Robert writes home #40 Dec 11, 1994
Dec. 11, 1994
Dear Mother,
I forgot to tell you in my letter last week that Laurie had another boy on 28 Nov. and Mary had a 10 lb 5 oz. girl for her first one. Janet said that she looks just like Mary did as a baby...blond wavy hair. Janet went back to Provo yesterday to stay with Mary and her new baby girl for a few days. Pete, Charlie, Sam and I are batching it. I used to live in a family of females...now it's reversed.
Yesterday Pete was playing football with some friends in their back yard. He ran backwards into the pole that holds up the basketball hoop with his head. He cut his scalp and was dizzy and seeing sparkles for about a half hour. I took him to the hospital where the doctor stitched him up and told me to wake him up every two hours to see if he was okay for 24 hours. That kind of interrupts a guy's sleep (mine) He didn't ever show any symptoms other than a headache so I guess he's okay. Pete started doing alittle missionary work on the doctor after he got stitched. I was surprised how the doctor opened up and talked to him. I've known that doctor and seen him at staff meetings at the hospital for acouple of years and he never says anything but the business essentials to me, but he started talking about his Mennonite background and a recent trip to Quebec when Pete started talking to him about the church and his mission. I think there is profound wisdom, beyond my ability to comprehend, in sending 19 year olds out as missionaries. The tings that I see are these: people are not intimidated by them like they would be by an older wiser man who might look like he might know alot about the scriptures and thus might make the investigator look stupid if the investigator told him what he thought about religion, and so they talk to the 19 year olds more freely; also their social skills and knowledge aren't usually developed enough that it is likely that they could convert them with their smooth talk and convincing arguments so they have to rely on the spirit converting the contact when the missionary presents the information; thirdly, they are malleable to the spirit. They don't know enough to be able to rely on their own knowledge so they have to rely on inspiration from the Holy Ghost. The end result being sharing God's wisdom.
The ward had a Christmas party potluck dinner last night. Les Stringfellow and Matt and Jim Buckley performed a brass ensemble of Christmas music. They were good.
We're starting to talk about pruning grapes at the stake vineyard again. Thy're going to have the members do it this year. I pruned my own yesterday as a warm up.
The gospel's true. I'm grateful to grow up with parents who taught it to me.
Love,
Robert, Janet Pete, Charlie, Sam
Dear Mother,
I forgot to tell you in my letter last week that Laurie had another boy on 28 Nov. and Mary had a 10 lb 5 oz. girl for her first one. Janet said that she looks just like Mary did as a baby...blond wavy hair. Janet went back to Provo yesterday to stay with Mary and her new baby girl for a few days. Pete, Charlie, Sam and I are batching it. I used to live in a family of females...now it's reversed.
Yesterday Pete was playing football with some friends in their back yard. He ran backwards into the pole that holds up the basketball hoop with his head. He cut his scalp and was dizzy and seeing sparkles for about a half hour. I took him to the hospital where the doctor stitched him up and told me to wake him up every two hours to see if he was okay for 24 hours. That kind of interrupts a guy's sleep (mine) He didn't ever show any symptoms other than a headache so I guess he's okay. Pete started doing alittle missionary work on the doctor after he got stitched. I was surprised how the doctor opened up and talked to him. I've known that doctor and seen him at staff meetings at the hospital for acouple of years and he never says anything but the business essentials to me, but he started talking about his Mennonite background and a recent trip to Quebec when Pete started talking to him about the church and his mission. I think there is profound wisdom, beyond my ability to comprehend, in sending 19 year olds out as missionaries. The tings that I see are these: people are not intimidated by them like they would be by an older wiser man who might look like he might know alot about the scriptures and thus might make the investigator look stupid if the investigator told him what he thought about religion, and so they talk to the 19 year olds more freely; also their social skills and knowledge aren't usually developed enough that it is likely that they could convert them with their smooth talk and convincing arguments so they have to rely on the spirit converting the contact when the missionary presents the information; thirdly, they are malleable to the spirit. They don't know enough to be able to rely on their own knowledge so they have to rely on inspiration from the Holy Ghost. The end result being sharing God's wisdom.
The ward had a Christmas party potluck dinner last night. Les Stringfellow and Matt and Jim Buckley performed a brass ensemble of Christmas music. They were good.
We're starting to talk about pruning grapes at the stake vineyard again. Thy're going to have the members do it this year. I pruned my own yesterday as a warm up.
The gospel's true. I'm grateful to grow up with parents who taught it to me.
Love,
Robert, Janet Pete, Charlie, Sam
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