Feliz Navidad From Elder K

hey,
> so its not fair that you can make me cry at your whim. just wanted to get that out. =) so got a cool Christmas story that i want to share BUT got to explain something 1st. so at home Christmas is a time for families, movies, friends, and for a select few partying. here is the exact opposite....right down to the weather =) so here the people drink and party ALL DAY , and all night for that matter, and do everything and do everything that is associated with drinking. and when i say everyone i mean EVERYONE down to 4 yr olds drinking and grinding to the beat of the music. ok so even with out knowing all this the story is cool but with it-its nigh impossible to believe: so we have this 17yr old girl we have been teaching, has family in our ward so one would think it wouldn't be that bad. but she runs a small business where she does nails and her parents sell beer. of course she has a boyfriend and that which that implies. so we taught her about the Word of Wisdom a few days before the 25th and she understood, even asked the question " so its a process right?" we gave her 2 NE 28:8-9 to read , I think that's the right one, and she said she wouldn't drink. We went by on Christmas to try to teach (only taught 1 lesson that day, everyone wanted to feed us but not the best idea to eat the food...sad, very sad) her and her aunt. the aunt and uncle weren't there but she was. Check this, WITH A GATORADE IN HAND!! yeah!! she told us that she hadn't had anything to drink all day, and from the looks of the other people around i could tell she was being truthful. (they all looked at her like she was crazy for not drinking.) most of the day wasn't too great but talking with you guys and getting to see that made it all worth it.
OK,other funny thing, so our washer drains constantly if you forget to take the coins out of the pockets. so we took one out and put everything back or thought we did, and then we went and tried to wash some stuff. It started to leak. so i went and grabbed a piece of hose that was just laying around and siphened the water into a bucket-barrel-thingy.Then I hear in the words of Elder Greyson "DUDE Elder Ritter come here man, Elder K just did some magic trick with the water man!" i showed them ( the Zone Leaders) and they were like little kids for the rest of the day, using it to do everything. but on the plus side we now always have water pressure to wash dishes, never have to take true bucket showers anymore, and can rinse our clothes with out getting wet.
> ok other way awesome experience. so we have this one investigater, 25ish word of wisdom and chastity problems but has had good witnesses from the Spirit. She just doesn't want to do anything about it. (She doesn't want to make the committment to get baptized or to change her life ) We went to teach her about something i cant remember what because when Elder Cruz asked her if she had read she told us no, (3 weeks it took for her to read 1 chapter, and yes i know about the whole progression thing, but this girl was not even trying) she was at a members house when we went to check up on them because all of our appointments fell thru. It was the 26th and everyone was still hung over) so elder cruz my comp went and started to go off and tried to do it in a good way but, well he has had to deal with her for a while. So after about 5 mins he just turns to me and asks if i want to say anything. I have her open to D&C 122 and read it. i explained that Joseph smith went thru all of this for her, for me, for everyone because of what the book of mormon will do IF you will let it. I went thru and gave a super powerful testimony of it and what it has done in my life, Dad, Mom, how i know i will see kara and Michelle again because of it, and the love and peace she CAN have IF she chooses to take it. I LOVE THE SCRIPTUERS!!!! soooo awesomely amazingly perfect!
> but so yeah, the past couple of days were as crappy as the experiences were amazing.
> love you guys, a lot alot alot and know you love me, yes rene you know even you love me. =) and just so you know every time i read a letter or when i talked to you felt like you guys are SOO much more spiritual than me. but that's ok. hopefully i will grow a little, spiritually speaking but wouldn't mind physically too, hehehe.
>
> a mi Familia eterna (eso es todo de ustedes) ((to my eternal family and that means ALL of you))
> Elder Kekoolani.

Merry Christmas!!

Wishing everyone a warm and merry Christmas! The cowboy in the picture is a little shout out for a certain sister/aunt of our's:) You know who you are:) Love you all and Ho Ho Ho. Hug Hug, Kiss Kiss.

Elder K's Pre-Christmas Letter

HEY all!
> and
> hey mommy (yes i do still love you even though i am not there.)
>
> i do gotta say i agree with uncle Bob now. right now she is probably the one praying for all of us. nice thought. and 40pnts. to Rene for the correction. dont worry about "dumping" it on me, before i would have considered this bad or sad or something there abouts. but its amazing to see the amount of change a little understanding of the plan of salvacion brings. and Wesely, dylan and grason if you can hear me from all the way down here, i love you guys. and i know that your Fathers, both of them, love you more. someone has A LOT of faith in each of you to give you this blessing now ,rather then when you are far from home(dont worry mom i am fine and will talk to you in a few days) and have people who love all around. just remember that even though your Mom, my aunt, isnt right next to you she doesnt love you any less. if anything i know it would be fair to say she loves you more. and you know it too. (thanks uncle Bob) and yes i am sorry that i will miss aunt cayrn, i dare you to name two other people who can cook as well as she does and make you fall over laughing at the same time. oh Mom it was fine for you to say no.... if i cant be trimnal someone else has to make up for it, right? Joey, i know you cant see me right now but i am giving you an air high-five, and super Bro-knucks, way to trounce fanazi!!! and yeah could be worse Mom if you could see some of the kids here and the energy they have-- some litterally do climb the walls, bare concrete walls... bit o' a sight ta' see. hey Rene welcome to the part of high school that sucks, the college stressings--though i think you would just as soon start stressing over that as i would do homework, so yeah.
> and sorry i wont bee there to see you graduate... but i dont think that that (que eso, espanol tiene mas logica in esto) bothers you. love Christopher, hes a dork but ya gotta love 'em. and why am i suprised that Dad did what he did? good thing we have D&C 84:33! so i will probably spend all of my time talking about stories but here is one more:
> so two weeks ago we bapt.ed this kid named cristofer. (sp spelling) and this past sunday we got to teach his father. i have NO IDEA why i have the privlige of being there but it was aboslutly astounding to watch him. as soon as we shared the 1st script from the book of mormon about why Christ was baptzd he was in tears, and continued to be until the end of the lesson. el espiritu fue FUERTE allí! and then friday we had this one lady who not only had shown up to church the sunday before but when we went to teach the plan of salvation to her she had read and understood (or at the very least paid attention when she was reading) the folleto...uh pamphlet weird word in eng. but so the entire time we went through and explained taught and asked about the PoS she responed with real answers and questions of her own. and to me the coolest part was to the end when we had gone and ended my comp said something about how the oh wait need to add something. ok so she asked about bapt for the dead, we (my comp) explained how they are there because thy dont have bodies and we do, and how its because some dont/wont have the opprt. in this life to hear the Gospel, and bcause of His ;love for us they have this part. so then he read 1 cor 15:32, i think its 15:32, and explained that even the Bible talks about it but not clearly. now heres the cool part: so after saying that it isnt clear about it, she asked why it wasnt clear, I said that it was because it was trans lated a bunch, and she added " oh and because they didnt have the authority and guidance they got alittle wrong" --way awesome.
> ok gottaq go now.
> LOVE ALL OF YOU LOTS, talk soon
> Elder Kekoolani

Henry's Letter of the Week

ok so before i write anything else and forget--phonecall.
> ok so here is how it works i call you from a prearranged time and tell you the number to call, you call back. use the phone card if you want. and yeah. as for the 30mins-- might i quote my zone leaders and the apostel they quoted: "you are sealed to your family, you are not however sealed to your calling". i was asking them about the call and the response i got was more or less a "well, it is possible to only go the 30mins and no more--in a perfect world, which we dont live in. and besides that i dont know about you but if i only talked 30mins everytime and tried to go back either I or the mission president would have to watch our backs." i was basiclly worried about trying to be obediant and wanting to talk, felt much better after. so here is what i think we are going to try: about noon Christmas day, 12:00pm dec 25, 2009. ok now that i am done with that. (but even with a little more time rene would have to cut it short) they did tell me that the reason that the time is so short is because a lot of missionaries get "trunky" when they talk to their families. i dont know why the best part of my week is when i get to read your letters for some reason i am always super pumped to work afer i read them.
>
> tell lucas hi for me and send me his email address por favor. oh joey congrats you have now inherited my "driving privaliges" i am sure you are soooo happy. but hey at least you are walking everywhere! it gets really old really fast. oh and dont borther stressing over , well, anything. it really isnt worth it, just enjoy everything and work hard and everything will be ok. dont even think about worrying about career or college until 1/2 way thru junior year you can start thinking about worrying then. oh and good call waiting for gradma to be able to come... you wouldnt want her to pray for you =) good to know that you havent changed Dad. though the stories always will. (oh mom tree or no tree its still Christmas, as long as Dad sleeps in) my comp is pretty good from what i can tell as far as things are concerned. i still only understand about half of what he says. and yes i know that we dont have a lot but we share what we have, even if that means giving the house to someone else =) but seriously thanks for teachign me how to share and why we do it.
>
> ok story time: so so far we are 3 for 3, 3 bapts in 3 weeks, and have ones planned for the rest of our sats until the end of the transfer. but this past weekend we were only panning on having 1 and were at the bishops house telling him about it when one of the guys we had been teaching called. hes 15 and freaking awsome! he calls us and says "hey i want to be baptized this week... is that possible?" of course we were like DUH! but so way glad that we live with the ZLs bc it makes interviews so much easier. i was also very proud of my self bc i got to stay in the area and lead the way to the appointments. but so the ZL interviews him and comes out and just says" dang, i dont know how you are this lucky man." i also got to baptize him on Saturday. it is and was VERY humbling to think that i preformed an ordenance for him that will last for all eternity and marks the start of his journey back to our heavenly Father. to say i was grateful isnt enough. ok and so in one of my personal studies i thought of this and wanted to share it with you guys. ok i was trying to think of something that would help me be a better missionary and would still be good for after. this is what i came up with.
> remember the who's, what's, when's, where's, and why's.
> who: are you/ do you represent/ are you family/ is counting on you to work today/ has been waiting for you to bring hope/ are you as_____
>
> what: do you want to do/ does you heavenly Father want you to do/ does it mean to be a repersentitive/ have you been given/have you been taught/ would your savior do to help this brother or sister/ is important___
>
> when: are you going to return/ are you going to share your blessings/ are you going to help those around
>
> where: are you/ do you want to be...after the mission, in this life, in the one after/ is the best place for me right now/ is your savoir right now?
>
> why? .... in your favorite phrase why not? why not be obediant? why not help everyone? why not show love in everything you do? why not be the child He wants me to be? why not share my blessings?
> obviously why is the one that compliments all the others and adds more meaning to them. the cool thing about this is with everything on the surface they were all superficial but with 10 seconds of thought they are all significantly deeper than what i wrote.
>
> love is a wierd thing, yet i gots it fer all o' ya. thanks for everything you guys do, that is to say i am glad that i dont have to worry about you guys doing anything too dumb, other than eating a hamburger/talking on the phone and drinking a soda all while driving a giant yellow truck pulling covered white trailer 70+ miles an hour down I-75 in rush hour traffic. but know one we know does that. but seriously be careful watch out for one another and know that i love you even though you cant see me.

Frosty

Hi All! Friday we were invited to meet Frosty (Kara's Gift). This is a very pretty horse. Thanks for inviting us Mary and Thom.
Here are a few pictures for those of you who didn't make it.

almost done- T menos 2 semanas y contando!‏

hola mi familia,

entones a empazar: josé no permitas las chicas a llegar a ser muy cerca a tu! chiste! no but really watch out for stephen, and the others (aaronic g33k1n5) hehe figured that you would be the only one that would get that. so things here are amazing! we only have like a little less than 2 weeks til we go.(tenemos solo dos semenas hasta vamos) i think that i have said this before but i will say it again: i cant believe all the things that are in the scriptures wow, i thought that i knew what it ment to "feast upon the word" before but now i am beginning to relize that i dont even know. i will send another email later today with the addresses, appearently there are some other addressses that the mission pres. for the east mission set up just for us so that thing can get here faster. way sweet so i will get those for yas. so pass on to the young mens pres that he should have the older ones (chris joey stephen maybe dean and bret(s) too; go and have one sunday training session... or just let them forget the bread on a day when pres jones is there! they will learn REALLY fast then. so i have a scripture challenge for Dad, mostly for him because i think he will enjoy it: ok go to D&C 93:1 and go through each of the things it lists and try to define them. now knowing you you very well may have all ready done this, but try it anyway. and tie it to 84:33-39. you might have, strike that, have taught this to be before but i didnt pay as much attention as i should have or didnt put enough thought into it. ok another thing: so we got to hear a talk by/from Elder Holland and in it he was talking about missionary work as it pertains to the Savior's ministry. he stated specifically that we are going to go through a lot of crap, yeah its true, you are called to be a REPRESENTIVITE of Christ and in being such you are required to experiance some of the things that he had to experience. now he went on to say and explain that what we get, and yes it is a "get" / have the oppertunity, to experience is not even so much as a drop in a thimble when compared to what he went through. not saying this to get your blood pressure up Mom... though doubtless it will, but had a thought to share so maybe it can give you some relief Dad. oh Mom before you start worrying too much remember I am the safe one here, have people all over the world praying for me, you are the one that I should be worrying over =) ok A. Kathy and Grandma: thanks for the letters, i didnt forget about them either, was nice to hear from you , fue bueno a oir de vosotros, and i would ask you , Grandma, to pray for Mom but i dont know that any of us want that =D it is so amazing to learn what it means to give yourself up, forget yourself, and go to work. ok español tiempo:
sé que vosotros estáis haciendo bueno, y tambien que seréis guardado. hacáis bueno in esquela y socidad de relief y con los "hombres" (o niñios) de tu trabajo. escribiré otro vez en poco tiempo.

con amor, esperanza, Elder Kekoolani

Henry's just beginning to learn

hey hows it going?! so for the `1st time here i got the 2 dear elders last night then the package this morning! add to that that, eso que....makes more sense in spanish, i got to go and do inshatories....not even close to how they are spelled but that is the best that i can do. oh before i forget Aunt Mary -- so tell taylor that its ok i hated doing homework too, it and fun should not be mentioned in the same sentence. speaking of BYU i would love to write the essay BUT that time thing... i have 1/2 that is "free" time...as in the only time i have to write you guys or straigten up or unpack more or do something that isnt teaching or learning spanish. maybe i should have spent more time with DAD....might have been able to pick up on that whole time-space thing. elder fode... would love to say wow i am suprised but i'm not. as a matter of fact there is an elder rigtht by me who is on facebook even thought about 15 of us told him we arent supposed to be. oh well what can you do other than pray for them, right?! am i allowed to be that nice... errr i mean giving? nice to know that neither Dad nor i have lost our touch, making people cry with the flick of a wrist... or a few words which ever we want. coodos to joe and stephen i would join in but... well yeah. its cool there are so many expreences that i would love to write about! and i have been finding some amazing stuff in the scriptures too. so i have been getting in arugments with a few , and by this i mean like 5 sec total, about that we CAN be perfect in this life and live that way untill we die. always that DL keeps saying "hey ...we need to be on task" and blah-blah-blah yes i know that this might be disrespectful to think this but i honestly believe that this knowledge is something that everyone should at least be aware of. in my personal study i found a list of scriptures to prove this point. now i havent had the chance to show them this yet, that will be on sunday--we decided that the district meeting is our testomony/deep doctrine(non nolan of course)/ "group edification" (my name for it) time. oh! we heard a talk, on dvd, from elder bednar-- in it he was takling about the holy ghost and telling the missionaries(dont look for it you wont find it it is intra-MTC only waaay sweet huh!?) anyway he was talking about how to know if it is your thought or seomthing that the holy SPRT is giving you, his response was this: "STOP WORRYING ABOUT IT! just be a good boy" he went on to explain that as we go and become more Christ like our thought should be beomce more like his and he wont need to smack us with the HG everytime.... and yes he did term it "smack you with the holy ghost" thought you guys would like that. so yeah the other thing that i have been argueing about is that the FULLNESS of the Gospel is in the Book of Mormon. or in other words everything that we have in the church is in there. one of the elders brought up the temple and the ceromony--at the time i didnt know where, but i have found a few now and one chapter that goes through some of it pretty well-- made me go " huh....how did i never see that before?!" but in short its way humid (like it) lots fun, learning LOADS about the Gospel and how to teach it, and of course spanish.it so amazing to see that everyone here has been given soo many tough experiances, and to think that (pmg lesson 2) Christ created the earth knowing that not only we were going to have to go through all these trials and pains and yet he still made them, taylored them to our needs because he loves us so much! so much and so little time-- LOVE ALL OF YOU!! and miss you wheni have time to think about that =) dont think you get the choice to forget youself..its like the humble thing--"God will have a humble people....either you can choose to be humble or you can be compeled to be humble-- either way its you choice" fun times =) again love yas lots.

-Elder Kekoolani

Henry on plane

so yes after 3 weeks in provo they
decided that my spanish was so bad
thery couldnt do anything about it
so they sent me to the DR to just
start learning the hard way. nah,
yeah i am in DR CCM (MTC más o menos)
it is contained entirely on the 4th
floor of a hotel right next to the
Temple (which services the whole
caraibian) so we dont get to walk
around a whole lot =( but its really
nice at the same time!i told you
that is on the 4th floor of a
hotel--IE our rooms are hotel rooms
with our own showers and toliets...
VERY nice and VERY important...bit
of irony 1st the 'tree of life'
showers in provo are really more
like the telestial kingdom showers...
despite their name. its really nice
here the 1st thing i noticed was
the humidty-- yes its just a bit
more humid, really its like when
its the middle of the summer and
really hot and it rains and how
it feels as the clouds are
immedantly gone... but all the time.
ok so before i forget i got a
laugh out of this: when i got on
the last flight (i slept on the 1st 2)
i sat next to this guy who was from
the DR and had been serving in the US
Army. (oh and when the flight people
were handing out this stuff for
customs and what not they gave me
the 'Dominican national" form, got
a kick outta that) and i got to
share just a little about the
gospel with him. i gave him a
passalong card because i didnt
have a book of mormon with me...
or at least one that i could give
him. was cool. so yeah i am with
Daniel in his line of thought,
there was a point when i went
and decied that baptizims dont
matter, and really they dont--
allowing others to come and know
or rather gain a knowledge of the
Atonement and the Savior in the
way that we have THAT is what
matters. what they do with it and
how they act upon it is their
choice, we are only asked to help
them get that choice.
ok mail addresses:

Pouch(small, light mail):
Elder (me)
Dominican Republic MTC
P.O. Box 30153
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

Packages/heavy mail:
elder (me)
Ave. Bolivan #825
Esq. Genesis Los Robles
Santo Domingo R.D. (Republica Dominica)

ok so yeah there ya go. oh before
i forget...wait too late... uh...
well Dear elder still works here,
or at least i know that some of
the guys have been getting them.
i havent sent the letter with the
SD card so dont worry about the
fact you havent gotten it yet.
ok so at first i was really
bummed about being here, dont know
entirly why. but i am better not
again not sure entirly why but i
dont know some of the things that
helped. part of the reason that
i felt like crap was because when
we got here we all relized that
we were in for it now, only one or
maybe two of the teachers here
can speak decent english, a few
more speak broken english and
fewer understand but dont speak...
then there are three or four that
dont speak or understand it...
yeah they are a lot of fun. but
anyways the reason that i felt like
crap is that i had stopped
focusing on the teaching and
focused solely on the language,
forgetting that it is nothing
more than a tool that we use to
teach. but then i figured out
what the problem was and
everything got better, and of
course there were other things
that helped too but that was
one of the biggest. its cool back
in provo i had this teacher named
Hno Douglas and he was way cool
, he did what most teachers forget
-- they are teaching eternal beings,
not lessons... ot at least that is
what they should be doing. (a lot of
missionaries forget that too) btu i
am SOO glad that i had hius class
because i LEARNED so much. obviously
that and other stuff but that was the
most important thus far. i had the
oppertunity to teach some elders in
my new district, and i did what they
hadnt done or been apart of yet-- i
taught THEM. it was amazing to see
the amoutn that the spirit touched
them! i was glad that i decied to
teach in english to them and not in
spanish to them as investagtors.
it has been cool to see that the
gift of tonges working, i have
been helped to the point that i can
pick a set of las escripturas and
read and understand, for the most
part, what they mean. ok i will
try escribir the essays and send
them but i have to find a way to
print them first... and find the
time--but i figure the Lord will
provide the time when he is ready
and i am ready. right now they would
be crap... cant think too well in
either language.
ok g2g LOVE YOU GUYS SOOOOOO MUCH!!!
hasta la bye-bye (that was for you Rene)

les amo, Elder Kekoolani

Estoy aqui!

estoy aquí
 en la reupblica
 de dominicana!
so yeah i made it
here safe and sound and we are
getting like 2 mins to write you
and tell you this. will write
again on thrus i think its thrus.
---way glad tener humidity!...
por ahora.... asi--hasta luego!
 tengo much amor por todos ustedes! 

Henry's next MTC letter

hey guys so this is my second attempt at emailing you! the 1st one didnt go so well. so i am having a blast here! its soo awesome to see the lord's hand in motion in the lives of so many people. so i am finnaly relizing that i can really email everyone at once....though i am going to try. wasnt Gen. conf. amazing?! i loved all the talks and got a lot from them. although i dont know if that was because i was here or because i was awake...i dont think either hurt. oh and aunt mary i didnt get to go to any of the sessions none of us got to but i did get to go last year with aunt heather and uncle john. so i REALLY loved pres. eyering's talk when he was talking about being prepared to give blessigns. i think it was in the preisthood session, but i thought it was cool how that was something that i have tried to do/have/be ready for since i was ordained! i especailly loved elder packer's and elder holland's talks. both were unexpected but extremely powerful. i love you guys so much. so i cant remember who wrote it--oh yeah it was kathy, but any ways yes, have heard a VERY little about the disaters in the pacific. we dont really get to know a whole lot about the outside world. the running joke for my district is that the second coming could happen and we would hear a world about it til we got to the airport. but so i am having fun telling elders how i only have one week left. "so how many weeks you got left?....oh sorry to hear that , well you will survive it ...(maybe)" i really dont know why every hatesd the MTC i LOVE it here! the spirit is SOOOO strong and its so much fun. before i forget i think i finally know why the newbies are treated as well as they are---they know the happenings of the outside world. so i leave in 6 days-ish for the Dominican MTC. i have to report to the travel office at 3AM-- quick before i forget, i get to call you mom...and dad i think...i know that i get to make at least one call. but i have no idea when i get to make the call so mom you can skip the gym on the 15th ...i give you permission=) oh yeah so i love all of you for the letters that you have been sending, not that i dont love those of you who havent sent me one but, anyway if you have a package for me or that you were going to send me wait to send it until i make it to the DR MTC, because i dont think they will forward packages, they will forward the mail for a week or so but i think the packages go up for the grabs. so i am sure that by now Rene has begun to blame things on me... and i think thats ok because for once she might be right...yes you heard me rene, for ONCE, as in one time =), i dont know to what extent the things going good or bad is my fault but feel free to blame them on me. [{(ok mom this is for you. i dont know when or if i should email you the essays, or when i am going to find the time to write them. ok before you throw your head back and sigh....though by now you have already done so...i only got to read your letter lastnight. so take that for what its worth. but look on the bright side, you know that i am still the same little boy that you gave to the lord for two years, and yes i would venture to say the same little boy, because you have done that good a job at raising me. i know that it might makle you cry and eys i amn getting a smile from it but i an crying too, i ma learning SOO much here andi have no intention of stopping. hey for once i can honestly answer the question "dont you think that you could have used your time better and written the essyas i asked you to?" a resounding "no" and smile....or at least say that i am giving it my best try to use all my time effectively. dont wory too much it is important and i am sure that i will be given the time that i need to write them. i do however need that last prompt if i am to do so. oh my tribal num is: 21862. i dont know how legit it is because i am now 'old' and therefore might need another one. but that is what i have. oh and PS: share this with dad he deserves the credit too. for both the raisign and procrastination methods...sorry but using time to do something worht while and at the same time not doing somethign else is something you exceel at.)}] i love you guys soo much but now i have to go! we are only SUPPOSED to go and write emails and letters on Pday and for us here in the Provo MTC that is friday, dont know if it will change when we get to the DR MTC. so i am trying to be obediant and follow the rules, if you dont get a letter or arent mentioned thats why...though i might be tempted to write one while i have "extra" time. oh and Uncle Sam: thanks SOO much for the package. i might be in the lead for the most letters but i dont know --havent counted--i didnt even know we were having a contest until soemone said i might be in the lead or a close second. ok got to go but i want you, ALL of you to know how much i love you and that i do pray for you guys everyday.

THANK YOU!

Thanks to all of you for making the above possible! First, let me apologize for not saying thank you earlier or posting a picture of her with our beloved (and I mean that)swing. As you all know, life has been interesting around here, and not that that's an excuse, but that's what I'm sticking to. Really, thank you all so very very much. She loves it. She sits in the swing and naps/watches movies and sits in her bouncy and watches me clean up/make food. It's fun for her and a huge help for me. Thank you!!!!!!!!We love you all and can't wait to see you at Thanksgiving! Also, for any that would like to, I've added some new pictures of my sweet babe on our blog. johnandheather.blogspot.com

MTC Pictures

Oops, I forgot to post the MTC pictures of our little (tee hee) Henry. So here they are. We literally dropped him at the curb. Yeah for pig flu. Anyway, here you are and sorry about the technical difficulties recently with postings. I don't know what the problem was but hopefully they're all over with.

Henry's first letter from MTC

hey mi famila (mostly mom) how are things at home? things here are amazing!
my comp. is really nice and really hard working, much better than i hoped for.
my roomies estan beuno. the language is going far better than i could have or
did even dream of hoping for, and i am.... wel lets call it 'humbled' everyday
when i go to class. the food here was and is AMAZING! the 2nd day was lasanga.
the elder that i ran into and pesudo-tackeled was elder pimintel (kent or as
rene calls him kentworth) aunt mary was right- i am alot like  Dad in that
i like everyone that i meet until they give me a reason not to, which hasnt
happened yet. and hopfully wont. my comp.'s nombre es elder braithwaite so
he can understand the whole not having people saying your name wrong. tell
kathy that the bunch of letters did make my district jealious.  tell grandma
when i read her letters i thougth that she might have been standing right there
and thought i heard her voice. (made me want to laugh and cry at the same time)
i often remember what you said to me after we got done with the sesssion at
salt lake--about prayer, it helps a lot espically when i feel like the work is
a bit overwhelming. it brings GREAT comfort! tell ashley that she is correct i
am the 1st one to go out from the grandchildren and if i get what she said i
would i would be very very surprised. tell ben i might not be the richest but
it might get me close. tell thom to remember that they are old and to have
compasion for them--they will learn eventually...hopefully and tell mary thanks
for the letters and for the most part what she has said has been right or been
the case. let everyone know that i would write them but i dont have their
addresses until they mail me. ok so the stuff that you asked me that i wanted:
towels(one will do) the dom. rep. flag that is behind the seat of the white truck.
red pencils please. more letters. you to not worry. and most of alli want you to
know that i love you alot--though i cant get it to let me to put exclimation
points in but if i could they would still be going. i would havce written last
week but i ran out of time because it was only a half p-day. again i love all
of you lots and lots and lots and lots. will try to write more soon.

Kiev Temple

Hi! I just had to share this. Moroni just went up.

The family weekend

Our Henry send off weekend started here. It was a lot of fun and we missed those of you who didn't make it.

Congratulations Jenne & Hank

Happy Anniversary to Jenne and Hank!

Congratulations!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!!!!!!!

Congratulations!

Wonderful things are happening! Congratulations to me for finally figuring out how to get on the blog and if I can do it, anybody can...
Congratulations to Henry for all the great milestones that are coming faster than any of us can believe.
Congratulations to Kathy for her Masters. And it was a great, eventful trip, too.
Congratulations to Heather and John for adorable Julia.
And there are lots of other things we would all like to know about, family.
This is the spot where we will be able to read Henry's letters (after Jenne posts them!!) . I know that a lot of you are on face book. As you know, some of us cannot use face book and we would love to hear all the things you all have to share. Please take a minute and post on here as well as face book (cut and paste, people) so we can share family news with each other.
I am excited to see everyone this weekend and to be able to pet Henry and share Hank and Jenne's excitement/anxiety.

Henry's Eagle

Congrats!

Sorry it took me awhile to get on here (I'm slack, I know) -- Anyway, Congratulations to Heather and John on baby Julia! I hope she's doing well and growing strong! We can't wait till we get to meet her - she's cutie!

Take care - we love you all and you are in our prayers.

Love,
Cathey, Bob, Ashley, Ben, Sam and Hannah

The Newest Member

Julia Ruth Taylor

Where's Sherk?

All the other princesses are jealous!!

Master Kathy

So this last Saturday, July 11th, Kathy officially became a master--or rather, she graduated and received her Master's of Education. Here are a few snapshots of the big day. We all celebrated and are very proud of her. Unfortunately we weren't able to get a picture of her tiny self between all of the tall people. But I'm sure you can all imagine. Congratulations Kathy! Woot Wooo!

Henry's Temple Day

Hey there Trimnal Fam. As we all know, our little Henry has been called to serve in the Dominican Republic! Whoot woo! And he recently attended the temple to receive his own endowment. The following are some pictures from his visit. As he serves, and then others follow, I think it would be great for us to all stay in touch by posting things on this blog. We did so when Mom/Grandma was out, or at least we tried to. Anyways, we really should, so when, not if you have pictures and news, post it here and share! Also, if you have your own blog, or should any of you create one, make sure to pass that on and keep us posted on this blog as well. For instance, John and I have a blog, and I did tell people about it, although I don't know if anyone checks it. The address is johnandheathertaylor@blogspot.com . Please begin posting here! It isn't hard and I can walk you through if you really need any help!