Spike's Letter 4/16/08

Hey Guys!!!
How is everyone doing? Everyone making it? Sounds like spring time, with the random snow, finds everyone busy! Got a letter from dusty and it sounds like he is headed to Spokane this weekend to go turkey hunting at jim crisps land. Lives on 110 acres huh? Pretty sweet deal. So he better wack a sweet big turkey, and put it on the table for thanksgiving. Ha. Bear season opened too. What does it look like? There going to be any bears out lately or are they still all hibernating cause of all the snow there in the mountains? Dad or brett hear anything from Jamie lately? I bet if there is any out he has been on them already. What is up with him, you talk with him or anything? How is his dog situation? He get anymore? You guys got to get out there and shoot a couple, or atleast head up a couple days during Memorial day this next month or so. That would be fun, and it was awesome the other year when dad got one! You can probably tell that I am missing the hunting alittle bit, because that´s the first thing that I talked about! Tyler, you got any turkeys at your house yet? Did I leave any corn up there at your house or did we use both 50 pounders? That is money, you should do that again! But just let me know how things are, pretty interested. Dad said he saw a lot of deer up on canfield the other day when he went hiking up there. You check out the treestand? Find any sheds? I know that there are some turkeys up there too, if you want to give it a try. I have seen bunches of them. Gobble Gobble Gobble!Mom and dad got back from there trip to Utah I heard! Sounds like it passed by really quick, and you wish it was alittle longer. Dosen´t everything in life seem to be like that. Things pass by in a flash, and you don’t know where they went. Years turn into days, and the pages of our lives keep turning! Let´s make them interesting! But you guys got to see Tom´s family and the kids. They played in there ball games huh. Hayliannn hit a home run. Geez she is already hitting better than I did. I was horrible in baseball. I look back on it and I sucked pretty bad. Ended off on a sore not like dusty too. Ha. But they did awesome. Keep up the good work. Dad said that tom has River switch hitting. Ha! That does sound familiar dad! Your so funny. The endless days in the yard with the ball and the bat…how did I ever deserve getting an awesome dad like you huh? Truly blessed. Hopefully he is alittle better at it than I was though.=) you got to go to church with them too on Sunday, that must have been fun. But, you got over to ol´Provo huh? Is there still snow there scattered on the mountains? Cold? Brought the whole family there huh? That must have been really sweet. I know that the kids really miss kateLyn and really wanted to see her. I think they feel like she is there aunt, and have come to like her more than me! Funny, but totally true. I can just hear them saying, HI KATELYN. Ha. Fun stuff. You pulled off the ol´Sonic cheese sandwhich too? That is so awesome. I try to do what I can to make her happy from here. Somehow ya know. But I know the best thing that I can do for her is serve a faithful mission, being dedicated and serving my father in heaven with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. I am…I am…Did she like the sandwhiches? I bet she had a humongous smile on her face and that is all I wanted! You guys visited for alittle bit huh…where? The apartment? That sounds awesome. But she did ditch your offer for dinner cause she had a ward bbq huh? Oh well. She had a ton of stuff for you guys to take then? Did it fill up the car to the brim or what? She said she gave you all that she wouldn’t need for the next week or so. That is so nice of you guys, and I am seriously so thankful. Thanks for helping her out and everything. It really means a lot. I know that she needed it, and your came to the rescure! She has a reunion the end of this month? I did not know about that. Should be good. Sounds like the trip went fast, but you liked it. That’s all that matters. You dropped off her stuff too, and visited with the parks? Are you still her councilor or what mom? Whats up with all that? When is the trek, etc? have not heard much about that for awhile. Interested to hear about it.Well, I have not received any packages at all yet! I do know that there is atleast one there in manaus for me. I think that it is katelyns though. She sent me another embroidered journel cause I have already filled one up. I don’t know what is the deal with lori´s. still have not gotten it. Was it just candy or what? Hope it did not have anything really expensive or anything in it. I am sure it will show up. I know that the mail system got screwed up because of the mail strike that lasted alittle longer than a week. I will receive them, I just think that it will take some time. I just hope that I do not get transferred this next Monday or Tuesday, so I will be here to receive the packages. What I hate is not knowing where the packages are sent. There are some on the way here in boa vista and some going to manaus. Maybe everyone should just send everything to manaus so I can make sure that I will get it and things. I think that it is more reliable. I may not get them for awhile, but the zl´s go there once a transfer and I will get it eventually. It stinks but its better. If I get transferred to manaus it will be better cause I can just stop by the mission office and get my mail and things as they arrive. But I have not gotten any. I know lori mom cassie and kate have sent some. Keep your fingers crossed.Ps I want everyone to send me more pictures. The ones I have are getting old, and I really did not take any of the family. Got the reunion ones but send a ton. I love them.Dad said he wanted to know more about the culture and the mission so I will answer a couple of his questions and then talk alittle about it. Its hard to see the difference now in the cultures, cause I am pretty used to the culture here now. But the weather here is changing alittle bit as each day passes. It is more cloudy and the clouds look alittle meaner. Dark and such. It has started raining more. Not hard core yet, but I am sure that hell will break loose here pretty soon. It already has in manaus. There are big floods, people dying, and the streets are flooded cause all the vegetation gets stuck in the draining system and backs up the pipes. I have had a couple days lately with rain up to my mid calf. It is an experience to say the least. The rain is hot too, it is weird. You know that it is going to rain because it gets super hot, like the sun beating down on you, and for some reason that signifies a rain storm. The Rio Branco is getting higher. Still pretty low though. It was really low, so it will take a lot of rain to bring it back up. There are some sweet lookout places here where you can see the river and the mountains in the distance towards Guyana and such. Good make-out spots…whoops=) but seriously. Lots of Indians run the river in long wooden canoes with paddles and fish. Tons of different kinds of fish so don’t ask, I have no idea. It runs south. Its really wide and has tons of spider channels running off it. Super pretty, but like kate said, I got to stay away from that water cause its pretty nasty. The temperature is really hot sometimes, but at night it is cooling off so I do not have to get us during the night once or more and take a shower and change my clothes cause I am drenched in sweat. I have a nice fan, but it does not have a cover on it, so one night I was sleeping and kicked it and it totally cut my toe open. Got blood all over my sheets and hurts freakin bad. But ya I made it just to make that clear. The shower is nasty and you can see tons of who knows what crawling on the ground. Fun stuff. Well, I clap, instead of wringing a door bell, to know doors. That’s cool. Also, the people here have no patience. They are all in a hurry and its nuts. They never are considerate of anyone, and they get pissed easily. That’s probably why I have seen countless wrecks and a guy get ran over by a car. But its nuts. The people eat a ton of bread and there are bakeries on every corner. That’s cool. I want to open one in a rich neighborhood when I get back. I think I would make money out of the yang. Also, all the brazilian missionaries say that this is not brasil. The people all look like 100% lamanites and they really do not look brazilian. And to answer your question dad, yes I have ran into some 100% lamanites. I was walking down the street and did some contacts and they look at you weird cause they don’t speak portugues and they just say…Deiz Reais? Ten bucks please. Its funny. None of them have teeth and their skin is totally red. It is cool. Freaking teaching the people from the Book of Mormon. Isn´t that awesome? I think that it is nuts. I am teaching the decendents of them. I think they are alittle more receptive to the gospel than they were in those days though!!ha ha. Don’t you think? Well I think that is it, except my comp has the worms and got bit by a dog in the face this week. I wanted to go to the hospital but he said he was fine. Oh well. Its not my face…yikes! Well to sum up this part, I am glad that it is a little colder cause the women are putting on more clothes. That’s a plus, but you cant avoid the everyday lesson with a lady feeding her baby in front of you while your teaching the gospel! Welll I guess that’s it. Just ask more questions.I was overwhelmed today as I got on the internet and read my first e mail. It was from Carlee and Jonathan. They shared with me some of the best news that I have heard in awhile!....they are Receiving a Baby! There birth mother lady, after what I can imagin as a long grueling process, trying to choose between them and another couple, chose them! I, after reading this, did not jump for joy, and give any high fives, but I found myself with my hands holding my face, shedding a couple tears of joy, gratitude, happiness, relief, and who know what other unexplainable emotions. The prayers of my were answered, and they received on of the biggest blessings in their lives. A baby girl. They will receive her next month. I am so happy for them. It is amazing the plans that our father and heaven has for us. How hard, troubling and rough the road may be but he is always there. He knows our names, our struggles, our pains. He is there with us all the way and he will bless us, as we put our truth and faith in him. We show our faith by action, by prayer. I know that my prayers were answered in their behalf, and it is such a testimony builder, and emotional thing for me. It has been a long process, and incredible for sure! It has givin me a strengthened testimony of what elder bednar talked about in conference. He spoke about praying with real intent of heart, and that action is included. We must act or our heavenly father has no reason to bless us, to help us with our specific problems. We need to knock and to call on his name. But, thinking of this talk and then finding myself on bended knees, I put praying with real intent to the test. I prayed in my heart and I prayed aloud. Praying aloud DOES bring the spirit so much more. You hear the intentions of your heart, and it is not just a rambling in your mind. I have done this many occasions. And you know what they are some of the most spiritual moments I have had as an individual. The sacred grove, in family matters, and searching an answer of whether or not I really wanted to serve a mission, and then once I received the call, kneeling and receiving a confirmation from my heavenly father and the holy ghost that this, the brasil manaus mission, is the place that I was pre ordained to serve in long before this life came about. Thus, I have such a testimony of prayer, and that our heavenly father DOES hear our prayers and he DOES answer them. We just have to put it to the test, pray with real intent of heart, and ask. I have done this and many others in the family too I bet and we have come to the same conclusion. Pray with real intent of heart. Pray out loud!Well the last month we have been working with a women in her early thirties who went inactive. She was a previous primary worker, and active member. She just stopped coming and no one knew why. Well we started going back, and became really good friends with her. We taught her, read the book of mormon with her, and we prayed with her. We helped her, along with the spirit, gain a testimony of the gospel once again, and help her remember the feelings she felt at her conversion. Following this, her daughter, although young, desired to receive the discussions. We have been teaching her for a couple weeks and she is awesome. Keeping the commitments and is excited for her baptism this Sunday! So am i! Saturday night, I am going to buy things to make a cake for her, with my own money cause my mission money has already ran our till the 22. I am going to make her baptism such a special experience. The best part about it all is that after reactivating Angela, and teaching her daughter, she gave us two references of her cousins who live a ways away. We went there on Monday night and did a family home evening. Taught about baptism and how in John 3:5 says that we must be born of the water and of the spirit or we cannot enter into the kingdom of our father. They said that is symbolized baptism. To say the least. They also want to be baptized and to receive the lessons. The moral, that I love, of this story is that after reactivating a woman who just fell away because she did not have friends, now is the young womens president, her daughter is being baptized and we received two golden references from her for baptism. The lord works in mysterious ways. It was an another answer to my prayers also, because our baptisms for last week fell through. After bying a cake for the baptism and drinks, and teaching this women for 3 months almost 4 she, after we took her to church and payed for a taxi, left and snuck out during the sacrament meeting. It seriously broke my heart. But I know also, that I have done all that I can to do my part. I have invited her to come unto Christ. She rejected. Its tuff for sure, but my spirits were rejuvenated as I found these other young women to baptize, to teach, and to share the restored gospel with. So happy=) I know that diligence, effort, prayer, and obedience DO pay off and that our heavenly father blesses us. If we are doing all that we can, living the commandments, and exercising our faith, he is bound, and we receive the promises he has made with us. To me it is amazing how the gospel truths are becoming so plain in my eyes, the questions of the souls are being answered and resolved, and the paths I am searching for for my investigators are being found as I am obedient and call upon the name of the lord. Things are falling into place, and the elect of our heavenly father are being found as I put my trust in him. I have such a strong testimony that this is his work. It is without a doubt. Its like I have an extra knowledge of things I should do with people and what I should teach or how. They come while I am in bed, the shower, studying. Its awesome. But I know that we must be obedient to receive the promises. Well the language is coming along fine. I have not spoke English for like 3 weeks. Not a word. It is still hard though. Its like I have a barrier around me. Like I can only say so much. And its just frustrating. I know that my tongue will be loosed as I put my trust in him and teach our investigators. I know it. I feel like I have gained a testimony of so many things. My knowledge is growing and I have the strongest testimony of the gospel, families, and everything. I just want to live it perfectly and ah….its hard to explain. It seems unexplainable.I hope that you all have an enjoyable week. It is my prayer that you practice praying with real intent more, and really exercising our faith. Pray out loud. It is amazing and brings the spirit so strong. I know that as we remember our heavenly father a little more everyday, and pray in thanks to him we will be blessed. I love the gospel, I live it, and I just want this in life more than anything else. My desires are so torked from what they were when I came her. The path I should take is brighter, and the gospel has such a greater and grander importance in my life. It is our life, isn´t it? I love you all. Keep healthy, and have fun. Work hard, play hard. I love the quote that brynne has on her blog. Its so true. Just add the gospel. Peace out, and know that I am thinking of all of you so much, and I love you. Call tom and wish him a happy birthday! Peace our for now. Gods speed! Ps, transfers are this next Monday and Tuesday, I probably wont move but just in case send everything to manaus.
Your elderspike