How was your week? Did you make it a good one? How are things going with your new companion? What is his name? I don't think you ever told us. :) Have you found a way to serve him so you can find the good things about him and be happy? It's a choice you know (your choice)...what school did that come from? hahaha I can't remember.
Hey, I was thinking about the whole knife/sword thing...do your Zone Leaders know he has those? I really don't think they are allowed on missions. I'm pretty sure that's breaking the rules :/
Your apartment doesn't sound too bad, just a little small. It will help you appreciate things in your life. Be grateful you aren't sleeping on the floor with bugs crawling all over you...hehe
We have been praying for you everyday, specifically about the challenges you are having. I hope things are better this week. :)
Hudson is doing great. He has tons of homework and seems to work on it from the second he gets home everyday until he goes to bed or leaves for water polo practice. If he's not doing either of those things, he is usually sleeping! He signed up for some AP classes next year so I'm guessing he will be completely giving up television. He eats literally a ton of food everyday. It's almost like a joke! Most days I get a text about 10:30 telling me he already ate his whole lunch and can I please bring him more food. What?!?! He already takes two sandwiches, fruit, granola bars, fruit bars, crackers, chips, protein bars, a dessert, I mean...seriously??? The dude eats a vat of malto meal every chance he gets. He eats more than the rest of us put together. I feel like I have to buy him clothes every other day of his life because he outgrew the ones he had. He wears size 13 shoes. I don't know if I can even find bigger ones and if I can, I can't imagine how much they will cost me... all the extra materials and such...hahaha He is still practicing for the Dancing With the Stars fundraiser. They worked two days on that last week and one of them was with the choreographer. They are doing the Jive. Lileigh's mom really wants them to win. It's hilarious! The competition is on May 16th. The Varsity Dance team chose athletes to be their "stars". I'm sure it will be funny. Chip is doing it and I think Michael Payne is too. I finally talked the mom into a lifeguard theme so Hudson could wear sweats and a tank top instead of black pants and hot pink shirt with a lovely bedazzled vest. He was about to die! I will for sure get pics of that to send you!
Hayden is great too! She had a nice time at Prom and she looked beautiful. I will attach a pic so you can see her. She was home by 11:30 that night. :) Armani had lifeguard training the next day and she had Nationals for soccer. It was a win win for me! HA! She is anxious of course for school to be over and is counting down the days. She goes to Knotts tomorrow and finishes club soccer in the next couple of weeks then she will be getting a job and start saving her money. She starts soccer for college in July so she will get a nice break and do some cross training to stay in shape plus the college coach has a training program that starts sometime in May that she will do on her own. She runs 3 miles at least twice a week on her off practice days. I think one of my friends, Erin Hayden (do you remember her), owns a cross fit gym in the area. I'm going to ask her if she has any openings for front desk help. As you can imagine Hayden has a gazillion make ups to do for Seminary and is working on them. She is seriously running out of time and needs to get her booty in gear on those! Gee, I wonder where she gets that from... ;) Lindsley has proven to be just as special of a teacher as you warned. He is a nightmare but Hayden is pushing through. She's talked to her counselor several times about him and I have even talked to the counselor. It's almost over though and I promise Hudson will not have that guy as a teacher!!
Dad and I are good. We are working hard and happy. We are really busy doing life and planning for the future. We spend so much time laughing about different things, the good, the bad, and the ugly! What's life without a sense of humor? :) We are all so excited to talk to you on Mother's Day!! It is really so close!! We can't wait!!
Love you, MOM <3
Hello to all my worshippers ;) haha jk... You might wanna take that certain part out mom...thats for you guys haha. I am so happy that I get to skype all of you soon. I have a mother's day present for you guys...that I am trying to send home before its too late. I hope you will like it. This past week went a lot better than last because I realized that Life is too short to be miserable for any amount of time. Plus Grandma Rasmussen sent me a really good quote that must have been totally inspired because it said to choose to be happy...it is a choice, and it is my choice. Or something like that haha...but it was really good, and it made me realize also that happiness is not based off of what we have in life, or off of recognition or anything else. Its based off of our thought process and whether we choose to be happy or not. Last week I emailed you guys that I was having difficulties with my companion because lets face it...he's a freak. BUT...this past week I have focused on trying to be as kind as possible...even when I would like to shove his head in a blender. It actually has been lifting my mood as I work hard to look for the good in him and compliment him all the time. It helps me feel better about myself because I am being Christlike, and in turn it is helping him have more self confidence, which may be all he needs. I had an interesting experience this week. We had dinner at this man's home up in the wealthier part of our area, up the mountain, and this guy we had dinner with was maybe a little weird and really quiet/awkward in high school and when he was younger, and some of it may have carried into his adulthood. He has 8 kids that range from like 18 to 3...which should not be legal, in my opinion, but for some reason it is. And he was very good at playing the piano. His daughter and some other girl got up and sang a duet in sacrament meeting last sunday and he played the piano for them...and the whole time I just kept thinking....she sucks compared to Hayden, because she really did haha. But anyways...we were eating dinner at his house, and this guy is like 51 I think is what he said, and his wife is in her 40's...and he told us this story about how when he was in high school the best athlete of them all, some guy on the basketball team, came up to him and thumped him on the chest one day and said...you will never be better than me at anything. And this guy said back to him...okay, lets go play the piano. And after that the basketball star never said another word to him. The reason I share this story is because It really made me think. This guy is now 51 years old, and he still remembers that bully saying those mean things to him...after all this time and it still affects him today. It made me really think about the things I say to people and how it could hurt their feelings and they will never forget it for the rest of their lives. So I always try and be kind and speak kind words to everyone, because I never know if what I say could hurt someone so bad that they will never forget it. That is why I also try to be nice to my companion...as crazy and weird and maniacal as he is, because I want to be the companion that he grows the most with, and that he has the best mission experience with. I dont wanna be the one who makes his mission a bad experience, even for the smallest amount of time. I have really had to excersize a lot of patience this week and turn everything, (just like you said mom), over to Jesus Christ, and have faith that he will pick up the slack. And he has a lot this week. I am so much more content with how things went this week as opposed to last week.
My companion's name is Elder Vance by the way. He loves swords..and yes mother, they are allowed. Good thing I watched the whole Buffy The Vampire Slayer Series before I left. This way I can defend myself using the methods I learned on the show. hahahahaha. But fo real though. I had some good experiences this week. I went on a split with a return missionary who's name is Christian and we taught this woman who is really going through a hard time family wise and her sons never come and visit her and she has MS and her husband left her and took the kids with him and they live right around the corner but say they always get busy with school and stuff to come visit her. She cried the whole lesson and said she hopes the Gospel can bring peace to her life. I am very excited to start working with her and help her be as happy and peaceful as I am with the blessings of the gospel. People can say whatever they want to try and disprove the reality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but this stuff doesn't just happen, the spirit is not something we create...it is real and touches these people's hearts. And no one can ever take that truth away. I can't believe that It has now been 5 months since I left our humble crazy abode haha. I am almost at the 6 month mark!! I get to burn a tie! I will burn this ugly one I found in my last apartment, not one of the nice ones we got. Dont worry :) I am almost a quarter of the way done with my mission. I will be back sooner than you think! That was funny what you said about Hudson. I remember I used to text you too and say I needed more food, I guess it just runs in this awesome family we have <3 I have gotten permission to get a Whitney Houston CD! I am soo excited because you guys all know that I was born to sing......And I have been told that I can hit those Whitney notes, so now I can put it into play haha. Literally. Hey mom...do you remember this...Da Gum! - credits to Sarah and Hayden...discredit to mom, for trying to jump in and sound cooler than she thinks she is. ;P I love you guys a lot and can't wait to talk with you guys very soon over skype. I will try to find members that are cool to skype with you at. Love you - E. Kelley
Elder Kelley,I can't remember if I got a letter from you last week it's a blurr. But I did read The one you sent to Mom. I remember being in the same exact situation. The solution was that we just started talking to people on the street and in the neighborhoods of the members of the ward via tracting or street contacting. We started teaching lessons in every member home we could get in. Literally within a couple of weeks people started saying hey these elders are hard workers I like them. It was simple we created a new vibe just by working. Someone once said if you're on fire people will come from all around just to watch you burn and it's true. Humans are a curious bunch. They can't help but wonder what all the commotion is about when there is a flurry of activity happening around them. They just have to know what's going on. They almost always want to be part of something exciting. So remember, a single spark can start a whole city on fire. As for your comp he needs a reason to be more interested in his misson than those knives. Anyway if anyone can appeal to that ward and show them there's hope it's you..... just be yourself Mason. Nothing can fail if you are the real you. People will love you and your love for others. You don't have to go out of your way to show people that you genuinely care about others...it's just part of who you are so again be yourself. I love you. Let me know if you have any questions. I might not have all the answers but I can tell you what I did. The Lord is on you side!Love Dad
Hey dad just wanted to let you know that I got your email and really appreciate it. I will send you a letter this week with questions that I have! I am really pushed for time right now though and hope you enjoy the long email and the pictures I sent too. Thank you for your prayers. Please let Michael and Grandma Kelley know that I got their email and really loved them...especially the Britney Spears part in Michael's hahah.. I will respond to them next week I promise! Love you! Elder Kelley
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