January 18, 1987 Orem, Utah

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

It's Sunday afternoon and it is really a cold day - when we got up this morning Daddy checked the outside thermostat and it was 6 degree and now it is 21. It was so funny - we went to the temple Thursday morning about 11 o'clock and we turned the heat off as we usually do - we didn't get home until about 9:30 and it was time to go to bed so we didn't turn it back on. When we got up on Friday morning the toilet in our bedroom had frozen - Daddy was worried the pipes would break so he called the plumber but before he could get here they had thawed out. We always worried about the pipes freezing over in the Lehi house, especially the ones in the ceiling, but we didn't expect that over here. We saw on the weather news the other night that it was -31 in Billings - we remember those days!!!!

Johnny - it sounds like you are having really hot weather. I work with a lady in the temple who was on the temple mission in Chile and she had talked to her friend in Santiago the day before and she had told her it was too hot to sleep!!!! Do you have any kind of air conditioning? We loved your letter that was written the day after New Years - you really sound busy and the experiences you are having dealing with companionships are so hard at the time but they will help you throughout your life. Remember how frightened everyone was to be a companion to elder Pottberg - I believe he had a new companion every month. Daddy went through our mission scrapbook last night to see if he could find things that might help you - motivational things. He is going to have some copied and send to you - be very discreet in using them because it is hard on Mission Presidents to have things brought in from other Missions. Look through them and see if any might give you some ideas and then just throw them away. We had such a sweet letter from Sister Juchau and she sent us a picture of you and Elder Ogles with your Christmas package - it was just a wonderful picture and we appreciated it so much. Your mission has brought us so many blessings - people we would never have known have done the nicest things. We laughed when she said you had sent our "heirloom bag" home with them - Daddy said, "Well, it wasn't an heirloom but it will be now". I don't even know who it belonged to but I think it was either Ann or Jeans when they were in High School. Sister Juchau said they would bring the video down to show us - I believe they have a daughter living here - we will be happy to meet hem. (Johnny said that the Mission President and his wife and family went to Vina Del Mar for New Years so he and his companion got to stay in the mission home and care for it over night - we're so proud that they could trust you to do that!)

We have had a very calm and uneventful week - we have talked to Ann & Jean but we haven't been together. They are all doing fine. Jeannie had an exciting night one night last week - their furnace went off and she couldn't get it started - she said she called Rick at 3 o'clock in the morning in Idaho and asked him what to do. He told her someone to call and she waited until a more decent hour and then called them and she said they were there by 7. Their motor had to be replaced but it is all fixed by now. It was a bitter cold night and they had had a lot of wind in Farmington - she said she turned her water bed up high and put all the kids in together to get warm.

Ron has really done a lot of trick photography that has taken a lot of time to get our Christmas pictures ready for us - we think they turned out wonderful and have sent almost 100 of them to our friends. We'll enclose a copy of our New Year's letter and the pictures so you can see what we sent. We just love that picture - the only one it isn't good of is Sarah and she has her head turned - Jimmy is kinda' crying but you expect that of a baby. We really appreciate Ron helping us with that - we sent our letters off yesterday morning and when I took them to the post office I told them they were our Christmas cards - Ha!

This has been a special week in Little Rock for the members of the church. They had their first Stake Conference in their new building out at Otter Creek. They have had three days of special events starting with a piano concert by Lladimar Khonski (sp.?) on Friday night - he was the Polish man who came to Billings while we were there. The Cobbs sent us a special invitation along with a very nice letter and a little magnet they were giving out at the conference with the words, "Families Can Be Together". We ordered an arrangement of flowers or a fern to be sent to the Stake Center - I hope they got it. We have thought about our experiences there when you were all growing up and how few people came to church and now they have two stakes!!!! We had a young woman speak in church this morning who had just returned from the Alabama Mission and she told about a branch that was almost entirely black - that's really hard to imagine!!!

Chris & Wayne are going to Florida on February 9th. The talked to them the other night and they are so excited - they have bought a them the other night and they are so excited - they have bought a pop up tent trailer and have customized their new van. We have decided to not go with them this time - we'll plan a trip maybe in the Fall - we have talked about going to Alaska together. They are coming out sometime in the summer and want to camp in cedar Breaks (down by Cedar City) and we'll take our trailer and that will be fun.

Daddy has been re-finishing that old rocker this week. The wood part of it is oak and it is just beautiful. The part he has done is so nice but I really fouled up my part - we bought some beautiful upholstery material but I didn't cut it right and the pattern is going cross-wise when it should be up and down and then I cut it too short on the sides and we'll have to use a lot of braid to cover it up - oh well!!! I don't want to start another page so I'll close for now.
Return to Home Page