Spike's Letter 3/26

What up ladies and gentleman it is elder gatten talkin´to ya. Well it sounds like everyone is freaking amazing and it does not surprise me. I have the best family in the world and I will go fist to fist with anyone who thinks the opposite. I love you guys so much it is seriously amazing. It is amazing how indescribable feeling really are. Dad would be able to express himself because he is an amazing poet, but for me it is just something I call unutterable. You all mean so much to me. Everyone of you. I think about each of you so often and wish that you are all doing awesome. I love the opportunity that I get to write letters and e mail and communicate with you. What a blessing the internet really is. I bet dad wishes that he had it, or any other missionary, who were stuck with letters for two years. Yet again I feel spoiled. But I love you guys. Anyways yes I got the water purifier in the last package. I believe that I received all the packages you have sent me except the Christmas package. I never got it dad. It is the pits cause I know that I probably would have loved it! Whoever stole it will have that sin hanging over their heads at judgment day, so I feel satisfied! Muah ha ha! But I have eaten all of the candy and things. I have the bag of jerky left but I am sure that it will not last long. I opened it a couple days ago and have been nibbling on it. I love it and I wish that I the church sponsored missionaries with beef jerky. That would be remarkable. I am looking forward to the package with the Easter candy that you said that you sent. Yummy. Well this last week. Last Friday, I received a letter from dusty and angie. They said that they had tried to send it a couple of times already, but it had been sent back to them. Well I finally got it! And it was astounding! It really gave me the strength to make it through the week. It is true that missionaries live on letters=) but anyways I wrote them and will send a letter off to them today to their apt, and I will be sending a little package home to. It has a cd I had burned of some pictures. There is not near all of the ones that I have but I could only afford to do so many pictures. Atleast you will get some though. I don’t want to send my chip because missionaries have already done it a couple of times and it never got home. So I do not want to risk it. You will just have to print them off of the cd. I will send them today. Or tomorrow. That sounds cool that dusty and angie are going to las vegas with brynne and hon. I feel so jealous. Ah. That will be good for dusty according to angie. He is pretty bored of seattle and needs a break. They are going on a cruise sometime after too huh? Holy cow everyone is going on cruises again. What is up with that. They are not cheep ones either. I leave and everyone decides to go on sweet trips. Everyone needs to stop whinning about what the next family reunion will be like when I get back. And just save up for another family cruise. Sounds like everyone could afford it. Just a thought. But I am glad that you are all having a good time. We are truly blessed to be able to do those kind of things. It is not even in these peoples vocabulary here. Crazy how different the world can be. Also quick thought. I left my retainers there in one of the bathrooms. Do you think that I should have them to wear so that my teeth do not go wacky while I am here? Just a thought. I know that dad is probably rolling his eyes but I forgot. Honest mistake. It sounds like, from mom, that brett is doing good. Hey brett, you freakin punk, I am going to break your face if you don’t atleast get on the internet and send me alittle letter. You’re the only peson that I have NOT heard from the whole freakin time I have been gone. Wtf. I freaking keep hearing about how your trapping this and killing that and getting this, and that happened to your shop. You need do jot me a note once in a while. I hope I don’t have to burn you again=) ha. And you cant put me in a head lock cause I am 6000 miles away. Ha. Punk. But seriously it sound like your got a sweet set up with your lab top and your cell phone deal. That is way nice and I bet your loving it. That’s pretty sweet. Is that truck holding up? You going to have to get a new one? Is dad going to buy a new one? Anyways I hope your doing good bro. well it sounds like tim and liz are having a great experience with the lady from the gymnastics. That is just a great example for what everyone needs to be dong. Set a good example, live the gospel, pray for missionary experiences and the lord will bless us with the opportunity to change someone’s life. I hope that everything goes awesome with them and the missionaries and I will be praying for them. That is so awesome. 70% of baptisms are from member referrals. So then, how great is our responsibility? We have no excuse to not be doing it. We have been commanded to do so. Don’t we want to share the happiness that we feel with others that are around us? Or are we just lazy? It is something to think about. But good for you guys liz and timmy. Well it sounds like the big horn show went awesome. Better than it has ever been before. What a surprise. Just like everything:bigger and better cause I am out of there. But I am really happy that you all liked it. Even little Asa went huh? And jon was a pansy breathe and didn’t go the first day because he was ´sicky´ as my dad put it. Ha. Atleast he got to go the next day or whatever. Sounds like everyone was able to go and to enjoy it. That is awesome. I really missed it. And you guys took in some horns also? That is way crazy sweet! Things scored really good. Are you guys happy with the scores or bumbed out dad and brett? Sounds like there were some nice ones there this year. I wish I could find me one nice buck when I get back. Late bow baby! Don’t worry I have already been planning it out. Thinking about how the wind is going to be and where the buck is going to come out of. Ah. I hope I don’t blow it like I did with that big bull last year. I bet I would have won an award for the biggest choke at the hunters party. Who won it this year? Man that makes me sick. But there is a missionary from colorado here. His dad sent him some pics of some big mule deer that were taken out of Idaho last year. They were humongous. They were taken out of UNIT 43. I almost had to take off his arm and leg to get it out of him. Look it up and see if you could get down there to shoot a nice big one. This a golden nugget so treat it nice. Well it sounds like you all had a good Easter! What did you guys do for it? I head that some people went to moms and dads but did you guys have an easter egg hunt or anything or was the weather to bad? All I had was some crackers and water. It was awesome. That’s what is on the menu every day. But it sounds like gonzaga and byu choked. Whats new. It is going to have to take a boise st effort for any of them to win anything. The big east is just to stronge. I hate the pack ten. It should be the pack 12. bucnch of bs. But anyways keep me updated. Is texas still in it dad? And of course jon is still ahead. Puck. You can just read the bracket like you’re a master in brail. I got money on my dad baby. He went through a lot of college! Well it is liz´s b day tomorrow isn’t it? It is also jonathans shirts b day next Monday. Happy b day liz. You guys do the week long gift thing again or what? What did you get? A baby? Ha. I hope that cassie is doing well also. Those pregnant ladies. Watch out! Pickles and peanut butter. Ha. I loved the live that dad wrote in his e mail. Winter wont leave but I hope some Californians will! Ha ah. I freaking busted my gut and almost died. It was amazingly hysterical. Wow you’re the man dad. I love you. That’s sweet that it is still winter though. You guys all probably wish you could be with tom down in Arizona right now in some nice weather. Katelyn said that the weather is in the 60´s and nice the last couple days there. So I guess that you guys just live to far north. Well I love hearing that your heading to California! That will be a blast and I know that it will bring back a ton of memories for yiou dad. It is the first time that you have been back for a long time! What are you guys going to do over there? Going to dig for clams? Then heading down to utah. Man your making a trip it sounds like. It will be nice to spend some time with tom again. You were not able to get down there for alyssa´s baptism cause of asa but your going to get down there atleast. I wrote katelyn this morning and told here that you guys are going down there. I told here that you will call her up and plan dinner of something fun to do. That would be awesome if you guys could do that. You could see here apartment and see her romates and see what here life if like. I am 100% convinced that mom is all for meeting up with her. I know that she misses here a ton. And dad is real fond of her also. I love how everything is just bread and butter between us and our familys. That is suck a blessing for me and for her too. I now that she gets mad sometimes when I speak for her, but I know that she feels the same. I am sure you guys will plan something really sweet to do. You have to go eat at Tacaunos also. Ask her about the meat place its amazing. Dad would love it. But anywyas have fun on that trip and give her a call. We had some baptisms Sunday again. They went really nice. We baptized a kid and his mother. It was really nice. I bougt some cake for them and pop for after. They really enjoyed it I think. We have been working with them for a long time so it was nice to see them enter the waters of baptism finally. How amazying is that. Ah. It is just like amazing everytime I help someone down the steps to the waters of baptism. It is an amazing feeling. How greatful I am to have the opportunity to take part in such a wonderful and inspired work. We have not had much time this couple days to teach our investigators. We got a list of people who need wheel chairs at the hospital here. We went around the last 2 or 3 days going to their homes and getting their information so that we can give them their chairs that the mission is donating. I heard a rumor that we might be in the liahona for it. Who knows. That would be awesome. It is fun though. It is sad to see the horrible conditions that some people are in. one guy was laying in his be and could not get up. The sheets were torn and just it was hard to look at. We are so blessed to have what we do to have health and strength. And just have everything that we do. Ah. Well I hope that we will be able to get the chairs to them somethime this week. It is an awesome service project. Also, we have some baptisms planned this week of some teenage girls again. They should be awesome. I am excited. then the next week will be general congerence. I am looking for ward to that. It will make me so trunky I already know that. Just knowing that you guys are watching it, and the love of my life too. Ah. But I know that this church is true. I love the beginning of mosiah. The address of king Benjamin to his people. You have to read like the first 5 chapters. It is so amazing and I love it so much. READ IT. I love the scriptures. Like katelyn said sometime I just like sit back after reading them and think to myself wow. The scriptures are so amazing and I love them so much. I love the scriptures. The teaching held within are so precious. So many people have put their life on the line, or given their life so that we could have them. I feel so ungrateful for not searching them as I do now, my whole life. They are real. They are true. i know that the bible and the book of mormon and bible complament eachother. They are the stick of Judah and the stick of joseph. Together we have the keys to eternal life and the tre church upon the earth. How blessed we are to have them. To have our own set. And to have them at our own expense. I know that the church is true. I have a quote from ezra taft benson that I forgot to bring to write to you but it states how we need to trun our lives over to Christ and as we do so our priorities will change, the things that do not matter will drop out, and our thoughts, desires, dreams, and goals that we pursue will be formed around his gospel. And living it. It is a really awesome quote, and it explains how I feel. I want to live the gospel evey second of every day. I want to be a profitable servant to our heavenly father. I want to become omy potential. I want to be an instrument in his hands, and accomplish his work that he has upon the earth. I know that as we strive to do that which he asks us he will bless us iknow this. I love the gospel. I feel guilty if I do not share it with everyone I come in contact with. It is so correct so true. I love the savior. I am so eternally gratefull for his sacrifice for me. For us. Through his blood and through his suffering we can become clean from our sins and live with our families and our heavenly father again. We can gain the ultimate blessing eternal life. How unfathomable is that? For forever. We need to live the gospel, and choose the right. We need to have a constant effort to live the teaching of our heavenly father. We need to have clean thoughts, words and actions. We need to show our desire, and he will bless us. I love you all and I am so grateful for you. I am so happy for you all and everything that is going on. It is so nice ready your e mails weekly. I love you and hope that you have a awesome week. . you’re the best family ever and I love you all so much. Keep safe, healthy, and read and pray morning and night. It will give you the strength to carry on. I love you
Elder gatten