26 February 2023
VOLUME 11 – NUMBER 492
Gloria’s prom invitation to Riley
On Monday we had a small party at the church because it was Presidents Day. We had a good amount of people there. After we left the church we had another small party at our house. We watching the first Harry Potter movie, because Riley has never seen them before. We made chocolate covered frogs (like in the movie) for Monte's invitation for prom. We also made popcorn and ate the rest of the gummy frogs that were left over.
After the party was over we went to drop off Monte's poster to Hazel’s house and Riley went with us to drop it off and to help Monte carry the poster.
After we dropped off the poster I got to work on my response to Riley. I made him a cake just like the one in Napoleon Dynamite (since Riley loves that movie), and then Monte and I reenacted that scene.
In Napoleon Dynamite, Pedro drops off the invitation cake and then they both speed off on Pedro’s bike. We decided to wait in front of Riley’s house on the electric scooter bikes, and then speed off as soon as Riley saw us.
It worked great. He saw us, and started laughing because he recognized the scene from Napoleon Dynamite!
Monte and Gloria on scooter bikes
Happy Presidents Day! This Presidents Day was really eventful for me. We got to throw a nice party at the church and play games with friends, and we watched the first Harry Potter move (cause Riley hasn't seen Harry Potter yet), and then I made a poster to ask Hazel to prom!
Making my prom poster was super fun, and cool. I had printed a Hogwarts letter with Hazel’s name on it, and a few alterations to the normal words inside the letter, and then sealed it with wax. Then I put that on a poster with tons of chocolate frogs placed on it, and underneath the letter, there was a homemade wand for Hazel.
Dropping it off was super scary, and nerve racking. We drove to Hazel’s house at about 7:30pm to drop it off, and when we got there Hazel was in her kitchen. Gloria was pretty sure that Hazel saw our car driving by.
When Riley and I went up to the porch to set up the invitation, we set down the poster. I still needed to put the letter and wand on it, but suddenly Riley ran for it, leaving me behind alone! I set down the letter and wand, and pressed the doorbell, and then booked it back to the Tesla.
Later that night after we dropped off Riley, Gloria made her response to him, and we had fun re-enacting a scene from Napoleon Dynamite.
The next morning I got a text from Hazel saying that she saw the surprise I left at her door, and that she would have a response for me soon!
Fast forward to the end of the week, there has been no response yet, but I'm hoping it'll come soon next week, because prom is next Saturday, and I can't do anything to prep for it until I get a response, assuming she says yes.
Monte’s prom invitation to Hazel
This week we had a “Here Comes the Boom” party at London’s house with some friends from volleyball. I love that movie so much and it really never gets old!
Thursday we had an intramural basketball game and we lost again! We’re now 1-3, which is pretty frustrating. We still don’t have a lot of team chemistry, and really no offensive momentum when we play. It just makes me grateful when I get the chance to play with people who pass and work hard to move and make plays for each other, it really is a more fun way to play.
I also got to play volleyball with some past missionaries and President Andrews this week. He and his friend, who were teammates when they played semi-pro volleyball, took six of us on and still beat us…twice!
On Friday night I went on another date. This time I went out with a girl that Braden and Brooke set me up with. Her name is Annie. I had a really good time and it is good to get back in the dating world, which ebbs and flows so much do to my effort or lack there of at times!
We went to dinner and a comedy show and what was awesome is that it ended up being a pretty cheap date, but a ton of fun!
Children making chocolate frogs
This week was Presidents Day and the Olders got to plan a party at the church. They invited friends. Me, Quinn, and Joanna stayed back at the house.
Me and Quinn had to take care of Peri and Nellie. Dad let us watch a show on the iPad, but told us to take them out to the bathroom after each episode of Floor is Lava.
I had Perry, and Quinn had Nellie. Then we traded and Nellie went poop, and we traded again and Perry went pee with me. Dad said that we would get paid.
That day we also watched the first Harry Potter with Riley because we had not seen any of the movies. We made chocolate frogs because there were some in the movie. We also did a lunch with it also and it was so fun.
Troy, Quinn, Joanna watching puppies
We are in another crazy dog training week. Because of one client that needed to do a mid-week to mid-week schedule, we’ve ended up with more dogs than we usually have, including two French bulldog puppies.
Let’s just say that it’s been crazy. Here’s our list of dogs this week: Misha, Max, Mable, Winnie, Josie, Rex, Peri, and Nellie!
Dinnertime for dogs
This week, I found a new game on Roblox called Doors. It’s a really fun game. It’s where you are trying to get to Door 100, and you have to go through obstacles, and it has jump scares.
If you do things wrong and if you don’t do things in time. I really think it’s fun, and I can’t wait until Caleb comes back. It’s so soon!
Caleb and Elder Miranda with José Quiroz
This week was pretty crazy...I'll try to be quick, it was made up of some splits we did, where the zone leaders came to Los Sauces to help out, but it was crazy. We were literally in two places at the same time. We had a party as a branch this Sunday.
Saturday we found this old 82-year-old man, we had a very spiritual visit with him. On Sunday we passed by his house to take him to church. Afterwards we visited him and he accepted a baptismal date! He actually said, “I'm now part of your order, I'm at your command.” His old age has humbled him a lot.
Earlier this week, actually in our miracle day of splits, Elder Miranda found a lady named Olga. We also visited her on Thursday and invited her to he baptized and she said she didn't know if she was ready.
We testified, and actually she's super ready to be baptized and recognized the spirit without our guidance, but we left confident that the next visit she was gonna accept being baptized. She went out to the country, so on Sunday we called her, and prayed, and then invited her to be baptized again, and she said yes!
Alos, on Wednesday, I invited an old man named Victor to be baptized, he also accepted!
Caleb, Elder Miranda with Kevin and mom
I think the best of all those miracles was a visit with a lady named Carolina. She has so much faith! She's the aunt of Kevin, the first boy that got baptized. Carolina has wanted to be baptized since attending the baptism of her nephew, but there has been some complications. This week we decided that we have got to get her a baptismal date so that she can start to progress!
We set up a visit, and she invited us out to her property where she's making her house. We taught and we prayed with her to know when we could plan for her baptism. She prayed by herself and said that one month should be a good amount of time to decide. She said whatever happens she's gonna chose Christ, and I know that's the best choice she could possibly make.
And tomorrow we're headed to the temple with Mirta, our friend who just recently got baptized. Her daughter Casandra was there as well!
Caleb’s district
On Presidents Day, me, Isaac, Gloria, and Monte planned a party at the church and invited friends. We had a really fun time. We did volleyball, crazyball, and Murder in the Dark.
I also had a fun time after that we went home, and while the rest of them made chocolate frogs I went to go walk Libby and Gunther (Milch’s dogs) as a service project.
When I came back we watched the first Harry Potter movie because Monte's friend Riley had not seen it and we watched it with him and other friends. I really liked the party.
We also had two really cute fluffy French bull dogs named Peri and Nellie. Me and Isaac were each in charge of one of them. I was in charge of Peri for a little bit. Then Isaac wanted to switch so we did, and they were really good at snuggling. I liked watching them.
Also, there was a huge snowstorm this week. It snowed about two feet at our house in one night and day. It was really hard to get the dogs to go to the bathroom outside. One of the French bulldogs jumped off the steps and fell right through the snow so she was in over her head! Dad finally shoveled out a spot and we got them to go!
Veidi taking Peri out during snowstorm
We had a party this week. We invited a ton of friends, and played a few games. At first I didn't really want to go to the party, but eventually I showed up to play. Before I went to play games, I had a really fun talk with Caleb on the phone. We talked in Spanish for a little while, and then I talked with his companion Elder Miranda.
I had a fun time talking in Spanish/English with Elder Miranda. We talked about our hobbies, and I learned that Elder Miranda likes to wrestle, and he won a state championship, or something like that. That kind of shows faith and trust in the lord, because he could have had a life in wrestling, but he chose to pause that path, to take a mission.
By the time I was done talking with Caleb and Elder Miranda, everyone was done playing volleyball, and had chosen to play crazyball. My team won, but there were some pretty close calls.
We all went into the buildings kitchen to get snacks, and then we decided to play a few rounds of Murder in the Dark, until the party was over. I had a very fun time partying with my friends, and having fun.
Snowstorm
There’s a couple in our ward who has offered to babysit for couples who are wanting to attend the temple. It’s so nice of them, especially considering that our temple is two hours away, which makes our total temple trip a seven-hour event.
We signed up and were able to attend an endowment session on Friday. We stopped at a place called Taco’s Nayarit in Columbia, SC and it was some of the best Mexican food I’ve ever had. The tacos were sooo good!
The session was so great. I hadn’t been able to go since October before Charlie was born and I was so happy to be back.
Braden and Brooke at Columbia Temple