A couple reminders of home............

Hey Mom!!

So first of all, that was really cool reading that little article about Carson! You really have outdone yourself, you are working so hard for that, I hope it goes well for the Ross family!!

So funny story, there is another new missionary here in the Zone, Elder Turville...apparently you helped him out with his garment selection huh? Haha too funny, who would've known?? (After helping newly called missionaries for months at Deseret Book, I finally helped one that had been called to the Texas, Lubbock Mission, that poor Elder got an earful from me along with a promise that he would give Elder Backus a hug if he ever ran into him, well as luck would have it, his first area is Roswell, New Mexico and Cody is his zone leader.  I hope that Elder Turville made good on his promise). 

Oh man, that picture...I hope you aren't putting all those on facebook and stuff haha that was horrible!!

Elder Murray is doing well, haha I think he is enjoying it, but I think we are all waiting for his first wave of home sickness to come. I see him every once in a while and talk to him at least every other day, his companion is a DL, so I call him every night.

Lisa's baptism went very well, we had it right after the Women's Broadcast. (I wish I could've seen it!)

We now have a pretty crazy week ahead of us, we have a little mini zone conference on thursday and then Elder Bladen and I will be driving down to Lubbock for MLC on Friday. Everything is moving so fast!!

I love you Mom, and I am finally starting to love this work. It is still a process, and I still groan every now and then, but I think I am starting to catch the vision. Thank you so much for your tremendous support, I don't know how I could do it without you.

Elder Backus and Elder Murray.

Christine is now a teenager.............

On the 26th of September, Christine turned 13 and officially became a teen-ager...

Another birthday banner.........

Christine wanted a larger bed for her birthday present.  Her last bed was a twin size, and we will never forget Randy sleeping in it when he spent Christmas with us, his feet hung off the end & he said he felt like Buddy the Elf.

She requested that all the pink be removed from her room, so out with the old & in with the gray and yellow.  You can tell by her shelves, that Christine loves to read.  In the last year she read the Hunger Games and the Divergent Series.

Even though she is growing up FAST, she still requests the Cake Batter Birthday Cake from Coldstone, hopefully some things will never change :).

Christine has a very sweet personality.  The last couple of months she has been anonymously serving an elderly lady in our neighborhood who has been battling breast cancer.  She has dropped off gifts and cards at her door, rings the doorbell and runs.  She easily feels the spirit of service.

I hold a special place in my heart for this daughter of mine, whenever I appear to not feel well, she is the first to ask if I need help, she is sincerely concerned and would do absolutely anything to make me feel better.  She has been known to pull out her nail clippers, foot scrubber, lotion and nail polish to give me a pedicure when I've had a long day.  She is a caregiver at heart and I LOVE that about her.  Happy 13th Birthday Christine!!

Carson Ross 5k / 1 mile Fun Run or Walk.........

One of Cody's best friends is Dylan Ross who is currently serving a mission as well.  Dylan has a younger brother, Carson, who was recently diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and is currently undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments.  Just days before the diagnosis, Dylan's dad was laid off at work and is currently unemployed.  Because of their unfortunate situation, a group of us are organizing a 5k Fundraiser for the family.  You can read about Carson's story and how the Murray High Football team have honored Carson by clicking on the link below (Cody and Dylan are mentioned in it....).

http://m.deseretnews.com/splash?skipSplash=true&platform=iphone&isWebView=0&requestedURI=%2Farticle%2F865611543%2FBand-of-brothers-Murray-football-players-rally-around-teammates-younger-brother-struggling-with.html%3Fpg%3Dall&ref=http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F75OhI9mS9z%3Fref%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F75OhI9mS9z

You can learn more about Carson at carsonrossfunrun.blogspot.com.

September 18th, 2014.............

Hey Mom!! So first of all, thank you so much for making my birthday so great. That burger joint was GREAT, I cant wait to go back!! Haha that banner was totally Julie-esque, I loved it. My companion marveled at your uncanny penmanship haha (; So when is the Carson 5K? That is so cool, I am really excited to hear all about it.

My birthday was pretty good. The Sisters decorated our driveway haha, and then we spent a lot of time on the bikes just talking to people and helping them in any way that we could. I got a lot of calls and texts from people in the mission wishing me a happy day, it meant a lot to me. It was just another day in the life, but thanks to you guys it was definitely one of the most memorable. Thank you for that (:

Haha so guess what!! Elder Murray is in my zone! (Elder Murray went to Murray High with Cody) Haha I dont think I told you this, but there is an indian reservation a little west of here, i went on exchanges there once, it is crazy green and has a bunch of mountains...totally not what you would think of the Texas Lubbock Mission, but its called the Mescelaro Reservation, and thats where Elder Murray will be training. His trainer is a stud, so I think he will really have a good time. Who would have thought huh?

Lisa will be getting baptized this Saturday after the General Women's Broadcast, so wish us luck and pray for us that we can get all of that squared away (: Thank you so so much mom. I felt your love all the way out here (: I love and miss you like crazy! 

The banner did make it up on his wall........next to the Utah banner :).

I googled restaurants in Roswell, and found 'Big D's', it was voted one of the Top Ten Burgers in the Nation, so I called them and bought a gift card so that Cody and his companion (looks like an extra elder according to the picture) could go out to eat on his birthday.....

Looks like Cody is running with a few Elders and President Heaps....

Missionary Leadership Conference

Happy Birthday Elder Backus!!

Cody turns 19 today, the age which we had always expected him to leave on his mission, however, plans changed when the church lowered the age requirement for missionaries.  As a result, the month after Cody turned 18, he left for the MTC to begin his 2 year service.  Its pretty incredible for me to read his, as well as many other young missionaries letters, and learn about what they are able to do at such a young age.  Cody has shared with me how very young he feels some days, but has gained an understanding of the enabling power of the atonement as he is able to do things he never thought he was capable of.

This is my first birthday away from any of my children, so I woke up this morning with the desire to stay busy and do something that I know Cody would want me to do.  One of Cody's best friends, who is also serving a mission, has a little brother who was recently diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.  Just a couple days before that, his father was laid off and is currently unemployed.  A few of us who know the family are organizing a 5k fundraiser to help with the costs of medical treatment and daily expenses, so my friend Dayna and I, spent the day going from one business to another asking for donations to help make this event a success for their family.  We were overwhelmed with the generosity of everyone we talked to, and at the end of the day, knew that I had spent the day doing something worthwhile and something I know would make Cody happy.

We put together a birthday package for him and included a t-shirt for p-day that I loved.......

I also made a 6 ft birthday banner and included tape (haha!) to put on his apartment wall....we'll see if he actually does that.............

I took a silver pen and wrote down all of my favorite missionary scriptures in the background.

The Challenges of Leadership............(no longer keeping track of the weeks!)

Hey Mom!!!

I am really glad to hear about the 5K for Carson, that is so great of you guys. I wish I could be there to be in it! How was the half-marathon?? It sounds like the neighborhood BBQ was a success, how is the missionary work in the ward?

We had a good week this week, haha there never really is a bad one. I am just continuing to try and become a better leader, I feel like every companionship is going through some sort of a problem or another, and I just feel so inadequate as a leader sometimes when they ask me for advice on things that I have never really experienced, I am so grateful for the scriptures and the wisdom that we can learn from them. They have saved my bacon more than a few times (;

This is transfer week, crazy how fast they have been going lately. I have learned a lot these past 6 months as a Zone Leader, and I am fine to do it some more, but I would like to maybe try something different...haha its a stressful thing! I am pretty sure I will be staying in Roswell, but we will just have to see (:

I love and miss you mom. Thank you for these awesome past 19 years. You are my greatest example. Work hard, be safe, and know that I will be doing the same things (: You are doing great things back home, I am proud of you!!! I love you!

Love, Cody

Salt Lake Comic Con......

I was asked to work at Comic Con this weekend and really had no idea what to expect....Google defines it as a large comic book and popular arts convention held annually, although I learned that it will be in Salt Lake again in April, so maybe its twice annually??  I worked for Shadow Mountain which is a publishing company for Deseret Book.  I helped several big authors with their book signings and loved every minute of it.  

Shannon Hale (Goose Girl, Princess Academy & Ever After High Series)

Brandon Mull (Fablehaven series)

Tyler Whitesides (The Janitor Series)

Richard Paul Evans (Michael Vey series, thus the 'Veyniac sticker)

A couple more pics from the mission president's blog.........

Elders Crompton, Backus, Stoneking (Party Planner #2), and Ware 

July 2014 Mission Leader Council

Our first Mission Leader Council
Row 1: Elders Squires, Stoneking, Bucknum, Checketts, Davis, Dunkel, Christensen, Richards, May
Row 2: Elder Kirkpatrick, Smith, Gadd, Clark, Cole, Gardner, Backus, Cunningham, Carlile, Bladen, Schouten, Watson, Ross
Row 3: Sister Dunham, Brown, Sister & President Heap, Crowton, Calderwood, Plante
Row 4: Vailea, Boughton, Barlow, Clark, Bennion, Soules, Capron

davidandmaryheap.blogspot.com

Bless Sister Heap's heart (the new mission president's wife), she has started a TEXAS LUBBOCK MISSON blog!!!!!!  I went there and look who was on her most recent post.......

This morning, David instructed about 90 youth in Roswell, NM about what real mission life is like. Hopefully we didn't scare them all off ;) Then our Zone Leaders, Elder Bladen and Elder Backus finished the rest of the Conference while we zoomed off to the Odessa Stake Conference.

President Heap, Elder Backus, and Elder Bladen (Some of our awesome Zone Leaders!)

We are learning to council...(this was a mission leadership council)

Row 1: Elders Squires, Stoneking, Kirkpatrick, Smith, Cole, Backus, Watson, Cunningham, Bladen, Gadd, Clark, Carlile, and Bucknum
Row 2: President & Sister Heap, Elders Gardner, Christensen, Dunkle, Richards, Schouten, Ross, May, Davis, and Checketts
Row 3: Sisters Soules, Barlow, Bennion, Clark, Dunham, Brown, Plante, Calderwood, Capron, Crowton, Vailea, Boughton