I Think I Can...I Think I Can...I Think I Can

What a whirlwind couple of weeks. It was nice to be able to relax  over the Thanksgiving holiday and breath normally.

It's interesting that as I am trying to figure out how to simplify, the climate of my life becomes immediately more intense. It started, over the last few weeks with an assignment to put together the dinner for a Stake Formal. Food planning (especially for large groups) is not my area of comfort, but my President had other responsibilities and her other counselor was getting a missionary ready to leave, so when she looked around, I was what was left. Then the flu bug hit hard, so a week was gone before I had even finalized the menu and in the midst of that I was given the assignment to teach at Auxiliary Training, which I don't normally mind, but it takes intense focus for me and I get a bit one trackish and I had two track s and two trains and well you know what happens to my stress levels.

I knew my brain had hit emotional overdrive capacity when I got so immersed in the details of those responsibilities that I didn't realize the time until I had missed the daily letter post deadline on DearElder.com for the first time since Jordan has been out, and I cried.  That was on a Wednesday.

By the following Thursday afternoon I had finalized the menu, purchased the food, was wise enough, (or overextended enough) to start delegating sufficiently so I could let go of the majority of those responsibilities until Saturday and start focusing on my lesson for the following Thursday which I was getting no inspiration for because I was too busy and because the subject was difficult.  Sis. Fisher had asked me to talk about Pres. Monson's R.S. talk on judging and bring that into a YW/Leader context. First of all, I hate hypocrisy (especially my own) and secondly how do you expound on the prophet's message, especially when it is still so fresh. After the worldwide training I tried to wriggle out of the assignment by noticing that training was now only mandated once a year, but because it was already planned and because there was a provision in the handbook  for more training if needed our stake presidency gave us permission to move forward and Sis. Fisher, my president felt it was important to follow through on a mandate from Salt Lake during Regional Training to put emphasis on the Y.W./ R.S. transition, which they have now deemed a "rescue operation".  My portion of the training just happened to be a small part of that evening.

I got no inspiration until Friday evening on my date with Fred. We had gone birthday shopping for Eden and were walking through an aisle with cosmetic mirrors and both looked into some super magnified models and started making some self evaluations and the inspiration started pouring in. It was a strenuous week to pull it all together but I used mirrors, windows, magnifying glasses, reading glasses, and camera lenses as an object lesson on judging and how we "see" the world around us. Mikayla gave  me permission to make a power point presentation using photos of her to show how perspective is everything in our judgments of ourselves and which always overflows into judgments of others. Some of the pictures were not flattering, but she didn't seem to mind—I think that's because she knows who she is and isn't worried about what people might think; I used that concept in my training as well.  It turned out well. The Spirit was there and I think we all learned something and were moved to be better because of the prophets message, so it was worth all of the stress of preparation. It is a lot of stress for 20 minutes, but it's a tall order to leave people with the feeling that it was a meeting worth leaving their families for and without the preparation the spirit is not there. Unfortunately, I am still working on making my family feel like it is worth it.

 One of the wards in our stake has decided to earn the Young Women's in Excellence by proxy for a sweet high school senior who has Down Syndrome, named Brooklyn Lowell. They have been working on it for some time now and are striving to award her an honorary medallion for Christmas.  I asked if I could be a part of that, so I am working on part of her Personal Progress along with my own…it is such a neat experience to do this for her. They have told her what they are doing and she is SO EXCITED!

Abe has been going through books so fast that I am having a hard time keeping up with stocking him with good literature to read. Every time he finishes a book he falls back to something Star Wars (which I'm not a huge fan of), so I try to keep 2-3 good books available for him but he is so fast. A few days ago he finished a book he really liked and wanted to share and asked me to read it, so now I am reading a book about hatching dragons—not my favorite genre, but I like seeing what he likes and I like that he wants to share that experience with me.  I thought I was so smart when I reviewed a 5 book series that sounded like something he would like and each book was around 350 pages long.  I was thinking that would keep him busy for awhile. I checked the first book out from the library and he finished it the next evening and asked me to check him out the next one. After this, I'm going to check out Charles Dickens for him—that'll slow him down. =) Actually, I love that he's a reader. In January he has to read some historical fiction, I'm going to suggest "The Bronze Bow". It'll be interesting to see if he likes it as much as Jordan did.

Mikayla's best friend's father passed away suddenly last week.  We heard about it a few hours later and I picked Mikayla up from school and we rushed over there. She just cried in Mikayla's arms. It is so hard to know what to do for someone who is experiencing that kind of mourning except to just be there and let them know that you love them. The funeral was on Eden's birthday, right after an early morning youth temple trip so we weren't able to switch gears and make it "her" day until the evening. But to her credit, she appreciated the day for what it was and made it all a beautiful experience. I was proud of her.

She made it past auditions and into two of the 2011 Music Theatre of Idaho productions. She will be Betsy in "The Secret Garden" at the end of April-beginning of May, and an extra in the Wizard of Oz the end of October-beginning of November. There were over 300 people who auditioned and without any experience I think she has been very successful. She is excited—I am nervous. I will stick with her like glue and we'll see what the next year has in store and then decide whether to pursue that opportunity or not. It should be a wild ride. Because the plays are performed in the Nampa Civic Center they are a bit pricey for a family, so we will have to start saving up now, so we can even go watch her, but it will be a fun, cultural experience for all of us.

The Young Artist's Concert Choir is going on tour in April to San Francisco. If Mikayla and Eden want to go, they each have to earn $350. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole idea; it's so much money—so far away from home. You know me, I just want all my kids to stay here in the back yard =) They are supposed to sell calendars and concert tickets as a fund raiser, but the calendars are nice but they are priced at $10 and you can get them at the dollar store.  They went out selling for a couple hours last week and sold only two. We're just hoping babysitting picks up.=)

Last week, one of Jordan's best friends went into the MTC. I had tried to prepare his mother (who is an emotional kindred spirit for the "drop off". She called me from Provo as she was pulling away from the MTC, to tell me that Jordan was standing  there waiting for her son Braiden. We were both crying on the phone. It was such a tender mercy for her to have Jordan there and such a tender mercy for me because as she was leaving she asked if there was any message he wanted her to take back to his family and he said something in Spanish, which he then translated to her as, "I love you Mom." She said he looked great and the spirit was just radiating out of his eyes.  He flies out on Monday and will get to call us on his layover that evening. I'm so excited and so nervous. This is the real deal.

Being together was so nice at the ranch. Playing with cousins in the snow is Utopic for my children and sitting by the fire, without the responsibilities of home, working on Humanitarian projects is Utopic for me. Thanks to all who helped. It was so great to have all of the young girls pitching in. It's one of my favorite traditions.

Can't wait for more family holiday fun.   All my love,

Rach

Thanksgiving in the MTC

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jordan Bloomquist <jordan.bloomquist@myldsmail.net>
Date: Thu, Nov 25, 2010 at 9:00 AM
Subject:
To: Rachel Bloomquist <crogys@gmail.com>

To all yall Bloomin family,

      I just wanted you to know that I have only 4 more days of winter and then summer here I come.  WEIRDA  well HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Tuesday we had a storm warning also they said it was going to be horrible so they shut down BYU and canceled all of our classes.  When It started let me tell you it was bad when I had to go outside I almost got 2 snowflakes on me.  Don't worry I surrvived I am still recovering from the shock though.  I hope you all have a wonderful time at the ranch.  Today we have planned some programs and service and a devotional.  I will tell you all about it when I call on monday.  So for the last 20 hours I have been speaking in only spanish sometimes I forget a word so I have to use hand signals but it is helping me learn much.  I have seen Elder White a lot this week,  we have the same meal times and on tuesday had the same Gym time.  It is weird when ever i see him because everything seems so foriegn here and when I see someone or something familiar it disorients me a little bit.  On Sunday Elder Pew and I were released from our assignment as zone leaders it made me a little bit sad because they have become such close brothers to me but at the same time it took a load off my shoulders.  I have come to love my zone and my district so much.  

    Please let Tessia and Dallas know that they are in my prayers each and every day.

" It's not just in the doing and the knowing that leads us back to God it's in the becomming, it's who we become."

                                                  - Elder Uchtdorf

My Dear Family I love you

    Love Elder Bloomquist

From Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jordan Bloomquist
Date: Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 5:44 PM

Dear Family,

  So Today I got my travel plans to Santiago Chile  My flight leaves from Salt Lake City 2:55 PM and arrive at Dallas TX at 6:30 I leave from there at 9:10 between this time I will have the chance to call you so please try to be availible this is on the 29th of November.   I will arrive in Santiago at 9:55 AM.  AAAAAAAAHHHHHH I can't wait.

I was able to be a host yesterday which was really awesome but there were many a sad faces leaving and many a scared but happy comming in.  I knew that Braiden was comming in at 1:45  so I didn't have to wait forever I hosted 2 Elders before that and around 1:30 I went on the hunt.  I just stood toward the front so that I could see every car that was comming in.   I saw their green car and my heart just started beating faster.   I actually had to steal him from the Elders that were assigned to that post they didn't mind though as soon as he stoped I ran around and gave him a big hug.  The rest of his family got out of the car and we talked to them for about 5 minutes and then had to leave.  He seemed excited but not all the way ready to leave as we walked away.  He went and got all of his paper work and his tags.  When he came out I took him right to his room and then we went to his classroom and dropped him off there he seemed excited to get straight to work.  I haven't seen him again but I will keep looking. I wrote a big hand written letter so I will talk to you then. 

I love you all, 

Elder Jordan Bloomquist

P.S. Elder Taylor says Hi

From Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jordan Bloomquist <jordan.bloomquist@myldsmail.net>
Date: Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 12:40 PM
Subject:
To: Rachel Bloomquist <crogys@gmail.com>

Family, if that is your real name?

                So I don't even know where to start.  This week was so awesome and I keep loving it more and more.  On Sunday Sister Dew came and spoke to us about life here on earth and how it is so short even though sometimes it can feel so long.  And if we can be good for this small time, then we can be happy forever.  After her talk Elder Pew and I got the privaledge to go talk to her and shake her hand it was the most awesomest ever.  On Tuesday Elder Bednar came and talked to us about doctrine, Principle and Application, and the difference between them.  The answer to what, is doctrine the answer to why, is principle and the answer to how, is application.  That is four apostles in a row here and that never happens!  So I am guessing that next tuesday will be the prophet and the tuesday after that the second comming.  So you know I am excited and stuff.  I just want to say that Elder Grillone loved lilys and Sophies letters so much.   Mom you asked about my tie, it was the red donald trump and I looked in the lost in found but they said they would call the  MTC if they found it.  About the pictures yes I do have to print them, I cant get them onto a computer but is is ok because everything in the MTC store is 40 % off for missionaries so it is not expensive at all.  It is winter here now, there is no snow down here but the mountains looming over us are white caped so it is beautiful, I will have to send you some pictures.  I am so excited for Taylor that is so cool Aly looks like a fun girl you will have to keep me update on all the latest gossip. : )  AAAAHHHH another 30 minutes gone sorry.

   I love you all to the edge of the universe and back,

Te Amo,  Elder Bloomquist

Welcome Aly!

Introducing Taylors fiancee--Aly. Taylor gave me permission to copy these photo's from Facebook and Aly promised to send me more.
See the "Did You Know" sidebar for more info. coming soon.

The Things That Matter Most

A few months ago, Eden decided that she wanted to try out for next seasons Music Theatre of Idaho. We agreed to let her audition in November and experience the process and see if it was something she wanted to pursue and we felt comfortable with her pursuing. There was an audition coach option for those who had never been through the process, so we signed her up, thinking it might be a nice professional introduction to the "musical" expectations. It was advertised as three ½ hour sessions to help her find music and give her advice and practice for the audition. Fred went with her the first Saturday and came back with the most exaggerated comments (or so I thought) about the building and the instructor, that I was curious and went with her last weekend. OH MY GOODNESS!!! It is held in the MTI headquarters which is a little old house that has been rezoned for business and is the dumpiest commercial place I have ever been in! I've only seen a few other personal homes that are worse, when the R.S. had to go in and do some "emergency" cleaning. You walk into a tiny front office that has papers and books scattered everywhere and then you notice the smell—a mixture of age, filth and animals and when the black cat wanders in and rubs against your legs that makes more sense. From there you walk through a series of small rooms that have parked bikes and boxes of what might be props or costumes spilling out and the most mismatched furniture with stuffing falling out onto the floor. I'm not sure they have ever cleaned it in all the years they have been an organization and I think they started back in 1997. When we finally got back to "the practice room" there were a lot of old, bent metal chairs set up, maybe for choir or orchestra practices and trash was strewn between them all over the floor and falling from the 3 or 4 boxes of garbage in front that you had to walk around to get to the tiny piano and computer desk that were shoved in the corner. Eden's "coach" was a young (looked like Mikayla's age) likeable, but goofy kid who we later found out was "Dicken" in the Secret Garden production that we saw a few years ago, so he's talented and had some good advice for Eden, but it could have easily been given in one 1/2 hour session, not three. Her audition will be this Saturday, and luckily it is in the Nampa Civic Center. Honestly, I am a little worried about her working with a group that is content to have home base in a place that is so loathsome. It makes me wonder what kind of people are in charge, but right now we are just getting our feet wet. For a local, amateur company they have put on some impressive productions, a few of which I have been lucky enough to attend, so they know how to entertain, but they don't know how to clean.

Marg asked me at the family Harvest party how I was enjoying my time without any kids at home and I had to honestly answer that I felt like I had less time than ever. That has bothered me tremendously and yesterday, as I was re-listening to Elder Uchtdorf's conference talk I decided I really needed to make some hard decisions and learn to slow down and simplify, so I can focus on the things that matter most. With my children gone I have felt compelled to become involved in every good thing that I haven't done because my children were here and now  I never feel like I have time to accomplish anything at home. There are hundreds of women who are much more involved in the community and school and church than I and accomplishing things just fine, but I have to keep reminding myself that I am not those other women. I have my own unique capacity. I was talking to Renee the other day and she was telling me that her whole day is scheduled, including time for herself and her different responsibilities. I know I would feel less pressure and accomplish so many more "real" things if I did that, so that is one of my goals today, to redistribute my time in more effective ways.

It is so much fun to get Jordan's letters each week. He e-mails us the short one that I forward here during his scheduled computer time and then he handwrites us a longer, more personal one each week while he is doing his laundry. He sounds so good and I have been flying high emotionally, regarding him, for the last three weeks, so it was alarming last night when our family was watching "Friendly Persuasion" and my emotions went into instant overdrive when the Mom sends her son off to war. There was no warm up, no prep time--just an immediate flash flood. My poor children were confused and worried (I was a little worried myself), but without even skipping a beat, Fred's arm went around me and he just held on until I found my pace again. I really hope it's not going to be like this for two years and I especially hope that doesn't happen in some public place, because it is really quite disturbing.

Jet came to church with us again this Sunday. He is curious but confused much of the time.  We take so much of the basics of the gospel for granted and teach to those who already have a deep doctrinal foundation. Even in primary, the little children have a vast understanding of religious concepts. I suggested that he go to Mormon.org so that he can get information at his own leisure and his own pace. He is reading four chapters a day in the Book of Mormon and told Mikayla he really liked Isaiah because he's really depressing and talks about the end of the world. It's an interesting reason to like Isaiah, but Mikayla says he sees the world from a very cynical perception and is really interested in things like the apocalypse. I am impressed that he has been courageous enough to come and find out for himself what our religion is all about. I found out today that he is enlisted in the army and will be off to boot camp as soon as he graduates from high school. He seems like such a bright kid, full of such amazing potential that I want him to have something concrete to hold on during those hard days that are surely ahead. His presence has started some stirrings in our ward--people wondering who the "attractive" boy is with Mikayla--but of course she is  not phased because they are truly just friends. I hope he will want to come next week and the next week and the next....

ELDER BLOOMQUIST IN THE MTC--
STILL THE SAME GOOFY GUY
(the captions are what Jordan wrote on the back of his photos).

"From left to right: Elder Grillone, Elder Bloomquist, Elder Thompson,  Elder Pew. In front Elder Hymas"

"Me in the laundry room"

"Elder Perkins, Elder bloomquist, Elder Pew studyin' it up"

"You can't get much better looking than this!"

"Self explanatory don't you think"

--

From Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jordan Bloomquist <jordan.bloomquist@myldsmail.net>
Date: Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 2:06 PM
Subject:
To: Rachel Bloomquist <crogys@gmail.com>

Well howdy do?

It has been another crazy week here at the MTC and I am kind of crazy so that means I LOVE IT.  I love all of you as well.   This week Elder Pew and I got to welcome the new district and take them on a tour of the MTC.  It is kind of crazy I have only been here for about five weeks but it seems like it was a year or two ago, no joke.  This new district is going to be so awesome I can tell they all have such strong testimonies.  On Tuesday Elder Ballard came and talked to us, that is three apostles in a row,  and it is extreamly rare for two apostles to come in a row so it has been a real treat.  He talked about Mastering the art of communication, which means not just speaking but smiling.  It was an awesome talk I loved it and I love him.  So I don't know if I told you, but I saw Elder Haws here I saw Elder Mccalister and I saw Elder Leedom, that one was kind of weird I was standing in line at the book store and he had his back toward me and I said " so where are you going Elder?' and he turned around and I was like "what" and he was like "what" and I was like "what" ha ha ha ok so not really but It was a good reunion.  He is actually living in the same building as me, so kind of neat.  I also saw Kimball on the way back from the temple today and that was way awesome as well so this week has just been darn right beautiful!   Sunday was kind of fun Elder Pew and I had a meeting at 8:00 then at 8:30 then at 9:00.  We have Priesthood meeting at 10:00 with the whole zone and 15 minutes to the Branch president said he had to go to a meeting and asked us if we would teach the lesson. ( see right there... sOO much fun it doesn't even get more fun than that)  It went so well though and I am grateful that we got to do that.  I just have so much love for all the Elders in my zone.  After that I had another meeting untill 12:00 we then had a district meeting and got to share experiences on certian topics.  From there was the temple walk which is always enjoy able.  In between that I wrote my talk in spanish for an hour.  Then went to Sacrament meeting where the branch president picks people at random to give their talk.  He said that he would have mercy on Elder Pew and I because we taught the lesson.  Never the less I was prepared.   After that I had a zone council meeting, then choir which was a mind blowing song I will tell you the name of it in my hand written letter.  We then had a devotional by the directer of missionaries in the MTC which was awesome had another meeting after that and then went to bed.  It was busy but I loved it.   Well its that time again, mom if you get a chance and havent sent the package yet you should send me some of those harvest pictures as well.

I love you all more than anything.

Love Elder Bloomquist.

An Inspiring Harvest Weekend

I love it when the kids are out of school! They had Thursday and Friday off this week, so party night was moved up to Wednesday, Thursday was our annual Family Jeopardy, Friday we had a donut fry and game fest with Mindy and Kevin's family and of course the infamous Extended Family Harvest party was on Saturday. I really abhor Halloween and everything it stands for, so it is fulfilling when we can make traditions that are so fun and make enough of a difference during this week to drown out the evil influences that swirl around us and have experiences that are uplifting and wholesome and so relevant to the season but not the world's holiday.

Because of all of the car trouble we have had this week, we put off everything that usually entails trips to town until Wednesday evening. Amazingly, we found everything we needed for costumes at Savers so that Fred could take the kid's to our ward Trunk or Treat/ mutual activity, but by the time we got everyone home and dressed up it had already started and we hadn't had dinner. I happily opted to stay home and cook, since there is inevitably some Halloween that sneaks in to someone's decorations and when that's promoted at a church function I have a hard time not being irritated. It worked out for everyone. It ended up being very poorly attended, so the whole family was home quite soon and we had dinner and movies here, which we always enjoy.

I was a little worried about our traditional Family Jeopardy party on Thursday, because a big portion of the responsibility for that celebration has always fallen on Fred's shoulders, and he is always so busy. Every year he puts together the game and I put together our Harvest Basket and deliveries.  I offered to help with the game questions, but Fred really wanted to do it, so I couldn't ease that pressure and because I didn't have a car he ended up putting together our Harvest Basket as well. He found a few new varieties of produce that were fun to try. He brought home a Jicama, which is like a mild turnip. We ate it raw and was a big hit with everyone. We also had some tamarindo beans which looked like brown dried seed pods off of some tree, but had a soft raisin like inside, that was sweet and sour, wrapped around cool seeds that we decided to keep for our mancala game to make it more authentic feeling. Mikayla, Lily and I really liked it. Sophie liked it with a little more reserve. Everyone else thought it was a little strange. We also tried a bosc pear which everyone loved and just for fun we had a mango and a pomegranate and some limes. Because Fred had Scouts right after work we didn't even start the celebration until 8:30 that evening and because he was under such time restraints, the questions were a little more difficult than usual this year and we had to do some emotional maneuvering with the younger kids, so they felt as involved as they wanted to be, but it ended up being enormously fun. Fred bought enough candy for a small army and everyone got plenty, so only the older group cared that Mikayla won. Unfortunately, I never made deliveries a high enough priority until it was too late to do that in conjunction with our family party, but the great thing about celebrating Harvest and not Halloween is that the window is so much broader and doesn't have to be a particular date, just a general time of year, so I can still make that happen.

Friday, Mindy and Kevin's family came over and brought enough donut dough over for the entire neighborhood. It took us an hour to fry them all and lathered with maple frosting very few people had the self control to stop eating when they should have, so we had a lot of little kids (and some big men=) that weren't feeling their best at the end of the night. I was smart enough to stop before the gorging point, but they were delicious and even I had three. Mikayla is doing the Middleton Health Challenge on her own and was a rock and didn't touch a bite of any of the holiday treats, including donuts, until Sunday.

A funny thing happened on Sunday. I had put a nice note on our front door informing Trick or Treaters that we had celebrated Harvest on Saturday, and everyone honored that by not knocking on our door, so I didn't even realize how much activity was going on outside until I had to leave the house at 7:00 for a setting apart that was taking place in a sisters home in my neighborhood. As I came out the door there were parents and little children dressed up everywhere. I was wearing a black skirt and collared white shirt and black jacket and hadn't walked more than a block when a young father coming towards me on the sidewalk, bent down to his two young children and gesturing towards me said, "Look, it's a business woman." I'm sure he hadn't meant it for my ears and I just smiled as I walked past, because the only way that comment isn't quite odd is if he thought I was dressed up for Halloween. I guess I did look a little out of place in that environment, but I thought it was humorous.

 We have had such an amazing experience this weekend. Mikayla has very gradually, over the course of her high school years, created a friendship with a boy who used to ridicule her and any other member of the church he knew, quite openly and continually. He was very ill informed and relentless. Last year he and a friend started singling her out in their mocking, but because she never felt that it was motivated by cruelty she didn't let it bother her and as we would talk about it I could tell that he was a bright boy searching for answers and his taunting was a protected way to get information without seeming interested. At the end of the year, he followed her out of class one day and apologized for his taunting and told her he was impressed with the way she never got offended or defensive, but stood  up for what she believed. They have very different personalities. At the beginning of this year, the student body voted on about 20 categories for "Hall of Fame" pictures for the upcoming yearbook. Mikayla and her friend, whose name is Jet, were both "labeled". She as "The Most Laid Back" and he as "Most Likely to Take Over the World". They have had classes together this year that have leant to their talking openly about their very different views and opinions. He has shared enough about his family with her to see that he comes from a broken home and jumps back and forth between parents. He has a sister who is extremely liberal, a father who seems to vigorously believe in nothing and a mother who professes to be Methodist but not actively. He would profess to be liberal and atheistic sometimes as they would talk about politics in government or religion in history, but one day they took a test in class that categorized their political views and Mikayla told him she bet he was more conservative than he thought. They both ended up ranking as moderate conservatives, which kind of shook him up.

This past Tuesday Jet informed Mikayla that he was going to church with her this week. Needless to say, she was a bit surprised--so was I. On Wednesday I met him in the library. I was checking out books and he came in the front door, grabbed a book and approached Mikayla in a way that, though I didn't know who he was, I could tell they were comfortable friends. They made some small talk about their different book choices and I overheard him say that he wanted to read something a little shorter than his last 1000 page book, which picqued my interest. When I looked at his hands, I noticed that he was holding onto an Ernest Hemingway, which isn't the most common choice for the average high schooler, unless it's assigned, so when he approached the desk to check it out, I made a snarky comment about someone actually reading Ernest Hemmingway on purpose and he laughed good naturedly and left. Only then, as Mikayla said goodbye and used his name did I realize who it was and I was a little taken back.

On Sunday, Mikayla and Eden picked him up for church in the truck. He had asked her what to wear and was dressed appropriately. Mikayla was as calm as anything, while my stomach was churning wondering what his perception would be. Of course, I shouldn't have worried, the Lord knew he was going to be there and the entire bishopric spoke in sacrament mtg. on some of the basic essentials of the gospel. He doesn't have much of a religious foundation and asked questions through the entire meeting. He even asked questions during the prayer until he realized what was going on. In Mikayla's Sunday school class the lesson was on the twelve tribes of  Israel, so he was completely lost, but not too shy to ask lots of questions. And then, perfectly, because it was the 5th Sunday the YM/YW met together the last hour and a member of the Bishopric taught about the Proclamation on the Family. It was fun to be there, sitting by Mikayla, watching him participate and her guide him through the whole process. After the mtg. he was surrounded by leaders and youth, many who he knew because it is such a small town. Afterwards, I asked him how he was feeling about the whole experience and he said he was completely overwhelmed. I asked him what he was overwhelmed by and he said that he just didn't know much about religion and it seemed that there were so many basic things that everyone seemed to know, but he didn't understand at all. Fred asked him if he would like to have a Book of Mormon to give him a base reference for all of it and he was very perceptive and seemed quite appreciative when Fred produced a copy for him and said, "I am definitely going to read this." When Mikayla dropped him off, he asked her to pick him up next week. This friendship has been such a long and evolving thing to go from a ridiculer/ ridiculee relationship to what it is now. Mikayla has been an incredible missionary. Of course we don't know where this will lead, or if he is ready yet, but he is so open to gleaning knowledge right now and Mikayla seems to know the right pace to give it to him. She did say she was nervous about his best friend finding out about all of this because he is very anti, though he was a member previously. I know he is going to have opposition because that is how Satan works, but this boy is no emotional lightweight and I am confident if he can keep his wall down and keep searching he will find what he is looking for. It is a neat experience for our whole family, but especially for Mikayla.