From Dad

Josh,

Here we are again. One more week in the books. 

Life is humming along here. Not a lot is happening. Maybe except for a few things.

Yesterday we went to Ashley Nichols farewell. She's from one of the families we go to the football games with. Her dad was my roommate at BYU. She is going to Lubbock Texas. Seems like have the missions in the states are in Texas. She leaves this week. It's a neat weird feeling to see your friends kids go out. It makes us feel old.

Another neat thing is Alex is officially the deacons quorum president. Kind of surprising in a way. Somehow the bishop though our shy boy was the one for the job. We set him apart yesterday with his quorum. Hopefully he'll realize how to lead. I think he will because he's got great leaders.

There's another change this week. I finally tore the fence down in the back. The white vinyl fence that ran across the middle of the yard is not gone. It was a huge pain to get them out of the ground. I had to dig down pretty far and then smash up some concrete at the bottom of each post. It's cool now because we can have a really long playing field. And it's a lot easier to mow.

Other than that, everything is normal. 

So how do you like your new area? What is your new companion like? Do you have hot water? How many people are in your area now? I hope more than about 200. 

As usual your mother and I really think about you a lot. It was a pretty special thing to see your companion and the local members on skype. It kind of brought them home here for a second. I have a hope that your experience there is going to be something you remember for the rest of your life. Speaking from experience, the things you remember really are the relationships you have with the people. With your companion, your mission president, the local leaders but mostly the local members and of course your investigators. The ones that really will stick out in your mind are the ones that you help. You may help them come into the church for the first time or rediscover the church and become active again. Either way, if you are a part of them "coming unto Christ" you will have a memory of it forever. 

So the key is Josh. Love the people. Go out of your way to show acts of kindness and service to all the people you have contact with. That will be the key to your success. 

Anyway, that's my words of wisdom for this week. Keep the faith. Remember that we love you and are praying for your success and want you to have a rich and rewarding experience.

Take care and keep working hard.

Love Dad