This amazing young man graduates from High School today.  There's so many things that just make me in awe of this moment.  Yet, they seem so ordinary now.

Everyone expects their son or daughter to graduate from High School.  Right?  No big deal!  I mean I've already had one graduate 4 years ago, so this shouldn't be anything new to me.  But in some ways, today marks a huge triumph for this young man......and for us, his family!

Fourteen years ago I drug this cute little four year old from special clinic to specialist in a search for some much needed answers.......afraid to know the truth, but wanting some explanation about how our world had been turned upside down.

 I looked at this cute little boy with the amazing blue eyes and wispy blond hair and wondered what had happened to the happy go lucky baby I had carried around just a few years earlier.  When did he begin to refuse to meet my eyes?  Why did he begin throwing violent fits of banging his head on the floor, the wall, anything that would make my heart lurch? When did he begin hiding in closets,, endlessly stroking his over-stuffed duck.  How had he become a stranger to me.......this sweet toddler who seemed content to follow his older brother around?  What had happened to change him from a good natured baby to a silent, anxious, hysterical, escape-artist toddler?  I needed answers......every day I felt that he drifted a little further away from our family and I panicked,...... wondering if we would lose him all together.

Answers came.......Autism.......on the spectrum........but they came, because I felt I had to push for them.  Was I wrong?  Was I sentencing him to a label.......a life different from his peers?  Guilt washed over me as I struggled under that label........knowing I was the one that helped fix it there.
What did it mean for Sam?  What did it mean for us?  What would it do to our family?  Where would Sam end up?

For Sam, it meant finally getting some amazing people in our lives that offered help.  ADA therapy, nutritional diets, nutritional supplements, modifying his environment, making people aware of his needs, special teachers, special aides, setting him apart from other 'normal' children.  It meant explaining what 'echolalia' is to others when they asked why Sam repeated all of his sentences back. It meant aides who although trying to help him in class, actually separated him from his peers.  For Sam it meant that his big brother was continually embarressed by his lack of social barriers and social graces and his outbursts at social events.  It meant labels, such as 'developmentally delayed', 'autism spectrum disorder', speech difficulties, 'behavioral disorders'.........labels for everything that didn't seem 'typical.'

For us, it meant listening to a psychiatrist diagnose him as functioning on a 6 month old level when he was 4 and telling us to 'get used' to him falling behind his peers,  'Put away' those dreams of his future....he's just going to get worse.  It meant going to endless IEP meetings that lasted for hours, offending educators, being offended myself, trying to find someone who wanted to understand my son and help him.  Putting him in special classes, bussing him to Preschool every day, finding aid and applying for endless programs that required an amazing amount of paperwork, taking him out of school and home schooling, holding him back in school, having an IEP, not having an IEP, notes to teachers, principals, administrators.  It meant finding money for conferences, workshops, special intervention services, supplements, diets, more information.  Endless nights of searching the internet for information, reading other stories of parents that 'cured' their child, looking for that miracle for my family, for my son.

For our family, it meant eating weird food, holding Sam down before he got on his Preschool bus to shove fish oil down his throat and hope that he wouldn't throw it back up.  It meant always feeling 'different' because we always felt panicked whenever we went anywhere with him.  Would we lose him because of his amazing ability to get away from us?  Would he tantrum relentlessly during programs, recitals, meetings, church, etc?  It meant disapproving looks from older people in church, who watched me let my 4 year old eat bags of chips all over the bench during church, because he was on a gluten free/casein free diet and potato chips were the only food he would eat or that would keep him in one spot for a few minutes.  It meant asking the Bishop if there could be a 'gluten/casein' free sacrament tray (no), asking for special helpers in church, at school, at home.  It meant neighbors who would kindly find him over a few blocks from our home and slip him through our front door......when I didn't even know he had slipped away while I jumped in the shower, assuming he was watching TV.
Everything we did with Samuel at the beginning of his diagnoses seemed to scream at us.....he's different, put away your dreams, fix him, cure him,....... give up!  Yet every year we saw a little piece of Samuel come back to us.

And now......as I see my handsome son getting ready to walk across the High School graduation stage,........all I can see is triumph.

He is Samuel........same incredible blue eyes and crooked smile......a member of the National Honor Society, former member of the school ACADECA team, a State Solo Winner, a Wrestling Champion, a Football lineman, a track runner, a Seminary Council Member, a lifeguard, a home teacher, a multi-scholarship winner, attending dances, going on dates, assistant to the Bishop, planning to attend BYU........hopes and dreams spread out before him.....a person with Autism.  I have no doubts that he will achieve whatever he sets his mind to.  I see no limits for him.  I see no label.

And I watch him with his little brother, a fellow sojourner with Autism and Down Syndrome.  Labels that set limits......that wipe away hopes and dreams.  And I see as I watch him with Jacob.......there are no limits, ......there is majesty and power and limitless potential in every one of us.  No one knows what each of us has the potential to become.....regardless of the 'labels' we receive in this life.  You have made me a believer, Sam!  Spread your wings and fly!

Love you to the moon and back!  Mom

Joseph's letter and pictures from his Companion October 27, 2013

Hey Guys!

Good to hear from you all again this week. Sounds like it was another exciting and awesome week. Sam, congradulations with your game man! Im super proud of you! Keep up the great work and remember im always praying for ya (and everyone else in the family). Make this last game count, go out with a win!!! Ben, i've already told you what i think, you got to decide what you want to do buddy (plus by the time you read this letter, you will have already made that decision). Personally, i don't see why you couldn't do both, but if you choose to only do wrestling, you should try to go to all the High School Practices. Have Sam talk to Coach Olsen, but if you go that route i would try to do that. Hey David! Sorry about your lost this week buddy, just forget about the game and try to play better next season. Speaking of which, are you playing indoor soccer this year? And are you playing Spring soccer next year? I hope so, that would be super cool. Did you buy those cool soccer cleats you showed me? I hope you have fun squishing apples this next week, i sure do miss being there with you guys. Have a great week!!! JONATHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!! What's up man?!?!?! Good to hear from you buddy! You got up to 100 points already!??! Dude, THAT IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! Im so proud of you, keep up the great work! I love the story of Ammon, i especially love the part that when he is first brought to King Lamoni that he says to him that he doesn't wish anything from him, only to be his servant and to serve him. That is what we try to do out here as missionaries Jonathan. We look every possible day for oppurtunities to serve people and to help them feel the love we have for them, because as we serve other people, they will recognize that we have something special as King Lamoni did with Ammon, and through time, we will find and identify oppurtunites to share the gospal with those we serve. Kool!!! Have a great week buddy, remember how much i love you! JACOBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey there mini man!!!!!! How ya doing? Sorry you have to have surgery on Tuesday buddy, but i hope these new tubes in your ears will help you feel better, and help you want to speak more. I hope these meetings these week helped get you the help you need for school. Ask mommy to teach you German, that way we can talk to eachother in German when i get home off my mission, that would be so cool, huh? Hope you have a great week buddy, remember your always in my prayers!

 

Cool, here is how my week went down: 

Monday: We had district meeting with Sister Miles, and interviews with President Miles in Munich. Was fun, almost missed our train home though!
Tuesday: Went on an austausch with Elder Young. We went finding in a little town called assling (ya, it's kind of a funny name) talked with a lot of people and ended the day by having a great lesson with there miracle investigator Arnold (the one who walked in the church).

Wendsday: We had a lesson a Sister Timm's house (the 95 year old lady in our ward) it was great and she shared some stories about her early church days with us. Was awesome! We then went to Frau Sherer's house and helped her with some of her yard work and some things around the house. Then that night we had dinner with Familie Furyk and had a awesome lesson about prayer, scripture study, and prayer with there 11 year old grand daughter who isn't a member, but has curiousity about our church. We'll see how that turns out.

Thursday: Had a good lesson with Martin at the church (he sure can talk alot though). Then we went to Traunstein to help Familie De Fillipo with there house a little bit more. Bruder De Fillipo said his foot might need surgery though, so ya, that's not good, considering there is still alot to do in his house. If you could please keep him in your prayers, i now it would much appreciated. That night we had a awesome lesson with Fimilie Ojo. We talked about the plan of salvation, and how that ties in with Temple Work. Both Bruder und Scwester Ojo have great deep desires to go to the Temple, so we set a date for next May for a Temple day. That was exciting!

Friday: Had an eating appointment with Sch. Schrank then spent the rest of the day helping Familie Greenhalge move to there new house.

Saturday: Spent most the day helping Familie Greenhalge finish moving into there house, then that night we had an awesome lesson with Rita!!! We talked about the Holy Ghost, who he is, what his job is, and how we can recognize him. Bruder Lederer was there and shared some personal experiences that really helped bring the spirit into the lesson. It was awesome! Times and moments like those are definately what makes you feel the truthfulness of this Gospal and the love our Heavenly Father has for each of us!

Sunday: Rita and the Ojo Family came to church! It was super awesome!!! Church was awesome, and Rita told me she really enjoyed it. Later that day, we had a Lesson with Familie Krügel and it went really well. We talked about the apostacy and the Restoration, and there little Girl Afra, was actually very attentive throughout the whole lesson. It was awesome, they get a car in a couple of weeks, so they should be able to start coming to church then!

 

Well that was our week. To close, i just wanted to share with you guys a couple things that is being pushed out here in the field right now and that is planning and goal setting. We have been talking alot in district meeting about how to plan and how to set good goals. Some things i have learned over the last couple weeks is that we should always set goal before we plan, that way our plan is focused on helping us acheiving our goals. One other is setting goals with the help of our Heavenly Father, to prayerfully ask for help and seek guidence in setting goals and making plans. Another thing that has been stressed is having sub goals that lead up to that main goal and making plans for those sub goals. Another is being realistic with the goals we set, and not setting go many goals at once. That way, we don't feel overwhelmed and stressed all the time and can really see the success and progress we are making in acheiving our goals. Now, i know that i have wrote about goals and making plans to acheive them before, but i don't think we always truly understand how important they are or how much mastering these skill of setting goals and making plans can help us throughout our life. These skills along with hard work, are perhaps the greatest skills we can learn while we are young in our youth. If we master these skills at a young age we can help succure a happier, more succussful, and more spiritual future for us and for our future families. I challenge you all to take time in the upcoming weeks to set goals and make plans that will help you stretch and grow, and help you reach your full potential. I promise you as you do, you will be happier, see more success in your lives, and have a stronger better relationship with our Heavenly Father. (AND BEN, if you think your making the Varsity Football team next year, you better be setting some high, self pushing goals today, cause it's gonna take alot of work buddy! But i know you can do it, if you really trullly want to.)

 

I love you all a ton, and miss you very much. Have a wonderfully awesome week, and we'll see you in a couple years!

Take care,

Elder Seamons

Seamons Scrolls--October 27, 2013

Letters to our missionary / Our Journal

Dear Joseph,

So how goes the work? Great I hope. Well we’ve had another gorgeous week of weather. Sam is the only game going this week. The JV had a great game up at century except for about 4 minutes in the middle of the first half when it appeared that Preston went to sleep and let Century get 5 TDs. After that we woke up and went back to work and recaptured the lead and finally won. Varsity, on the other hand, on Friday was a different story. Preston got slaughtered. If the end of the first quarter score was any indication, the final score should have been 128-0. But we did make one TD and their scoring did slow down. Besides the kickoff and returns Sam only got in on the final 2 play while Century was running out the clock. The weekend weather was good again so we got a little cleaning up done outside and squished a couple of more batches of apples on Friday and Saturday. We had the Primary program today at church. Jacob did a lot better than expected he stayed put for the most part. David and Tara Jepsen played their violins as part of the program. This coming week we get to watch Jonathan walk the halls for 100 AR points. On Tuesday we will get to go to Logan so that Jacob can get some more tubes in his ears so that maybe he won’t have as many ear infections and will hear better. This weekend I also get to go camping with the scouts again. I hope my back survives. Well I better go get ready for a fireside down in Franklin; Brad Wilcox is speaking to the youth. You take care and have a great week and do some good. Love, Dad

Dear Joseph-----

The screen has quit working on our computer, so everyone wrote out their letters this week and I am typing them up. Hopefully, we can get this fixed by next week. Anyway, Papa Joe was nice enough to bring us his laptop, so hopefully, we can get this sent.

Here is Jonathan’s letter:

Dear Joseph:

How is your mission? I got to 100 POINTS this week. Mom bought me a bomb at Pizza Villa---not a real bomb! We went to the library to get a lot of books. I read about Ammon and he cut off the arms of the people trying to steal the sheep. We thought Ammon looked kind of funny in the scripture book we are reading out of. We think he probably looked a lot buffer (mom’s word!). At church today we ate popcorn!

Love, Jonathan

Here is David’s letter:

Dear Joe:

How is your mission going? I had my All Star Game on Monday and we lost to the girls!!!!! We didn’t have a very good team this year. Mom made me miss my other all star game because I was being a pill (okay mom is editing!), so yeah, it has been a boring week for me. School is the usual. The only exciting thing is juicing the apples. Josh helped us with that and we did it on Friday and Saturday. So that is practically the only exciting thing this week. So see ya.

From, David Seamons

Here is Sam’s letter: (he is mad that Ben wrote all the things he was going to say…..!)

Well, this week the JV played Century and won! 42-31, we should have won by 50 but oh well a win is a win. The varsity lost 35-7 but Century has a good varsity team this year though. Well last game of the year is this week, so let’s go out with a win this year. Keep doing good on your mission. Love, Samuel

Here is Ben’s letter: (if I can translate it!)

Dear Joe:

How are you? Tomorrow is basketball tryouts. Don’t know if I should do it or not (okay, I give you permission to wring Ben’s neck for asking you, yet again!). School still sucks. On the first day the soccer boys tied to mountain Home 2-2 and lost in free kicks. They won the Husky’s of Emmett 2-1. On Friday we lost to the Hawks (Caldwell) 2-1. So it sounds like the soccer boys lost. I think I’m going to try and make Varsity next year. Do you think I should start lifting weights or not. Well, have fun.

Ben Seamons

This one is from Jacob

Dear Joseph:

Today I was in the Primary program and I stood so nice and quiet, but I wouldn’t sing, even though I know all the songs. And I didn’t want to say my part, but I did stand up there and let Sister Greene say it for me. I have had a busy week. They are trying new things with me at school and I started going to speech and occupational therapy at the hospital once a week. Mom and Dad had a very long meeting about me on Monday with a State Education Mediator to see if we can get the bus problem resolved and so I can have an Aide and go to Kindergarten like I want to. Anyway, I am still happy, crazy, me. Mom and Dad would really like me to sleep all night, but it’s so much fun to go bed hopping all night and try out everyone’s bed. Mom thinks that I am kind of like Goldilocks that way! My ears are filled with fluid, so I have to have surgery on Tuesday morning and have another tube put in and a hole in my ear repaired. We’re hoping that makes me want to talk. Now, if Mom could make me want to be potty trained, she would be so excited…..but it’s just too convenient to make everyone else change my diaper for me and keep me dry, I just don’t want to be bothered with thinking about potty training. I am sitting here crowing at mom while she writes my letter for me. Also, Papa Joe brought me a Reeces candy bar today during Home Teaching, and I really, liked it so much that I did a little dance and shoved the whole thing in my mouth, paper and all! Well, mom needs to write her letter, so I will go. Love you brother, you’re the best, I miss you, Jacob! xoxoxo

Dear Joseph---this one is from me! Okay, I am trying to write this fast, since Papa Joe wants his laptop back.

So this week was not quite as crazy with as many games. Dad did go to David’s all star game----it must not have been very memorable because I had to remind both David and Dad about the games, since David said he didn’t play any games this week. I guess he played a girls soccer (not sure who it was) and was quite appalled that the all stars lost to them. Oh well, he and Jonathan have been at each other’s throats all week, so Thursday a.m. after they woke up Jacob with their screaming war about who got to be in the bedroom, David lost his soccer game. It was hard to stick with my decision and Dad didn’t think I would do it, but I did! Actually, David was pretty good about the whole thing, considering he didn’t believe me either. But, yes, the ornery mom prevailed this time.

I think this week has been the week of too many meetings---a nearly 4 hour meeting with the State Mediator on Monday, an appointment with the Ear Doctor on Thursday when we got to wait, and wait….until Jacob threw a gigantic fit and they put us at the front of the line. I guess fits can be advantageous if they get some results! We have done lots of apple squishing. But it doesn’t look like we have done much at all! Lots and lots of apples left.

This week is Halloween and I haven’t even thought about it! I was going to send you a package, but, I just realized it is getting a little late. Grandmother said she sent you a package though, so I hope you get it. I will send something when I get the Scripture stickers that you wanted. We saw some cute pictures of you and your companion and the other companionship in your apartment. It looks like you have a good set of Elders to be with. You guys look very happy. It is interesting to read your companion’s letters. He sounds like a very positive guy and very happy and grateful. I’m sure that is very pleasant to work with someone like that. Anyway, we would love to see any pictures that you might want to send us! Hint, hint!

Samuel told you about their win over Century, which is good. Samuel seemed happy. Dad and Ben went up to the game. I went with Dad to the Varsity game on Friday night and it was kind of sad. Most of Century’s points were made in the first quarter, so if they’d just been able to get going a little sooner, they would have probably have done a lot better. Ben had a campout with the teacher’s up at the Yurt at Bloomington Canyon. I guess they did some service projects up there (made signs and chopped wood). Tim and Grandmother and Papa Joe helped us do apples for alittle bit on Saturday. I guess Tim and Shelby came up to visit, but Shelby had to go back early, so Tim stayed with Grandmother and Papa Joe---pretty brave of him, I think! Aunt Mary called me on Tuesday night as they were getting Nathan ready to go to the MTC on wed. I think it was a lot harder for her to let Nathan go then she thought. I’m sure he will do great. I guess he will be in the MTC for 2 weeks and then off to Canada.

Well, I sound like I am rambling and not saying very much and I’m not sure why,. Maybe because I’m supposed to be hurrying! We loved your letter last week and I have thought a lot more about what we could do as a family to be more involved in missionary work. One thing was that it seems we are always busy when they ask us to feed the Elders---I need to make sure that we take the opportunity to feed them. Another thing was that I thought of some of my friends that I could invite over to do apples with us---but I forgot to do that last week. I think I will take them some juice. Anyway, we need to be more aware of anything that we can do to be there for those that are searching for the truth. Please let us know if there is anything that we could do to help you and your investigators. We are praying for those that you list in your letter.

I had one interesting scripture thought this week as I was reading with the little boys. We were reading earlier about Alma and Amulek and how Amulek wanted to save the women and children who believed from being burned in the fire and then Alma says that the Lord said no, that they had to suffer so the wicked people would be punished for their sins (well something to that effect). All of a sudden it hit me----if this took place in Amulek’s city, wouldn’t these women and children have been at least acquaintances, relatives or maybe even his own family? I might have gotten this wrong, but I thought I would go back and read the scriptures again and see if that is right. If it were people that amulek was close to……even his family, I wonder how he really would have felt at that time if alma told him it was the Lord’s will for them to suffer and die. I’m not sure if I would have had that much faith and I’m not sure if I would have understood Alma’s answer---I’m afraid that I would have been very upset with Alma and the Lord and not have understood why they would allow such a terrible thing to happen to my own family, especially when he was in the Lord’s service. Anyway, I may have gotten this all wrong, but at least it made me look at the story a little differently and think about faith and trusting the Lord in all things. It’s easy to trust him when things are going well, but sometimes it is hard when it looks like He could intervene to make things easier or better or at least help us to understand why things may happen the way they do. But I guess, that wouldn’t be faith either, if we only trust the Lord when he goes along with our plan. I thought about this when I was praying to be more humble and patient---oh, so dumb, why do I pray for patience----of course, as soon as the prayer is out of my mouth, I thought, ooops, watch out! And of course, it does seem like everyone at home has been especially crazy this weekend and no one seems to be able to get along and I have lost my patience a lot more! So,……..I think I will just be quiet about that next time and pray for something else!

Okay, Jacob is going crazy, so I guess I’m done! We love you so much and are so proud of the wonderful young man and missionary you are! I can tell that you are developing a real love and concern for the German people! They are lucky to have you! I can also tell by the pictures I got that your companions (other missionaries) have a great love and respect for you also! You are indeed an amazing spirit! So glad we get to have you in our family!

Love, Mom

Seamons Scrolls October 20, 2013--Letters from us to our missionary!

Dear Joseph,

Hi. I guess I’ll write first this week. Something seems to be wrong with the computer and it’s lost everyone’s letters so we’ll have to reconstruct this letter.

We just got back from Nathan’s Farewell. He did a good job on his talk, even though he seemed a little nervous. But I think he is pretty excited to go. This has been a long wait for him---just about as long as your wait. Anyway, of course, Aunt Mary had a wonderful lunch for us and it was fun to see everyone. Uncle Greg came up and then there was us, Grandmother and Papa Joe, all of Uncle Leon’s family and Uncle Jamon’s family. Yummy food and Tim and Shelby even played the Canadian National Anthem. Anyway, it was a quick trip down and back. I think I’ve logged at least 20,000 miles since the beginning of summer on the car---it is crazy! Yesterday, Ben and I left at 5:00 a.m. to go to Rexburg to his lesson and then we went to Poky for his playoff game at 11:30. It was a sad game. Mostly sad for Ben, because his team just kind of gave up, which they really didn’t need to do. They were pretty evenly matched in the first half, I think it was 10 to 0 then, but only because the other team had scored once and scored a touchback. Anyway, when they came out for the second half, it was just like they rolled over and died! No energy, no rousing, it was sad, and Ben was pretty sad. Anyway, Ben got a good pass and a good tackle a couple of times. I think I got it on film, so I’ll have to see if I can post it to you.

I do see that the Preston Boys team is going to state next week! That’s pretty exciting! I’m going to type part of the article here and then send it to you.

“Jorge Sanchez scored on a long free kick one minute into the second half and Preston’s backline held firm in a 1-0 victory over host Bonneville in the championship match of the 4A Fifth-Sixth District Tournament on Thursday afternoon in Idaho Falls, ID. The Indians (10-6-1), winners of three straight have now qualified for the eight-team 4A state tourney twice in the last three seasons. ….Eli Ramirez was fouled in the middle third of the pitch in the 41^st minute, and Sanchez made the third-seeded Bees (5-9-1) pay. There were a myriad of players from both teams in the 18-yard box…and Sanchez somehow snuck his lengthy strike inside the near post. “Their keeper got mixed up in all the mess and it went in.” The fourth-seeded Indians darn near added an insurance goal in the 65^th but Stillman Palmer’s rocket of a 20-yard shot—it was an ‘incredible shot,’ was barely saved by the Bonneville goalkeeper. Palmer’s strike was headed for the upper 90 of the near post. E Bees almost equalized with five minutes left in the match on a 25-yard free kick, but Preston Keep Dalton Lloyd pushed the shot off the top of the crossbar and out for a Bonneville corner kick. Preston avenged a 2-1 home loss to Bonneville, which was issued four yellow cards Thursday, on Oct. 1. E Indians narrowly outshot the Bees 16-14 but enjoyed a big 11-4 advantage in shots on frame. “We just played smarter this game” Preston center back Adam Stocks said. “We were more aggressive on the ball. They’re a pretty aggressive team, but we just went for it. Stock is captain and one of eight Preston seniors who will get to finish their prep careers on a high note.”

Anyway, I will send the article and picture to you. There’s a picture of Eli head butting the ball and looks similar to a picture of you that was in the paper when you were a senior. It looks like they have some nice new uniforms though. They look pretty sharp. Black and white with addidas stripes on the arms and shorts and long-sleeved shirts. How’s that for a description. It looks like the girls are playing in a district tournament elimination match at Century. They are second-seeded and they beat Rigby (3^rd seeded) 2-1. I guess they lost to Blackfoot earlier this week but will now face them again on Saturday for the district’s second spot to the 4A state tourney. I guess Century is seeded number 1. I’m not sure if that makes sense to you, but I guess they are doing they’re district playoffs different then the boys.

Okay well the rest of the week has been a little heart breaking. David played in a tournament and they played the number 1 team, but didn’t lose by as much this time. We compromised on Wed. and let him play the first half of his game before he went to the orchestra concert. He is playing in the All Stars Rec game on Monday (don’t worry, everyone knows David is playing both leagues and there are a few other boys doing the same thing and no one seems worried about it, I even asked, and they said it was fine.) Sam played Poky on Thursday and it was a sad game---they did pretty well at the beginning, but kind of lagged behind during the second half. Samuel didn’t play most of the second half because he, ahem, was involved in an altercation with a Poky player. Sam said the other player was mad he couldn’t get past Sam so he was cursing, so Sam said he was worthless and then the Poky player yelled at him and then Sam punched him and then Sam’s coach took him out and yelled at Sam. And Sam says he doesn’t want to talk about this anymore…..this conversation is over, so anyway, those are the details. Anyway, Sam plays Century this week and then Bonneville next week.

As we were driving down to SLC this morning, I was playing some old conference talks to keep myself awake.. One of the talks was by Joseph C. Wirthlin and he had a few football stories. One of the stories talked about keeping your eye on the ball. I guess Elder Wirthlin got distracted from watching the ball because of a huge player on the opposing team that was about to knock him over. The second story was about when he caught a pass for the touchdown and he got tackled but thought he was close to the line, so although he couldn’t see anything with everyone on top of him, he reached out his hand and realized the ball was only 2 inches from the line and he thought about pushing it over, because no one would know, since he was on the bottom of the pile and he would be the hero and score the touchdown, but he remembered his mom telling him to be honest in all things and he knew he couldn’t push the ball the 2 inches to the line because he would always feel that he let his mom down. So Samuel pipes up and says----“What the heck!?! Why didn’t he just push the ball over, no one would have known, it’s not that big of a deal.” Nice! Apparently, Sam’s not appreciating the point of the story here. I guess we have a ways to go on honesty in everything (including SPORTS!)

We did press apples last night. It was about 5:30 when Ben and I got home yesterday, so it was yeah, fast, and furious, cold and dark! But we got about 4 gallons. It tastes yummy! Can’t wait to do more! I don’t know why it seems we don’t have much free time to do it this year, but I’m hoping for Friday and Saturday this week. Wish we could send you some, but I don’t think it would make it----it would probably be pretty fermented by the time you got it and might not be too good for you! We’ll drink some for you. Grandma made donuts on Friday and Saturday because Rebekah and Dawnya were here. They were yummy too! I bet you’d like those, but I don’t think they’d be very good by the time they got to you. Maybe….how was grandmother’s pb bars? Did they taste okay once you got them? I’m hoping Grandma will send you some Christmas Candy! I’ll make sure and get that sent!

Well, I think that’s about it for our week. We love you and miss you and are so proud of you. Your letter was great. I sent you an email with links to possible stickers on the byu online page. I also sent you a package with some markers and stickers, but I don’t think it’s exactly what you wanted, so let me know and I can keep looking for exactly what you want.

Love you to pieces (big hug!)

Mom

Dear Joe,

How’s your mission going? I had 1 and a half games this week. The 1^st games we went against the best team and we lost but not by much (much better than last time). The reason why we lost is because 1 player in the defense didn’t keep his shape such as he would always stay in the middle which is my position so I told him to go to the right and he wouldn’t do that. My 2^nd soccer game we lost because I wasn’t in the 2^nd half because of the stupid orchestra concert so we got killed in the second half and really good in the 1^st half. So see ya.

From,

David Seamons

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Dear Joseph I played my last soccer game this week. David is being a lazy butt. He is not helping doing work we made apple cider. The Mommy cat is having two more kittens. We went to Nathan’s farewell. Love Jonathan Seamons

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Dear Joseph,

Hi, I had a good week. I’m feeling much better. I’m still as stubborn as ever, but I got to go to school this week and it was great! Tomorrow Mommy and Daddy have a meeting with the State about what they’re going to do with me in the school, so maybe you could say a prayer for me so that everything gets worked out this time and they find someone really good to help me in the classroom. I love riding the 3 wheeler with Daddy! I miss you lots and lots. Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Jacob!!!!!

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Dear joe

How are You? Thanks a bunch for the straight answer. We were so close. I know we could’ve beaten them. I don’t even want to talk about it. We lost this week to the Snake River Panthers because we gave up. I was super-duper angry. We were so close to the Minnie-dome and we just threw it away. Some of the guys I don’t even think care anymore and they got scared. It was so dumb. The line wasn’t blocking, receivers weren’t catching, the centers were doing crappy It was terrible. I mean I literally had to be blocking 3-5 guys because the lineman wouldn’t. I still had some good blocks. I caught 2 passes. I didn’t run at all. Our defense did really good though; we were holding them to 10-6 till fourth quarter. And the only reason it was 10 instead of just 8 was because they scored a safety because Parker snapped it out of the end zone. We were swarming really well though. The linebackers were always in on a tackle but then they had some lucky plays and some lucky calls. We stopped them within the 10 yard line at least 7 times. Well that’s enough about that. We juiced some apples after we came home yesterday. Today we went to Nathans farewell. It was fun. He gave a good talk. We played cards afterwards. Also Boys soccer team is going to state thanks to Jorge Sanchez. He shot the lone goal in win over Bonneville. Sounds like their defense did well. School still sucks. Now give me a straight answer do you think I should do Basketball or wrestling? Also do you think I should start lifting weights with Sam? Well, have fun. Do some good.

P.S. Next year is going to be sick

Ben

Dear Elder Joe,

Well it looks like that everybody else told you about what I was going to say this week so why repeat huh, just kidding. The JV lost to poky 32-14 so not a good game at all, and the varsity had a 20-13 loss in the mini-dome the refs decided that game though they called 2 touchdowns back on us so not a good night up there but ISU does have a nice field to play on though. Well the boys soccer team is going to state so here they go again and this time they get a good seed, they won districts so now they get to play the 3^rd seed form 3rde districts so better odds than you guys had when you went let’s hope that the boys don’t disappoint. Well that’s my week for you how’s yours?

Samuel

Dear Joseph,

So how goes the stripling warrior battle? Here in MC our stripling warrior is Jacob. Every time his diaper gets wet he is stripling down wanting a new change of clothes. The deer hunt has been on for a couple of weeks, but with football going on no one has gone hunting. Yesterday I saw someone take a pretty big buck out of Jay’s field from about the same spot where we saw that huge 3 point and 4 point last year. At Stoke’s this past week I went through Alexis Nicholas ‘s line and she said that she got her call to Ventura, California; the same mission as Aunt Catharine went to, Except aunt Catharine was Spanish speaking. Also a Camille Davis who sometimes would work as cleaning person at Swainston’s shop got her call to Tulsa, Oklahoma; the same mission as Cory Swainston. Well Fall sports are starting to wind down, with David’s competitive soccer finished and all he has left is All-stars game with the rec. group. Ben is now done with their loss yesterday against Snake River and the refs. It is hard to beat the team that the refs. are on their team, and they have the ability to call back every touchdown you make with a penalty call just because. And Jonathan is now finished with his rec. season. So Sam is the only one going now. Grandma made donuts this weekend. Sorry that you missed out they were good, especially when they were still warm and freshly glazed. We also were able to press a couple of gallon of apples yesterday just as the day was getting dark. Everyone including Jacob seemed to really enjoy the donuts and apple juice. Well I better get finished so that mom can get this sent off before it gets too late. You have a great week and do some good. dad  

A letter and pics of our missionary (pics complimentary of our missionary's companion!)

Hey Guys!

Good to hear from you again! Sam, you punched a kid? What the heck is up with that?!? You should know by now that punching a poky kid is just a waste of time and energy. K'mon man, your better than that, but i probaly would have done the same thing. Sorry your game didn't go so good, good luck next week though, get another win and just play hard. Don't be discouraged and remember, wrestling season is right around the corner!!! Go get em man! Ben, i think that was about as straight as an answer as i could give you. Im not gonna tell you what to do, cause i know you would do awesome in both sports. Im partial to the opinion that you wrestle, but hey, maybe you will get to be 6 foot 2 in. or taller. Can't say for certain. You choose bud, your life and your decision. Sorry about your game though. I hate losing more than anything in this world, but we can learn a lot from it. Sorry your team didn't seem like they were doing there part, why don't you just get on the varsity team next year so you don't have to worry about your current teamates? That is one option, but it will take a lot of work. Try it Ben, i dare you to make varsity football next year! Hey there David!!! Im working on another letter for you this week, so i will probaly send it to you next week (just so you know). Sorry about your game buddy, but im sure you played great. Good luck with the all star game this week, score a goal or two, but most importantly......WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! (oh, and have fun too). JONATHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DUDE WHAT IS UP!?!?!?!?!? Sounds like you had a pretty great week this week. You pressed apples and ate donuts without me!?!?!? WHAT? What is this. That is ok, i forgive you. Have fun pressing apples, and drink alot of apple juice for me! Also, i sent you a letter today, so be looking for it in the mail. Cool have a great week buddy, let me know which Book of Mormon scripture story you read this week! JACOBBBBBBBBBBB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey man, im so glad you are feeling better and im glad you got to go to school this week! I hope it is not as stressful as it has been and i hope you are having fun there. Remember i love you very much buddy, and you are always in my prayers. Have a great week!

 

Ok, my week:

Montag: Went on joint teach with the other two elders, installed new oven (one of the elders got shocked pretty bad, i guess the power over here is a lot stronger than the power in the USA), found some potential freinds of the church. GREAT DAY!
Tuesday: District meeting, made some cookies and delievered them to Schwester Morgner for her B-Day. Contacted alot, met some cool people.

Wensday: Went and contacted in Wasserburg, such a cool city! Found some cool people then we went and doored in Rott am Inn the rest of the day. Long but awesome day!

Thursday: Attempted to find a less active who lives way out in the boonies. Found the house, but they were not home. Went and visited Familie Fuyrk with a member of our ward (Bruder Hunger) and got stuck talking to a drunk guy for almost 45 minutes, but he told us he was so glad that we talked with him. Interesting story..........

Friday: Went and helped the De Fillip's again with grouting, cleaning, and painting. Bruder De Fillipo sprained his foot really bad, and wasn't able to do alot. If you would, please keep the whole family in your prayers, they are going through a rough time right now. Later that night we taught Sch. Kissler, it was a great lesson.

Saturday: Spent the whole day helping De Fillipo's move. It was super fun though, had a great time!

Sunday: Went to stake conference in Munich. It was awesome! Learned alot, heard some super awesome talks. We actuallly then went to Traunstein to help the De Fillipo's finish moving cause they only had the moving van until 8 o clock this morning.

 

Well that was my week. This week is going to be an awesome week i can already tell! Well to close i just wanted to share a couple thoughts i had this week. There was and has been alot of stress the last year or so on every member being a missionary. Elder Ballard gave a wonderful talk last conference about doing so. He talked a little bit about what missionary work really is. It isn't just going door to door trying to talk to people about our church or even contacting people on the street trying to talk to them about the church. Yes, that is important missionary work that needs to happen, but as regular everyday members of the church, we don't need to do that, instead, we should be focusing on helping people we already know friends, aquiantances, relatives, everyone we know trying to help them understand why we choose to be members of our church. We should be helping them feel that joy and spirit that comes only through spirit and helping them identify that feeling as the Holy Ghost. We should be there to help both physically, emotionally, and spiritually identifying where it is appropriate to share a message from our church with them, a message that can really and litearlly help them. So guys, are we doing are missionary work? Are we keeping the part of our baptismal covenant where it says to stand as a witness of Jesus Christ in all times, all ways, and in all places? I was reading a while ago in Mosiah 18 and i would just brieflly like to share a couple of verses that stood out to me: verses 7-11

 7 And it came to pass after many days there were a goodly number gathered together at the place of Mormon, to hear the words of Alma. Yea, all were gathered together that believed on his word, to hear him. And he did ^ateach them, and did preach unto them repentance, and redemption, and faith on the Lord.
 8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are ^adesirous to come into the ^bfold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
 9 Yea, and are ^awilling to mourn with those that ^bmourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as ^cwitnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the ^dfirst resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—
 10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being ^abaptized in the ^bname of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a ^ccovenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?
 11 And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.
This is what we covenanted to do at baptism, and in keeping this convant, we will indeed fulfill our missionary resposibilies. Alright, ill get off my soapbox, but this is really important guys. We need to be trying harder to fulfill this responsibility, we owe it to God, and i promise us all, as we fulfill our responsibilies as missionaries we will find more happiness in life than we ever thought would be possible, as it says in D and C 18:15-16
“And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"
I love you guys so much. I think and pray for you everyday, have a wonder week, and remember your missionary responsibilities!
Love ya all,
Elder Seamons

Seamons scrolls from October 6th and 13th

Ramblings from our October 13th letter:  

Dear Joey

How are you? Are you having fun? We won 33-6 Saturday. It was a pretty cool game. I laid a lot of people out. I also led the team in tackles. I got a sac but it was on an extra point so it didn’t count. But I’m still counting it. I only ran the ball once for 7 or 8 yards, but I had the sickest blocks there was one where we were running a 28 sweep and I nail the D-end then continue on to absolutely punish the corner. He was laid out. Hard. On the ground. They absolutely could not run it up the middle with me as middle Linebacker. So yeah we’re in the playoffs and then on to the Minnie- Dome. School still sucks. Good luck. Have fun.

Ben

P.S. Do you think I should do basketball or wrestling?

P.P.S. If you don’t answer me this time I’m never writing you again.

P.P.P.S. We went to Devin’s wedding reception. There was unlimited Sundays and Sam had 30 of them.

Dear Joe,

I had 2 comp. games this week. We lost the 1^st game because we put our best goalie in a little bit of the 2^nd half and we didn’t put him in the 1^st half. When we didn’t have our best goalie in the game they made a point. On the 2^nd game we tied 1-1. The reason they made a point is because I wasn’t a defender and the defense was out of their shape. In the 2^nd half I was a defender so I made sure that we kept our shape and they didn’t score in the 2^nd half. In the 2^nd half we also made a point so we tied the game. I also went to someone’s party it was at a mansion it had a gym and a swimming pool. So see ya.

From,

David Seamons

P.S. I still haven’t gotten your letter yet.

Dear Joe,

Well we had a great game this week Our JV team won Minico 20-0 this week so we were pretty happy about that the varsity though alas lost 13-12 I felt bad for RJ though because he missed both of his extra kick attempts and missed a field goal so it was pretty sad plus the fact that it was his birthday didn’t help either especially after some people had decorated the bus for his so year not a memorable 17^th birthday for him. Well next week we play Poky and I’m ready for some revenge plus I think that they suck this year any way so were look to punish them pretty bad hopefully. Oh we also get to play in the Holt arena this week so that should be pretty cool experience for us so we’ll see how it goes. Oh and you should also answer Ben’s basketball/wrestling question because I am getting pretty tired of telling him that it his choice and to stop asking me to make his decisions for him. Well that pretty much sums up my week of school and keep up the good work that you are doing out there sounds like you had a great week last week keep it up!

Samuel

Dear Joseph we went to the wedding reception in Logan. We ate unlimited cake and ice cream. My last game is this week. I had to write a talk for the primary program about the Holy Ghost. So I decide to talk about how I feel when I pray. The Holy Ghost helps me to know heavenly father is listening to me. Love Jonathan

Dear Joseph,

Well another busy week; so busy it seems that I can’t even remember what I did. It just seems that I haven’t been home at all this week except for Friday when it was rainy and cold outside. But I guess I shouldn’t complain about rainy and cold because missionaries often times get that day after day. Sam had a home JV game on Wednesday night that had a long delay because of lightning in the sky, so it was pretty late by the time it was over. But he did play really well and they had a good spread on the score. Your cousin Devin got married to a Jordan Peterson from Cove Utah on Saturday. They had a good ceremony and had lots of people to the luncheon and to the reception that evening. They had four different cakes and ice-cream Sundays for the treat at the reception. My cousin that was observing the boys at the reception claimed that David had about 20 ice-cream Sundays. She was sure that he was going to be sick, but luckily he wasn’t and that he was healthy this morning to go to church and be sustained to receive the Aaronic priesthood. David didn’t want Sam to ordain him to the Aaronic priesthood but did allow him to stand in the circle. This next Sunday we get to go to see Nathan Erasmus off as he gives his fair well talk at church. They added another picture to the missionary case at church today and now there are 13 pictures there for another 2 months. Then we will go down to 12 again but by February we will have 14. I am sure that by far the most youth missionaries that the ward has had out at one time. I do remember that back in uncle Morlyn’s time that we has somewhere around15 missionaries but 6-8 of them were couple missionaries. Elder Jerman’s mom called tonight and your mom and she talked for at least ½ hour about their missionaries. The fall colors are now out in their full glory this past week. But I’m sure that they don’t compare to what you have over there in the Alpine. You have a great week and do some more good! Love, Dad

Dear Elder Seamons

Hey, we really enjoyed your letter last week, it sounds like you are doing great. I’m glad to hear that you are singing and sharing your talents with the rest home people---did you play for them too? I bet they would really enjoy that as well. We have been praying for Rita this week and hope that she is able to receive a witness that the gospel is true and that she will be ready to commit to taking steps towards baptism.

Hey, guess what? Tonight I got a call from Kallene Jerman, Elder Jerman’s mom. I guess she was at a baby blessing in American Fork and the Steele’s were attending and she asked them if they knew you. I guess they were mixed up a little because they said you were in their ward and gave them Aunt Janele’s number, so then Aunt Janele gave Elder Jerman’s mom my number. It was fun to talk to her and she told me a little about her son and you sound like you have a lot in common. Anyway, it was fun to talk to her and get a little better acquainted with her and her family and your companion. I thought that was really thoughtful of her to make an effort to contact us and talk to us a little about her son. They sound like a great family.

Well, this week has been----wet! Wow, for such a dry summer, we sure are making up for it in rain! Did you see the pictures of the canyon that I posted last week? I tried to send the link to it, but I wasn’t sure if it worked or not. I was going to send you more game pictures, but Sam’s game was really wet—actually, even more lightening than rain, I didn’t make it to any of David’s games because of it being during the wedding and when Jacob was sick and we missed Ben’s because of the wedding also. Anyway, I will get some more uploaded for you. I don’t think David ever got the letter from you and I’m not sure why. But anyway, he does appreciate all the advice you give him. He is not very happy with me right now because his competitive season is over, but they are playing a tournament this week and he can go to the first game, but the second game is during his orchestra concert and lesson on Wed., and he can’t understand why I’m making him do the concert (ummm, you know, school really isn’t very high on the list of priorities!). So I need to talk to his coach tonight and explain, I’m sure he won’t be very happy about it either.

David was ordained a deacon today. I asked him if he wrote about it and he said “oh yeah, I forgot.” Anyway, he seemed excited to be ordained and with his usual David candor was very talkative during the ordaining. They invited Sam to stand in the circle and he said, no, he didn’t like Sam, he was too mean. But after we gave him THE look and said you better let Sam stand in the circle, he decided to let him come. He also bore his testimony in sacrament meeting. He had to write his testimony in his Faith in God book and then when I asked him if he was going to bear his testimony at Fast meeting, he got up and took his book with him and read it. It was an interesting way of doing it, but at least it got him up there and he did give a very correct testimony about Joseph Smith, the priesthood and the prophet. So, that’s a good start! Anyway, it’s a great blessing to have a deacon, teacher, priest and elder and high priest in our family now! What amazing young men we have been blessed with! It has definitely been a very eventful year for our family, all these ordinations, Jonathan’s baptism and a missionary in Germany. We are very, very blessed!

Yesterday we attended Devin’s sealing in the temple. It was beautiful. Dad and I were, as always, a bit on the late side, so I’m glad we got there just in time. Devin married Jordin Peterson---I am going to send you their announcement and also some missionary letters from the ward this week. Anyway, I love the way they do the sealings now, the sealer does so much teaching about the temple and the endowment ceremony and the sealing ordinance----it really is a wonderful opportunity to meet together and be taught from these amazing men. After the sealing, Aunt Dawnya wanted to go through the endowment session, because there was two hours until the wedding breakfast so she and grandma and dad and I and Randy and Janele all went, but we realized as we were sitting in the waiting room that poor Uncle Morlyn wasn’t going to have any of his family represented in the temple pictures, since we all went directly to the session---probably not the best planning on our part. But I hope they got some good pictures at the reception. I am so glad that we were able to go to the session. It is the second time that I have seen the new temple film and I’m not sure what it is about it, but I just can’t help but sit and bawl through the whole thing. It really is beautiful---I listened more to the music and thought how much it represented the spirit of what was being represented in the film. It’s very different from the last temple film that way, it’s a very integral part of the ceremony. I know I told you a little about how I felt about it the first time I saw it, but I thought even more this time that the difference between satan and heavenly father is that satan makes you feel bound by your sins----he makes you feel that you are backed up against the wall and that there is nothing you can do about problems or mistakes that you may have made. But Heavenly Father’s plan opens the door to change and encourages forgiveness, no matter how many times the mistakes are made. While Satan tends to bring feelings of tension, stress, hopelessness, misery and control, Heavenly Father and Jesus’ presence tends to bring feelings of lightness, hope, kindness, forgiveness, encouragement and love. In watching the movie, it seems so simple, I can even identify places in my life and experiences when this happens to me every day, and yet I forget that Heavenly Father is not the one who is making me feel bad about myself or what I am doing or not doing, those feelings are coming from Satan and he is trying to keep me from the feelings of encouragement, hope and love that Heavenly Father wants to share with me. I am sure that this may be how investigators feel sometimes as they strive to get their lives in line with the gospel and the things they are being taught, which they recognize as truth. Satan is the one that makes them feel incapable, uncertain, hopeless and inadequate. It really is simple----we only have to turn to Heavenly Father to feel our burdens lifted and renew our hope, but sometimes, just the simple act of turning seems hard because Satan makes us feel unworthy. I have been thinking a lot about the fact that Heavenly Father knows and cares about each one of us. I know in my head that this is true and it is what I want others to believe also, but for myself, sometimes, I can’t fathom why he would want to be bothered with me and my continual faults and inadequacies---I certainly wouldn’t want to be bothered with me. But I’ve been trying harder to really strive to believe how the God of the Universe can care and know each one of us---it is a little unfathomable, and yet we have to believe that to know that we are the reason all of this was created. Very humbling and a little unbelievable. But the temple helps, because when you go there, you feel that spirit and kindness and love in every part of the temple. Anyway, I need to go more often so that I can remember those things when I am home.

The Olsen’s had two cute girls from England visiting them this week. They took part in Sunday School and Relief Society and were so grateful to be here and loved being in Mink Creek. It was fun to hear their delightful accents! One of them looked just like Gina Hoyt, who was a baby sitter that we used a lot in Cedar City when you were younger. I don’t know if you remember her---anyway, it reminded me of her.

Jacob is doing better this week. We got him on some medicine on Tuesday that seemed to stop his fevers and horrible congestion----it just makes him have diarrhea all the time-----not sure which is worse! But I am grateful that he feels better and he seems to be doing well going back to school for 2 days so far. I was able to sub 2 days last week for Lana McCracken and work with some of the kids in the Special Ed room. One of the kids I worked with was Aland Swaton. He is such a handsome young man and loves to grab girls hands and kiss the. I was acquainted with him from seeing him in classes when I’ve subbed before, but I had never had the chance to be with him and help him in classes. What a kid! He has a lot of dialogue from movies memorized----like Coming to DVD soon, that he likes to write over and over and he makes a lot of noise! It was quite a challenge. There were a few things that he was also saying that weren’t appropriate and so I told him not to say those things and wrote it down for him to read----I think he knew they weren’t either and I’m wondering if maybe he’s a lot more capable of doing and saying things then he’s letting on. Another boy, Carolos, was such a cutie! A handsome, tall, Hispanic boy, so agreeable to everything, that when I asked him if he needed help, he would say, Oh yea, I got, it I got it! But when I looked at his paper he had painstakingly written out lots and lots of letters, but none of them really made sense. But he was so attentive to class, so kind, so willing to do whatever was asked of him, that I couldn’t help thinking----even if he can’t complete the work, in some areas he is so much further ahead of a lot of kids in the classroom who didn’t have those same qualities. Another boy, Jonathan, who has down syndrome, I just wanted to take home with me. He was very quiet, but had this slow, sweet smile and peaceful manner about him that just made you want to bask in his presence. I thought, if Jacob grows up to be like this Jonathan, I will be happy! I went to a woods class with him and he was making a night stand----although he needed a lot of help to do some of the work, he was willing and able and gave me back the front of the night stand a couple of times to sand because he didn’t think it was smooth enough---again, again, he kept saying. What a wonderful spirit! I was very grateful to have the chance to sub for these kids last week because it made me feel much better about pursuing special education certification. I have been kind of wondering if this was really what I wanted to do, even though I’d felt directed to do it. But I kind of felt like I was coming home to something I really wanted to do and people I really wanted to be with as I helped with those kids this week. It was a great blessing for me and seemed like Heavenly Father was giving me a significant experience so that I would feel more committed to the decision I made and more excited about the work I want to do. Anyway, it was great! What amazing spirits I was able to be with, I learned a lot!

Well, I’m a little long winded again! I hope you have time to read all this, if not, feel free to skip it and write us, because we love to hear from you!

Love you so much, Mom

Ramblings from our Oct. 6th letter:

Dear Elder Joe,

Well not much good happened this week our JV team got our butts handed to us this week so it wasn’t good Varsity also lost 35-7 against Shelley this week either we just have to shake off this loss and get ready for Minico this week. I also got asked to girls choice this week even though it’s not till about the end of November and I got asked by Claire Jepsen so I got I also don’t have my license so I guess I’m just going to have to wing it this dance than figure out what to do. Nothing else came good of this week though except for conference so I hope you had a good week. Ben fumbled the football twice in his game.

Samuel

Dear Joe

How are you? Our team won 37 -12 Saturday and I scored a safety. I kind of screwed up my back though so I only ran 3 or so times, 2 of them for more than 1 yard. I caught 3 passes through and Papa Joe said I did a good job blocking. I got a bunch of tackles up the middle so that was fun. On the safety they were on their one yard line and they did a statue of liberty to the left and I met him at the line and hit him so hard his head bounced. So yeah that was fun. The best part is Young owes me $5. So that’s my week besides conference, school, and my lesson. Happy birthday Bro. Go do some good. Ben fumbled only 2 times because they speared me.

P.S. Do you think I should do basketball or wrestling?

Ben

Dear Joe,

What’s up? I had a birthday today. I got a new violin case that is blue and silver in the inside. I got a soccer backpack and it is blue. It has a spot for a ball, soccer cleats, shin guards, cloths, and a pocket for other stuff. I think it is very cool. I got a bag of three musketeers. For my 12 year old trip I am going to the museum of natural history, BYU planetarium, and Heber Creeper steam train. So that is pretty cool. Do you think I should buy some other cleats because my other cleats don’t have any more traction? The cleats are $30 so should I buy them (they are the cleats in the box in the picture)? I had 2 comp. games this week the 1^st one we did good in the 1^st half and bad in the 2^nd half so do you have suggestions to do better in the 2^nd half? On the 2^nd game we did worse. We did badly in the 1^st half and good in the 2^nd half. In the 1^st half strained my leg sand I was late so that is why we were doing badly so coach put me in defense in the 2^nd half so we could do better. Also for my birthday present grandmother gave me bomb that was meant for 5-6 people, a pizza, and brownie hot fudge Sunday. Then I went to soccer practice. So ya that was my week.

From,

David Seamons

P.S. Happy birthday yesterday.

Dear Joseph

I have 59 A.R. points. I got to eat lunch with M.R. Harrison. I made a dream catcher at Scouts. It’s hanging above my bed. I didn’t play soccer this week because it was conference. I read about king Limhi and his people escaping to zarahemla and also about Alma and his people’s burdens becoming Light. I listened to conference and kept track of different words I heard and the word I heard the most was Jesus Christ. Have a good week did you have a good Birthday? Love Jonathan

Dear Joseph,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YESERDAY!! You are no longer a teenager, so now I’m down to just 2 of them for 1 year before David gets there. Your 16 year old brother just got asked to his first girl’s choice dance/date last night. The dance isn’t until November so I guess Claire Jepsen felt that she needed to ask early so that she could get the guy of her choice. I don’t know what it is about our cute Jepsen cousins that ask us out on our first dates. Kind of got a trend going. Your letters are sounding great. You haven’t emailed us any pictures yet. I think I forgot to tell you last week what Eldon Wilcox said. So as it goes, Jesse Wilcox went to the Philippians and got married to his fiancé the beginning of September. He took an extended break from his work here in America to get married and then to prepare the paperwork for his new wife to get her visas and stuff so she could move to America. His plan was to be gone for a couple of months in the Philippians to do all this. Well as it turned out now that he and his wife are there in their Philippian ward and Jesse gets called to be in the bishopric. So now they don’t know how long Jesse will be in the Philippians. So it kind of looks like Jesse will be giving up his American job and looking for a Philippian job. Kind of funny, huh? Friday night we finally got our 1^st major killing frost; the garden is now completely gone. I just hope the snow stays away until January. Thursday night the scouts had an overnight campout up at the Bensen ranch. They were going to sleep up in the loft in the top of the barn but there was tons of raccoon poop up there so we all slept on the hard concrete in the lower part of that barn. Any way in the middle of the night we could hear the raccoons bounding their way down the steps to the loft. It was a cold night but David and I stayed warm enough this time. Next time I hope to remember to bring a lot more blankets from work to make my sleeping spot a lot more soft or at least more tolerable to my aged bones. I missed out on Sam’s games because of the camp and because Jacob has been sick. But I did make it to the last three quarters of Ben’s game after priesthood session was over. He had several good carrys of the ball. On one of them it looked like he got 20-25 yards. Then it takes 3-4 of their guys to wrap up on him to take him down. Keep the Spirit on your side always and all will continue to go well for you. Take care! Love, Dad

Dear Joseph

Happy Birthday yesterday! I hope you had a great birthday! I’m glad you could make use of the sweaters and coat. Did you make a cake and sing? I hope you played pin the tie on Elder Who, because Jonathan and I had lots of fun drawing him! And Jacob loved the ties! Anyway, we missed you lots, so we put your name on the birthday cake and sang to you and Grandmother and David today. We ate lots of breadsticks and lasagna and salad and cake and ice cream for you too! I hope you had something yummy on your birthday to celebrate with! We missed you lots!

This week has been a little weird, because every day it seems we’ve had to cancel something or juggle something around because Jacob has been so sick. We’re going on 8 days now, so I am going to take him back to the doctor tomorrow and see if they can please figure out what is wrong with him. He seems to have a few good hours every day, but he has a terrible runny nose, mucous on his tongue and throat, runny ears and fevers all night. It’s not very fun! Of course, he doesn’t want to sit still and watch TV when he’s sick, he runs outside barefoot and runs away a lot, so that is probably not helping him! Anyway, if you could remember him in your prayers, that might help him a lot get over whatever it is that is not going away! I was desperate on Wednesday because I had sat home with him for 2 days and figured he would be okay if I worked a half day then, but he wasn’t doing very well that morning, so I did a very bad thing and begged
Ben if he would stay at home for a couple of hours for me and make up his work later. Hmmm, probably not the best thing to encourage, but I think it worked out okay because he has his easier classes in the morning, at least that’s what he claims, and since he’s always saying how bored he is, maybe that made it more interesting to have to make up the work! Anyway, I hope that we can get back to normal here soon, because we are all a little out of sorts and poor Jacob is not enjoying life!

We are still continuing our dispute with the school district, since they won’t get Jacob an aid to accompany him to school. They tried to pull someone off the playground duty to help Jacob, but she’s not working out either. We actually have had a rough time with Jackie and the bus too. I don’t think it’s entirely her fault, because the superintendant and Kevin may not have communicated well with her, but as a result of several problems on the bus, Kevin has been driving and supposedly they are figuring things out! Because the District cannot come to a decision on what to do with Jacob, we have asked for mediation from the State, so we will see if anything can be accomplished there! It just seems like all this drama is taking a lot of time from our lives, when it seems like it could be cleared up so easily, but apparently, nothing can be done without a lot of complaining! Anyway, I will be glad when we can figure something out permanently.

Conference was wonderful. Did you get to see any of it? Unfortunately, yesterday we listened a lot in the car because we were running David back and forth between Papa Joe’s market and his game and getting Samuel to film or whatever it was he was supposed to be doing (probably it was just the coach letting off steam about Friday night’s game, which was, in a word, a complete disaster!). But we did still hear a lot of it. Jonathan said to me, “Aren’t we supposed to be taking notes on conference?” which made me feel good and bad----I’m glad he remembers that we take notes during conference, but I felt bad that I was setting such a bad example, so today, I made sure and got a conference packet out for him. I really enjoyed Elder Scott’s and Pres. Eyring and Pres. Monson’s talks. I thought when Pres. Monson got up at the end of the Sunday morning session and said that he would write in his journal tonight that that session had been one of the most spiritual sessions he’s ever been in, that I better make sure I listen to that one again and read every talk! Sam and Dad and David caught most of the priesthood meeting last night, but Ben hasn’t been able to see it yet, so we will have to download it or invite ourselves over to Papa Joe’s to watch it. I wasn’t able to go to a lot of games this week, because of Jacob being sick, but kind of glad I missed Samuel’s in the snow, rain and sleet! He didn’t seem very happy about it, but Ben seemed a little happier about his. Grandmother and Papa Joe said he did really well! David is keeping a good attitude about losing----what a streak! Hopefully, they will be the better for all the games they are getting beat at. But actually, I am proud that David is able to take it as well as he does. He’s just a bit bossy about his back line, but he doesn’t have much support there, so hopefully, they will figure it out in time!

We watched conference at Grandmother and Papa Joe’s today and had the birthday dinner in between. It was nice and a beautiful day to get together for a party. David seemed happy about his presents and everyone seemed to be getting along for the most part. We got Grandmother a little coat, and she seemed to like that too. Aunt Dawnya was up with her family and I asked her about TJ and she said that he is working with his Dad back in Michigan. I asked if he plans on a mission, but she says he feels like everyone is forcing him to go----well, it is a priesthood duty, so I guess you can count that as ‘forced’. It seems like a lot of the talks at conference were centered on the priesthood and the blessings it brings to all members of the church. Were you able to hear any of the talks? I hope that you are able to. I remember being in Germany when Elder McConkie gave his amazing talk on the atonement, just before he passed away---probably one of the most powerfully spiritual moments of my life. His testimony hit me with such force, I think we all knew that HE KNEW the Savior and would be greeting him in the very near future. Watching conference on my mission and then afterwards was definitely a turning point for me. It began to mean so much more to my life that I felt that I actually hungered for it to come so that I could be filled up with the words of the spirit and learn.

Anyway, I hope you have great experiences this week. It sounds like you are very busy and very happy with the people you are working with. I hope that many are able to commit to reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church. I know those two things do so much to begin the process of gaining a testimony of the gospel. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life. I have felt that I have been very weighed down lately with things that have been going on in our lives, but every time I read in the Book of Mormon or listen to conference talks, I feel so much lighter and grateful for the knowledge that there is a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of my needs and who knows what I need in my life to grow and change. Jonathan said tonight that he didn’t want to say his prayers because Heavenly Father isn’t real. I was a bit dumbfounded at him saying that, since he has never said anything like that before, but isn’t really gung ho on saying prayers. So I tried to talk to him about it, explaining that Heavenly Father wasn’t a ghost and how he was very real and had a body just like Jonathan’s and that he has known Jonathan for a very long time, much longer than me. After giving him the analogy of him going on a trip far away from me and then him calling me and hanging up on me before I had a chance to respond to anything he said, he seemed to start getting it. We talked about what it feels like to feel the spirit and know Heavenly Father is aware and listening to our prayers. I told him of an experience I had on my mission when I was having just kind of a sad day---nothing was going right, I was cold and wet and discouraged and I just knelt down, because I didn’t know what else to do and I just felt like there were arms that suddenly surrounded me and I felt that I was being embraced, but when I opened my eyes I couldn’t see anyone there. But I felt something in my heart, and Jonathan responded that that was probably the spirit. What a kid! Love how smart my boys are and how much I learn from them! I am so lucky to have all of you in my life, I learn so much everyday from all you do and who you are. I am definitely one very blessed mom!

Have a wonderful week and think warm thoughts! Would you like any more sweaters or do you need any boots or anything? It may be easier to get things like that over there, but if there’s anything we can get for you and send, we would be happy to!

Love you much, Mom

P.S. Mr. Lords asked about you and said to tell you hi and that you are a great kid and he’s sure you’re doing great things on your mission!

P.p.s. Devin is getting married this week! He’s marrying a girl from Cove who is 5 years younger than him.

I’m trying to upload some pictures of the canyon leaves Jacob and I saw and also David wanted to show you all of his birthday gear, so hopefully I can get it to download fast, if not, I’ll get it on tomorrow before your next letter.