I love having the Spirit work through me . . .

First of all . . . Happy Birthday, Mom! How lucky that I get to write to you on your birthday!!! Heavenly Father musta planned it before the foundation of this earth! How old are you now, though? Or, I guess, better question . . . How young are you now? 51? I really hope I didn’t guess too high . . . I always kill my chances with the ladies when I do that . . . (By the way, I was 50, not 51, yesterday!) Anyway . . . What are you doin’ for your birthday? Some clam chowder at the wharf? Romantic dinner with big daddy? Whatcha got planned? I miss you so, so, so much, Mom. And I really appreciate all you do for me and all that you’ve done for me. I know it’s not Mother’s Day, it’s just your birthday, buuuuut I can still try to tell you how much I love and miss you, right? There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about you, Mom. Or a day that goes by that I don’t stare at you and think about you in family pictures that I have. You’re soooo amazing and I love you so, so much. I hope today is the day of your dreams. (If your dreams have anything to do with romantic things with dad, though . . . Don’t tell me what’s in your dreams!) Happy Birthday!

Well now . . . Now that that’s off my chest . . . Thank you for the updates! And for the picture of Dylan’s parking space . . . It’s berry pretty! Does Dylan actually play the piano good now? And the guitar? Or was he fronting on his parking space? LOL . . .That kid is talented. I’m sure he’s good at both of ‘em now.

As for James’ DearElders, I haven’t got any . . . I’ll receive ‘em again on Thursday . . . Hopefully I get ‘em or he isn’t doin’ ‘em right . . . Can you help him maybe? And please keep bugging Randy for me, too!

Yea . . . Sounds like Durant has been an absolute stud, huh? And good to hear that you, Dad and Dallas all complimented my boy, Gordon. Good to know he’s looking good! Oh, and Dad, thanks for answering all my questions on everyone.

Well . . . Here come my questions and stories now . . . Well, I already asked some questions, but I have more!

Questions first of course . . .

Just outta curiosity . . . It’s random, LOL . . . Did Gilroy ever get an Olive Garden or mall? I just remember the rumors of that from before I came on the mission . . . LOL . . . Raaaaaandom . . . Sorry!

Well, kinda story thangs now . . .

This week we had a li’l problem . . . A new missionary in our Zone was not doin’ so well. He just wasn’t happy for a few reasons and he was wanting to go home. The main problems are that his family doesn’t write to him very often, he can’t read or write, he doesn’t understand English, etc. So, he called the assistants on Monday night to tell them that he wanted an interview with President. Soooo . . . The assistants called us and told us to get it figured out. So, that Tuesday morning, we went and talked to him and set some goals with him and his companion. Can you believe that the next day, he and his companion were completely fine? LOL . . . The Elder called us an d said sorry for the problems and that he was all good and ready to keep working. I explained to him that the real problem is that all new missionaries are prideful. All new missionaries think that they know how to do it all . . . They think that everything is a competition . . . They wanna be individuals like before the mission . . . And I understand ‘cause I was new, too. But he accepted it and it’s all good now! I understand that sometimes I talk too much, but I do recognize that it is also maybe one of my biggest talents or blessings that I have the ability to communicate well. That’s kinda a lot thanks to Dad for helping me to learn to be a leader. I thought he was just teaching me for sports, but, nooooo . . . It helps for everrrrrrything.

This week, I gave a blessing to a very sick old man. He was so sick that he hadn’t slept for three straight days. When I put my hands on his head, though, and gave him a blessing, I told him he would sleep well that night and recover a lot. Know what happened to him? He slept very well that night and recovered a lot! LOL . . . I love having the Spirit work through me. Sooo, sooo cool.

There is a kid in our area whose name is Erwin. He is a really good seventeen year old in the Church. He has left with the missionaries to go work since forever. But, he has never gotten along with his sister which is really sad. And, as many missionaries as have worked with him, no one ever stopped to realize that he really need help. He doesn’t have a dad so no one to really sit him down and teach him how to do some things, ya know? Anyway, I sat him down a couple days ago and told him how to sit down with his sister, what to say, what to ask, all the good stuff. And I told him if he would do it lovingly (which is soooo, soooo key), everything would be fixed. Know what happened with him? He sat his sister down and talked to her and for the first time in their fifteen years together, he told her he loved her! Thanks to Dad I was able to explain to Erwin how to fix this problem as well. I will always remember Dad yelling at kids on the court and then talking directly and loving ‘em after the games. It works. LOL . . . It really, really works.

Well . . . We gave a nice loooooong service this week. LOL . . . Saturday, we worked from 6am to 12:30pm. We had to move huge cement tubes and fill ‘em with dirt and trees. LOL . . . It was tough. I got a li’l cut up and got some blisters and got a nice sunburn on my neck, but it was worth it! Get in some good ol’ service. Set the example of the Mormon Church for everyone around here. Ya know?

I’m in the book of Jacob right now in my Bible study . . . Wow . . . What a man, huh? Oh! And the book of Esther isi really, really good, too. I soooo badly wanna finish the Bible before the end of my mission. Great, great book . . . Usually . . .

Oh! I had a dream last night! I got home and saw Aaliyah, Dallas and Kim . . . I was in Church when I was seeing them for the first time. Aaliyah ran up to me and gave me a huge hug and while I was crying ‘cause I was sooooooo happy, I asked Dallas if it was just a dream or if it was real (‘cause it seemed sooooo way too real). Dallas told me it was just a dream, though, and that I still had some time left to serve. The dream was all in Spanish . . . LOL . . . But it just seemed waaaaaaay too real. Great dream, though. I didn’t wake up sad. I woke up sooo, sooo happy to have been hugging my Aaliyah. I love her sooo, sooo much if you guys didn’t know . . .

Well, I gotta run, but I love you all soo, soo much! Be safe and smart! I look forward to hearing from you all! Love you! And Happy Birthday again, Mom!