, I had meetings every night. On Wednesday night, I had about 15 minutes between a class and the time I had to leave, so I talked to Larry and he decided to stay at the office. I spent all day on Friday at the condos working. Then yesterday, Saturday, we both spent the day at the condos hooking up the new cable system, fixing broken things, etc. We got home around 8:30 p.m. and I was feeling worrying, wearying, whining, and wallowing. But a change of attitude reminded that the condos have been a great investment, and on a less financial scale, they’re a project that we work on together. We’re closer because we’re doing this together. And it is cool to take something and make it better. We had a contractor in to help us redesign the kitchens. They will look beautiful when they’re done.</div>
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In his address to the Relief Society, President Schessow—weird name, right?—talked about happiness. He quoted two ongoing studies, the Grant and Glueck, both began in the 1930s and study happiness. While most define happiness and success as fame and fortune, the findings prove that happiness comes from relationships. As long as your basic needs are met, money doesn’t influence your core happiness and fame actually makes (most) people less happy. President Schessow does NOT change his message from ward to ward, so I’ve heard his talk 5 times now. He refers to the 4<sup> </sup>Nephi where the people lived after the manner of happiness—and happiness was found by fully living the gospel. I guess it was something I had to hear repeatedly.</div>
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I have a goal of replacing Larry’s income with my writing income by the time he retires in three years. Maybe it will happen, and maybe it won’t, but it probably won’t make us any happier whether I’m successful at this particular goal, or not. It was interesting that on my way to the Lake Forest Ward, I listened to a radio gospel show and the minister said that the Lord expects us to plan. He related all of the detailed temple instructions given in the Old Testament to make his point. Then he said that although we’re expected to make plans, we can’t be frustrated when the Lord comes in and twists our plans to fit his purposes. We have to faith that His plans are superior to ours because he can see what we can’t.</div>
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Our family is doing well. We love and miss them. Our next big party will be when the girls come home in just 7 weeks! Baby Emberlynn (Nathan’s baby) will arrive around the same time. A little more than a month later, we’ll go to Utah for Jared and Jen’s graduation. The girls will return to school days later. And our house and lives will be quiet again. Life is good. I hope all of you feel the same,</div>
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Much love, Kristy</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3025" style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: large;"><em id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3024">Kristy Tate</em></span></div>
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<span id="x_ecxyui_3_16_0_1_1453042091193_3022" style="font-family: garamond, "new york", times, serif; font-size: small; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.kristytate.com/" target="_blank">http://www.kristytate.com</a></span></div>
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Sun 12/27/2015, 3:24 PM</div>
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<span id="ItemHeader.FoldersLabel" role="heading" tabindex="0">Sent Items</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 27px;">Dear Family,</span><div>
<span style="font-size: 27px;">Christmas was just a few days ago, but it seems, in some ways, as if it's just about to start. We had just Adam at home, and even though we once had Christmas with just Adam before, it's been more than 30 years, and this Christmas seemed very new and different to us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 27px;">We spent Christmas Eve with friends and neighbors, but made sure to be home by 8:30 so we could hang stockings and open pajamas with Adam. As we walked down the dark street passing all the house decorated with Christmas lights, I couldn't help but wonder if this was the beginning of a new and different phase of life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 27px;">The next morning, Adam, Grendel and I gathered at the top of the stairs so Larry could video taping us coming down, one at a time, youngest to oldest. Grendel didn't really understand and went up and down the stairs several times. After we opened our Santa presents, we immediately opened our stockings, which was a departure from our regular routine. Then we went for a walk down near the beach. It was windy and cold, but it felt good. In the afternoon, we got to talk to first Miranda and then Natalie.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 27px;">It's less than 2 1/5 months until they come home! It seems like forever, but I know it'll pass quickly. They plan on living together and going up to school in April just in time to see Jared and Jen graduate. Natalie will stay in the dietetic major, and Miranda, who wants to be an OBGYN, is thinking of changing her major to Chemistry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 27px;">Adam spent Christmas afternoon with Kelsey's family, but they both came over that night for games. We love having them around. We've spent the last few weekends house hunting with Adam. He has a pre-approval letter from a bank. The really great properties disappear quickly, so tomorrow we'll pick up forms so that when he finds something he wants we can be ready.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 27px;">Tomorrow, Bethany and her children arrive. Larry is super excited about what he bought the boys, so even though as a family we're opening gifts on Saturday--the boys are going to open their's from us tomorrow. As soon as possible. Because they'll want to play with it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 27px;">Bethany and Chandler will pick up Jared and Jen from the airport and meet Nathan at Magic Mountain on Wednesday. We'll have a full house by the weekend. Adam, Kelsey, Larry and I all have season passes to the zoo/wild animal park, so I know we want to go sometime while everyone is here. We also want to have a bonfire at the beach and roast hotdogs. But mostly, we want to play games.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 27px;">Next year will be different from this year. This year was very different from past Christmas', but it was sweet, easy and so low key. Next year, we'll have the girls home and probably everyone else as well, so it will be chaotic and fun. Who knows what will follow the next year. What I do know is that we're incredibly blessed to have each other, and that we're very grateful to belong to such a large, loving family. Thanks for being a part of it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 27px;">We love you all, and hope your Christmas was very merry and pray you'll have a happy New Year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 27px;">Much love, Kristy</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Dear Family,</span><br style="font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Happy Sabbath! Larry is upstairs preparing his Sunday school lesson. The sun is shining. Life is good.</span><br style="font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">We feel so blessed to have Adam and Nathan and his family nearby. This weekend we celebrated Nathan’s birthday. His family came to Thursday night. We watched Wrenn while Nathan and Shirley stayed at the condo. The next morning, we picked them up and went to the zoo. It was so fun to see Wrenn’s eyes widen when he saw the different animals. That night Adam and Kelsey joined us for dinner at a restaurant, followed by games. It’s fun to think that next year Jared and Jen will be here, too.</span><br style="font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Jared has accepted a job in Westwood (near UCLA) It’s the job he wanted the most—a business consulting position. They plan to live within biking distance of his office. They’ll both graduate in April. They hope to start the adoption process once they’re settled in California, and Jen is writing a book.</span><br style="font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">We’re also super excited that the girls come home MARCH 11thAND 12th! So amazing! And Shirley’s baby girl Emberlyn is due on March 14th. March will be the month of the girlies!</span><br style="font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Bethany and Brandon are going to Chicago this week. I’m going to Vegas to play grandma (my favorite game!) for a few days. It makes me sad that Larry can’t come with me. Brandon and his friend (soon to be business partner) have made an offer on an office space in Denver where they hope to start their own chiropractic practice.</span><br style="font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">We talk about retirement every day. We look at our friends and their choices. Our choices are constantly changing. The one that we’re most excited about is we’re thinking of writing a series of short retirement strategy handbooks. Our plan is to retire when the girls finish school when Larry is 60.</span><br style="font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">My books are doing well. I need to do my accounting for the year, but I think I may have made 5 times this year than what I made last. This next year, I really want to focus on marketing and less on writing. This week I’ll put together a marketing plan, and I’m excited to see it into action.</span><br style="font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">That being said, I have two book series that I’m eager to write (but first I have to finish the third book of my witch series, which may or may not be the end…probably not since it’s doing so well.) The two series are wildly different from each other. One will be mysteries trying to prove that Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple was really a serial killer, and the other will be historicals.</span><br style="font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">The historicals are inspired by my friend’s book. Mari Lou suffered with what she thought was depression. She called it malaise. She wrote a beautiful book about a young girl that takes place in Tennessee in the 1930s. I helped her with it (a little). In fact, the copy she sent to Scholastic included my notes. It’s being published by Scholastic in two years. While Mari Lou was sick, I wrote up an outline for the sequel, because even though she was a gifted, poetic writer, she really struggled with plot. I had thought that she’d get better and write the book. She had edited a couple of my books, and I thought that I could help her write the sequel. Mari Lou died. She went into the hospital and died a month later. They discovered she had lymphoma a week before her death. It was pretty devastating. I intended to put the story away and never think about it again. But it bugged me, so I wrote the first chapter, and asked her husband if he minded. He loved it. I now have plans for my (I guess Mari Lou’s) character to live through the Second World War and serve a mission to war-torn Europe. If Scholastic isn’t interested, I’ll change the name of Mari Lou’s character and self-publish them. I’m so comfortable/happy with self-publishing, I’m debating on whether or not to show them to Scholastic. It would certainly be easier not to.</span><br style="font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">And then I remember that I’m going to focus on marketing (not writing) next year, which includes re-editing my earlier books, creating a business plan, and putting all of my books to work. If all of my books could sell as well as my best preforming books, Larry’s retirement could come a lot sooner (although, it probably still makes sense for him to stay with Strategic Properties until we’re done paying for college.) It’s debatable if my earlier books don’t sell as well because they’re not as good as my later books, or if it’s because I do nothing to promote them. I’m hoping my marketing plan will prove the pudding.</span><br style="font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">And that’s where we are. Life is good, but sometimes really sad. Mari Lou’s death shook me. A few weeks later my friend that I’ve exercising every day with for nearly three years had to go to the hospital for a heart condition. I know her heart condition has been hard on her, but it’s been sad for me, too. Things can never be the way they were before. And maybe that’s how life is. The trick is to be happy with the right here, right now, even if it’s not what you had thought and expected. Even if your friend has to wear a heart monitor for the rest of her life. Even if another friend dies.</span><br style="font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">We love you all and think of you often. We hope your holidays are full of family, love, and laughter,</span><br style="font-size: 13.3333px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Kristy </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-73617956436896853402013-12-22T10:13:00.000-08:002013-12-22T10:20:45.302-08:00Christmas Letter 2013Merry Christmas from us!<br />
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Larry still works hard, but plays a little less hard since his knee surgery. Although he's no longer tearing up the basketball court, he still rides his bike, drives the boat, and he's considering skiing again...soon. He teaches the gospel doctrine class Sunday School class.<br />
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I wear lots of different shoes...when I wear them. Since the girls left for college, I have little reason to leave the house. I threw myself into my writing and published 4 books this year. One has been an Amazon best seller for more than a month now. I also serve as the secretary in the stake relief society presidency (and when I do, I always wear shoes.)<br />
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Adam is an attorney for a firm specializing in international law. This means that he sometimes uses his Spanish for something other than reading the street signs in Rancho. He's the activities chairman in the singles ward.<br />
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Bethany wears mostly flip-flops to chase after her two boys, Chandler 6 and Sterling 3. They live in Las Vegas. I don't know what sort of shoes Brandon wears to work (he's a chiropractor.) Winston, the Westie, does not wear shoes, although he occasionally will wear sweaters.<br />
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Nathan and Shirley live work and play in Boulder, CO. Nathan graduated in Information Systems from BYU in the spring and started his own development company about a year ago. He's moving his rapidly growing business into an office in a few weeks, so his barefoot days are about over. They are expecting a baby boy in May.<br />
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Jared just returned from a study abroad program in China. He'll return to school in Provo in a few weeks where shoes will not be optional.<br />
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Natalie graduated from Tesoro last spring as a Valedictorian. She takes ridiculously hard classes and waffles between majoring in Diet and Nutrition and English Lit at BYU.<br />
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Miranda is no longer a thespian, but she did get a job working for the BYU broadcasting company so she's still in the industry. She's studying International Relations at BYU.<br />
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Although we're no longer all under the same roof, we are all following the same path and our Savior. We're so grateful for all the love in our lives and pray that all your days are holy, filled with love, laughter and glimpses of heaven.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-38457733959431809652013-05-06T11:34:00.001-07:002013-05-06T11:46:03.964-07:00The Scripture Experiment. Forgiving the Irksome<br />
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<a href="http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/the-savior-wants-to-forgive?lang=eng">http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/the-savior-wants-to-forgive?lang=eng</a></div>
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Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we
may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the
children of men, that we have power to do these things. (Jacob 4:7)</div>
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I know that there must be a few people in your life that
push all your wrong buttons. After a few minutes in their company, you are
probably cranky. If you tell me that you know of no such button pusher, I will
tell that you aren’t being honest with yourself. Why? Because the people that
push our buttons are those that reflect our weaknesses. And if you tell me that
you haven’t a weakness—I’ll remind you about that honesty problem.</div>
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As a child, if I found someone hurtful or unkind and I took
that pain and injustice to my mom, her general response was to avoid that
person. Which was difficult to do if that person happened to be your brother
and you lived in a two bathroom house. The Barenaked Ladies (the band, not
naked ladies in general) offer the same advice in their lyrics of Be My Oko
Ono.</div>
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If there's someone you can live <o:p></o:p></div>
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Without, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Then do so. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And if there's someone you can <o:p></o:p></div>
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Just shove out, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Then do so.</div>
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And when this person isn’t sharing your space, your
committee, your project, or your mother’s birthday cake, you can do this. And
sometimes this is the only thing you can do. When you find a person is just
best to be avoided because their behavior is toxic—do so. But generally,
usually, all most always, the best advice to learn <i>why and how </i>someone pushes your seething buttons.</div>
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Why? Because you want to be Christlike and love everyone?
Maybe. Or maybe your reasons are more selfishly motivated…maybe you want to
ferret out all your own weaknesses, confront and destroy them so you can become
a better person. Maybe you need to not only forgive that wretched button pusher—maybe
you also need to forgive yourself, and you can’t do that unless you recognize you
have a problem button waiting to be pushed.</div>
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So, here’s the exercise. Write a letter to your antagonizer.
Go ahead. Be mean. Tell them exactly
what you dislike about them, how and why they rub your fur the wrong way. Be
explicit on all the ways they can improve and why the world will be a much
better place after they have followed your
instructions to the T. This might
take awhile…take your time…come back when you’re done. </div>
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Now, erase your antagonizer’s name and write in your
own. *</div>
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After you come to the horrible realization that you share
your antagonizer’s flaws (and you must, otherwise they wouldn’t irk you so
much) consider <i>why </i>he/she/you might
do the things you do. Is the over the top, excessive perfectionism and micro
managing really a deep seated fear of looking less than up to snuff? If so,
look for opportunities to be a cheerleader, rather than a critic. Chances are,
they are already their worst critic. Or is impatience? If they need to do
things their way, right now—offer to help. Ask, what can I do to help you?</div>
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I know this is hard
because this was my week’s challenge. There is someone in my life that I can’t
avoid who irks me. It had gotten to the point where I had begun to look for and
expect slights and criticisms from her. Why? Mostly, I think, because I wanted
the justification of disliking her. I did <i>not</i> want to like her. And this is not
Christlike behavior. </div>
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Because I’m not sure I can be a helpful cheerleader on my
own, the next time I have to interact with this person, I’m going to ask for
heaven’s help. I’ll say a silent prayer that I can be kind. And maybe it will still
be hard. But I believe in the scriptures that says:</div>
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Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)</div>
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With heaven's help (and maybe only with heaven's help) I can come one step closer to living that difficult commandment: </div>
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A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another;
as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. (John 13:34)<o:p></o:p></div>
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* I borrowed this exercise from the Work of Byron Katie. The
Work is a way of identifying and questioning the thoughts that cause all the
anger, fear, depression, addiction, and violence in the world. Everything you
need in order to do The Work is available free on her website <a href="http://www.thework.com/index.php">http://www.thework.com/index.php</a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-72705276257460443782013-05-03T08:46:00.001-07:002013-05-03T08:46:57.446-07:00Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-78619834072186167312013-04-30T10:29:00.003-07:002013-04-30T10:29:46.519-07:00The Scripture Experiment. Life Foundations<br />
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http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/a-sure-foundation?lang=eng<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of
mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, [which] built his house
upon a rock—<o:p></o:p></div>
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“And the rain descended, and the floods came,
and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was
founded upon a rock.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“And every one that heareth these sayings of
mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, [which] built his
house upon the sand—<o:p></o:p></div>
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“And the rain descended, and the floods came,
and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the
fall of it.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Matthew 7:24–27<o:p></o:p></div>
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Building a life foundation at first seemed too
big of a project to fit into a weeklong experiment, but as I considered my days
and weeks, I found that I do have daily habits that serve as a foundation for
how I live/cope and when those habits are ignored or forgotten my life can
easily spin out of control. (In a moment I will give an example, because even
when my daily habits are in place, life occasionally steps in and messes things
up.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here is my typical morning routine:<o:p></o:p></div>
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6 a.m.
Prayer<o:p></o:p></div>
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Scripture study<o:p></o:p></div>
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7 a.m.
Household chores<o:p></o:p></div>
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8 a.m.
Exercise<o:p></o:p></div>
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9 a.m.
Shower/breakfast<o:p></o:p></div>
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I consider my day to begin at 9 a.m., because
everything before that is pretty nonnegotiable. Looking back, I can’t remember
when these patterns started. I do remember years when the scripture study
happened during nap time and when I exercised in the evening when my husband
came home, but for many years now, this is how I roll. Although, sometimes I
exercise at 7 and the household chores are pushed to the end of the day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is my housekeeping schedule.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Monday laundry<o:p></o:p></div>
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Tuesday bathrooms<o:p></o:p></div>
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Wednesday vacuum and dust<o:p></o:p></div>
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Thursday groceries/errands<o:p></o:p></div>
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Friday yard work<o:p></o:p></div>
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Saturday mop floors<o:p></o:p></div>
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Some things, like dinner and dishes, happen
every day. And other things, like cleaning light fixtures and wiping out the
inside of cupboards, happen rarely. But as long as I make an effort to see that
these basics are not neglected, the dust bunnies stay tame. Of course, there
were years where laundry was an everyday occurrence.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What does laundry and dust have to do with
building a life foundation? Most of us are familiar with the quote:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Watch your thoughts, they become words.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Watch your words, they become actions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Watch your actions, they become habits.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Watch your habits, they become your character.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Does that mean my destiny is laundry and dust?
No, it means that because I’ve conquered the laundry and dust I’m free to spend
the rest of my day doing the things that I want to do.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My experiment for this week was to use a quiet
moment at church to reflect on how I spent my week and what I could have done
better.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here’s an example of a day gone awry. At five
p.m. on a Wednesday, the hour I usually think about starting dinner I realized
that I hadn’t yet vacuumed. (Remember, this is Wednesday’s chore.) So, I
sprinkle carpet fresh all over my house. The smell is horrific and as I vacuum,
it only gets worse. I inspect my vacuum and discover a hole in the bag. I worry
because I know I won’t be able to sleep with carpet fresh all over my floors
and I also know that it’s too late to go to the Oreck store to buy a new bag.
So I went to Target and while I’m frowning at their selection of vacuum bags,
knowing that not one of them would fit my eight year old Oreck vacuum, I get a
call reminding me that I had committed to drive a friend to physical therapy. I
bought the most likely looking bag, drove my friend to her appointment, came
home, threw a frozen pizza in the oven and looked for tape so I could jerry rig
thhe bag and vacuum my carpets. Because of the vacuum emergency, I was late for
my writers’ group. And in a bad mood. And more than a little nauseous from the
carpet fresh fumes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Was any of this a sin? No, of course not, but
that particular Wednesday needed help. Maybe the wise man built his house upon
a rock because rocks can be cared for by a broom. Imagine trying to vacuum a
sandy floor. The exercise of considering how I intended to spend my week and
how it actually came together will help me going forward to carefully consider
how I use my days. And my days are the foundation of my destiny.<span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-17822597283368564992013-04-21T08:26:00.001-07:002013-04-21T09:15:10.140-07:00The Scripture Experiment: A Life Chronicle <br />
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I want to share with you what I’m calling my Scripture
Experiment. I’m taking a conference talk and giving myself a weekly challenge
based upon the talk.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The first talk was President Packard’s.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/these-things-i-know?lang=eng">http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/these-things-i-know?lang=eng</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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I was touched by his life-long poem and decided to write not
a poem, but a chronicle of my life. It surprised me how easily my life fell
into these five year chapters. Each five years really did seem to comprise a
chapter of my life, although some chapters and years were more eventful than
others. It was interesting to look back, review and realize that even though
circumstances have changed—I am still, at heart, the person I’ve always been
and that the person I was 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago is still here. My body has
matured, but so has my spirit and like President Packard, I can’t regret the
maturation, because each life chapter and lesson has taught me things I needed
to learn. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I love this scripture:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2489755354793084695" name="17"> </a>Isaiah 32:17 And the work of
righteousness shall be <a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/isa/32.17?lang=eng">peace</a>; and the
effect of righteousness quietness and <a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/isa/32.17?lang=eng">assurance</a> for
ever.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I’ve gotten older my life has grown more and more
peaceful. My house is quiet. I’m not as busy. My days are my own to live as I
choose.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have a wonderful life, and by looking back at these
chapters, I realize that it’s been a wonderful life all along. <o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-28969841679735166762012-04-08T08:37:00.000-07:002012-04-08T08:38:56.517-07:00My Easter Talk<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span style="font-size: 100%; line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; ">In Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, the villagers of a small town mid-western town gather together in the square on a beautiful summer’s day. Village children, who have just finished school for the summer, run around collecting stones. They put the stones in their pockets and make a pile in the square. Men gather next, followed by the women. Parents call their children over, and families stand together. Tessie Hutchinson joins her husband and children at the front of the crowd.<span class="apple-converted-space"> She’s excited about the lottery—until she draws the slip of paper with the black dot. As the unfortunate lottery winner, she’s marked for death and ultimately stoned by her family, friends and villagers.</span></span><span style="font-size: 100%; background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 200%; "> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">There’s horror in Shirley Jackson’s story. In our day and age, we know that the sacrifice of one individual cannot appease the gods or secure a bountiful harvest. Human life is valued, held sacred and protected and we, as a people, in general, as a nation—abhor violence and the shedding of innocent blood. Love, serve and bless—protect not only yourself, but those around you from harm and evil. These are the values I’ve been taught—this is what I have tried to teach my children.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 200%; font-size: 100%; "> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">So, in this mortal, earthly frame of mind—I will admit that I cannot understand the atonement of Christ. How can one person suffer and die for the salvation of all humanity? From an intellectual distance—it’s unfathomable to me. But I also accept that I can’t understand everything, that there are many things I have to accept on faith. There are just so many things that I don’t understand how they work—satellites, cell phones, kidneys and hormones—but just because I don’t understand how something works, doesn’t mean that I can’t make use of them--appreciate them and express gratitude for them.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 200%; font-size: 100%; "> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Today I’d like to share with you what I have learned of the atonement of Christ. Please forgive me for sharing a very personal experience. My understanding of the atonement is, if nothing else, personal—as I think it must be for each of us. President Monson said, Every Cinderella has her midnight. Let me tell you about one of mine.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 200%; font-size: 100%; "> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">After the doctors told my mother that there was nothing more that they could do, my parents traveled to Mexico for experimental cancer treatments that were illegal in the United States and left me with my twenty-four year old brother, who decided to go to Canada. We lived in rural Washington on a large piece of property. I was fourteen years old and for the first time, went to bed in an empty house. I woke up around two in the morning—the stereo was turned up and blasting in the next room. Let me describe the 1970’s stereo system. It had a turnstile and a receiver and because our system happened to be broken, the receiver had to be manually lifted and placed on the record. This was not a matter of flipping a switch and pressing a button for instantaneous music. No—someone would have had to go into the music chest, select an album, place it on the turnstile, turn on the stereo, lift and place the receiver on the spinning record and then crank up the volume as loud as it could go. In the nearly forty years since, I’ve had many terrifying experiences, but this remains one of the most frightening.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 200%; font-size: 100%; "> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">In my midnight, I turned to the only one I knew who could hear me. My Heavenly Father. And for the first time in my life, I came to know the very real, calm and reassurance that only He can give. I felt an outpouring of his love and I held onto that comfort and peace—not only on that dark night, but through the long days of my mother’s illness and subsequent death. Because of that midnight—I know where to turn when things look bleak, chaotic or hopeless and for this—I’m profoundly grateful. How I wish my mom hadn’t suffered. I wish I could have been raised in a happy home free of sickness and suffering—but I’m grateful that at a very young age, I learned where to turn for peace, because when I’m sometimes plagued with doubts and fears—I remember that night when the Lord heard and answered my prayer. I’ve had many midnights since then—times when my faith has been weak, times when I’ve been lonely and scared and each time I’ve recalled the feelings of peace and comfort of that long ago night.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><o:p> </o:p></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 100%; line-height: 200%; ">Doubt not fear not. Every experience shall be for our good. Be believing and faithful and rejoice that the Lord not only understands your pain, in His infinite mercy, He is able to transform your suffering into a blessing. How is the Lord able to take our pain and turn it for good? I can’t understand it, but I believe in His power, love and infinite abilities. How is it done? I don’t know, but I know that He will do it for you. Because He has done it for me.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Elder Holland tells us in his beautiful sermon, Broken Things to Mend,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">“If you are lonely, please know you can find comfort. If you are discouraged, please know you can find hope. If you are poor in spirit, please know you can be strengthened. If you feel you are broken, please know you can be mended.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">In Nazareth, the narrow road,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">That tires the feet and steals the breath,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Passes the place where once abode<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The Carpenter of Nazareth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">And up and down the dusty way<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The village folk would often wend;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">And on the bench, beside Him, lay<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Their broken things for Him to mend.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The maiden with the doll she broke,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The woman with the broken chair,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The man with broken plough, or yoke,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Said, “Can you mend it, Carpenter?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">And each received the thing he sought,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">In yoke, or plough, or chair, or doll;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The broken thing which each had brought<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Returned again a perfect whole.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">So, up the hill the long years through,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">With heavy step and wistful eye,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The burdened souls their way pursue,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Uttering each the plaintive cry:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">“O Carpenter of Nazareth,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">This heart, that’s broken past repair,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">This life, that’s shattered nigh to death,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Oh, can You mend them, Carpenter?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">And by His kind and ready hand,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">His own sweet life is woven through<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Our broken lives, until they stand<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">A New Creation—“all things new.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">“The shattered [substance] of [the] heart,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Desire, ambition, hope, and faith,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Mould Thou into the perfect part,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height: 200%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">O, Carpenter of Nazareth!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-65547762358250977882011-07-12T16:12:00.001-07:002011-07-12T16:12:49.453-07:00Jared 7-12Hello Family! <br />First responding to everyones comments:<br />Of course I'm having fun! Everything out here in Taiwan is just amazing. Its like you know how life supposedly goes through phases? Like you have the honeymoon phase, then the hate everything phase, then the okay grin and bear it phase, then the endure to the end and make the best. Ever heard that? (We heard it about 3 times in the Missionary Training Center) Well I'm not really sure what happened to my mission experience because I either just skipped the bad parts and went straight to the endure to the end, or I'm just stuck in Honeymoon phase. Either way I love it!<br />You all are getting a beach condo?! That's so fun. Gongxi fazai :) (congratulations) <br />Haha Natalie asked me what my goals for my mission are, and well Natalie I have about a million goals... I have a goal for every aspect of my life divided into daily weekly monthly and Mission goals. I can tell you that my ultimate goal is to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ through Faith in the Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, BAPTISM, gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." (Missionary purpose) I strive to have everything I do help with that purpose.<br />I had a cookie a couple months ago. (Taiwanese) and 4 months ago (chocolate chip)<br />Congratulations on getting the blue car Natalie!<br />Every morning during personal study I always spend some time reading the Book of Mormon, most times I also read other scriptures, often study for the benefit of our investigators.<br />How is Nathan affording all these cool adventures? And can I go on some with him later?<br />Well things here in Taiwan Huwei are amazing. We're seeing a lot of miracles. One thing I learned recently is how weak man is. We as humans are weak. Almost everyone is captivated by something, that we personally cannot break from. We are weak. We need our Father in Heaven, you need your Heavenly Father. Fall to your knees and plead with him. Plead to have strength, plead to have power, plead for forgiveness. You are weak, but He is strong. Put an end to your pride and plead with your Father in Heaven with full purpose of heart, and it will be given you.<br />I love you.<br />-Elder Tate<br />Tang zhanglaoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-35946808470744465382011-06-08T12:51:00.000-07:002011-06-08T12:52:49.437-07:00Jared 6-6Hello Family!<br />Mom you should know far better by now to think that the painting people would actually be finished anytime when they said they would be. For example, you had 2 sons that said they would take off the paint of your banister, and well, we're still working on that one. :P<br />Haha yes mother I could imagine that exactly how Heavenly Father thinks sometimes. Of course He would be more than willing to go on a walk with you at 6 in the morning, without any kind of complaining :)<br />Good for Natalie, and he choir program, how was her little party? And why dis the girls party go till midnight? Everyone knows the Holy Ghost goes to bed at 11! That's so fun that Miranda got to have a big party like that, did she have fun? Miranda did you have fun?<br />And of course everyone had fun playing with my old toys, did they go crazy on the little wobbler?<br />I wish the best of luck to the Weylands, I will definitely include them in my prayers, and if all else fails, Taiwanese realestate is actually quite a good deal, especially if you're looking for a hut on a mountain ;)<br />Everything here is doing amazingly. Elder Boyer and I have really been working hard. We've been focussing on working with the members in our ward a lot more, and as a result members this week have provided 17 friends and family members that missionaries will be contacting and sharing the gospel with. Our recent convert Liu2 Yuan2 Ji2 has really become active in missionary work. He almost everyday accompanies our lessons, and he's brought a number of investigators to church. It really is a blessing to see the gospel work through the hands of ordinary members. Mom I would testify to you that the best way to help your friend is to help her be active in God's church. (is she a member? I don't think so...) help her to be baptized, and watch as the Lord fulfills His promise being born again, and eventually spotless before the Father at the last day. I love this church, I love this Gospel. It brings people purpose, it brings people hope, but best of all, this Gospel brings people salvation.<br />I love you,<br />Elder Tate<br />Tang zhi qin zhanglaoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-14514698079073389242011-06-01T16:16:00.000-07:002011-06-01T16:17:13.873-07:00Jared goes to CostcoHello!<br />Guess what I did today?! I went to Cosco! It was awesome. Is there a cosco by our house? Yeah sure, it was only like an hour bike ride there, then another hour back. but it was amazing! We ate pizza! (We never eat pizza) and I bought cosco muffins and a giant thing of chocolate milk, and my companion bought some brownie mix! its amazing... My companion has a membership card, and we all spent at least 500 kuai each. But it was so worth it :)<br />Our investigators are really good. We have a lot of people looking to be baptized on the day right before move call (move call is when some people change locations, and most likely I'll be moving next move call). Let me tell you about them:<br /> <br />You dixiong and his girlfriend zhang jiemei. Unfortunately these 2 live together, but they graduate from college on the 11th, and hoping they will get baptized and confirmed on the 18th right before going home.<br /> <br />Yang dixiong - he's a member referall from an inactive family that is coming back. He personally has a pretty sad past, with a job that overworks him. He has a strong desire to repent and be baptized, and is in the process of quiting smoking.<br /> <br />Guo bao yuan dixiong- I know I'm not supposed to play favorites, but if I were forced to.... it'd probably be him. He is a ten year old boy that self contacted us, rode his bike a half hour for our first meeting, has befriended everyone in his primary class, goes to a ton of other activities, but best of all, he wants to grow up to be a samurai warrior! It is so much fun spending time with him. :)<br /><br />Then a handful of others that we are hoping will hit their goals for being baptized while I'm still here in the blessed land of taiping.<br />Elder Boyer and I are working hard and really seeing th blessings from it. Again we had 6 investigators attend church, it is such a blessing to see the fruits of your labor, but I know this is all the Lord's work. Lately we've received a lot of training on working with the ward, and honestly it is paying off. 4 of the six investigators this week we personally brought, or otherwised taken care of by the ward. Our ward is really doing some amazing things lately, I've seen a number of less actives come back to church, and our 10 year old bao yuan investigator has been taken under the wing of an amazing family in the ward. I realized that what the Lord asks of the members of the church is not to just occassionally accompany the missionaries lessons, or help them when they are at church, but he expects the members to incorporate these people into their lives. I've really seen how much of a difference it makes when members sacrifice, and imply these brothers and sisters in their lives. I know that as you, my friends and family back at home really sacrifice for the missionaries, and more importantly for their investigators you will see the work back in wards start to explode, and really see the Lord watching over your personal lives as well. So, would you all be willing to make sacrifices and do something different for the missionaries, and they're investigators?<br />I love you. I know that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ lives. 2 thousand years ago he died on the Cross, 3 days later he resurrected and about 1800 years after that he once again came down to Earth, and appeared to a young man looking for truth. This is the greatest message in the world, Share IT! <br />Love,<br />Elder Tate<br />Tang ZhanglaoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-11338585845451428922011-05-24T10:49:00.000-07:002011-05-24T10:50:29.780-07:00Jared May 2011Wan an!<br />I'm in Taiwan! Have you ever been like in a place you've been for awhile and then look at it again and think like "... what in the world?" Yeah that's like my every month or so. It's like I'm talking to an investigator or something and half way through, or right after it will hit me that I just had a full conversation in Chinese. Sometimes people will ask me what just happened in that conversation, or ask about a word I said, and often I have no idea, it's just the Spirit understood what was going on and I am blessed to always have the Holy Ghost with me.<br />I'm a little curious about this birthday party thing. Are people allowed to wish Natalie happy birthday at Miranda's party? Or is Natalie even invited to Miranda's birthday party? :P<br />I do not understand your healthy habits thing. You can get 10 a day, then 2 at the end of the week for no chips and one for every 30 seconds off your mile. That means that Nathan had a perfect day everyday, didn't have chips, and thats a total of 72. So he also took 3 minutes off his mile?! Wow no wonder he is beating everyone. <br />I'd be interested to know the full rules, and what number I would start at. Because I automatically drink a ton of water, and work out daily. We don't have enough money for treats or chips, so just buy some fruit and I win! :D<br />Well Family! I love you! Everything in Taiping is amazing. We had the most investigators I've had a church this week (actually tired with another week) with 6. Our friend Zhao dixiong (The man that could really change his life by coming unto Christ) has expressed a few times that he doesn't really want to be baptized, nor give up his 2-3 packs of Cigarrettes a day, and we aren't sure how much longer we will be working with him. Then we also have, You dixiong, who for the past couple weeks has brought his girlfriend with him everytime, and we discovered they actually live together (they're only 22). And he also doesn't want to give up another addiction. Then I've also seen investigators like liu dixiong who instantly gave up his tea, coffee, alchohol, binlang and smoking in a matter of days. That really testifies to me that some things the Lord asks are not easy. Satan's grasp can almost seem inescapable. But once you personally decide what to do, you just have to do it. If you choose the Lord's way he will help you accomplish it, you just first have to decided to do it. I know that God gave us our agency so that we can choose, and learn and progress, and he is excited to help us choose right.<br />I love you all!<br />-Elder Tate<br />tang zhanglaoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-83784909189880661982011-05-16T11:49:00.000-07:002011-05-16T11:50:31.511-07:00Taiwanese RainHello Family!<br /> That's great about your writing Mom. I think you should always be enjoying it. Whether it's work or not you should definitely be enjoying what you're doing. One thing I've learned out here is they don't always have to be separate. In fact, they should be put together. Missionary work, especially out here, is hard work. It's very tiring, and very draining, it's quite frankly, work. But it's fun. For example the other day it started raining. But don't worry, it wasn't just a slight drissle. It was Raining. But don't worry, I forgot my raincoat. All of my tracts and everything I had with me (except my scriptures and what not which was safe in the box attached to my bike) was almost completely ruined, but I can tell you right now, looking back that was the funnest day last week. Riding around still talking to everyone, everyone complaining about the rain (Taiwanese people hate the rain) and we were just riding around soaking wet having the time of our life. Anything is fun when you have the right attitude :D<br />Good for Natalie's choir! That's amazing! I had a lot of friends in choir, and they never won state or anything good for you Natalie!<br />And mom I don't if this changed while I was gone, but you don't have any convertibles, and you still cram more than you need to in your little car :P<br />This last week we met a very interesting investigator. His name is zhao, and he doesn't have a job. For the last 8 months or so his dad has been paying for his livelihood, paying for his little tiny apartment, paying for the little amount of food he eats, and paying for his about 40 to 50 ciggarettes a day. He lives a life in solitude. No friends, not much contact with his family, no mode of transportation, just him in his little appartment and 2 baby chickens he jst recently bought. We've been working with him, and we got him a nice white shirt, a tie, and a ride to church. He loves chruch, read first Nehpi on the first day we gave him a Book of Mormon. He's already starting to change a lot, and I'm excited to see what kind of instrument the Lord will turn him into. I know that regardless of our past mistakes, regardless of how lost, or poor we are, the Lord will always be there. He is always standing with his arm stretched out to help us. I love Him for that.<br />I love you!<br />-Elder Tate<br />tang zhanglaoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-35962945250711958192011-04-27T12:32:00.000-07:002011-04-27T12:33:32.235-07:00Jared 4-18Hello Family!<br />Happy burn money and make loud noises day! hahaha, today is a Chinese God's birthday (I assume) so everyone's outside burning they're money for the ancestors and blowing firecrackers! It was really quite the hoot the first couple times they did it (it's a God's birthday at least once a week), but today it seems just a little bit louder than normal :P<br />Answer some questions:<br />Favorite Mormon movie is The Testaments.<br />My Trainer was always impressed by my Chinese, but honestly my first couple days I really didn't understand too much. Just because the accents different here, and well it's Chinese :P Now I am no where near fluent, but I am dilligently working to speak as the natives do :)<br />My Favorite Hymn is Lead Kindly Light. (I believe Hymn #69)<br />Natalie I am not able to tell you what you should do when it comes to having a zero period, or taking summer classes. I personally wish I had done summer classes, and zero period.<br />Miranda I'm sure you can handle church, a job, drama and school. One thing I've learned on my mission is that there is time to do anything. But you really have to think about priorities. What's most important, and are you willing to sacrifice for that?<br />Taiwanese people don't really like really sweet things, and I'm too poor to buy candy. Easter came and went, nothing too big. <br />Yes I keep a Journal. <br />Sorry Mom, I still don't know what's going on for Mother's day. I don't know how or when I'll call you. It'll probably not be the most convienant time for you, but I'll let you know next week :)<br />Thank you everyone for you love and support. I would really like some more pictures though. I'm pretty sure you can send it though email (Nathan sent some earlier) but I'd really love it if you sent me some hard copies too.<br />I love you all. I'd like to close with my testimony, that everything is really in the Lord's hands. This last week we've kind of been struggling finding willing people, and helping them progress to baptism. We do everything we can in this life, and when it comes down to it rely on the Lordto fill in the gaps. I know that our Savior Lord Jesus Christ is waiting with his hand outstreatched to help us fill in our gaps, he is waiting for us to plead for his help. In 1820 a 14 year old boy did plead help and as result God's true church is back on Earth. I am incredibly grateful for the faith of that boy. I love you all, and I love this Church.<br />-Elder Tate<br />Tang zhanglaoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-74986542133997494662011-04-12T09:31:00.001-07:002011-04-12T09:31:36.386-07:00Jared 4-11Everything in Taiwan is amazing! We watched conference this weekend and that was super fun. Lots of sitting down this weekend, and then today we went to another all you can eat place.... but that's okay, I was healthy last week :) Actually my companion and I have been trying to eat healthier because we're in a part of town that has a lot of really cheap all you can eat rice places. And well let's just say that I haven't lost my MTC weight yet... and we're going to really start our diet on Wednesday because tomorrow we're going to another really nice sit down place. Taiwan is just amazing.<br />Did you all do anything fun for spring break? Besides build stuff, and putting off losing weight :P<br />One of the members in my ward (my companion's new member) found your blog, and reads my emails home, it's funny how much Missionaries are loved here. <br />Our investigator Liu dixiong got baptized on Saturday, he's so golden it's amazing. He loved general conference, and is excited to be confirmed next sunday. It's amazing how much faith these people have here. We are working with some golden people. Duan dixiong is amazing , we've been trying to work around his work a lot, but if everything goes as planned, this saturday he will be baptized and he definitely has the faith to take upon himself this amazing covenant. And our college friend Wang dixiong just passed his baptismal interview but he disappeared on Sunday, but he's good. He'll be baptised next sunday.<br />I don't know if you remember, but I'd really appreciate some pictures of you all :) <br />I love it here. I love the people, I love the work. My companion is on his last 4 weeks of his mission, and it really makes me think about who I want I want be, and how I want change while I'm here, and I know that through the Lord I can become whatever he asks of me, and I'm excited to change. As general conference said I plan on being the one who the Lord can rely on. I love you all. You are the one I can rely on. I love you all, I would like pictures of you :)<br />-Elder Tate<br />Tang zhanglao.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-1887241328093825232011-04-04T10:51:00.000-07:002011-04-04T10:56:35.907-07:00Jared, 4-4Okay, I have to admit that I find the difference between Jared's letters and Nathan's pretty funny. K<br /><br />Hello Family!<br />Good to hear from you all :) I like to start by responding to other emails first so...<br />There's new things everyday, nothing that'd you all would be too interested in, but the rules of our mission are going through some new changes with the new president.<br />Concerning conference we actually have not watched it yet. We will have an opportunity this weekend, but we are postponed a week so they can translate it into Chinese. We'll still watch it in English, but just in a room of our chapel while our investigators watch the Chinese one. So as of right now I don't have a favorite :P<br />Our stake is all of Taichung. If you'd like to look up the population, it's pretty big. To help you understand the activity here: there are about 700 members in our ward, 120 that come actively. <br />My life really isn't like the best two years because well, I speak Chinese. :P<br />Whenever I get discouraged I just take a second and look at myself. Ask myself why am I discouraged. Most of the time it is because I want the gratification of people willing to meet, or I want my senior companion to say I did a good job in the lesson, or some other prideful desire. In reality I am doing the Lord's work. If I don't have the Holy Spirit with me I can accomplish nothing. If I am frustrated I will not have the Spirit, and therefore I am wasting my breathe. So at times I am frustrated, I remember my blessings, what I've been taught and try a new technique. And sometimes just for fun I'll start off by talking to someone by saying Shengri kuaile (Which means happy birthday)<br />My favorite seminary teacher was brother faustead.... the bald guy... I forgot his name :/<br />Preparation days are Monday, and yeah we are still really busy.<br />Weather is cold lately, and really windy. and there is a permenant smog over the city :)<br />I'm back to a normal companionship of two.<br />Mom you were talking about being old, but back in America, especially for grandma being old is a good life. Here in Taiwan, old people are forgotten. We've sat down with many old bei bei's that really just wanted someone to talk to. They are adorable. Old Asian are amazing, especially when you have to try and speak taiwanese with them.<br />Everything in Taiwan is amazing. Our new members are still active, Bai dixiong is such a kid. He's 30 years old, and plays video games all day; He also thinks church is boring and I'm 99% convinced he only comes because he knows he should, and if he didn't his wife would be disappointed. Just like any priest aged boy right?<br />Our investigator Liu dixiong just passed his baptismal interview and he's being baptised on Saturday, and he's great.<br />I love being here. I know this work is true. I've been learning a lot lately, especially on leadership. My Senior has really taught me a lot about listening to the council of leaders. And I've learned to just accept council from your leaders, from my zone leaders, Mission president, Prophet and especially from God. Accept the council you are given, don't ask questions, don't doubt, accept that they are called from God and do it. I love our leaders. I'm excited to here from the prophet. I love you all.<br />-Elder Tate<br />Tang zhanglao<br /><br /><br /><br />NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-29765785639971322482011-04-04T10:50:00.001-07:002011-04-04T10:50:51.518-07:00Nathan in MexicoMom, family, and friends:<br /><br />I really enjoyed conference, and all the welfare stuff made me excited about what I'm doing here and what I hope to be involved in my entire life. One of the things I really liked was the story of the guy who gave up his coat to the newborn baby. I was really impressed that giving to the poor and needy is not something we do when it's convenient, but it requires real sacrifice. I've said to myself that I can't just give money to everyone I see on the streets here, because my money will soon run out. But during the talks, I thought of how careless I was with my money, most particularly how I eat out so often and how I want an expensive phone when I get back to the states, and I thought of how I should be less frivolous in that area so that I can dedicate a greater part of my income to the poor. I decided not to buy the phone, and I'm reconsidering my need for a car.<br /><br />I had a funny and interesting experience. Friday night we had people over for the first time during my stay. We watched a movie, burned popcorn, and made nestle cookies. It was really fun. This Sunday was the second time I had people over, but it wasn't something I had planned for, so I was unprepared for how much of a disaster it was going to be.<br /><br />I was at church right after this morning's general conference. I was kind of hoping someone would invite me to their house for lunch, but when nobody really seemed to notice, I decided to invite people over to my house. So I invited these girls over, and they were excited. Two of them had been there on Friday, but one hadn't seen the place. It was improvised, so I had no idea how much of a problem I would have.<br /><br />We got home, and my companion had stayed home to watch conference on the computer instead of watching it at church. We made jokes about how we may show up to find him naked. Turns out we show up and he was naked! Luckily, I warned him to hide in his room before we came in. Then I realized that there was a bunch of trash by the door. The trash people only come by on a certain schedule, so if we're not home when they call, we can't get it to them. There were four bags by the door. I quickly put them into my room.<br /><br />The next problem was simple laziness. The burnt popcorn was still on the table from Friday. Friday night it was so late we didn't feel like cleaning up, and Saturday I was at church all day, so I didn't really notice the popcorn. It was pretty embarrassing when they noticed it was still there. Next problem is that there's no water except early in the morning and late in the evening. Again, if we're not around when the water is, the dishes don't get washed. It had been a couple of days when we didn't get around to it, so the sink was full.<br /><br />Cooking without water is a challenge, plus the three girls were from different parts of the world, and I as well, that we all had different techniques of cooking spaghetti. Luckily, my companion keeps a pitcher of water just in case, and we were able to cook the pasta. We used a half empty bottle of water that was on the table from my breakfast to wash our hands, and one of the girls had a bottle of water to drink for the meal. We used mustard and pepper to make the meat, and some pasta sauce for the pasta. Of course, we had just run out of napkins, and we couldn't wash our face with water, so we told a lot of jokes about washing our faces with each other's clothing. All in all, it was a fun experience which just shows a few of the problems we have here in Mexico.<br /><br />I would suggest not going to see Sucker Punch. It's about a bunch of girls who get put in a mental asylum and are treated like whores. The movie is supposed to be how this girl rises up and conquers her weaknesses, supporting woman independence, but it seemed kind of contradictory when they're shown as sexy half-naked gun wielding every guy's fantasy type of women. It wasn't very uplifting and, from what I hear, the ending was very disappointing and depressing. I didn't see the ending because I left when I felt I had seen enough.<br /><br />But I did see Shrek 4, which was very happy and uplifting. I especially liked the fat cat (he's one of my favorite characters).<br /><br />We finished another workshop, and we only have one more class in another. In a week and a half we're done with all our workshops, and in three weeks we'll be back in the states. It's kind of scary, and everyone is acting disappointed. If you ever want a boost in your self-esteem, tell everyone you're going far away, and everyone will just shower you with praises :D.<br /><br />I had a job interview last Friday for a programming position in BYU. I have a few others set up for when I get into the states. My old boss in the Computer Science department is begging me to come back, so I hope to be able to get 40 hours a week for the first two months.<br /><br />I love you all,<br />Diego Tate<br /><br />On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 7:55 PM, k tate <kdtate@hotmail.com> wrote:<br />Haooy conference weekend. Did you get to listen to conference? If so, how? Where? If you heard the talk by Elder Cook, then you heard the story about Miranda and her lost purse. Pretty cool, huh? I'm almost 50 and no one ever has, or most likely, never will, talk about me in general conference.<br />We're at the start of spring break and I don't see anything out of the ordinary on our radar. Dad has work. Miranda has two days she plans on spending doing drama type stuff. We're very boring. I keep trying of things to do that would make me less boring, but I keep coming up empty.<br />I heard in a conference talk that we should go to the temple with a question and have the faith to know that we'll recieve an answer. So I went to the temple fasting and asked if I should keep trying to publish traditionally or if I should self publish and I got the definate answer that I should clean my house. That wasn't what I was looking for, but after a few hours of housework I did feel better about my house and myself.<br />You'll be sad to hear the Tennisons are moving to Utah in a couple of weeks. They'll be missed.<br />Grandma fell and hurt her knee so she's not getting around much. It must be rough to be old and fragile.<br />There seemed to be an overriding theme in conference about the welfare program, which made me think that maybe our economic woes aren't nearing an end. I hadn't realized that the church welfare program is the modern day law of consecration.<br />I'm not sure what else to tell you. We miss you. The house is emptier than ever...I'll have to think of something that you'll find interesting to do so that next week I'll have something to say.<br />Much love,<br />MomUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-1565713005012801252011-03-28T13:47:00.001-07:002011-03-28T13:47:36.025-07:00Jared 3-14Hello Family!<br />no problem about last week I enjoyed getting 2 letters this week :) So do you have to send the letters before 7:30 am? or is that at night?<br />Life is great here in Taiwan! Sometimes I forget that I'm in Taiwan, and I'll have little shocks... It's really good fun :)<br />I've heard about the earthquake, and the tsunami that went along with it, and apparently the east side of Taiwan got hit really bad, but that actually isn't part of our mission. That is the Taibei mission actually, so has had no effect here in Taizhong. But yeah Brandon must be having the time of his life... I know here in Taiwan all the missionaries love Typhoons and other natural disasters. I know it sounds horrible, but it's a great opportunity to serve the people that we love, and it's a good humbling experience for these people, and well it's really just a lot of fun I guess :P Unfortunately here in Taiping (the suburb of Taizhong that I'm serving) we don't really get typhoons.<br />Everything here is amazing, the people are so prepared it's great :) <br />Our main focus right now is the Bai family, Bai dixiong and his wife li jiemei. They are doing amazing. They passed their baptismal interview on saturday, and they are just so amazing. Li jiemei has no problems, she loves the Book of Mormon, and reads it everyday probably more than we do. Bai dixiong has been having a tough time quiting smoking. He's stopped now, but it's obvious that this week building up to his baptism are going to be rough, Satan will really work to tear down everything he's built up, but we know that Bai dixiong can easily overcome that. And luckily he has great support of 2 missionaries devoting all they're time for him, a wife that won't let anything postpone her baptism, and a loving heavenly father to support him in his efforts.<br />Our next big man is Duan dixiong. His family used to meet with us, but the daughter didn't really have interest, and the son came upon some anti Mormon literature and now he thinks baptism is too fast... But Duan dixiong is amazing. He also is quiting smoking, and he seems to be having an easier time. Yesterday his last pack ran out, and so today he should be completely clean. We still have to follow up on that, but he's great :)<br />Other people come and go, and we meet tons each day, it's really a lot of fun. Yesterday we sat down with a brother who is actually a drunk. Him and his wife straight up asked us what things does he have to do to change, and we simply told them read, pray, come to church, and obey the commandments of God, and his life will turn around. I'm excited to see the Atonement of our Savoir Jesus Christ work miracles with him. And we're sure when it does his wife too will have her hearten softened.<br />It's great here. I love it. I love you all back home, and I'm greatful for all the prayers you offer for me. You have always been a great example for me, and looking back you are such a blessing to the missionaries in your ward. So in missionary work we take a lot of numbers, to keep track of progress and whatnot, and one number is the number of nonmembers who came to church. I was laughing to myself one day when I thought about my farewell talk. That day the missionaries numbers must have skyrocketed with like 20 nonmembers at church :P Fun fact, I know has no real relevance :P I would actually really like to know, what things are you doing to help the missionaries in your ward? Besides feeding them, what amazing blessings have they received because of you? <br />-Elder Tate<br />Tang ZhanglaoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-17826153649876129492011-03-28T13:45:00.001-07:002011-03-28T13:45:58.200-07:00Fun Stuff in Mexico - NathanDear Mom and anyone else:<br /><br /><br />Since December 20th, I've been growing out my mustache to make myself look more Mexican. I also included a soul patch for the heck of it. It grew at an extremely slow rate, but three months can really make it pretty long. It still was pretty white, and many people didn't even notice it. To tell the truth, I hated it, but I kind of liked the soul patch. The only thing was, I didn't want to shave it because I figured it'd be the only time I could grow one and still respect myself. Every day I was tempted to just cut it off, but I told myself, there's no way I'm growing one again, so enjoy it. This morning, I'm sorry to say, I shaved it all off, and no one noticed.<br /><br /><br />When I got here, the Elder's quorum president asked for volunteers to go visit an inactive member. I knew his parents very well, so I offered to go. Pedro, my companion, went with me. We've been visiting them a couple of times, and he seemed pretty lazy to go to church. But today, he started off by asking if there was anything the prophet was saying to help us prepare for all the destruction. What a coincidence, next weekend is conference! We had a great chat about the mission and stuff (he's twenty) and he said that he was preparing to go when he suddenly got attacked by a bunch of doubts about Joseph Smith. He said that he would like to start going back to church. We're really excited about next Sunday!<br /><br /><br />The workshops are a lot of fun, if not draining on our energy. Speaking spanish rocks.<br /><br /><br />We saw Unknown last night. My companion wanted to see Sucker Punch, which I wasn't looking forward to, but they weren't showing it at our theatre. As I sat in line for the room to open up, I was really tired, and I was saying, "Man, I can't believe we're watching Sucker Punch." But then I remembered we had bought tickets for Unknown and got really excited again. My companion was so disappointed it was amazing. I really liked the movie, I thought it added a new, original dimension to movies that were similar.<br /><br /><br />We played a marriage game in FHE and the men kept on losing, until I finally won and got married!! Wooooo, first one married! I decided to marry all of the women who were already prepared to get married. I ended up with four wives who were embarrassed by me :P<br /><br /><br />Love,<br />DiegoTateUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-71388504130779818902011-03-28T13:43:00.000-07:002011-03-28T13:44:40.659-07:00Jared 3-28Hello Family!<br />It's good to hear from you! And that you all got to hang out with Bethany and Brandon. How's Chandler doing? Does he still remember me?<br />Have I told you about the garbage trucks here in Taiwan? They're fun, they play the same music every morning during personal study, it's good fun. Sometimes we also hear them play Bethooven, that's always a treat :)<br />This week has been good. I never thought I'd say this, but it's cold here. It gets pretty chilly, and it rains. It's so fun! Last night was one of the coldest wettest days on my mission, and it was such a blessing. We've found that only the really prepared souls go outside in the rain, so lot's of people were really willing :) <br />We also got to spend some time in the mountains yesterday! One of our investigators, Liu dixiong lives up there and we finally got to meet his son, and drop off The Family Proclamation to the world. Then spent some proselyting time up in the mountains.<br />I'm officially on my second move call now! I'm still with my same companion (Elder Johnson) in my same area (Taiping), but it's exciting because all the new elders came in, and I'm no longer the youngest on island!<br />Oh and when the new elders came in I got to go do Dan Jones with them! (Dan jones is the activity we did on our first night on island, standing on the soap box in the super crowed area) And this time I got to be "one of the older guys," it was such a different experience this time. It was still just a dream, but it was weird... I seriously was completely blessed with the gift of tongues for that night. I felt like I was speaking perfect Chinese and I understood everything that was going on, so that I could help this new Elder who just got on island learn how to contact. And then when we got back to our area I started speaking my broken Chinese again... But it was fun for that night :P<br />I can testify to you that the gift of the Holy Ghost is real. The gifts of the Spirit are real, through the Holy Ghost we can really know the truth of all things. Because Joseph Smith restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ we can always have the Ghost with us as a constant companion. Pray to have it's guidance and it will guide you. I love you all!<br />-Elder Tate<br />Tang zhanglao<br /><br />On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 4:34 AM, k tate <kdtate@hotmail.com> wrote:<br /><br />Hola Nathan and Jared,<br /> <br />we had Bethany, Brandon and boys at our house this week so everything was wild, noisy and fun. Brandon spent most of his time driving around to interviews, so he was in and out, but the rest of us here were in party mode. We only played 3 games of Settlers and Dad won all of them. (He has much more practice.) <br /> <br />Bethany and I built a bed. Dad helped. It's huge - the head board is close to 6 feet high. It's in Natalie's room and she's not very happy about it. "Don't try and make me tell you that I like it," is a direct quote. Her bed and box spring used to sit on the floor and she said she liked being lower than the lamps on her night stands. Now, lying down, she's much higher.<br /> <br />My big news is I bought an I-pad. I went to the Apple store and they told me I had to wait in line at six in the morning with the other 200 people who line up every morning, but then I got an e-mail, an annoynomous tip from a friend's son who works there who told me when they were getting a shipment, how to get into the mall, and to be there by 4 am. I really didn't think I'd go, but Friday morning I happened to be awake at 3:30, so I went to the mall, got in through the food court, and settled down in front of the Apple store in two big, soft chairs that pulled together. It was sort of surreal. The lights were dim, strange music was playing, I sat and read. Around 5 people came running in and I think they were surprised to see me. They'd been outside standing in the rain and the security guard let them in. I'm sure they thought they'd be first in line (but oh no, that was me.) Everyone around me was talking about all the nifty things the Ipad could do and I felt like a faker because I don't know very much about computers or IPAds, but I really want one because it has 12 hours of battery, it's amazinglly compact and light, and it will be great for writing. It also never deletes anything, everything you write is automatically saved immediately, so never again will I lose any of my writing. I'm also jazzed about downloading books... although it's sort of dangerous that I can now have the books I want immediately, no more reserving them at the library and waiting weeks, or hunting for them at the stores. I'm sure I still haven't learned everything my new wonder toy can do and perhaps I never will, but I'm very excited about it.<br /> <br />The Barnettes left this morning. We're hoping they'll be back and that Brandon will take a job around here. We don't know what will become of Adam and we pray that he'll find a job. One man told Brandon that where and how he choses to practice is more important than who he marries. Brandon and I decided that that statement says a lot about him and not that much about working. How you support your family and contribute to the world is important, but not as important as your family.<br /> <br />I've been thinking about life changes, how when I was at my dad's I was comfortable, I knew it well. When I went running every morning, I knew all the streets. I knew exactly where I was because it used to be where I belonged, but it's not where I belong anymore. I belong with Dad and the girls (or whomever happens to be in our home.)And it's the same with Bethany. She knows Rancho, it used to be her home, she used to belong here, but now she belongs with Brandon and her family. I guess the trick is to find the best place for us to be at the different stages of our lives and make the very best use of our time and circumstances. Jared should be the best missionary he can be, Nathan should do the best he can at his internship, etc.<br /> <br />Today in ward conference President Brennan had brothers Clyne, Tennison, Giar, Brokaw, Cruise, Miahara, get up and give their testimonies about how joining the church was the best decision they ever made. It was pretty powerful and it made me think of all the people you're teaching and how you might be introducing them to what could be their best decision.<br /> <br />I love you and miss you. I hope you're making your best decisions everyday.<br />MomUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-16073098216535636922011-03-10T17:51:00.000-08:002011-03-10T17:52:12.931-08:00March 2011 Family letterDear Family, (including, but not limited to Jared and Nathan who are so far away)<br /><br />Happy March madness. We’re as mad, happy, etc, as we last were. We’re amazingly boring.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Adam is winding down. Law review, moot court, etc. in a little more than a month law school will be a happy memory. He’s hoping to get a clerkship, working for a federal (or state) judge.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Bethany, Brandon and boys are coming for two weeks . Technically, they’re coming so that Brandon can interview for jobs (he’ll be a real live chiropractor soon) but, we’re polishing our party hats and setting up the game boards.<br /><br /> <br /><br />We wish Nathan (and Adam and Jared) could join us, but Nathan’s still in Mexico. He’s still alive, and from what little we hear, he seems happy, well adjusted, but stinky… I seem to remember a snaffoo with his shower. He's working with the church's employment center and teaches workshops that help people begin businesses. He loves teaching and at his last class he had 140 attend.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Jared’s letters are a heady dose of enthusiasm. It’d be awesome to be as excited about life as Jared. He loves his mission. They do little tracting and do most of their contacts on the streets. He has yet to be hit by a car, which proves that miracles really do happen.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Miranda and Natalie just finished roadshow. There’s a possibility that this was our very last… wouldn’t that be awesome? Sad, of course, for those who loved it… <br /><br /> <br /><br />Larry goes to work. For someone who hates talking on the phone, he’s doing a great job as executive secretary. He doesn’t hang up on people or do anything remotely rude, although I suppose at times he is tempted.<br /><br /> <br /><br />I love, love, love being the primary pianist and I hope I get to keep the bench for life. Last week Isaac broke Ben’s nose and this week Isaac sang operatic in senior primary. Stuff like that never happens in Relief Society. A few weeks ago my piano bench was wobbly and the primary president, who had been sitting on it, complained. So, I flipped it over, tightened the screws and thought, this is about as intellectually challenging as this calling gets. I do other things besides play the piano. I run, I clean stuff, I get jealous. My critique partner’s book came out last week. A guy I met at a writer’s conference a couple of years ago just came out with his second. Another friend sold her book; another has her book being read by an editor with a major publisher. But, none of that matters because, hey, my kitchen’s clean. And I’ve finally lost all that weight I gained when I was relief society president and what else matters? (Joking, there’s plenty that matters, like getting this letter mailed tonight so that Jared will have something to read 2 am our time.)<br /><br />Much love,<br /><br />KristyUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-44123585204530901322011-03-10T17:49:00.000-08:002011-03-10T17:50:37.789-08:00Jared 3-6-11It's pretty amazing being a missionary, right now I'm in an internet cafe, where one of our friends work, so this is free. And afterwards I'll get my haircut by an inactive... for free. Yeah it's a sweet life.<br />So this last week has been pretty interesting. My trainer went to a leadership training meeting on Tuesday, so for most of that day I went on exchanges with an Elder Evans, and we stayed in my area. So effectively for that entire day I was the senior companion, and was incharge of making sure we got to where we needed to be. Well needless to say, we got lost a few times, but that's okay because we still did amazingly that day, and at the end we found our way back to my trainer and life continued on as usual.<br />Well almost usual, the very next day we saw quite the miracle: It was around lunch time, and we were looking for a place to eat. We saw a great little place, good prices, pretty clean, and just alround nice little place to stop for lunch, but for some reason we decided not to eat there. No real big reason, just not too appealing (I think they might have offered Karoke). So we continued on and saw a place that I had been to just the day before. Last time the boss gave me free soup, and helped me figure out the map so I suggested we go there for lunch again. While there my chinese was barely understandable (as usual) and a nice sister helped me out, and taught how to properly say it. We started talking (the three of us, my trainer included) and she ended up sitting down and eating lunch with us, we ended up teaching her about the message of the restoration, and she loved it. On the spot believes Joseph Smith is a prophet of her Eternal Father. Super prepared daughter of God, who randomly decided she wanted to sit down for lunch with some white guys, is now being taught by the sister missionaries, and I'm excited to hear how well she progresses. Oh yeah, and the next day we tried to eat there again, and we couldn't find it. We think it's closed now. It just goes to show that if you are doing everything you are supposed to be doing, if you are worthy, obedient, and dilligent the Lord will put people in your path, you will be at the right place at the right time, and not entirely know how you got there. What a blessing it is to sieze such opportunities. <br /> <br />-Elder Tate<br />Tang zhanglaoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-44635384720700302132011-03-01T06:58:00.000-08:002011-03-01T06:59:17.910-08:00Jared 2-28The language is abosolutely amazing, I love it. It's kind of weird tho, I thought that once I got to Taiwan all I would speak is Chinese. I figured my trainer would pretty much only speak chinese except in rare situations, but in reality, the majority of my time is spent in English. It's kind of a bummer, because by the end of my MTC experience I was almost completely in Chinese, and my Chinese was skyrocketing. Now it's at a little of a standstill, but I'm sure I'll go back to only Chinese when I know all the English things I need to. But yeah, the majority of lessons and what not I understand. Church is a little harder though, because they dont speak with you, and you can't make them keep repeating the same thing:P<br />Our ward is good. We have a ton of amazing members. Everyone here loves the missionaries, it's really quite amusing. There are quite a few inactive members, which is really too bad. We do what we can to help them, but our purpose is firstly to help people come unto to Christ, and so majority of our time is finding. <br />In the morning we wake up run, eat, and study until 10:30. From 10:30 to 9 we proselyte. In between teaching appointments, an meal times we consistantly contact. So on our way places we'll pull our bikes over and talk with people. Luckily the majority of people ride scooters so it's a lot easier to contact them. Car's also sometimes roll down the window. We very rarely go tracting (door to door). and 90% of the people here are fojiao (buddhist) and don't want to learn more, and 9% are "already Christian, we are the same." With little interest in the restoration of Christ's church.<br />Then there is the 1%. The one percent come from all backrounds, and are willing to meet with wai4 guo2 ren2 (the numbers are the tones *Natalie*) (Outsiders) for whatever reason. Willing to at leat sign up. This 1% is what we spend 85% of our time on. Out of this 1% about 1/150 will end up meeting with us, read scriptures, pray, come to church, and then enter the sacred convenant of baptism. These 1/150, is what we try to spend 70% of our time on. We are always trying to help them, they are our life.<br />As of right now our 1/150 are the Bai family, Duan family, and Chen dixiong<br />Bai family- absolutely wonderful. The husband has to get out his smoking problem, and they'll be baptised on the 19th. (only bai dixiong, and his wife)<br />Duan Family - They're actually new. Only met the dad, and his two kids, but they're super willing, and also super busy. The nicest thing about them is that they are reliable, when they weren't able to make an appointment, they called and changed the time. (I know that might sound pretty basic manners, but majority of people just don't come)<br />Chen dixiong (dixiong means brother in Chinese) - Umm... we don't know with him. We don't really know here he came from, but he loves coming to church. He comes to Church every Sunday. We meet with him about everyday, just share a little principle, and go. He has a baptismal date for the 19th, but he smokes also, and doesn't know he needs to stop (in fact he offerred me a smoke...)<br />We don't know what exactly happened to our vietnemese friend... Other people come and go, but for right now, that's who we are focusing on. <br />No we actually do not make our own food. We eat oatmeal everyday for breakfast, but besides that we eat out for every meal. Food here, like little side in the wall places are super cheap. Almost everyday we get an all you can eat meal for about 50 kuai (less than 2 dollars) and everything here is just amazing. It's actually cheaper to by food out than make it at home. <br />Well yeah that's the boat I'm in, it's pretty much amazing. We work, we work, we work, and we love to work. And you know what you do when you don't want to work? You repent, and get to work. I love the work, I love the food, and man... I LOVE these people <br />-Elder Tate<br />-Tang ZhanglaoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-47747698083519026982011-02-23T11:34:00.000-08:002011-02-23T11:35:05.475-08:00Jared: Valentines Day Taiwan Style.Hello family!<br />The only sign of Valentines Day here was a little balloon on the senior missionaries desk back at the mission office. We don't celebrate Valentines Day here, and well thats probably for the best. Don't want too many elders sitting at home eating chocolate reading dear John's. In fact we don't want any elders like that! (of course...)<br />It's been raining pretty consistantly here as well, and surprisingly enough, it's cold. It's probably like 50 degrees, which is nothing compared to the 0 back in Utah, but it's so humid here you're slightly cold no matter where you are. It's getting a lot better tho, weather wise :)<br />Have I told you that everything here in Taiwan in amazing? Because seriously it is. The food is to die for, and we normally get all you can eat rice meals, for 50 kuai. (i don't know how much that is in American, I'll leave you to figure that out :) Traffic here is really quite amusing. Everyone thinks that Asian drivers are really bad, when really they are quite impressive, I haven't seen things back at home that these people can pull off. They are super defensive, and they seem to know everything that's going on. I don't think I've seen any accidents, and everyone is just super friendly. They like to let you know that your behind them (just a little honk) and they always give a little honk just before running a red light. It's great :)<br />Today is "Power Cleaning Day" (much better than Valentines day if you ask me) and our appartment (sp?) looks amazing! (as expected of course) We also went over and helped out another couple of elders clean theirs (they helped with ours as well)<br />As for our investigators, they're all going swimmingly. I met a super prepared individual yesterday, and I'm excited to teach him more tonight. <br />Well the book is blue, the book is true. Lately I've been really thinking about the power of music, and how it really does have a dramatic effect. While in the MTC my companions and I sang in the choir, and that was really such a great experience, to be able to invite the spirit, and enjoy the gift of music. I really believe that music has a dramatic effect on our lives, and it wasn't until recently I've noticed how much of an impact is has on me specifivally. When we sing hymns, or listen to church music it really makes me uplifted and helps me think about the good things I'm currently doing, and things I'll do better. At other times I look back on my life and think about some of the other music I used to listen, and how that may have effected the rest of my day. I'm so greatful for my great access to uplifting music, and I encourage you all back to listen to the kind of music that invites the Spirit, and get rid of the music that invites pride and unrighteous doing. I love you all, and it's amazing to hear how amzing you all are, and I look forward to hearing more! <br />Wan an :)<br />-Elder Tate<br />-Tang zhanglaoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-85436187541896210432011-02-16T11:20:00.000-08:002011-02-16T11:22:00.433-08:00Jared's first letter from TaiwanWell quite a bit has happened since I hung up the phone on tuesday, so I'll probably just go in chronological order hao bu hao? (natalie can translate)<br />So right after I hung up the phone I started talking with the lady that offered for me to use her cell phone ( when I couldn't get the other phone to work) and that was pretty exciting. It was a lot in Chinese, but she also had good english so it wasm't too hard. She agreed to let the missionaries to contact her (she lives in Taichung so who knows maybe I'll see her again!) and I got her info so that they can :)<br />Then I had a 14 hour plan ride to Taiwan, not super exciting, I st next to Missionaries, read through 3 Nephi (which is amazing, I highly recommend it.) and slept. When we got to Taiwan we met our Mission president, President Bishop, he was very nice, and we rode the bus back to some zone leaders house (conviently my zone leaders now.) The next morning we discovered that as part of the mission culture we all wake up at 6 (the norm is 6:30) and go running. It was way cool because we got to see more of the city :)<br />then we did a bunch of orientation stuff, for awhile, had some really good taiwanese food. So far I have eaten pork blood (jello style and rice soaked in pork blood style) and a duck head (in it's entirety) So far no problems with shrimp/crab, and seeing it has been pretty rare as well :)<br />Then after that things got pretty exciting, we did an activity called the "Dan Jones." We went to a super crowded night market (like super crowded, most place it is difficult to move) and stood in the middle and started by singing love at home(chinese of course). After that we took turns getting on soap boxes and bearing our testimonies, Dan Jones style. That we quite the trill, and afterwards we went contacting in the same market :)<br />The next day I met my Trainer, Elder Johnson, he's really amazing, he's been zone leader like 6 times, and he really knows what he's doing, it's quite nice, and after that we got straight to work. <br />I'm serving in the Taiping region of Taizhong, so it's still very crowded, huge city, but we also have some more suburbs areas. The thing about this area is that we're doing a thing called "white washing" which means we're the first missionaries assigned to this area. (it's a little more difficult to explain, but pretty much an area split in half, and we're the missionaries in the new region.)<br />As of right now we have one progressing investigator, he's pretty much amazing. Wen og doogk is his name, and he's actually Vietnemese. His English is poor at best, and he doesn't speak a lick of Chinese, but he still puts up with us. We merely give him passages from book of Mormon (we have a vietnemese one luckily) to read and we try and discuss it with him. He comes to church every week (Even though he understands nothing about what's going on) and loves it. We managed to teach him how to pray, and he reads and prays daily (or at least we hope so... it's a little difficult to be able to tell)<br />Umm besides that we contact people like crazy, and we met the ward yesterday. The Ward is ridiculously amazing. One brother came up to me and gave me a big hug, even though I've never met him. And another has a limit put on him for the number of times he can take missionaries out to dinner because he spends too much of his money treating missionaries out.<br />Today is Monday, most of the time will be spent trying to get more Vietnemese books, and buying stuff, and tonight we have quite a few appointments, and some of them seem really good so I'm excited :)<br />Right now I am typing this from a ghetto little internet cafe, and all around me are people playing games like Warcraft and such. It's quite lawls :)<br />Well I love it here! The people are amazing. It started raining last night, and riding around in the rain was actually really fun. I'm going to enjoy it here :)<br />The church is true, Joseph Smith was a prophet, and he really translated the Book of Mormon for us, and this is such a blessing to the world. <br /><br />Yesterday I contacted a funny elderly man who asked me why none of the missionaries are French, and their all Americans.<br />Love you! :DUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2489755354793084695.post-90049834784203964702011-02-01T07:07:00.001-08:002011-02-01T07:07:50.099-08:00Jared 1/31Hi family! Okay so I leave next Tuesday! Crazy Right?! I'm so excited! How long has it been? 3 months? I stopped keeping track, and now I just count down till I actually leave :D<br />We keep on hearing cool things from Taiwan. The latest thing is apparently they have spiders that a foot in diameter! Cool right? Freaks my companions out to no end, but I like the idea of hanging out with those, and eat "1000 year old eggs" supposedly way strange, but that's okay :)<br />So i've officially been here too long. I think I'm getting to the point that I feel like this is my mission, and I'll just never leave. And we speak so much Chinese sometimes it weirds me out when other people speak english. We were watching the Joseph Smith movie last night and I had 2 moments that made me realize I've been here way too long. The first was about half way through I thought to myself "Wow, why are they still speaking english." The second was there was a girl running (in her twenties or something) and I thought to my self "Oh know! she won't be able to see her companion!" Lawls right? <br />I should be sending a package home soon. It's not very exciting for you. It's merely a collection of all the letters I've gotten here, because I don't want to throw them away, and I don't want to carry them around. So if you could just put that with my box or something that'd be great :) There should also be a few more pictures for you to oggle at. :)<br />Hmmm.... I don't know what else you would have interest in. Everything is pretty much the same here... Oh yeah! brb<br />okay. SO I'll be leaving on February 8th 2011 :)<br />From 12:25 PM to 3:50PM I will be on layover in LAX. You may not come and visit me, however I will be giving you a call sometime during that time block. I am aware that the girls will most likely be in school, and you're all pretty busy, but I am permitted to give a small call so I'll do that :) Unless you have a time that you particularly want me to call during, I will try and call around 1:30? How does that sound? Well let me know. <br />Love you very much :) Thank you parents for reading the scriptures everyday. At the time I never really realized the blessings that came from it, but now I can see the effect of being able to gather every night and just read a page. I love the scriptures, I love this church, but most of all I love you <3<br />-Tang zhanglao<br />-Elder Tate :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0