May 2, 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:

How about this - I'm writing my letter on Saturday morning!!!! Daddy and I are going to Boston in the morning and we are so excited - Roy & Patrice are going to San Antonio to look for a home the week of May 9-16 and they have invited us to come be with them this next week and then stay in their apartment the week they are gone. This is such a wonderful opportunity for us to visit Boston and the surrounding areas that we couldn't pass it up - we will probably never have family living in the New England area again. We plan to come home on May 20th!!! Johnny, I hope the mail going to Chile from Massachusetts won't take any longer than from here - I promise to write so just be patient if you don't get letters as regularly as usual - Ha!

Johnny - we loved your long and newsy letter this week and you sound so "up" and happy - you mission has been an absolutely perfect one and you have given it your "all" and we are very, very proud of you!!! We know your Mission President has relied so much on you and that will be worth everything in future years. We're anxious to hear where you will be serving when you are released as an Assistant - it would be nice if you could go to some area you haven't been before. Daddy most always sent his Assistants to Casper, Wyoming for their last several months - that way they really appreciated where they had been - Ha!. The picnic with your Mission President and his family sounded fun - we hope you will tell us about it. (Johnny said the daughter of his Mission President was visiting with her baby who was their first grandchild and they were having a special time.) I'm sorry that I put the news about your phone call to us in the Lehi Ninth Ward Newsletter (he wrote in this last letter that he hoped I wouldn't advertise that). I don't know if you have read the newsletters that I have sent on to you but Bob Lucero, Steve Shelton and his sister have called home very often - Bob is in Portugal and Steve's sister is in Taiwan - Bob is an Assistant also. I guess I wanted to let the people over there know that you would call us too - I would never have done it if I had known you didn't want me to. Daddy would surely have wanted his missionaries to call their parents in the same situation that you were in - in fact, he encouraged them to call at Christmas time. We really are never in touch with anyone from your mission. We're so anxious to see your slides and have you tell us all about Chile - in other words - we are so anxious for July 23rd!!! Your Baptisms are "awesome" - we have received the bulletins from Montana and they are averaging about 40 per month - compared to your 240!!!! Kline Bradford is going to take care of our yard while we are in Boston - he is so huge and when he came over yesterday to see Daddy about what he is to do he was in casual clothes and his muscles just stuck out all over. We see him running along the street in back of our house and he said he goes to the Tech's gym and lifts weights. By the way, Utah Tech's name has been officially changed to Utah Valley Community College and will be know as UVCC - they are building a new parking lot just West of our home and it's fun to watch them.

Claire - we loved your wonderful letter and those darling pictures. We have decided that little Brett could be a model!!! The pictures of Lake Quachita are just gorgeous and made us so homesick. Bob and the children look so good - we wish we had had one of you too. Those times with your family are the most fun times of your lives and we know you know that. It's so funny how children are excited about those rock shops (Claire said they each picked out a rock for $1 and that that was the highlight of their trip.) We can hardly wait to hear about Dr. Cox's visit (Dr. Cox from Farmington is going to visit in Memphis the week of May 14th and wants to see them). We're happy you have planted a garden - we put our tomatoes in too and now we're hoping they don't freeze while we're gone - we already have radishes and green onions coming up. Little Laura and Michael look so happy - I would love to spend more time with Laura (I have a better rapport with my little grand daughters).

The Woolleys and Weinerts are fine - I believe all the paper work is done for the Woolleys to start building. It is a real education to go through building a new home - all kinds of obstacles that you didn't expect - we are excited for them and it will be an absolutely beautiful lifetime home. The Weinerts are busy making their backyard a showplace - Daddy had five more bricks to put in place so we went up on Tuesday for him to do that and Jeannie had some beautiful plants to put in. it was so funny - we started out in our Camry and it made funny noises so Daddy stopped at the Toyota place to have it checked. It turned out to be the water pump and they suggested we not drive it to the Farmington so we came back and got the old Lincoln. We got to the Farmington exit and had been off the freeway for about a minute when one of our front tires blew out - we had a spare so that wasn't bad but we decided to not go to Brigham City as we had planned. The Water pump is all fixed - it was under warranty because they are supposed to last - the first time we have ever had trouble with any of our Toyotas. Our Lincoln is so faithful and will pull anything - we need to get rid of it but we love it!!! Ricky & Barji were in a piano recital on Wednesday night and we wanted to go but couldn't - Jeannie said they did great!! Susanna had to give a report on Venus last week and she had made a big poster, etc. - Jessie had a "sleep over" last night!!!

Daddy has been watching a robin build a nest in our tree in back - we will have baby birds when we get home from Boston. All the neighbors are constantly complimenting Daddy on our beautiful yard - it really is beautiful and we just love it!!!

I'm out of space!!! We love each one of your so very much. PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO. Let us know how we can help you. I'll write from Boston - we will have more news!!!!
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