27 February 2022
VOLUME 10 – NUMBER 441
Christian in Hawaii
Christian
On Wednesday, I flew about five hours to Hawaii to spend a month with the Hawaii Hill’s. It’s been great being here. The weather is great and the trees are beautiful.
I went to seminary with Tommy and Ginger. I was a little nervous, but it was really fun. I also bought a membership to the gym, which was exciting. On Saturday we went on a hike that had really nice waterfalls and cool trees.
There are so many things here that aren’t in Utah, so every day is like an adventure. Overall, it’s been really fun and exciting being here.
Jenny in her new chair
Jenny
I can’t remember if we mentioned this before, but after we set up the Bunkhouse Theater with inflatable furniture, one by one they started leaking. Finally, we ended our fun experiment, and sent them all back. We next decided to move our old upstairs sectional down into the Bunkhouse and it has worked very well down there.
But this also left us sitting on camp chairs in the living room for the past several weeks, so last weekend, when Arkin and I had some time on our hands with all the kiddos gone, we headed to RC Willey to see if we could find some couches that we liked.
Arkin had done some preliminary searches online, and showed me some options. I liked everything he showed me except for one chair. He showed me an alternate, and I liked that better.
When we got to RC Willey, we both liked the navy blue couch and loveseat, but the cream couch that I had picked online didn’t look like I thought it would, so the salesman showed us some similar upholstered chairs, and one in particular looked nice to me.
New living room furniture
Arkin looked at the sales tag and smiled as he recognized the name. It was the original chair he had picked out online! Our tastes are very much alike after all!
The furniture was delivered this Tuesday, the same day that I was out of town with some of the children visiting my parents in Payson, so Arkin and some of the children helped to unpack them and set them up.
I watched them from our living room camera, and when I got back, I was able to see them in person. I really like our “new” living room, and I am getting excited for our plans to repaint and put in new flooring.
On Wednesday, we traveled from Payson directly to the Salt Lake Airport, where we met Arkin and the other children at the airport so that Christian could catch his flight to Hawaii. We are excited for this Hawaii adventure for Christian!
Christian at a youth activity in Maui
Ashton
Wednesday evening, we had a family council in the high council room at the stake center. Mom and Dad invited all the siblings, the extended Bautista family, and President and Sister Grappendorf and Emma. It was a kind of challenging experience, but also really eye-opening to be a part of.
It is times like this, when there are issues that need to be addressed, that it can sometimes feel like our family is on the brink of falling apart, but then it all works out in the end. When I say the brink of falling apart, I don't actually mean that is what will happen, but I think it just sometimes feels that way, since at least for me, it's always thinking about the worst possible scenario, which usually doesn't end up happening. Anyways, all will be well!
On a different note, this weekend was Andrew Viehweger’s wedding! He asked me to be one of his groomsmen, and it was such a blast! It was crazy to see one of my close friends take a major and arguably the most important step in life. I'm super happy for him!
Dennis, Andrew, Nathan, and Ashton
At his lunch-in, Dennis and I got the idea that we would snag Nathan McFarland and surprise Andrew with all four of us being together. We haven't been in the same room together in quite a few years, so it was really special to catch up with each other and see where we are all at in life.
Andrew's reception was a party! Lots of dancing, especially with Joanna, who wasn't afraid to walk up to anyone and ask them to dance. Ha, ha! She's still learning the whole "stranger danger" idea. Vanessa, Gloria, Monte, and I had a good time teasing each other about asking different people to dance, and challenging each other to talk to different people.
It was super fun. At the end we had a race with our sparklers to see who's would burn out first, and then listened to potential wedding songs on the way home. We capped it all off with some McDonald's ice cream cones, which was Bishop Horner's fault for suggesting it.
Ashton and MTC district
Dad / Arkin
It has been a numbing week for Jenny and I. After sending Christian off to Hawaii, which we hope will be a nice break for him, we moved on to much more difficult things.
Our family council on Wednesday was the most difficult night of my life. It’s hard to talk about what happened. I do want to thank many of our adult children for their love and support. Without going into any detail, I will share a quote that came to my mind the morning after. It’s a quote from a letter to John Taylor from George Cannon during a very difficult period of persecution (from Saints, Volume 2, Chapter 32):
“The clouds seem to be gathering thick and portentous around us. If the Lord does not furnish lightning rods to draw off the electricity in some other direction…I see no other way for us to do than to stand up and take the pelting.”
Ellie wearing a go-kart head covering
Brooke
This weekend, my sister and her soon-to-be fiancé came to North Carolina and visited us. It was so fun to have them in town and get to spend time with them. We went on hikes, played games, went to the state park, and watched movies.
We also tried something called “miracle berries.” It's like this berry vitamin that you suck on and then everything you eat after tastes sweet. We sucked on a lemon and it tasted like lemonade. It was crazy! We also tried grapes, strawberries, sour cream, cream cheese, and hot sauce. The hot sauce didn't taste sweet, but it wasn't spicy.
We also went go-karting... well I was too scared to go, but Braden went with some of my siblings. Braden said he wasn't very good at it, but I think he was great! The go-kart place had the drivers wear a head covering that they wear before they put on the helmet. After Braden was done driving, we put the headcover on Ellie. She loved wearing it!
Caleb eating ice cream
Caleb
Another amazing week in the mission! I don't know how to describe it, but every day just has something so amazing to it! And the weeks go by so fast! But mostly it's super scary how fast time goes!
We've continued to work a lot with our ward mission plan. We haven't necessarily had any fruits from that yet, but we just have to keep working at it. Basically, the plan with that is to have a lesson with a member, someone else, and us.
We have been working with a lot of good people, trying to nurture them spiritually and invite them to exercise their faith so that they can come closer to Christ! Jesus Christ is the source of all good and light in this world! The light is for you, so exercise faith and do the things you need to do to come closer.
Waffle cones from member's restaurant
Saturday night we invited 18 people to come to church or watch. I was confident at least two thirds of them would be able to attend. In the end we had…one! Which was actually still super amazing! It was Gonzalo. At first, he was planning to come in person, but he did end up watching through Zoom!
Next time we want him in person—he's amazing. I put a lot of prayer into all of those people to come, and a lot of the others will come given more time and more understanding, but it was just amazing how we scraped that through. If there's anyone you guys could pray for, it's Gonzalo Zuniga! Also continue or start to pray for José Bascur. He's still super amazing, of course, but he's still trying to get off cigars. He's super awesome. God always delivers us when we turn to him!
We also accidentally gave a homeless drunk man a knife J! It’s a long story, so you’ll have to ask me about that one someday!
Quinn and Joanna dancing at reception
Endia
This week on Thursday and Friday we went to volleyball again. For the new recipe I made I tried gorditas. I may or may not have burnt the first few and smoked up my whole kitchen, but by the end there were enough good ones to have a good meal before headed to volleyball.
On Saturday my roommates threw a pajama party. They invited a lot of people I hadn’t met before, so I got to meet some new people. It was pretty fun, but I was really tired from work, so I ended up going to bed a little early.
Endia and friends at a pajama party
Alex
This week we changed our scripture study. Dad made things interesting by making a story out of the scriptures, and telling the story more like a Harry Potter adventure. He made it so that it's easy for us to understand it.
Also, Mom taught me and Monte how to crochet. I love it because it is a great tool if you want to make your own things like scarfs, bags, and socks. Thanks, Mom, for teaching me how to crochet!
Misha and Mable
Troy
Last week we got a new dog! Her name is Mabel. We also went to Endia, Ashton and London’s. We were all were separated to groups of three. I was with Ashton, Christan, Monte and Kai.
The first night we did a polar plunge, and the water was very cold! Then we played the Switch and we played Gang Beasts.
It was amazing. We also got to stay with Ashton and go to his church. It was neat, and also different from what I was used to.
Christian at a youth activity in Maui
Kai
We got new furniture, and it looks beautiful. I love this new furniture—one tiny white couch, and two bigger blue couches. I can't wait till we remodel our home. We will have wood flooring on the middle floor. It is going to look gorgeous!
Isaac
This week we had stake conference and I learned a lot. There was one song that Brother Tomer made up and I really liked it. It had a really good meaning. It is called “Come Home.”
MUSICAL NUMBER: COME HOME
To watch a video of the song, click here.
Gloria
Mom, Christian, Vanessa, Alex, Troy, Quinn and Joanna went to Mom's parents’ house, while the rest of us stayed home with Dad and put up the future in the living room. I have also been doing a lot of cooking for my food class. This week I made stuffed bell peppers with rice, and they were really good.
Gloria’s stuffed peppers