October 17, 1982 Billings, Montana

Dearest Roy, Bob, Claire & Michael, Rick, Jean, Ricky, Barbara Jean & Mary Ann, Ron, Ann, Susanna, Jessie & Russell,

Wow!!! Our Family is really growing and we're so proud of our new little granddaughter - Mary Ann. We just talked to Jeannie and Rick - Jeannie and the baby came home Friday and they're both doing really good - Mary Ann weighs 4lb. 11 oz. now and I can't imagine a baby that tiny - I'm afraid I would do nothing but sit and watch her and make sure she was breathing all the time. I also can't imagine you doing as well as you sound Jeannie going to a church dance last night (just to hear the band) when the baby wasn't a week old and having a caesarian birth - this younger generation!!!! Please use god judgment in the things you do because how you take care of yourself now will determine your health in years to come. We're thrilled that they have laid the foundation for your new home - that is so exciting and it will be so much fun for you to watch it go up.

Annie and Ron - it was fun to talk to you yesterday and you sound so busy and happy. We're thrilled that Annie is going to be able to go to Boston with Ron on a business trip - you will love Boston and we hope you will get to see some things that you want to. I think it's so neat that one of Ron's students and his wife will come stay in your home and care for Susanna and Jessie (they will take little Russell because Ann is still nursing him). You have some of the smartest baby sitting situations that I know of - your little children are always so well cared for and are happy and then you can enjoy yourselves. I sometimes cringe when I think of how we left you in Phoenix - I think you all had a guardian angel watching over you. We didn't leave you very much when you were really small but if I had it to do over again I would.

Roy - we really loved your wonderful letter and also those wonderful pictures - the ones taken while you were here turned out so good and the one of you and Patrice is really good - she looks so nice in her long fancy dress and your tuxedo looks mighty sharp!!!! We enjoyed the ones of the Powers too - Dianne looks more her age than she ever has and I think Garry has aged some too - little Jaime and Janni are growing up so cute. We had a long letter from Dianne telling us about Garic's accident - I think I told you about that. We're anxious to hear any news you might have about your internship with the Air Force.

Bob and Claire - Ann told us she had talked to you Bob and that all was well in Little Rock. Daddy is wondering if you're going to be able to go duck hunting - he is really getting the hunting fever and of course he won't be able to go - everyone around here goes hunting or talks about going and we went to Riverton one day last week and I know we saw at least five hundred deer and antelope on the side of the roads and all kinds of duck and green flying around. When is Cand's baby due? Will she be able to care for Michael after her baby comes you will practically have a nursery in your home if she is still caring for that other baby.

Johnny has this Thursday and Friday off and he is begging us to let him drive to Utah for the weekend. He has a friend whose brother is at BYU so he could go with him and stay with his brother and I'm sure Johnny would like to stay with Ann and Ron - he just sprung this on us - we didn't even know he had Thursday and Friday off. Their Explorer Post is putting on a dance Wednesday and Johnny is going to donate all his stereo equipment and play for it and we thought it was unusual that they would let them dance until midnight on a school night - we're always the last to know what's going on.

We just came home from Lovell where we went early this morning for their Stake Conference. That is the sweetest group of people - there were about 1500 thee and I know that at least 1000 of them were over 70. Their Stake President is the one whose wife had cancer surgery that I told you about - she has that scar down from her ear and across her throat where they took out some glands. She sat on the front row with her family - they have ten children - and she looks really good (she's really a pretty woman. Their oldest son just left for New York on his mission and she said he had a really hard time in the big city so they moved him to a little town in New Jersey - they live in Byron, Wyo. and the population is 450 so you can understand what New York would do to him!!!! Brother Featherstone was their General Authority and he is a wonderful speaker - Daddy talked for about then minutes and then there was forty five minutes left and I worried that it would be boring but is wasn't - he could have talked all afternoon and they would have stayed to listen. President Abraham's goal is to have a temple built in that area within the next five years - wouldn't that be great for those people? After the conference Daddy and I took our missionaries out to dinner - that gets expensive but it surely means a lot to them. One of our missionaries down there has lost fifty pound in the last two months - he really needed to lose that much it has had a bad effect on his nervous system and he shakes so much he is worried that he has Parkinson' disease - missions are hard on young men who are not very mature. Lovell is an ideal place to serve because fifty percent of the population is Mormon and they always have invitations to dinner and the members are so kind to them and that's why Daddy put this Elder in Lovell.

We went to Riverton last Wednesday - we left about 8 a.m. and got home about 10 a.m. and we had driven about six hundred miles. One of our missionary couples is about ready to go home and we had never been down to visit with them - they have done a marvelous service there. When they first went there they put them in a large trailer in a KOA camping spot and they also had church services in this trailer. Brother Larsen (they're from Roosevelt, Utah) arranged with the church to buy a piece of property and they moved this trailer to the new spot and then he built an additional to it so now they have a beautiful little chapel on their own property. The only problem now is that we don't have missionary couple to take their place and if it is isn't watched over twenty-four hours a day they could do a lot of damage to it. We have another missionary couple coming in during November but they both have diabetes and from their resume Daddy doesn't think they would be suitable for an Indian Reservation - this is on the Fort Washakie Reservation. The lady in this new missionary couple is from Tremonton, Utah but I don't know her - she is 60 years old.

Daddy is going to move this Elder who was supposed to be the secretary to the Fort Washakie area - he is the sweetest young man in the World but he couldn't type fast enough. The secretary's job is one of the most important in the mission office. He doesn't know who is going to be able to take Elder Spencer's place but he will have to find someone soon.

Friday I decided to wear clothes and work out in the garden - Daddy came to help me and we pulled up all the carrots, Kohlrabi, onions and potatoes and put them in dirt in the shed. Then we worked out in the flower garden and pulled up all the plants that had been frosted - the yard looks just beautiful - we still have a lot of roses blooming and I believe they have been the most beautiful roses I have ever seen and we have had them all Summer. You wouldn't believe our pantry - we have shelves filled with green tomatoes and one by one they get ripe and we have loved them. The weather is just gorgeous here and the trees around the mission home are a bright golden color - we'll take some pictures.

I am taking an Institute Class on the Book of Mormon - did I tell you about it? I am by far the dumbest one in the class but I am determined to learn it - our teacher is Jerry Burns and he is so good - most of the students are from the college Wards here so he teaches it on their level and it is really interesting. Brenda Lowe is an avid reader and being a convert to the church she has read everything she can get her hands on and she is really the smartest student in the class - I'm going to study with her so maybe some of it will rub off on me - she really knows her Bible better than most Mormons and that's impressive - we're so proud of her.

Grandmother and Grandpa Forrest called when they heard about little Mary Ann - they're son thrilled for the Weinerts. Grandpa has lost the hearing in his left ear so they have fitted him with a hearing aid - I think it's so wonderful that they could help him. I get upset with Daddy because he won't wear his (vanity!) and I surely hope Grandpa will wear it and get used to it. I know it must be hard to get used to things like that. Grandmother says she is still weak but they are able to do a lot of things and that's great!!!!

We love each one of you so very much - PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO!!!! Wish we could be of more help to you.
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