June 3, 1984

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

We are Billings today and it's so good to be able to go to church with Johnny and then come home and have dinner together. Daddy arranged his schedule so we could be with him this week and most of next to take part in his graduation activities and the funniest thing happened. We went to church at 1 o'clock and it was Fast & Testimony meeting - after the meeting one of the women came up to me and said, "How come you're not at Johnny's Baccalaureate Exercises - we about died so we found out where they were being held and we got Johnny and raced to them - we were about thirty minutes late but we can say we were there - he didn't have time to come back to the Mission Home to get his cap & gown on and he felt silly about that but like we always say, "We made a memory". He gets no help from his parents about things like this and he said he didn't know they were today. One thing for sure, we won't miss his graduation ceremony!!!

Susanna & Jessie - thank you so much for the beautiful pictures. We really love your letters and we're so proud of the way you can write to us. You will have to play school all Summer so you won't forget the things you have learned. We have put them on our refrigerator and they look so pretty and remind us of you all day long. We wanted to put this pictures of little LeeAnna in the middle of our letter today because I have forgotten to have it copied. We think she looks like both of.

Jeannie - we loved talking to you and we're thrilled you are going to be able to bring the children to Billings instead of having us meet you in Wyoming to get them - we think it will be much easier on them for you to get them settled here before you leave. It's sad to hear about Rick's Mom and we wish we could help her in some way. We know you're getting excited about you trip!!!!

Bob & Claire and Roy - we didn't hear from you this week I mention that - not to make you feel bad for not writing but to just include you in my letter! When Jeannie called the other night, she said, almost out of breath, "I'm so sorry it had been so long since I have written". Believe me, we know how busy you all are and if we hear from you once a month that's just great! Roy - we have worried about all the flooding in Connecticut and hope it hasn't affected Patrice's family. The pictures of it on the television have looked just terrible!!

This has been a fun and relaxing week. I fussed around the house and cleaned some of the strawberry punch off the rug from the wedding and re-cleaned the windows, etc. On Tuesday and then Wednesday and Thursday I made cookies, cookies and more cookies - I must have about fifty dozen cookies all frozen; p-nut butter, molasses and oatmeal with raisins. The missionaries I the hope have been in heaven all week. Thursday afternoon just as I was finishing the last batch a man who delivers ice-cream around the city came into the home with ALL his outdated ice cream. You just wouldn't believe all the ice cream he brought to us - we cleaned out all the freezer space and crammed it full of ice cream and then we called the town missionaries an they came over and got the rest. We had the whole house filled with missionaries eating ice cream and cookies for most of the afternoon. There are a lot of people in Billings now who are really helping the missionaries with their food - one member gives them all his outdated milk and they are constantly giving them meat from their freezers. I just can't tell you how much we all like the new kitchen arrangement - the house Elders are so good to clean up in the kitchen and they just help all over the house now instead of living it up to Brenda or me. I couldn't find the towels in the guest bathroom after the wedding and when I asked about them one of the Elders said, "Oh, Sister Mellor, I just gathered them up with my towels and they're in dryer" - a few minutes later I checked and he had neatly folded them and hung them in the bathroom. They are constantly doing little things that really help - it's because they feel responsible where before they didn't!!

Friday afternoon, Johnny and Daddy & I packed up our sleeping bags and put some food in our little ice chests and just told the house Elders we were leaving until Saturday afternoon. We went into the part of Yellowstone that's in our Mission and we really had a wonderful time. Johnny borrowed a zoom lens from one of the Elders for our camera and he took a lot of pictures of animals - we saw everything except a bear. I have never seen so many buffalo as we saw this time and lots of Elk and Moose. We saw two buffaloes swim across the river and that was really neat and then we saw a lot of baby buffalo that looked like they had just been born. The park isn't officially opening for the public until this next week and that's why we saw so many animals - we thought sure we would see some bear but we didn't. We found a picnic spot and made a fire and cooked steaks and baked potatoes - we were starving and they were just wonderful. Our little cabin didn't have a television and that was even wonderful - we just visited and planned Johnny's Fall Semester classes. We slept until almost nine o'clock and I couldn't believe it until I realized that it was so quiet - I just never sleep the entire night through here in the Mission Home because it is so noisy all the time - either with Elders or phones ringing or fans going or something!!! We got back yesterday afternoon about 5 o'clock and the Mission had gone along just as well without us.

It's wonderful having Johnny through school and just being around the house without a lot of pressure on him to do this or do that. He is going to spend time going through his closets and drawers and cleaning things out because he won't be home long enough to do that anymore. He called BYU and registered for the Fall Semester on the computer - that was really neat. We fouled up things so he couldn't do that for the Summer Semester. He had said on his original application that he wanted to major in Business Administration so they sent him the information from that department and he just ignored it because he later decided to major in the Sciences. It was on that form that he should have sent in so they would send him his registration form to call it in on the computer. We think we have it all straightened out - he is going to take English 115, Book of Mormon and P.E. this Summer. In the Fall he is going to take Honors Analytical Geometry & Calculus, Biology, Religion, Chemistry and P.E. We think he will probably leave here June 23rd - Freshman Orientation is on the 25th - he's getting excited!!! He has been on a diet and has lost about ten pounds - he really looks good!

Last Monday night I finished my letter about 10:30 and Daddy went to the downtown Post Office to mail it with me so it would go out faster. Well - the building was locked so we mailed the letters in one of those mail drops out by the Post Office and then discovered they didn't pick it up until the next afternoon at 3:45. When Jeannie called she said she got her letter on Thursday - Daddy kept reminding me they would have gone out faster it I had let the Elders take them to the Post Office on Tuesday morning.

I didn't send you the May Mission Bell - that was the Mother's Day issue and they put my pictures on the front of it again and I just hate to think of that going through the mail. They are so sweet and try to please me in every way they can. Our baptisms are really down and we don't know what to do. The biggest reason is because the church changed the age for the Indian placement children (I believe I told you about that). This really affects our baptisms and also those in South Dakota - they are down about 55% and we are down about 25%. We have traveled to the missionary conference once a month now where we used to go every other month and that hasn't helped so I don't know what else we can do. I told you we would go to Canada in August for the Mission President's Seminar - they have changed that to September 10th and 11th that will be a fun trip!!

Johnny went to a special Seminary Officer's party at the home of one of the officers. That has really been good for him and he has done a good job. The Bi-Stake Seminary Council President is a good friend of Johnny's and he is a champion wrestler - about a month ago he was in the mall here in Billings when a lady screamed that a man had stolen her purse. This young man chased the thief and caught up to him out on the parking lot and got the purse and brought him back to the mall - his picture was in the paper and he is quite a hero.

I think that's all the news. We called Grandpa Forrest last night - yesterday was his 88th birthday - they're both doing fine. Dee & Judy and their family are in New York welcoming their new grandson. Don had been helping them with their sprinkling system!!

We love you all very much - PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO - Let us know how we can help you!



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