Things are going pretty darn well here in Roswell. This last week was COLD, and we actually got a couple inches of snow. Haha it really kills the whole fearless defender of the faith spirit, but you just have to push through it I guess (:
Bobby and Charmagne (Father and Step daughter) are getting baptized this Saturday at 1pm. They are awesome, they are Najavo Indian. We found them by trying a old media referall, pretty crazy how the Lord fulfills his purposes! Elder Barnes and I are really excited, I will be sure to take some pictures.
Other than that, things are just moving on smoothly! We are all pretty excited for Elder Bednar to come in a couple weeks, its pretty rare that a mission like this one gets an apostle to come, one hasn't come here in almost 20 years!
I sure love you all! Thank you for letting me know how you are all doing, I really do care a lot. I miss you and hope that you all stay safe and warm. I love you and am praying for you!
Christmas definitely felt more focused this year. Elder Backus kept us thinking about what is most important by inviting us to #ShareTheGift. I loved the video that was shared around the world through social media.....
A group of musicians, producers, videographers, and all those who had a desire to take part, organized a world record breaking, live nativity, which was then made into an inspiring video that has been viewed almost 7,000,000 times........
Some pictures of December..........
We got to watch Drue while Tyler and Camille went ice skating......
Temple Square with Christine and friends.......
Christine's Christmas dance show........
Christmas Sunday..........
Christine and her best friend, Crista, had an ugly sweater Christmas party with 28 girls!!!!!
Christmas morning...........
Christine asked for an instant camera. I am still shaking my head about how these dinosaurs are making a come back........
The highlight of our day was skyping with Elder Backus.
Grandma, Grandpa, Cindy & CJ.
Every Christmas Eve we open an ornament that is a reflection of the past year, this was Cody's :).
Good to be able to communicate with you again (: Talking with you all was so awesome, you all looked so great. Haha I think every call you get a little distracted, especially the closer you get to the end, but I am fine, I am just really grateful that the Lord is watching over you guys.
Holy smokes Cassidy is 17 tomorrow?? Do you remember when I was 17?? Haha I sure do. Funny to think that when I was Cassidy's age I was already a month into my Senior Year...what are your plans tomorrow? She isn't going to ditch the family for James like I did for Justine on my birthday will she? Haha I feel pretty bad about that one.
So we had 5 investigators come to church Sunday! Wahoo! Bobby, Charmange, Rachel, Alec, and Sid all came. Bobby, Eudora and Sid are all set for the 10th for baptism, and we are still working with the other two. Sweet is the work I say.
Hey, so I need you to check something out for me...its time for the cosmetics portion of our emails. I heard of this thing called 800razors.com that supposedly claims burn-free, do you think you could check it out and let me know? You are the best (:
I sure love you Mom. Thanks for being you, I love you (: Have an awesome week, I miss you greatly and am looking forward to that letter. I love you Mom!
When the kids were young we would go to the John Schmidt Christmas Concert at Kingsbury Hall in Salt Lake City, he is an amazing pianist who combines modern pop with classical music, and as a result, makes his concerts well liked by all ages. Over the last few years he has combined talents with an AMAZING cellist, a producer who has a studio in his home, a videographer who has a huge Youtube following, and together they have evolved into a group called, "The Piano Guys". If you search them on Youtube you can watch some amazing videos that have been viewed millions of times over. Saturday night we went to their concert at the Energy Solutions Arena, and it was pretty amazing. (Thanks for their CD mom, I didn't have it yet and we are listening to it over and over!)
I love all of their videos, but will post just one of my favorites (probably because I have felt a slight tug in my heart lately that has something to do with the spirit of Elijah).
This is a cover of the popular One Direction song titled, "Story of My Life"............
So I am staying here in Roswell again. Elder Squires is leaving and I will be getting Elder Barnes. He is a new zone leader so I will be training him up. I was pretty happy, I really didnt want to leave at all. We have some pretty sweet people that we are working with now, and I think we are going to have some sweet baptisms next month, set the new year off right!
I am glad to hear from you all that you are sharing the gift...thank you for working in unison with me and the Lord! So what are the plans for Christmas? Its only 10 days away--can you believe that? I remember last Christmas pretty vividly, the time really is starting to quicken isn't it?
As we have gotten to watch the He is the Gift video and also the Christmas Broadcast the last couple weeks, I have really thought of the Lord's promise "by their fruits ye shall know them". As I have been able to take part in and observe this church's "fruits", or works, my testimony has been strengthened that this is His church. I am so very grateful for the structure, organization, transparency, and overall truthfulness of this Gospel, how could I ever deny it?
I sure love you guys! I got the family Christmas card the other day, haha I was shocked that Mom didn't make you guys all get together and take a picture? Haha just waiting for next year to start pulling teeth right?
Well my fam, take care, have an awesome week and know that I love and miss you all.
First off, thank you so so much for that Christmas tree, that was very thoughtful and it is hanging up in our front room (: The He is the Gift initiative is going very well, missionaries are talking to a ton of people, how many views does the video have now??
Dad, thank you so much for sending the ball, I am excited to get it in the next couple days!
Hey Cindy, sorry I am so late on this but thank you so much for that package! Elder Squires and I are definitely grateful (: I hung up the Dolphins poster in my closet (:
We had to drop Mark yesterday ): He is not committed to come to church. He agreed that he wasn't ready yet either. He hadn't been to church for 5 weeks, but he knows that we are still here to help him, he will get baptized someday! Really sad though ): The Ben family (Bobby, Eudora, and Charmagne) are doing awesome! They all came to church yesterday AND the Christmas Broadcast! I am so looking forward to meeting with them this week.
That is so nice of you guys to put together some gifts for some of the missionaries out here. That really means a lot to me and I am sure to President and Sister Heap. You guys are just the best (:
So what does the rest of December look like for all of you? Has Dad started playing the Birthday week card yet? What are you guys going to do for him and Grandpa?
I sure miss you all...I wish more than anything that we could all go downtown and see the temple lights, but, hey, they will be there next week right? Be sure to send me a picture of all of you down there! I love and miss you all. Share the Gift!
Heyyyyyy Mom! Did you get my letter??? You're holding out on me now huh, I still want to hear from my Mom every week ); (For some reason Cody didn't see my email until after he sent me this message)
Are things all set for Thanksgiving? What are you all going to be up to? Are you cooking anything or do you get the year off?
Mark got interviewed by President Heap and he is all set for baptism! Hopefully we will be able to schedule it for this Saturday, we need to get going then if that is the case!
How did Cass like Fall Ball?? I heard that (yes mom, I did write Justine this week) you rented a dress out to her? Thats pretty cool! How many dresses are you up to now?
Well Mom, I want to let you know two things. The first is, I am happy. I really am. And the second is that I am so thankful for you. Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he trusted you with 3 of his kids. You really are the best mother in the entire world. Thank you for pushing, pulling, supporting, and comforting me. I love you so much Mom. Happy Thanksgiving.
Last month Homecoming, this month Fall Ball! Cassidy went with Devin Ross (Dylan's younger brother), and made a special effort to make it a fun date for him. Not only was it Devin's first date ever, but his brother, Carson, who is still undergoing chemotherapy, was receiving a blood transfusion that day because his white cell count was dangerously low.
There is a Facebook page called "missionary momma's" that Dolly Player invited me to be a part of and, wow! Thousands of mothers of missionaries from all over the world post all kinds of stuff related to missionary work. Lots of random pictures are posted of elders and sisters by women who know that some mother out in the world would love to see a picture of their missionary at work, so I did a search with the word "Lubbock" and came across a couple of pictures of Cody and the messages attached to them...........made my day :).
Look who I had for dinner tonight from the Texas,LubbockMission....
Elder Backus who's mom is a missionary momma andElder Bladen who wants his mom to join us. So if you know his mom let her know!They are awesome missionaries doing a great job!
Here's another ladies! These elders are serving inLubbock, TX. We made a wheat order and they're helping unload. Sorry they were so busy and such a long line and I didn't get their names! Hope some Momma's recognize them!
Thank you so much for taking care of that Social # for me, haha I was stressing about it!
Elder Squires is great, he is definitely the hardest working and most experienced companion I have ever had (He goes home in January), so I am really excited to learn from him!
Transfers was pretty crazy Mom, haha but luckily we were prepared so that when some wrenches got thrown in the plans we were able to recover without too much trouble (: I am really excited about my zone Mom, I really think we could do some good here!
Thank you for your last letter, I loved it! I am so ready to use technology in the mission, we are just waiting for the work for our iPads!
We do have a DVD player, but anything we watch on it has to be produced by the church, haha so put down Mobsters and Mormons, because I know thats what you were going to send me (;
Hey so, I need your help...I get super bad razor burn on my neck and face, haha my beard has just thickened so much! I have tried like every sort of product at Wal-mart and I havent had any luck...is there like any super strength stuff you can think of? haha is there something that I can get to just zap the hair off my face for good? Haha I need help!
I will work hard to smile more Mom, it definitely is something I need to do. I love you so much, thank you for your support, I really do need it. I love you Mom! Tell the girls that I love them too (;
Love,
Your Son
Dear Dad,
Things are going good here in Roswell. Elder Squires is a pretty hard worker, we worked pretty hard and got a lot done in this short week! We finally have somebody to teach!! His name is Bobby Ben, his wife is an inactive member, and they just moved here and she wants to get back active, so that just opened up a huge door for her husband because he wants it too. We had a killer lesson with them last night, so we are excited to help him get to the font!
I really loved that email about team-building, thank you so much!! We have a good zone this time Dad, I think we could really do some BIG things here! Thank you for your love and support Dad, you truly are the man. I love you and look forward to your letter! Love you man!
The Texas Lubbock Mission was visited by Elder Pino who is a member of the seventy from Venezuela, and all of the missionaries (280 of them) traveled to Lubbock to hear him speak. These are a couple of pictures that were taken after the meetings.
This is a picture of only half of the missionaries in Cody's mission, he is on the 2nd row from the top directly under the tallest missionary (who happens to be Elder Checketts, Cody's trainer) in the middle.
Cody learned quick that all pictures taken by Sister Heaps would be posted on her blog, so this time he is smiling.......
Last time was not a smile, so when I sent him a copy of this picture that was on her blog, he was horrified haha!
So, first off, yes I got the razors, and thank you so much for that letter, I love it when you go on and on (: We are going to Big D's right after this, haha we are stoked! Thank you so much!! We will be sure to send you a picture (:
I am sorry this is going to be so short--this is transfer week. I am staying here, but Elder Bladen is heading off to Odessa. Elder Squires is going to be my new companion here, haha he was just released from being the Assistant, so he is coming to work! I am pretty excited. I will tell you what Mom, organizing stuff is stressful, I don't know how you do it? Haha I have to figure out how to get all these missionaries to wherever they are getting transferred, I am going to be all over the place on Tuesday and Wednesday haha! Wish me luck!
Elder Pino was great. He had to speak with an interpreter, but it was fantastic. He talked about raising to the level of our callings, and about the teaching mode of Jesus Christ. After the conference with the mission, we got to have a meeting with him just as the leaders of the mission, its was great. We are so lucky and blessed to have the General Authorities of the church, there is no way that man was not called of God!
Justine said she really liked her gift, thank you so much for helping me keep it simple, you are the best. I love you lots mom. Its your birthday month!! This is a crazy week, sorry about the short letter, but just know that I love you so very much. Thank you for everything (:
Love, Cody
P.s. I need my social security number for missionary medical, new policy or something, haha is there anyway you can relay that to me securely? Thanks, Love ya!
Cassidy ended her Junior year Volleyball season this last week. This year Murray had a new coach which made a huge difference in everyone's love for the game. Cassidy played quite a bit this year on both JV and Varsity.
This is the Varsity team, Cassidy and Cody have always worn the number 10 in honor of Steve who also wore the number 10 at Murray High.
A close up of Cassidy and Steve....
Cassidy's BFF's, Alyssa and James.
I remember well the first time Cassidy hit a volleyball at our Family Reunion on Anderson Island, the rest is history :).........
