monday morning news

what a great email we received this morning!!!  Ben just sounds great.  and he has kept his deep thoughts and sense of humor.  i will copy and paste his letter here...and add a few pics.  the pictures are of "Box Hill"...it rang a bell when i heard it...and then i remembered!  it's from Emma, the book and movies.  i have seen a few versions of the movies, and the latest one probably 3 times.  love it.  again, i'm pretty jealous but excited that Ben is seeing what he is seeing- and doing what he is doing.  lucky!!

Hola me hermana!

Man, it is so hot here!  I am dying of heat!  I never thought that would happen in England...  The humidity is the worst, it makes it seem so much hotter! 
Good luck with the garden!  I hope the weather gets a bit better there.  Yeah, I definitely miss the hail and thunderstorms...  The weather here is proper dull.

Oh wow, I'm sure Ayden is enjoying coaching!  That would be fun!  And I don't know if you remember, but it wasn't always that easy to get me to eat at concession (Or maybe it was, I don't remember either)

Congrats to Jaryn on getting baptized!  That is pretty cool!

Well It's good to know I am influencing someone somehow.  I hope I continue to be a decent example on my mission and through my life.

Oh my days, how big is LOVELACE out of curiosity?  And why does his name break grammatical rules by being all capitals?  I mean, not that I don't think that is cool to break such rules, I do like the name LOVELACE and enjoy typing it out, but I suppose curiosity gets the best of some folks. And yeah, I bet you were expecting either A. A candle B. A scarf or C. A kitchenaid, but nope, I decided giant penguins are "in" this year.  I'm just glad he isn't causing trouble.

Yeah, the picnic stuff was fun!  We played football and American Football, and capture the flag, and my legs are still sore!  I'm not as young as I used to be.  The National History Museum is in South Kensington which isn't in our mission.  Today we will go to Southbank once again and see big ben, and all that stuff.  I hope to drop into the Tate Modern today and check that out.

Thanks, I am proud to have had the extreme survival skills to have stayed alive for 19 whole years!  What an impressive feat!  I will wear my age as a badge of honor, knowing that I am a survivor.

Man, I am sending another video, and I think this one is too big too >:( these computers frustrate me haha.  It might not make it... Again.

Sister Fowler informed me after district meeting the other day that I clench my back teeth when someone says something I don't like.  I stay perfectly calm looking, but she says she can tell.  Haha, ah man, too funny.

We went to the Temple with Chantal this week!  Pictures will come (Eventually)!  Chantal was being a proper diva that day and asked us to take so many pictures of her, so those will be mingled in.  On the way back we went to box hill, which had a nice view.  We had a member drive us, so it was all cool.

Is Elder Hogg on his mission again? 

So, a certain newspaper did a deal this week where if you buy it, you get free lego!  So I have been collecting lego vouchers by buying rubbish political paper and throwing them in the bin.

I met an LDS girl from Sweden the other day!  So of course I asked if she remembered Thomas and she did!  Of course, her photoraphic memory helped her case. (Photographic)  This computer doesn't let me correct mistakes :(

Guess what I have been doing.  Sewing buttons!  I am an expert, and I don't know how I even know how to do it!

Do you remember Nina from Wandsworth ward?  She has moved into Crystal Palace!  It's weird seeing her around...

Here's a thought for you.  We only use a small percentage of our brain.... Are we as sentient as we think?  I mean, humans are strange!  In church, one mammal stands in front of a group of other oxygen breathing things and says some words that we will forget and most of us can't even focus and we are all trying to share the Gospel with other creatures that are the same, but different because of the limited cognition we do have and that causes need to change ourselves, either to conform to the rest of the species or to seek separation through changing our appearance or attitude to go against what the rest of the large population of meatsacks deems to be normal.  Just a thought...

Pam who got baptized is being a missionary!  A coworker was having some problems with an alcoholic son or something, so Pam gave her a word of wisdom pamphlet.  And she started testifying and such, and now this co worker and her son are getting baptized.  How cool is that!?

We went to a kingdom hall yesterday.  There were Canadians there!  I found out they give away free Bibles.  Now I will never walk past one without taking a Bible.  I have 4 already >:D  There are a lot of JWs here.

And our miracle this week.  Weird font because I copied it from my letter to President Millar

Our biggest miracle this week happened again due to plans falling through. We had an appointment fail, and as we were walking down the road, we saw a lady mowing her lawn. We asked if we could help, and to our surprise, she said yes! Well, we mowed half her lawn, and then her mower started smoking and stopped working. Apparently, that happens all the time to her. Anyways, after apologizing and leaving, a guy pulled up on his bike and asked if we knew a certain Elder who used to meet with him in Bermuda thirty years ago. We talked to him for a bit, and he has learned a lot about us from that Elder. We will be teaching him soon! Another great thing about this is that it is a miracle he is even in the country. A few years back he got run over by a car, and due to internal injuries caused, he can't fly home. The chances of us meeting seem slim looking at it that way, but it is just another small way we see the Lord guides us.

Anyways, love ya!

ELDER WRIGHT

sunday nite biz

 well, an interesting thing came in the mail this week.  a big old BOX.  like BIG...and i thought "oh crap, what did i order from amazon!!"  and voila- it was a giant stuffed penguin!!  Ben did warn us via skype that an odd mother's day gift was on it's way.  so i'm not sure what i was expecting, but it sure wasn't THAT.  hahaha.  anywho, i named him LOVELACE.  you know- the old penguin dude off of happy feet.  anyhow, he scared me every time i walked in the room for the first two days, but i am getting more used to him now.  hmmmmmmm. 

 these are cute.  Tess and Ataya made a cute video to send to Ben and Shae- all about Cardston.  it was awesome!!  so cute.  and these pics just show a typical windy Cardston day.  well, nobody ever has to do their hair here, and no explanations are needed.

 i am not sure.  but Ben and Elder Pond were defending themselves against something here...

 and i like this quote.  i like to think about it a lot- in fact, i find i've been personally pondering a lot lately.  maybe this is too personal for a family blog but here goes:

since the whole wisdom tooth drama- basically where everything that could go wrong did- and was a total nightmare- anyhow, i started listening to some meditation apps on my ipad to fall asleep at night.  and by george, they really help.  in fact, it's been almost two months and i am hooked!!!  i find i cannot really go to sleep without one now.  i really like one on healing...it's very calming and peaceful. 
i have come to the conclusion that i haven't really had many teeth issues over the years- it is jaw.  there were so many things that happened that didn't need to, and i wish i had known more about it many years ago.  it is pretty upsetting trying to deal with things now.  i am having some work done on my jaw muscles...and doing some ultrasound at home- so we will see how that goes...also...the tooth i had root canalled in feb still bugs me.  i am convinced it was almost sprained.  did anyone tell me this?  no, i just figure this stuff out on my own.  i'm awesome like that.  soooo...anyhow, i guess i could go on and on- this has been a miserable few months.  some things are looking better though.  so i'm sure all will be fine.  it is not always easy to get back a good perspective after crazy events- as well as the unknown of what is coming...  but it will work out.  i have got to come to grips that life is about pain.  it always has been for me.  and i'm really  feeling lots of sympathy for others who i know are in the same boat.  different boats- but the same.
Ben has been doing so great!  skype was amazing, and we were so happy that he had his first baptism last week!!!
The kiddies are wrapping up school it seems.  crazy, hard to believe- it went so fast.  but one month to go!!!
yesterday Tessa and I went out to Jaryn's baptism.  it was nice to see their family.  we also had haircuts and did a lot of errands.  it was my annual haircut!  i really need to go more often- ahhh...too low-maintenance i guess. 
not much else going on but soccer, work, and school.  life is good.  it is hard, and not always fun- but we have it pretty good overall. 

Mother's Day and SKYPE

 yeah for SKYPE!!!  we started around 10:30 and went till just past noon.  Brother Fowler came in and told Ben time was up and that dessert was ready.  Then he told us all how great Ben is and how much they love him.  WOW

 It was so fun to talk to Ben.  he is the same old Ben, but with a new layer.  he is focused on what he is doing.  he is strong.  he is self-confident.  he is HAPPY!!!  he is so happy and loves where he is and what he's doing.  he would like to move on to a new area, and so he just might the first of June. 

 he told us about his week last week.  he went to the temple on pday and said that he loved it- and had some new thoughts that blew his mind.  he and his companion got to cast out an evil spirit from someone they met on the street.  they went to a pentacostal meeting that he said he didn't like and it was absolutely crazy.  they had a baptism on saturday!  Ben got to baptize Margaret.  she is a convert from Africa.  she went to the B of M musical, and wanted to learn about the church after that.  Ben says that the musical is great advertising.  i believe she is from Africa. 

 it was a really fun chat.  we are super proud of this kid.  he is not making us worry about him at all!!  he doesn't seem down, doesn't seem frustrtated...just happy.  what is better than that?

 Ben describing kababs here.  he says they're super unhealthy, but they kinda sound good.

 here is the pot that Ayden made me for mother's day.  WOW is all i can say.  he did such an amazing job!!  he is very good in shop. 

 here is a candle holder that Ben sent from England.  he asked me today if it was scary.  but no, it is not scary

 here are some turquoise and silver earrings that Pete bought in Banff at my fave place- the rock shop.  he says they look like raindrops which remind him of England and Ben. 

 ...and...the bath stuff.  my favorite place to relax.  what a pretty great mother's day!!!