October 7, 1984 Billings, Montana

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

We just finished watching General Conference - it is really nice to be able to enjoy all the sessions yesterday and today. In Little Rock we had to go to the chapel and then we didn't get some of it. We thought it was really good and it was great that Pres. Kimball & Pres. Romney too could be there for some sessions. We are experiencing a lot of opposition to the church here in Billings and last night in the paper there was another article written by two non-members about how the church didn't have a very bright future - it's funny because so many of these articles arouse interest in the church that would never be there and often bring about baptisms. It's the fastest growing religion in the world today and I guess we have to expect opposition - we felt that Bro. Packer & Bro. McConkie' talks expressed the church's stand on all these articles and demonstrations. It is so much more interesting for us to watch conference now because we have been with so man of the men who participate and it was good to see Joanne Doxey on the stand too!

Annie - we talked to Johnny yesterday and he said you made cookies with him and he really loved them - that's so sweet of you with everything else you have to do. He also told us that Russell fell on the bricks and cut his forehead and had to have stitches - I'll bet that scare you to pieces - head cuts always bleed so bad!! We hope he won't have a scar but if he does he'll look more like a normal boy! We have laughed about Jessie calling Old Faithful "Old Thankful"!!! Your family outings on your bikes sounds like so much fun!

Bob & Claire - thanks so much for calling today. I haven't talked to Michael since he has learned to talk so well and it is hard to believe that is really him - what a cutie!!! Bob had this weekend off and they were really enjoying it - I'm sure you must really get weary of the long,. Hard grind but it will really be worth it in the long run. I love to hear Russell Nelson talk because you can just feel his love & compassion for people and I'm sure that comes from his medical training. I'm anxious for your to meet Joanne Doxey, Claire (Joanne & Dave are going to be the speakers for a fireside in Memphis in a couple weeks). We are dying to see Laura and would love to have you come so give us your options!

Johnny - we really have a hard time getting in touch with you so we loved talking to you yesterday and it was w0nderful to hear that you went to the Montana Billings Mission reunion! It was neat to hear the names of the missionaries you saw who have served with us - Daddy & I laughed because we are always telling the missionaries they have eighteen months to serve and the rest of their lives to either enjoy it or regret it and we have three years to serve and the rest of our lives to live with haying missionary reunions and receiving wedding and birth announcements - we love it though and it will really enrich our lives. We're glad to hear you are studying and enjoying your classes. Your calculator sounds great - he sure you engrave your name on it. Have you asked our roommate what stake he is in Houston? Maybe Pres. Ezell is his Stake President. Bill called the other day right after we had talked to you - he was home from Bozeman for a couple days and wanted to know how you were doing - he got your address. WE really miss having Bill & Dave & Brent and the others come around once in awhile!

Ricky - we really love your letters and we put them on our refrigerator and we also love your pictures (Jeannie has had his picture professionally done and he looks like he could talk to you). PaPa is really anxious to go fishing with you again so be looking for a good place in Utah! Mary Ann will have her second birthday this coming Wednesday and I'll bet she will have a birthday cake and maybe you and Barji will help decorate it!!! PaPa washed the fox's tail so it would smell better and then he tried to take the bone out of it and the very end of it broke off but is still pretty - the next thing you know we will be stopping on the highway for PaPa to cut the tail off a skunk that has been run over by a car - ugh!!!!

Roy - we have heard a lot about Brown University in the news lately! I'm sure you have heard that some of the students there are trying to get the health center there to stock come cyanide pills to take in case of a nuclear war - we don't agree with that and I'm sure you don't either but it has been fun to see the pictures of the campus on television and listen to the interviews with the students. I'm sure the concensus of opinion is that at least it makes e4veryone more aware of the real danger of nuclear war! Do you remember David & San Firmage?

They live in Maine and he teaches at Colby college there. They spent a year in Little Rock when he was on sabbatical leave and they remember meeting you, probably at church. Well - last week he were in Missoula for a missionary meeting and who should come walking in but David Firmage. He received his doctorate in Missoula and they had invited him to come back this week for a special teaching seminar - the stake president in Missoula also teaches there and they had been talking and he told them we would be there that evening so he took a cab out to the church to see us. They have a son who is Johnny's age - Ken is attending Colby this year and then after his mission will go the BYU. They had a little girl in my Primary class. Then they have a son and I believe his name is Ian who has some kind of disease (I believe it is arthritic and he has had a lot of problems but he is an absolutely darling young man (probably about 13). Anyway - my point is - they take him to Brigham-Women's Hospital in Boston quite often for some kind of treatment and David was so happy to hear that you are doing your residency there and he said he would look you up the next time they go there. There are SPECIAL people!

We went to the North East part of the State last Saturday - in fact, we went about 400 miles going to Glendive and then on to Wolfpoint, Montana for their Sunday meetings. Daddy is directly over that part of the mission because they're no organized into stakes & wards. We have had a missionary couple in Wolfpoint for the past year and they have really been a pain in the neck - Daddy put him in as Branch President and he has wanted to call all the Lamanite people up there to repentance and excommunicate half of them and not baptize any of the ones our other missionaries have taught and converted. Finally, Daddy decided to remove him as Branch President and wow, for the fireworks!!! They had signed up for an eighteen month mission but decided to go home immediately and he wrote to Bro. Faust of the Council of the Twelve and everything. We went up there to try to calm him down and he wouldn't even see us or the mission. There is a new Branch President there now and at the meeting on Sunday everyone was so happy to have the missionary couple gone - it has been sad!!!

We got home from the Northeastern part of the state on Sunday night late and then left Monday afternoon to go the opposite direction that far - we had meetings early Tuesday morning in Polson and then in Missoula and we came home that night, getting here about 1 p.m. Wednesday. That is absolutely gorgeous country - our motel in Polson was right across from Flathead lake and we felt like we were in California. This is a beautiful time of year too!

Thursday we went to Cody to meet the new director of the Visitor's Center there. He and his wife are from Spanish Fork, Utah - Elder & Sister Warner and they are really nice people. There have been two couples there for the last year but we are so short of couples in the mission now that Daddy told them they would have to run it by themselves with the help of the Seventies in Cody - they are a little worried about that but they won't have many visitors during the Winter months. Friday morning, the old director and his wife came by to see us on their way home to California - they have been here for eighteen months and we have really grown to love them - they are only converts of three years and they have done a fabulous job! They have just received a beautiful new bronze sculpture (I guess that's what it is called) for the visitor's center. It was made in Mapleton, Utah and it has a husband, wife carrying a little girl, and a little boy on one of four horses and the horses are pulling a "fresno" like they used in the pioneer age in the Bighorn Valley of Wyoming - it is really something!

Chris Jordin called me this afternoon and we had the best (and long) visit - she said the Little Rock Ward has really changed and we wouldn't know very many people there. I'm so grateful for friends like Chris & Marc. I have "one" friend in Billings and she is the Relief Society President here and I think she feels obligated to be my friend!

The missionaries invited us to breakfast yesterday morning - I went down but I didn't eat with them but Daddy did. You wouldn't believe what they had - pancakes made with real butter, strawberries & whipped cream to go on top of the pancakes, cinnamon rolls they had made from those Pillsbury canned rolls, huge plates of sausage & Scrambled eggs, and orange juice & milk. I told them I would make them some missionary food today so I made some baked beans with leftover pork - I'll bet anything they won't eat it. We have had a missionary in the home for a couple days who wants to go home and I think they are trying to kill him with kindness!!!

Daddy just came in & said the Chicago Cubs lost their baseball game - we wanted them to win. We love each one of you so very much - PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO - let us know how we can help you!














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