6 July 2025
VOLUME 13 – NUMBER 616
Fourth of July celebration
Happy Independence Day! This week was pretty fun! We played fugitive a few times with Ashton and Caleb, got to play lots of sports, and spent time at the school park.
On the Fourth, we went to the park to play a game Isaac made up called Ten (pretty creative name, I know). The game is really fun—it's basically tag, but the runners actually have an objective. There’s also a lot of parkour involved.
Here’s how you play: one person is the seeker, and their job is to tag everyone. The runners’ job is to touch ten different objects on the playground without getting tagged or touching the wood chips. The runners can also save tagged teammates by touching them.
The tagger wins if they can tag all the runners. The runners win if all of them touch all ten objects. The game can go on for a while since it’s pretty hard for either side to win.
Once we got home, we had a barbecue that Mom and Dad prepared for us. It was delicious! For dessert, we had something Ashton had been talking about all day—Butterbeer floats! They were so good, way better than root beer floats in my opinion!
Caleb and Kai eating hamburgers
This week was the Fourth of July. I went to Keric and Rebecca’s cabin up in Yellowstone. There was also a lake right by it. It took nine hours to get there!
When we arrived, dinner was waiting for us. They showed me where I would sleep, and I got to use a moose blanket. That night, we got to watch the fireworks.
Max wanted to have a bat fly toward him, so he shined a light in his face. He ended up attracting a bunch of bugs—one even got in his mouth! After that, we went to bed.
The next day, we went to the lake to go kayaking. Charlie and Max almost sank their boat!
Joanna on monkey bars
This week was pretty rough for me. Recovering from giving birth has been a difficult road. I’ve had some physical complications and have been a bit of an emotional mess.
I am really grateful to Cougar and all of the family for rallying around me and helping me through this time. I’m so thankful to have so many people in my life who love and care about me. This week, it made all the difference.
Emmett is doing great and is so adorable. Owen is adjusting to the changes and is constantly making me laugh and smile. My little boys are incredible!
Gloria, Armando, Christian, and cousin
To fulfill one of the final requirements to graduate from BYU, I am currently doing an internship with Wasatch Behavior Health. I am helping with case management at a substance use disorder treatment facility. The clients come for a 90-day program to help with detox, learn skills for living a sober life, and make a discharge plan to support their success back in the real world.
Although I'm not particularly interested in focusing on substance abuse as a future career, it has been quite fascinating to learn more about it. I've enjoyed connecting with people who are genuinely trying to heal and make positive changes in their lives. I have about five more weeks left at the internship, and then I will graduate.
On Saturday, we gathered at Braden and Brooke’s house to watch the Season 5 finale of The Chosen. This episode showed the Savior suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was thought-provoking and powerful to have a visual representation of what it may have been like for Him.
I know that Christ suffered for all of our pains and afflictions. We can be strengthened and lifted as we turn to His ever outstretched arms.
Missionaries on 4th of July
Hey guys! I've been a missionary for La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días for just over a month now! Time sure does fly.
I started my week off not feeling great. I was sort of sick for a few days—not sick enough to stay home, but enough to make things harder. Classes were really rough during those days because I couldn’t focus on anything. The intake of two Spanish classes made my head want to explode. I’m doing great now, though, so no need to worry!
This week, we were told we need to be at Level 15 in Embark—the missionary version of Duolingo—by the time we leave. I was at Level 4. It’s really difficult to level up, especially since we have to balance language study with scripture and Preach My Gospel study. That said, I’ve been working hard, and I’m now at Level 7 and a half!
Monte and Elder Lemon studying
Elder Lemon and I are officially zone leaders! We welcomed some new missionaries into our branch. The elders were straight out of high school, so it was kind of difficult keeping the room quiet, but it was a good learning experience. It’s also been really cool getting to know all of the elders.
We have two elders in the new district who are a bit older. Elder Thomas was a Division I swimmer in college—he’s 22), and Elder White has a six-year contract in the military but is on leave to serve his mission.
Also, Elder Everett and Elder Goodell—our old zone leaders—handed down a CTR ring that’s been passed from zone leader to zone leader (in Zone 9) since April 2024. They also passed down a book filled with quotes from past zone leaders. It’s so cool.
I was able to hit the gym a few times this week, and I’ve gained four pounds since getting to the CCM! I know that doesn’t sound like a lot, but I’ve never been able to gain this much weight and keep it. I’m definitely seeing the benefits of working out.
Monte’s CCM (MTC) district
Now, on a fun note, Elder Lemon and I have been nerding out over Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings. He’s such a cool character! While we were fanboying over Sam, one of the hermanas said, “Isn’t he just a side character?” I just about threw a sandwich at her and yelled, “Blasphemy!” We still haven’t forgiven her.
We even related our nerdy talk to the gospel. Frodo keeps pushing Sam away, but Sam always comes back to help Frodo. When things get really hard, and Frodo is beaten down, Sam carries him to the end.
Sam is like Jesus in our lives. We allow Satan to influence our thoughts and tend to push Jesus away, but Jesus always comes back to help us—without fail. When things get hardest and we can’t see the light, Jesus is there to pick us up and carry us through it.
New super tubes for rafts
This week was the 4th of July, and Caleb and Ashton came over. We got to go play at the school park and play 10. It's a game we haven’t played in a long time. We made it up about two and a half years ago.
The game is called 10 because there’s one tagger, and everyone else has to touch ten different things on the playground without touching the ground and without getting tagged. If you get tagged, you freeze until someone tags you back in—but when you rejoin the game, you have to start over from zero.
I won the first round, which was fun because whenever we used to play, the games would never end. After I won, Caleb wanted to be “it,” but Dad told us to come home because dinner was ready.
Gloria and Troy eating hamburgers
We had hamburgers for dinner, and they were delicious. Ashton also brought dessert—Butterbeer with vanilla ice cream—which was really good.
After dinner, we went outside and played frisbee with glow sticks on it so we could see it in the dark. Caleb and I were on one side of the road, and Kai and Ashton were on the other. We played for a little while and had a great time.
Then we went up to the roof and watched all the fireworks, which were so cool. Afterward, I went to bed, which—surprisingly—wasn’t too difficult, even with all the fireworks going off.
Children watching fireworks on roof
To start off this week—on Sunday—my mission presidents got home from their mission! I always love seeing their example of discipleship. They really have a genuine love for Jesus Christ, His teachings, and His church.
There was a little reunion after their talk and another one later in the week on Saturday. I loved seeing a lot of people I hadn’t seen in a long time. A lot of good people were there.
We had an FHE water balloon/slip 'n slide/sports activity on Monday. I worked a lot this week. I have both my districts right now at the MTC, and I’m there pretty much every morning and evening. The Chosen Season 5 finale party that Braden and Brooke hosted was a lot of fun too.
Joanna eating Jack-in-the-Box
During the week, Ashton and I went up home, and we played some Fugitive while we were there. I’ll say that Ashton and I killed it. There were about nine kids playing. We played three rounds, and only three people ever made it. Our strategy was to cover and drive down as many streets as possible to catch them by surprise. Ashton did all the driving, while I sat out the passenger window and could look in all directions.
Independence Day was a blast as well! We played a game at the Falcon Ridge Elementary School park, threw a glow-in-the-dark frisbee across the street, did fire sparklers, and watched the fireworks from the roof at home.
I’m grateful for this country—that it’s such a prosperous place—and for the freedom and capacity to choose to do good.
Children lighting sparklers
My softball team had a little reunion/party on Wednesday evening. I was introduced to the concept of a Butterbeer Float—a root beer float/freeze but with butterbeer instead—and it was life-changing.
I spent time on Thursday evening and Friday morning scavenging Reams for some and ended up finding 12 bottles. I made a few floats for the family. They weren't as good with this different brand, but it was still a great summer treat if you're looking for one!
On Thursday night, Gloria came down to Provo, and we went on our classic date of bowling. We got some Cupbop first and then went to FatCats afterward. It was a great time.
Misha
Later that evening, Caleb, Gloria, and I were the seekers in a game of Fugitive. We were doing a great job until we got caught by the actual police—because I had the headlights off, and Caleb was literally halfway out of the passenger window trying to get a better view.
The cop could’ve busted us for speeding, driving with no headlights, flashing the brights, and Caleb not wearing a seatbelt while sitting on the window sill. But he just pulled up next to us, told Caleb to “sit in the car right,” and then drove away. We thought we might be doing 25 to life, so a verbal warning was a pleasant surprise.
On Saturday, I spent most of the day with London, Keaton, and company out at a campsite near Mirror Lake. I got toasted because I forgot to reapply sunscreen—the wind was cooling us down from the sun, so I didn’t notice. I tried rock climbing for the first time and it was awesome!
Then I drove straight from the campsite to a Chosen watch party Braden put on. We watched the final episode of Season 5. It was a crazy week filled with lots of events. The rest of July is going to be wild as well, and I can't wait!
Joanna on the monkey bars
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Children watching fireworks on roof