Arizona update

Hi everyone, Here’s the latest.

 

I went to church today and stayed for the first hour. It was so great to sit with my family listening to them sing the hymns, take the sacrament and listen to the talks that were given. (Of course, it wore me out, so I went home and slept for 3 hours! It’s a good thing my back door is just through the parking lot.)  I thought about how happy and blessed we are. The last month and half has been crazy. I say that a lot, don’t I? But this month, it’s been truer than most. In addition to all the wonderful activities of family and missionary work, I was diagnosed and underwent surgery for thyroid cancer. I apologize if this is new to some of you. Things were happening so fast, it was difficult to be able to let everyone know. But, I’m well into the recovery stages and doing great just very tired. We actually weren’t going to email anything about it since we thought we’d keep it private and since emails tend to be forwarded, to expand and to take on a life of there own, but we’ve been getting so many questions, I thought I should just briefly explain what happened. In early September the mission’s area medical advisor came to our office to introduce himself and noticed a small lump on my neck. As a retired ENT, he thought it advisable I have it checked out and made an appointment for me. After a biopsy and confirming ultra sound, we knew it was cancer and set everything in motion to have the tumor and my thyroid removed. Wow. I did that in 3 lines! It’s such a simple story, but that simplicity belies the miracle or the experience and the gratitude I feel in my heart. I now have a tremendous scar across my neck that’s healing nicely. (Brandon says it looks like a Frankenstein scar and wishes I had it for Halloween so we all could have matched it.) But I hope it doesn’t fade completely. Every time I see it, I remember how much our Father in Heaven loves each one of us and the active participant He is in our lives. I know that if our assignment had taken us somewhere else, Chile, Mexico, Argentina, or especially if we had stayed home in Antelope, I wouldn’t have detected this cancer so early or at all. I know we were asked to come here to Arizona for many reasons, reasons we’ve already been made aware of and some that maybe we won’t ever know, but I also know part of why we were sent here was so that I could met Elder Shill (the area medical advisor). God is much bigger part of our lives than we sometimes realize, and often, He helps us through other people. In October, our church had its semi-annual general conference. The prophet, all of the apostles, and other church leaders spoke on different topics. One of the apostles, President Erying, spoke about Remembering God and in so doing having our eyes opened up about just how much He blesses and is aware of us. (Here’s the link to His talk http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,49-1-775-24,00.html , other conference talks can be accessed here: http://www.lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,49-1-775,00.html ) That’s how I feel right now, very blessed and very aware of those blessings.

This Thanksgiving, we will be grateful for many things, among which are wonderful family and friends. Thank you for your prayers and support and all your letters and emails and flowers. I’m sorry if I haven’t been able to respond to everyone. I started to try, and then kind of gave up and thought I’d send out this group letter instead. We love you and miss you. We feel your prayers (on Thursday morning, the day of my surgery, I laid awake in bed around 3:30, 4:00 and slowly felt a calm and peace come over me. I knew it was from prayers and wondered who would be up so early. Then I realized Georgia time was two hours ahead and our wonderful family there would be up and awake and praying for us. And the feeling of comfort and peace didn’t stop all day, it still lingers. And I know it encompassed my whole family. Thank you.).

Thank you, thank you everyone! We’re doing great. I feel terrific-including terrifically tired, but the cure for that is easy-I get to sleep in. My family is taking great care of me. Mark is a super hero. The kids get to come to California for Thanksgiving. They’re thrilled. They’ll be in New Castle most of the weekend, but I think they’re planning to come to church at Antelope on Sunday. They can’t wait.

Love you all-angie

PS The day after Thanksgiving, the Christmas lights go up around the temple and at the visitor’s center in Mesa. It’s spectacular. Every evening until Dec. 31, there is a different ½ hour concert by local choirs. If you’re in town anytime during the holidays, be sure to stop by and see it. The best night will be Dec. 31^st when all our missionaries sing. It will be amazing, and I’m planning on having my singing voice back by then so I can sing with them!

 

 

Jessica-

 

Taylor- Hey. Yesterday I came to California! Our stake was doing a service project in San Diego regarding the fire down there. There was a family of three that had their entire home…everything burned. The father died, and the fifteen year old son burned sixty percent of his body when he and his father tried to stay behind and keep the fire away from the home while the mother left. There was ash, glass, and metal everywhere. We rode down in a bus to clean it up at three in the morning on Saturday. When we arrived we thought it would be an impossible task. However, we managed to spend the day and clean up all the debris and save that family a lot of trouble and returned home at midnight that night. The mother was astounded by our service and didn’t even know that there were people in the world that were so serving, which made her more interested in the church and provided a good missionary opportunity for us. There was a bell thirty feet off the ground that the boy used to ring when his dad got home…unfortunately the rope to climb up to the bell was burned so we got a ladder and put a rope up so that the mother was able to pull the rope and ring the bell. It was an emotional experience for her and she was very grateful…... other than that it has been pretty much the same as usual. I finally passed a biology test with a good grade which was a first. Getting used to school a little more. We all miss you and love your letters. And we look forward to seeing most of you this coming week!!

 

Amanda-Hey Everybody. I miss you a ton. I had a wonderful birthday and a good experience going to Young Women’s on Sunday, and a special event on Wednesday for Young Women’s. My Uncle John was able to come and see us and that was really fun. I got a lot of neat things for my birthday and I had fun with my family. We had some other visitors on Saturday. I wish everyone could come and see us-hint, hint. Can’t wait for your reply. Amanda

 

Brandon-Hello everybody. I’ve been having a good week. Me and Taylor are having a nice time. We’re getting along pretty well. We’re making up ideas for student council and we’re stacking our beds on top of each other and taking turns sleeping on them and one person sleeps on the floor. But my dad said we can’t do that anymore. We had a campout outside and had some fires and roasted marshmallows and made smore’s. We still have a little camp site out there for it. I would be playing football with Taylor, but a few weeks ago, with Taylor’s new football, he said we needed practice for Thanksgiving so we could play with Tyson, but when we were practicing I jammed my finger and it’s been hurting for all theses weeks so I haven’t really played football. Last week was amazing, because I got to so many cool things in class. I’m having a test on turkeys this Tuesday. Trivia: a mother adult turkey is called a hen, the dad is called a Tom and the baby is called poults. I’ve had a pretty nice time. Wish you all luck. Sincerely, Your friend and family, Brandon.

 

Jeffrey- What I’ve been doing lately is cuddling with my mom. She is really comfortable. I miss you. It was Amanda’s birthday. I played the piano in front of a thousand of people and made one mistake. I played Bingo. Want me to sing it for you? I will sing it for you next time I see you. Uncle John came to visit us. When Thanksgiving comes I’m going to see some of you. I’m having a really nice time in Arizona. Jackson (Smedley) came to visit me. Love Jeffrey