5/1/18 - Family Letter to Emma

Sister Emma Barlow,

         SUNDAY NIGHT IS NOT THE SAME!  Now Eve gets to be bugged at Sunday dinner. 😐It's not the same.WE MISS YOU ALLOT.

I wish I could have the ability to crawl through the computer and give you a HUGE HUG!!!

when you left there was a huge hole in our  family. Any thing  new?

        WEEEEEEEEEEE LOVEEE YOUUUU

             youngest sister

                                               Mari

I cant remember If I told you about SBO, but I made it.

We all miss you lots. Mari has put your Ipod to use, and has downloaded about fifteen games, most of witch don't do anything. Eve has gotten in the habit of slightly glaring at me whenever I talk. It's really funny! Love you lots!

P.S. I wish I was that tan.

                Love from Hyrum.

M,

Your pictures are awesome.  I have downloaded them have them on a digital picture frame.  Soak up what you can in the CTM.  It looks like you have settled in and are getting comfortable.  You know what that mean?  Yep, it must be time for a new adventure. 

This last week your mom and I were able to volunteer at the temple.  They had us ushering the people into the video before the tour.  It was the last Friday night before the tours ended.  We packed the rooms and there was so many people they had to mezzanine between the church and the temple lawn.  We had to be a bit forceful with the families as they came in.  they wanted to go wherever they wanted.  We needed them to go to a specific place to make the room fill up.  It was fun and the time went fast.  We got to leave a little early.  Once they were done in the chapel we had nothing to do.  We sat a lot of people.  We are still making progress with the band and orchestra. The kids get really concerned about having to memorize the music.  We will have the important people come in and record the kids playing so they have a track to play with on the day of.  They struggle to keep the appropriate tempo.

Pretty uneventful week outside of JRT Ready commitments.  I have come across a little thought I can share with you.  It is about what Meekness is.  Meekness is not weakness.  The meek will inherit the earth, not the weak.  I recently heard meekness defined as "Someone who carries a sword and knows how to use it but keeps it sheathed. " Maybe true strength in meekness is knowing you could win but choosing to compromise.  It got me thinking what is a sword in our day.  Is it strength and force?  What about money and political power?  Maybe the wit and vocabulary to win an argument?  It has me thinking that maybe meekness is winning the mental battle between our abilities and our desire to be like Christ while humility is turning our hearts over to Christ and being stripped of pride.  I have not put enough thought into it yet.  I have not searched the scriptures to see what examples we have of meekness and humility.  I thought I would share.

We are excited to hear where you will be assigned once you leaving the CTM.  We plan to get a map and start adding pins depending on where you end up.  Super proud of you kid.

Dad

Moroni 8:26

Miss Emma,

I can't believe you are almost finished with your time in the CTM.  We watched one of the little clips they show in between the sessions of General Conference.  It talked about when President Nelson dedicated the CTM.  It told how he said if he had enough faith, he could give the blessing in a language they (the people of Brazil) could understand.  He then proceeded to give the dedicatory prayer in perfect Portuguese.  It was awesome! They showed some great pictures!

We are very excited to hear about where you will be assigned.  I wonder how the Mother's Day call will work.  I hope you liked your surprise from Maxiny's shop.  She is so fun.  She messages me at random times throughout the week.  She had fun helping with that surprise. I put some money on your card so you could pay her for it (Maxiny and I couldn't figure out how to pay for it any other way....sorry we had to have you use your card to pay for your own gift😆)

Schedules are starting to slow down a bit.  Hyrum has been having fun with the girls at school.  This week, he had a girl put a note in his locker asking him to be her "pen pal".  They've been writing back and forth (she told him which locker to put her note in.  She said to address it to 'Nora').  Today he discovered that this note was from a girl named Autumn who is in a few of his classes because she was using that locker as he was about to deliver his note.  He approached her and asked, "Nora?"  She said, "Dang!  You weren't suppose to know who it was!".  I reminded him that he shouldn't have a girlfriend right now.  I suggested that if someone asks who his girlfriend is he should say, "I don't have a girlfriend, but I have lots of favorites!".  He also texts Hailey Butterfield throughout the day.  That kid has game (using Dad's words).

Hamilton is in town right now.  One of the stars from Hamilton sent out a tweet during one of the shows this week.  He said something like:  "Salt Lake, you're killing me!  Put down your phones.  We can see you.  This is not a movie".   Apparently, many people were trying to watch the Jazz Playoff game while they watched Hamilton.  Not Salt Lake's finest moment!  Many people texted him to apologize. I don't think those people should have been in "the room where it happened" and let someone else have their ticket!  Eve is excited to go this Saturday.  I have a lot of friends who went.  Hopefully we can all get tickets when they come again.

I was able to take my dad, then my mom and Grandma Shea to the temple open house.  Both were great experiences!  I can't tell you how much things have improved with my mom!  I KNOW it is a blessing from your service!  Thank you Emma💜 I also know that we are all being blessed.  Things are just working out! I feel the hand of the Lord each day!  Lately I have felt the desire to record my feelings/experiences relating to the Jordan River Temple.  I started writing about my earliest memories with that temple up through current day.  I never realized I had so many pivotal experiences relating to the Jordan River Temple.  I wrote for 2 hours straight!  I have almost 8 pages of memories. (My earliest memories was about 4 years old with the Primary Pennies we were asked to give so we could build it, through early childhood, teen years, young adult experiences, adult memories, current time).  I'm glad you also keep a journal.  Treasures!

As you are about to go out into your mission, we will be praying for you extra.  Remember some of the things from your setting apart.  Might I suggest you review that part of your journal that talks about some things to be aware of in the mission field.  I know you will be protected as you are obedient to the rules.  I'm excited to hear about your new companion and apartment etc.  I bet you are excited to cook for yourself again.  I loved hearing about that new plum/tomato fruit.  We looked up a picture of it online.  It looks delicious.  Mari and I also watched YouTube videos about the "Brazillian Snap".  I'm not surprise that you can do it.  You've always been very tricky!  Mari is really funny as she tries to do it. 

Eve went to the Kauri Sue prom tonight (as part of PLT)  she came home glowing and wearing green plastic star sunglasses.  She is so cute with people who have special challenges.  I think she will enjoy PLT even more than she would have enjoyed class officer.  God's plan for us is far better for us than the plan we have for ourselves.  (That's so hard to remember sometimes!)

Dad is doing awesome!  He his such a great help and support to all of us.  He is a good example to me because he has a set "gospel study" time every day.  I frequently find him upstairs at his desk studying the scriptures.  I love that guy!

We love you so much!  Have a great week!

Love, Mom

The non-obvious photos are: Eve and Hyrum with The daughter of Alma Holt, The old farmer who donated the land for the Jordan River Temple. 

 Dad got to be Joseph Smith in primary. He did great! 

 Eve participated in the recording session for the JRT ready song “who will “ We are pictured with Marshall McDonald, the amazing music arranger and Clive Romney, the cute old man who wrote the song “scripture power” among other things. These guys are awesome! It was Clive Romney’s recording studio.