December 31, 2018 - Week 29

It was great talking with you last week. I can't believe we talked for 2 1/2 hours! That's a lot longer than the 1 hour Maddy used to call us for.

Christmas was nice but really low key. We didn't give or receive many gifts. Chance and Javi didn't seem to want much and all of our money and time has gone towards the wedding. On Wednesday we got to hang out with the Robertsons all day and cook food and do other preparations for the reception. It was cool to hang out with them - I like their family a lot and think if they lived near us we'd become really good friends.

Thursday was super busy because we got up early to set up the Provo Library for the reception. I think we had like 20 people there, all working to set it up from 9am to 5pm - so much work! When the reception started, we did a receiving line and I think 1/3 of the people who came were extended family, 1/3 were people from Provo and the Riverwoods Ward, and 1/3 were friends of Heber and his family who we didn't know at all. We knew the reception was on a really bad week for people travelling out of town between Christmas and New Years and not that many people came. We filled up the library ballroom but it wasn't so many people that we had to do the receiving line forever - only about 1 hour which was great for us. We ate some food and I gave a little speech and then Maddy and I did a Father/Daughter dance and then we had dancing for 2 hours. It was pretty fun. Most of the friends left early on and all that was left was all the Poultons and Carrs and just close family which made dancing super fun.

On Friday Maddy and Heber were sealed. The ceremony was really nice and relaxed. Elder Jorg Klebingat from the seventy was the sealer because he is good friends with the Robertson family and used to be their bishop. I didn't get very emotional but was very happy for Maddy and Heber. We had to wait for 10-15 minutes before Maddy and Heber came into the sealing room and while we were waiting I had a flashback to one day when my mom was sick. She was in a sad mood and I asked her why and she told me she was thinking about some of the things she was going to miss like Chance and Javi's baptism and Madison's wedding. I hope Heavenly Father let her be there with us during the sealing.

Maddy and Heber went to Long Beach for their honeymoon and the rest of us came to Island Park for the week. The boys are out of school for another week so why not? Grandpa Poulton has been moved out of the hospital to an extended care facility but neither he nor Grandma is with us in Island Park this week. It's all the Poulton kids and it's pretty fun. I'm not sure what is worse - having nobody in charge or having certain people act like they are in charge when nobody wants them to be. We rented snowmobiles today and it was complete chaos. The rental shop was supposed to drop them off last night but didn't come. We tried calling them all morning but nobody answered. Finally when we got through they said they dropped them off an hour ago but up the road because they couldn't get the truck down a narrow road and nobody told us. So frustrating! They also delivered too few 2-person snowmobiles so all the plans we had for drivers + riders had to be recomputed. It worked out okay though and mom and I got to ride from the cabin down to Big Springs and all the way up to West Yellowstone then up and over Two Top mountain back to the cabin. It took about 2 1/2 hours and was totally beautiful the whole way.

My mission president had this classic quote that said “Are you the missionary that you mother thinks you are?” I like this one because I know how missionaries are. There are some good ones, some bad ones, some that are just serving time, and even some that seem to be outright trying to destroy the work you are there to do. There are all kinds. 

The strange thing is this: I have met lots of mothers and every one of them has this image in their head of their son as the perfect missionary. I have never met a mother who said, “You know my son is not working hard and I even think he is sleeping in at least 4 times a week. My son cannot remember his scriptures, hasn’t had even a hope of a baptism for at least 3 months and he is really just being a stinker.” I saw some letters from Elders that were in my mission and I could not believe that they would write some of the things they did. I would wonder about them or if they were even in the same mission I was in. 

If you are to paint a picture of what you are and what you are doing, paint it fairly. Be honest with your mother, but most of all, be honest with yourself. The best way to have your mother know you are the perfect missionary is to be the best you can be. What I really mean is to be the missionary that your mother thinks you are. No missionary ever wrote a letter that sounds like this:

Dear Mom,

I am having a pretty neutral time. It fun and it’s not fun. I have slept in at least 5 days this week. I don’t have even a prayer for a baptism since we are teaching absolutely no one. My companion hates finding (knocking doors or just plain ole opening our mouths) and he is teaching me to do the same! What a wonderful example. 

There are several girls in my new area that I am interested in and we spend plenty of time with them. Speaking of spending, I have been spending plenty of money on really dumb things to remember the mission by. You know, really cool souvenirs. That is what a mission is all about anyway right? 

I am really concerned since Elder Smith has way too many cool ties and I was wondering if you could send me some. I want to look cool too, you know. I will be making a few phone calls to some friends who need to hear from me, so you may want to recharge that phone card that you gave me. My mission president is old and I am not sure that he really understands what we are here for so I don’t pay lots of attention to him when he speaks at conference. This thing is taking a long time and most of the time I am bored to death so…so 

See you later, 

ELDER BLACK

Even though I know that there are lots of Elders out there who could fall into many of the lines from that letter, I never heard of a mother even once get a letter like that. So make a commitment to yourself to be the Elder that she thinks you are.

It's New Years Eve so I just want to say Happy New Years! May 2019 be the best year you have ever had. It should be. You know the language and culture now so nothing stands in your way! You can make your mission as good as you want it to be. 

We love you and think of you every day. It's freezing here and I often wonder how great the weather is where you are. Work hard, be obedient, and live with no regrets.

Love,

Dad