Riley is busy in school...

Having fun in an assembly...

and being secretary of Chemistry Club!

A great evening!

I always love the General Relief Society Meeting.

What a fabulous sisterhood we belong too.

It truly is a wonderful legacy we have and an opportunity

to change the world, even one charitable act or visit teaching visit at a time.

A Quote from Sister Beck...

"Everything we do in Relief Society matters because Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ, visited Joseph Smith and, through him, the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth."

She said most of the essential Relief Society work doesn't happen in meetings. "A sister has no other responsibility outside of her family that has the potential to do as much good as does visiting teaching."

President Eyring said wonderful things...

"I will speak to you tonight of the great legacy those who went before you in the Relief Society have passed to you. The part of the foundation they laid for you which seems to me most important and persistent is that charity is at the heart of the society and was to come into the heart, to be part of the very nature, of every member."

He said charity to early Latter-day Saint women meant far more than a feeling of benevolence. In the foundation they created, those sisters set "charity never faileth" at the center. "It served them at the beginning; it served them in the great period that followed; it serves them now in a new time; and it will serve the Relief Society in all the periods ahead."

"Charity is born of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and is an effect of his Atonement working in the hearts of members. There are many benevolent groups of women who do great good. There are many who have overpowering feelings of sympathy for the unfortunate, the sick and the needy. But (the Relief Society) is unique and has been from its start."

Sam in Florida

Nineteen Missionaries went to the Florida Orlando Mission with Sam
Sam in front of the double wide "home" with his spiffy bike

Sam and his companionSam's first door tracting they did get in and teach a lesson!

Sam's "Greenie" Dinner - THANK YOU to everyone who feeds missionaries

Just in pictures from the mission field....

Life in the MTC

Why we are Amish...

I read this quote today and loved it. This is why we are Amish. Well partially Amish - We do not have cable TV or an antenna. We are going on our 4th year of what was supposed to be a short term "Amish Experience" the kids needed to watch less TV and we have not regretted it one bit. There is so much Life to Live we can't waste it in front of a TV. Be brave, cancel cable, it will be worth it.

Families Should Give Priority to Worthwhile Activities Together

“Good choices are especially important in our family life. For example, how do family members spend their free time together? Time together is necessary but not sufficient. Priorities should govern us in the precious time we give to our family relationships. Compare the impact of time spent merely in the same room as spectators for television viewing with the significance of time spent communicating with one another individually and as a family.”

Dallin H. Oaks, “Focus and Priorities,” Liahona, July 2001, 101

The Cute Missionary...

We were so happy to get the first letter from Florida... We love SAM!

HI familia
It’s the first pday. woo hoo. Tuesday after some orientation we all met our trainers. They had them come into the room we were in and had us try to guess who our trainer was. I think only like 1 person guessed right. My trainer is Elder Wilks. He is from Albany New York. It’s super nice. I have some pictures but I’ll send them next week probably. We get along really well. He likes to play sports to so p days should be fun. Oh ya today is zone pday so we meet with the zone and play sports and watch movies. It should be sweet. We get to have them once a month. But after I met my trainer we went with a member from our ward to get my bike. It’s a sweet bike. Thanks mom and dad. It fits perfect and is super sweet. The member that came with got baptized 3 weeks ago. He is the funniest guy. His name is Lou Rapinesi. He is super nice and funny. After getting my bike he took us to our area. The city I’m in is St Cloud. Its south of Orlando a little bit. Just south of Kissimmee or whatever it’s called. Our ward is Canoe Creek. And the bishop is from Vegas. But we live with 2 other elders. And Elder Delucchi is from our stake. It’s crazy. We know a lot of the same people and stuff. It’s sweet. But we live in this kinda ghetto double wide trailer. I have some pictures of it. But there are 2 bedrooms and 2 bath rooms so it’s nice. There are also a washer and dryer and a kitchen. It’s fun. After we got dropped off we changed out of our suits and went tracting. We share a car so one day we bike and the next we have the car. The first day we had the car. But we went tracting on some street and the first door I ever knocked on let us in. it was a Hindu guy like 21. He seemed pretty interested. We taught him the 1st lesson and committed him to read and pray. But when we went back he didn’t keep his commitment. And he isn’t really that interested in the gospel he kinda just wants to know what we believe. But hopefully after he reads he will be more interested. We mostly did tracting but we made a few visits to inactives and stuff. For dinner we went to the Bradley’s. He is the ward mission leader. They made me a green dinner too. We had green mashed potatoes, salad, green beans and bbq chicken with green onions on top. It was super good. I’ve started to eat more things though. But they had a super good green desert. It was some cake thing but it was super good. After dinner we just did some visits. One dinner these people made for us was spam and noodle things. It was really interesting. I’ve never had spam before and it’s not very good. But they were nice to make us dinner so I ate it. We are really working hard to find a good solid investigator. They didn’t really have any good investigators so we have a lot of work that can be done. But is cool that I’ll be able to see an investigator progress from the beginning. We do a lot of tracting. We ran into an ordained minister and that was crazy. He was nice but he didn’t really care what we saying. But oh well. We run into a lot of interesting people because our ward is huge. It covers like 30 miles or something. So there are some ghetto house and some nice neighborhoods. But I’m liking it. My first week was really good. This weekend was stake conference and Elder Gay from the 6th quorum of the 70 spoke to us. He had some amazing stories about having faith through our trails. It seemed like it was meant for me and my companion cause we just keep having faith that we will find someone who will accept the gospel. So yeah I’m doing good. But I sure am glad that I have such a great family. I see some houses and family lives and it really makes me appreciate you guys. I love you guys tons. Its weird being away but we are so busy so it’s good. I know that I’m doing good work and this is the greatest thing I can do in my life. I love the gospel and that I can live with you guys forever. You are the best family. I’m so grateful for you. You are the world to me. I love you all tons. I’m doing great.

Sam is doing great... we are so happy for him!

Off to a good soccer season...

Riley is off to a good soccer season, the team is undefeated so far!

But the team has had two Red Cards...not so good.

Fabulous Labor Day!

We had a fabulous Labor Day. Usually when the phone rings early I am not thrilled but this early phone call was worth getting out of bed for. It was the Cute Missionary. I was not sure if they got to call anymore with the new drive thru drop off. So we were not really expecting a call. But what a treat, to chat with the sweet boy! He was so happy and positive and so much fun to talk to. Life is good and I can make it till Christmas!

By late afternoon we received the following email and picture... so nice!

"I made it to Orlando. I walked out of the airport and started sweating. It's crazy. I love you all. Thank you for all of your support. I was so glad that you guys were all home when I called. I loved talking to you. I find out where I'm going tomorrow. I really do have the best family. You are all the best. I love you all. Thanks for everything."

Florida is lucky to have Sam for the next two years!

Riley is so busy with school and soccer...