Life in a Northern Town: FAMILY LETTER 08.12.18

Dear Loved Ones,

This week, our lush Montana paradise dried up like so many raisins in the California sun, with 100-degree temperatures and no moisture. I’m not complaining because the summer has been mild and we’ve had plenty of rain and we aren’t on fire like much of the west. But the sky is tan and the air feels like a hairdryer and smells like a campfire and the sunsets are apocalyptic. Typical August stuff (this dang month is hard for me). This week has been surreal in other ways as well. It’s our first week of having cousins living nearby and so far, that’s awesome! It was also the first week of theater workshop for James and three of his cousins so they are gone from 8:45-4pm. Fall sports training began this week so football and soccer have 2-a-days the next two weeks, and Addie has cross country training every afternoon. I spent two days this week getting the kids registered for school and fees paid, etc. We also got called out of the blue two weeks ago and asked if we were still interested in being Youth for Understanding foreign exchange student hosts (this is something we registered for 11 years ago after we had such a nice experience hosting Peter and Zuzi from Slovakia). We thought about it and decided it would be fun, so we had a home visit and interview for the whole family Monday and chose a German girl to come live with us for the school year. They are still trying to get things squared away at the high school for her, but she should be here within the month. So I have to clean out the guest room and make it livable for a 16 year old girl, so all my crafty/sewing things are moving to the basement. As much as I hate getting so busy all of a sudden, it’s nice to be forced into getting back to a school schedule and going to bed at a decent hour.

This Wednesday 8/8, Rich took the Young Men on a river float for their activity. They set out around 5:30 and floated a while, then stopped and roasted hot dogs and had a lesson about the river of filth in Lehi’s dream, then floated to the ranch and came home around 9pm. It sounds like a great time was had by all. A couple of the boys brought friends, and James and his cousin Matthew got to join in the fun since they are the only 11-year-old scouts left (and they’ll be 12 in a few weeks). Saturday 8/11 after morning sports practice, we all had the day free, so we floated the river between 2:30-4:30pm. It was super-hot, but we were blessed with some overcast skies the first half of our float. The other half we just kept rolling off our tubes and dipping ourselves in the cold river water to beat the blazing 101* sun. We didn’t have any crazy mishaps this trip. Our kids took our new kayaks and they did a great job maneuvering the river. After the float, the cousins had to head back in to town for their evening practices and our family headed to Fiesta en Jalisco for dinner—because Mexican weather calls for Mexican food. We got home around 8pm and got our tired river rats to bed pretty early.

This morning 8/12, I realized I had never heard or read Elder Godoy’s conference talk from April, so I watched it and I was so touched by it. He said, “Personal sacrifice…gives sacred things meaning” and “The sacrifices our loved ones make for us refresh us like cool water in the middle of the desert. Such sacrifice brings hope and motivation.” It made me ponder how in our culture of ease and convenience, sacrifice is such a foreign concept. But Hugh Nibley said, in this life we are showing God our preferences everyday by our choices. We have the chance to give up something good for something much better, but do we keep our eye on that prize? Do we sacrifice good for best, or just rest on the good because, hey, at least it’s not BAD? I am keenly aware of the times I am “coasting” and I am grateful for Elder Godoy’s invitation to bring honor to my daily life and make the every-day sacred through sacrifice and consecration. Our Sunday meetings were awesome today. Grandpa and Grandma Melin got to speak to us representing the temple presidency and their talks were moving as usual. Grandma talked about the many sacrifices that have been made by people to get to the temple and reiterated that the blessing offered in the temple are worth every sacrifice. Grandpa had all the Primary children stand up and tell him what CTR means when you’re in Primary. They all said “Choose the Right” enthusiastically. Then he told them when they turn 12, CTR starts to mean something else: “Current Temple Recommend.” He said that kind of CTR is a symbol that we are choosing the right and trying to be like Jesus for the rest of our lives. It was so sweet to hear from them in that setting. We celebrated Cousin TJay’s 16^th birthday this afternoon at the ranch with a yummy BBQ rib dinner and cake, then we went to Tiffany Parsons’ missionary fireside. She did an AMAZING job telling us about her mission. She covered the nature and culture, the motto and spirit of the mission, the funny mishaps and challenges, and the most sacred conversion stories. Her testimony blew us away. I am excited to see her future unfold as she heads down to BYU this week.

We love you all and wish you another great week!

Love, Jamie and Rich and Family