An update from Spencer!!!

Well this last week was very good! I had a TON of miracles happen.. its been quite amazing. This week we committed 12 people to baptism just right on the streets! It was awesome and helped us out too. Now we have 4 baptismal dates with Giovanni on the way for his own this week. We found a really neat family named the Ocampos. They have a lot of potential. We set up a date with the oldest son whose name is Eli, it looks promising. We also have been working with some other families and yeah the work is going! We have been pretty low on our allotment of car miles so we had to walk a lot this last week. We had a lot of contacting going and ran into a lot of different people. One guy, who was drunk, got down on his knees and started asking me for forgiveness! I told him, " I can't forgive you only God can. " It was pretty sad though.. The world cup is going on now too and, being here, its a pretty big deal. a lot of people became sad at the news that Mexico lost so that was an interesting day. Soccer of course is huge here. I have actually started to like it too myself! haha weird I know. anyway Thursday was a pretty emotional day. It was Zone conference so I was able to give my "final" testimony there. I cried the whole time explaining how I couldn't believe I was standing in front of them all! I still cant believe I don't have much time left.. I don't feel it at all! Alright so for the miracles; I couldn't believe it, but last Sunday I was able to perform the baptism of one of my investigators whom I worked so hard with: Jxxx Duran. yeah I couldn't believe it! For 8 months did I struggle with this guy and his alcohol addiction, but he overcame it and was able to be baptized... and like I said he gave me the honor of performing it... I tell you that was one of the happiest moments of my life (and reliefs haha) it was awesome. After he came out of the water I was able to embrace him.. the Spirit was strong. As well, earlier that Sunday we had stake conference and to my surprise an investigator whom I thought would never ever be interested in what we have, called us up in the morning to tell us he was going to church! His name was Lou and let me tell you if you saw him, you wouldn't believe he came to church. He is trying to get over some addictions right now, he had tattoos all over him, and he swears quite a bit, but he came. The most surprising thing about it was at 4 am he woke up thinking of me! I guess my testimony and the hope I have had for this guy got to him and he explained that it was "Your God telling me to come to church" haha he loved it though. I guess you never know who will accept your testimony.. I have a lot of hope for him. anyway it was a good week :)

Alright mom well i love you and miss you. take care!

Elder Flitton

Isn't he wonderful!  I just love that boy!!!  I have been praying my heart out that he will enjoy these last few weeks and be able to accomplish the desires of his heart.  He so loves the gospel and the people he is serving.  I am so grateful for his willing and faithful spirit.  He is a wonderful example to us all.  See you soon son!

My college student! Kylee is enrolled full time in college for her senior year!

Soooo proud!

The Idiom 'You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family'

The Idiom 'You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family' has been on my mind a lot lately.

There are a few reasons for this. The first reason is; I believe it to be incorrect...you can choose your family. One example is our adoption. We chose to adopt...we chose what country we were going to adopt from...we chose what special needs we were prepared to deal with. She is our daughter, and our other childrens' little sister by choice. What a blessing we can choose!

We all know with the good comes the bad; the consequences of free agency. Which means we can also choose to disconnect or abandon our family relationships.

This is another reason I believe the idiom is incorrect. My opinion has to do with current relationships I have ( or don't have) with some members of my own family. For example...my father. He abandoned us as children and chose to live with another woman and step father her children when I was 3. I probably saw him 20 times after that. He chose not to be a part of our lives emotionally, physically , spiritually or financially. We suffered because of his choice, as has he...he might not know it yet :)

Some of the main ways we choose to be or not be a family have to do with staying in touch. I have several friends who have large families, many of the children and grandchildren live states away, but they choose to travel these distances for an occasional girls' night, baptisms, weddings, homecomings, farewells, and make it a priority to be together on holidays. Some families even pull all their financial resources to contribute to the members who would not be able to travel otherwise...because they value their family. I want to be like that :)

We can choose to send a card, a thank-you, a gift for an important event... or not.

It seems that family is as disposable as anything else in our society... I believe we emotionally divorce each other for whatever reason. And that's just sad :(.

I am grateful for those in my family that make that effort, and I hope to be able to keep my own family close once marriage, grandchildren and distance play a role...

It has been difficult not seeing Spencer or hearing his voice for these last two years. I can't even begin to express how excited everyone is in our household to see him again and hug him. Two years is a loooong time! We get to squeeze him in just 23 short days from today! Hooray!

So far Jensen, and Kylee also want to serve missions, so I will be doing this again and again. We have been so blessed by Spencer's unselfish decision to serve the Lord these last two years that the distance and not seeing him was bearable. We will happily support them! I am looking forward to what life brings our growing family.

Noble fathers have noble children... Happy Father's Day Jeff!

My husband is a wonderful unassuming man that leads our family with a quiet strength. For Father's Day this year I put together a slide show.  A Decade of Dad!  He is such a wonderful support and partner, not to mention father.  He lives his life in a noble way and what more could a woman want!  I love you Jeff!  Thanks for being a wonderful example to our children!  A picture is worth a thousand words.  Some of the things we love about him are  his fun personality, his sense of humor, how hard he works and provides for us, and how he puts his family first in his life.

Dallin & Faith with the promised picture of the blue cast

Productive Week!

Jensen got his learner's driving permit with his friend Blake. 

Kylee was asked to be on seminary council and accepted the calling.  One of her first responsibilities was helping with seminary graduation yesterday!  She and Jensen also went to youth conference and did service projects around our city!

  Faith is potty trained!  Congrats to all 3!

School Spirit! Orange and Blue!

Boyz with be Boyz Part 8 and 9

I believe I failed to mention that right before we left for China my dear friend had informed me that my sweet son Dallin broke a window in her home.  She told me this in December and the window had been broken the summer before...hmmmm.  She was hoping he would come home and be honest with me and decided to give him some time.  In Dallin's defense...they gave him so much time he forgot.  So we paid for the window and that is part 8 of our continuing story of Boyz will be Boyz. 

Memorial Weekend Dallin again decided we needed an update to our story and decided to ride a bike at a friends home in the rain right before our annual camping trip to Sunlakes.  Turns out he hit some gravel and his wrist and growth plate were involved.  We almost cancelled our vacation thinking he was to have surgery.  Fortunately, the doctor was able to reset the bone, and now he is in a beautiful blue cast.  I will have to get a picture of the new cast.  This picture is him fishing with one hand on our trip.  Since returning home,  his bone has shifted, and now not perfectly set.  Because it has already started to heal that way,  we were advises to leave it alone.  So if he has one arm shorter it's not our fault...right?

Invited to her +1st BirThDaY PaRtY+