Howzit-Elder Flexy!

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Elder Flexy 19:2 -email-
Mama,
this week was… sweet… WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!! yep i baptised TK yesterday it was sweet. and we are still working hard. i’m glad to hear that all is well in zion.
1-How are your investigators? 1.great we have some very good people coming up it should be fantastic.
2-Anyone we can pray for? 2. Z. and F.
3-Do you feel that you have a particular spiritual gift that helps with missionary work? If so, what is it? 3.ya i think getting people to see all the parts of what we are teaching come together.
4-Favorite scripture of the week? 4.well i’ve been studying the teachings of george albert smith and there is a story of when he gave his coat to a worker in the roads cutting the ice from the gutters it was very nice he is such a cool guy and he really loved everyone like Jesus did.
Special Question:
5-How can we deal with negativity, and not let it bog us down? (Elder Flexy didn’t answer this question. Maybe we just ignore negativity?)

love you! Love Elder Flexy

Baba,
did chad catch more fish than you!?!?! or is it evening out? well i do miss fishing that sounds really fun. why is there not any snow whats the deal!! well i’m glad your still working hard. love you
Love Elder Flexy
M,
“Chill out!!! dude you need too” haha you will be fine just don’t do what i did my last year of school. don’t be a loser like me. keep up the good work love you
Love Elder Flexy

Sunday Best: “…the spirit of that great book”

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“I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness” -Marion G. Romney (Ensign, May 1980, p. 67).

We have this quote on the fridge. I have always counted on this promise, to bring peace into our home, it has. I have been told by many guests to our home of the spirit they feel in our home. It’s not always perfectly clean and spotless, but we have a love for each other. We have a love for the Book of Mormon, it is true. We have a love of God. If you have never read this book, read it. You will not regret it.

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Family History Friday: Journal for the Year

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You know part of family history is having a personal history. Since it’s the first of the year, it’s a great time to start a journal. If filling a whole book seems daunting, do just a little everyday. Over at Simply Kelly B, she has a great idea for doing a daily thought. She calls it, “Capture 2012”. You can find it here. While you’re there, check out the “2012 Gratitude Banner”, so cute. Such a quick and easy way to record your year. 

Happy journaling! and

Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Our First Home

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Brian, Brad, Joy, and Keith

When I was born, my parents lived in a cute little starter home. We lived in a cul de sac with 5 other families. We had the best yard in the neighborhood. You know, the one that all the neighborhood kids like to hang out at. On any given day all of the kids in the neighborhood were at our house. The reason why our yard was so amazing, is that our dad was so creative. Our yard had:

1-A teeter totter made by putting two wagon wheels together, on an axel. And on the axel, was the teeter totter. It could be rolled anywhere in the yard.

2-We had an old nozzle from a bomb, that my dad turned into a dog house. He just cut out a door way for the dog and turned it over. It kind of looked like an igloo. The funnest thing was to turn it over and sit inside it. We would take turns spinning each other around.

3-My dad built a castle out of cinder blocks. I don’t know for sure how big it was, I was only five. But I could walk in it. It even had turrets.

4-We had a sand box. I remember my big brother Keith eating sand, and my mom trying to get it our of his mouth. He’s only a year and a half older than me.

5-An amazing rock garden, that you could climb on, like a little mountain.

6-In the very back of the yard there was a fire pit. I remember roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.

7-A wishing well. So cute.

8-My dad made a little play house for me. It was very simple and creative. He took plywood and made four walls with a door and windows, and painted it real cute. Hinges were on the corners so it could stand up and I vaguely remember a doorbell of some type.

9-We had an awesome garden. I remember eating pear tomatoes straight from the vine. Yummy!

We didn’t live there very long. My dad wanted to build a bigger home, and I think my mom was OK with moving from the house where all the neighbor kids played. She must have felt like a tender.

It was such a great yard.

When we lived in this home, I had my own room upstairs, across the hall from mom and dad’s. I remember feeling like the room was huge. Years later when I had the opportunity to visit my first home, a class mate had moved into my old home. It was amazing to me how small the house was, and especially my old room. Either that, or I got bigger. Hmm. I think I know which one happened.

We had a great first home. Thanks to mom and dad for making it such a wonderful place!

About Laughing.

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Everyone has a quirk. A silly part of themselves.

Mine is laughing.

I am a very happy person, but besides that, I laugh so easy.

I laugh at the right time, and the wrong time.

Sometimes I laugh so easy and I can’t stop. I know, really mature! But it’s true.

Now some people might be annoyed by this, but I am so grateful for my fantastic laughing ability. I know it is a gift from God. Sometimes when things are so frustrating, upsetting, unbelievably annoying, I have been known to laugh. Sometimes I don’t laugh right that second, but I will always eventually laugh.

And sometimes I laugh so hard I get a really good core workout, and a tear or two. Oh, and my cheeks push up and make my eyes almost disappear. (I just thought I’d share that last part, just for fun!)

Watch this funny video. You will love it!

What Every Parent Loves To Hear!

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When we spoke with our son at Christmas, he told us about a senior couple serving in the same mission he is serving in. The senior couple have a blog. So of course I went to see if they had any pictures of Elder Flexy on their blog. Yep, they did. It was so fun to see pictures and hear about their experiences on their mission. I left a comment on their blog, and this is the email I got back today. (I dropped the names, and locations.)
———————————
 Sister,
     We are enjoying your fine son here in the R. area.  He has a difficult area and
is working hard.  N. is a small township about 20k from R. They have a
small struggling branch that the elders do everything for.  They track heavily and are a
visible presence in the community.  Elder [Flexy] is a good example and is repected and
we think highly of him.  Know that he is about his Fathers business and working so you have reason to be proud of him.
     Sister N. and I live near you, we are not on our mission.  We will look forward to meeting you when Elder [Flexy] reports his mission.  I believe we will be going home about the same time if I remember correctly.  We are glad that you visited our blog.  The best to you and thank you for sharing this great young man.
Regards,
Elder & Sister N.
———————————–
I was thrilled to get an email from them. What a neat couple. I’m sure they have made sacrifices to leave their home and serve Heavenly Father in another land. And I know they are loving my son. It just feels so great. Someday, I hope my darlin and I will serve a mission and be what this couple is to our son, to someone else’s son.

Totally “Fort Worth” It!

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Hermana Kelsey 11:3 -email-
Dear family,
This week has been pretty great. I am still adjusting to being in H. We get lost a lot because Sister W. was only here for 6 weeks before I got here, and she and I don’t know where we are going. We don’t really have any investigators to teach, but we are working really hard to get our teaching pool bigger, and find some families to teach. This area is going to be really hard, but we know that President Sagers put us here so that we can learn and overcome the challenges of this area. I never realized how easy I had it in my last area, until I came here. Not that my last area is an easy area, but no matter where you go, there are 15-20 people to visit within a couple miles of where you are. Here our area is huge, and we don’t have very many miles. It reminds me a little of my first area, and how difficult that work was there. But we are going to be good. Sister W. and I are ready to work hard, and make this area great for whoever comes after us. Oh, and Sister W. is from Utah. She is a total flower child. I love it! We have been having so much fun, and we have served in all the same areas so we can talk about all the people we knew there. She goes home in May, so she only has 3 more transfers, including this one, and she thinks I am going to “kill” her (or be her last companion before she goes home). I sure hope President won’t do that to me again. I don’t know if I can do another one. I’ve already sent home two companions, and it makes me so trunky. But it will be good whatever happens. 🙂
 Our district now is so funny. We were having a jam session the other day, and it was awesome! I’ll send a picture of all of them with this email.
1- What is the weather like? 1. Today it is really rainy, but it still hasn’t gotten too cold yet. But January and Ferbruary are the coldest months of the year in Texas, so I’m not excited for that.
2- Have you eaten anything interesting lately? 2. We eat this stuff pretty regularly, which is called mole (I’m not sure if that is how it is spelled), but it is chicken coated in chocolate sauce and chili. It is really weird, and I don’t like it that much, but we eat it.
3- Do you get dinner appointments? 3. Yeah, we actually have a lady in our ward that is in charge of making sure that we have dinner appts every night.
4- How many investigators do you have right now? 4. We have very few investigators right now. There are probably between 10 and 15 semi solid investigators.
5- Pick three words to describe 2011? 5. spiritual, quick, and over
Special Question of the week:
6- What should we do if there is a gospel question we have? What if we can’t find the answer to it?  6. If you have a question about something, study it out first and see if you can find the answer yourself. If you pray before your studies they are a lot more guided, and you can receive revelation a lot easier. If you can’t find the answer, then you go to someone higher than you. For me, it would be President Sagers, but for you guys, it would be the bishop or the stake president, or something like that. If all else fails, go to the source of all truth, and jsut pray to God to help you understand the question you are having.
On Thursday, we had another sister with us for part of the day. Her name is Sister B., and she is really cool. She is super new. She was really really funny too. We had a lot of other things happen, but I’m almost out of time so I have to go.

Love you Mommy!

Dad:

That’s way cool you got snow. I kind of want snow, but at the same time I don’t because we have to go out and work in it. We aren’t allowed to drive the cars if it is snowy out, so we would have to be walking in it. 🙁

Emmysaurus:

Hey buddy! So I’m not going to write you very much, because Mom sent me a letter that you wrote, and I am really going to write you a letter today back to it. 🙂 So this is basically all I am going to say. But I love you lots, and I hope your week is great. <3

I love you all a lot!! I will be seeing you soon. (approx. 247 days! I am not really counting :))

Love, Kelsey XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Howzit-Elder Flexy

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Elder Flexy 19:1 -email-

Mama,

oh thats sad that you will see Natasha less and that those police got shot. but on a more happy note we will have a baptism this week. pretty sweet. my companions family is not members he is the only one. i’ll check and let you know where in Malawi.

So here are a few questions?
1- What is the weather like? 1. hot hot HOT!!! but sometimes it rains.
2- Have you eaten anything interesting lately? 2. yep i ate tripe its cow intestines. it was pretty good actually.
3- Do you get dinner appointments? 3. not many.
4- How many investigators do you have right now? 4. twenty-ish.
5- Pick three words to describe 2011? 5. sleep, eat, and preach
Special Question of the week:
6- What should we do if there is a gospel question we have? What if we can’t find the answer to it?  6. research for your self ask someone that you trust and if you don’t get an answer… pray. james 1:5-6 never fails.

anyway life is good working hard.

Love Elder Flexy

Baba,

sweet snow thats good news.

Love Elder Flexy

M,

its ok to be scared to make decisions but just always include family and the lord in those choices.

Love Elder Flexy

Sunday Best!

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“To dig a straight furrow, the plowman needs to keep his eyes on a fixed point ahead of him.  That keeps him on a true course.  If, however, he happens to look back to see where he has been, his chances of straying are increased.  The results are crooked and irregular furrows. . . . Fix your attention on your . . . goal[s] and never look back on your earlier problems. . . . If our energies are focused not behind us but ahead of us—on eternal life and the joy of salvation—we assuredly will obtain it” (The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, p. 66).
Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy