Click on these links to see pictures
Montana -
Montana -
http://picasaweb.google.com/kensbestpics/MontanaTrip2009#
Spencer's birthday party -
http://picasaweb.google.com/kensbestpics/FamilyAugust2009#
Fortie Family Flyer
August 17 – 23, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
Yes, as I mentioned in my last letter, we made it to Montana in one piece on Sunday (we did pass a pickup that had flipped over, the police hadn’t arrived yet but it seemed that others had stopped to help and everyone was out and sitting on the side of the road so I don’t think they were hurt very bad).
Monday morning I took the younger kids out for a bike ride while the older ones went to visit Tyler at work and do some shopping. Grandpa drove us up the canyon about 6 ½ miles and we rode back to the house. I told the kids to look for some good pictures along the way. Jennifer found a few but they all headed back to the house pretty fast. I was the last one to arrive but I did get some good pictures. I took a nap and then we ate and went out to take some family pictures. It was a bit late and was rather dark in the woods where we went but I think we got a few good shots. We got home late and were thinking of waiting to go to the cabin in the morning but decided that would drag out until the afternoon so we got ready and headed out. We arrived at about 1:00 am and hit the sack.
Everyone slept in except me, I always wake up early. I went out and took the canoe out to wander through the marshes for some nature shots. It’s funny, all the amazing things we had available to us and that was one of the most enjoyable things I did, go out in the canoe looking for good pictures of nature early each morning.
Well, there is no sense detailing each day, for each was filled with the same great stuff – boating, playing on the Sea Doo, canoeing, rope swing, wake surfing, etc., etc., etc. I had planned on a trip most of the way around the lake on the 4 wheelers or motorcycle but never made it. Our 3 days raced by and came quickly to an end with sunburns and aching muscles from activities they haven’t seen for decades (at least on me) as the only evidence we had to show for it (besides pictures). I had never been on a Sea Doo before so my first attempt was with Michelle after she went for the first time with Whitney. She took me around then I went by myself then I then went with Jennifer. The next day I tried standing up and doing some sharp turns. I found that to be a rush. Then on Thursday Brandon drove while I rode on the back to take pictures of those skiing behind the boat. After that I gave my camera to the people in the boat and Brandon was kind enough to let me drive for a while. Cheryl drove around in circles to create some rather large waves for us and we both stood up and raced through the waves jumping over some and getting rather wet from some splashing over the top of the Sea Doo. Finally, toward the end, we jumped a rather large wave only to come down right into the side of another large wave which we proceeded to sink right down into popping out the other side completely drenched. It almost tore both of us off but we managed to hold on and had a lot of fun coming out victories. Those on the boat couldn’t believe we went completely underwater and managed to come out the other side still holding on. It was quite a trip.
They asked me if I wanted to wake surf but I thought my ankle wouldn’t be strong enough. I finally decided to do it and to my surprise it was easier than waterskiing. I never really mastered letting go of the rope and staying on the wake indefinitely but I still had a lot of fun. My kids couldn’t believe their old dad could do such a thing and were rather shocked. They then took me to the rope swing. It was on a fairly steep hill and was a very long rope (maybe 30 feet) which put you out over the water (at the other end) about 15 feet up. I didn’t think my old self could do it but finally decided to try. I was able to hold on and had a blast. I even outlasted my kids on it. They were kinda no shows on most things so I had to have all the fun for them - kids these days. They did go out on the tube the last half of the day and that was fun as Whitney (who was driving) tried to knock us off by having us jump the wakes she turned back into. It was fun. Grandpa and grandma seemed to have a lot of fun on the Sea Doo. They were out on it all while the rest of us tried our hand at surfing and such. They covered that entire lake it seemed.
We didn’t just play all day. I did manage to take some individual pictures of Cheryl and her kids and we also put a new roof (shingles) on their shed which had started leaking. Being the great roofers we are I hope it lasts through the first storm.
Well, Friday came and we cleaned the cabin and headed home. We were rather late and didn’t get home until about 1:00 in the morning making everyone tired and ready to sleep for a while. Even I slept until 8 and realized I needed more (I drove all the way home) so I went back to bed and finally got back to sleep and didn’t wake until 10. We then got up and I got the pictures off my camera so I could take pictures at Spencer’s birthday party. We made it just in time for his party at 1 in the afternoon and Alicia did a great job of putting on a beach party for everyone. The decorations were great, the food was superb and Spencer almost had as much fun as the rest of us. He was having fun but of course had no idea what this great party was for. He enjoyed running through sprinklers with Steve’s kids and playing with wrapping paper and his new Elmo. The cake was a bit strange to him but he got used to it quickly. We stayed and played golf and I won for the first time in a long time. Finally we were all tired and it was time to get home so the girls could pack to go to Washington in the morning.
Sunday morning Tami took the girls to the airport and came home and slept. I was tired all day and didn’t do much but take care of family pictures and write letters and do some genealogy.
That’s the bare bones of the week. It was a lot of fun and being at that cabin waking up to the sound of different kinds of water birds each morning was great. Wouldn’t mind having one of those places myself.
Well, keep your head above water and have a great week,
Ken and clan
From Brian:
Dear family
How is everybody? This entire week we were in Montana. We left you off last week arriving there at the house and now to conclude the cliffhanger episode of “Fortie’s Travels!”
Almost lost my cool there. So Monday Tyler went to work and I wandered about the house shooting pretend guns at small children and sunk so low as to watch some bizarre chick flick with my sister. (Hanging out with my sister wasn’t the low part just for clarification, but the chick flick was.) Then Michelle and I went to Tyler’s work and he got food for us for way cheap. We all worked out in the yard for a while, trimming and stuff. Grandpa mowed the lawn like 14 times for about 5 hours. I think he fell asleep at the wheel or something. We then at night packed up our stuffs and headed for the cabin at about 11 O’ clock. It’s a 2-hour drive.
We got there dragged our stuff in and all went to bed very tired.
Tuesday morning I woke up early and dad was coming downstairs to go out and take some pictures. I went out on the deck to read. The other kids started to get up and they watched “Baby’s day out.” We all started getting our own breakfast. Michelle and Whitney came down slightly resembling zombies. “Ugghhhh Yargggghhh.” They said… sort of. It was hilarious to watch those two try and make breakfast, like dinner and a show.
Michelle flung a knife, dropped a blob of butter on the floor while trying to butter her bagel. Whitney said “what happened to our toaster?… We used to have one.” And then got the “I don’t know what to do next” look on her face. She tripped over the same chair twice in like 2 minutes and almost died, and Michelle sort of meandered around. They could not fit their bagels in the said toaster once it was found and were distraught. They looked like it took great pain to make food. It was funny.
Then we all went outside to go out on the boat. It was cool to watch the kids on the wakeboard. I sat in the boat; I have tried to wakeboard in the past a few times and just end up in the water in the fetal position trying not to swallow the whole lake for several minutes. Not fun to me, not worth it.
Whitney does very well though, getting some good air and even letting go of the rope at times and going on her own. Lots of practice I guess. Connor too for his age tried some cool tricks. Brandon came by on the sea do and I told him to trade me and pull up along the side of the boat so I could ride it. I stepped onto the sea do and it began to drift away. I found myself doing the splits, as I did not want to fall in the water. I stretched farther and farther and Whitney was right there on the back of the boat so I said “Whitney, Whitney! Whitney!! Help!” I was about to go in when she grabbed my arm so I had something to pull against and could pull the sea do back. It hurt so badly, I have never stretched that far and never want to again.
That thing is fun to ride! You get going fast and cruise around the lake. I got up to 53 miles an hour. My favorite thing to do on there is chasing the ducks and try to run them over. And talk to them telling them they won’t escape, laugh maniacally and sing dumb songs at the top of my lungs, oh yeah it’s a blast. Then they sent Connor away to the rope swing. After looking for dad, who was in the canoe, for a while with no success, I went to the rope swing and left the sea do back to Brandon so I could swing. All of us went off the swing. It was about 60 feet of rope on a very tall tree. You go on a platform about 4 feet off ground and swing off into the lake. It’s about a 15-foot drop at the peak of swinging out. I did a Tarzan yell and a wookie call. I told Whitney to go off and do a barbaric YALP and was quite surprised at how well she took the assignment. She did the coolest barbaric yelp I have ever heard from a girl, sounding somewhat like a yeti with an ingrown toenail. Michelle went off once despite her fear of that.
We were all worn out by then and went back to the cabin. Some made dinner, but Brandon, Connor, Jennifer, Michelle and I took the four wheelers on a drive in the mountains. We came back and ate dinner. We were all laughing so hard eating outside on the deck, and wasps kept trying to eat our food. Connor caught some of them in a cup and napkin and lit them on fire. This was sort of morbid during dinner.
I told about how almost all bees and wasps are girls, which I learned from my Trainer on my mission who was a beekeeper. At night we watched the Trail of the Pink panther, which was hilarious until Cleauseu disappeared and never showed up again.
On Wednesday Tyler came in the morning so I had another guy to hang out with. Then we all went out on the boat again. They broke out the surfboard and I tried to get up on it to no avail. I experience the same unpleasant results as I do on a wakeboard. I know if I practiced more I’d eventually get it. I am just not sure if I would be willing to swallow that much lake water until then. Grandpa did it and got up for a bit. When Tyler was out on it I was enjoying being dry after having been out of the water for a while myself, but everyone kept egging me to tackle him. So I jumped off the back of the boat and tackled him off the surfboard.
We got some cool pictures of everyone on the boards. Dad got pictures of Aunt Cheryl, Whitney and Connor looking spectaculous in their garb to impress the masses of Missoula. We made a fire, and sat around looking at the stars and glowing planets. The sky is way clear up there and the lake looks amazing in the starlight. We all had some good talks. Funny how fire and night sky seems to do that. Inspires deep, meaningful conversations and gets you to talk about things you normally don’t.
When we all got to bed I was so seasick, or rather lake sick. It got worse when I closed my eyes. I lay in my bed and it felt like it was rotating in a circle and occasionally sloshing up and down. This went on for a good 30 minutes until I fell asleep. I woke up at about 2 in the morning to Ashley talking in her sleep, speaking only gibberish and nothing I could understand as words. The funny thing was that Tyler kept responding to her. She said “zibaraneubdlsasarbernes.” And Tyler said “What!?” and then she said more gibberish and he said “What!?” again in a very angry tone. Four times he did this. It was hilarious to listen to.
On Thursday we all got up and after some pictures of some people, we hit the boat again. Tyler and I were out on the sea doo trying to run over the birds on the lake. The sea gulls fly away about 30 feet away but the loons just wait and wait like little curious dare devils and then dive under the water right before you run over them. I had been driving and then Tyler traded me and about 1 minute after trading he, while trying to turn sharply and create waves, flipped it over. We were floating in the lake with an upside down sea doo, like “oh dear, now what.” After some careful coordination and a few attempts we got it back over. Tyler Connor and I did commando jumps off the back of the boat. We all went off the rope swing some more and spent some time looking for some fallen goggles that Brandon scarred off of Jennifer.
Then we had to repair a roof of a shed, which did not agree with my seasickness so much. I kept rocking and felt like I was going to fall off and plummet to my untimely demise.
At night we made another fire and everybody told jokes around it. Tyler told this extremely long and pointless yet funny joke about a horse race.
On Friday we all got up early to prepare to leave. We all made breakfast, and cleaned and did laundry to get ready to go. Tyler and I drove back to his house and everybody else met shortly thereafter. They packed up a whole bunch of snacks for us to take and we said goodbye to them all. Then we headed out for home. It took a lot longer to get back than it did to get there for some reason.
On Saturday we got home at about 1:30 in the morning and sacked out. Then later we woke up to go to grandpa and grandmas for Spencer’s first birthday party. He was so cute at his little beach themed shindig. I think it’s mostly for the parents, cause he really won’t remember it. But it was cool. Alicia went all out, with decorations, beach food like little cupcakes with graham cracker crumbs made to look like sand on them. And blue frosting to look like water, with little teddy grahams playing on the cupcake beaches. They had little umbrellas on them too. They were way good. We had Swedish fish and jell-O squares, vegetables and ‘octo-dogs’ which were hot dogs slit up so they looked like they had 8 legs. I got a picture of my octo-dog coming up on the cupcake beach and taking one of the unsuspecting teddy grahams into its clutches. Spencer opened his presents with great vigor and enthusiasm, losing interest after a bit and having to be helped. That was to be expected, he’s only 1. It was funny, he was really surprised and interested in some of the things. He desecrated his cake, probably only getting about 3 spoonfulls actually in his mouth. It was funny. To see him running around with his little hat and beach glasses in the sprinkler was funny. We had a good time.
On Sunday was the dedication of the Oquirh Mountain Temple. It was amazing, the spirit was strong when President Monson talked about Tongans who got funds from some youth so they could go to the temple to be sealed. And especially when Elder Eyring gave the dedicatory prayer the spirit filled the room like a river of rushing water. He had some powerful wording and I wish I could remember it.
It was a good week.
Love you all,
Brian
From Elder Fortie
Dear one and all!!!
I'm sorry to say, but I am not coming home from a mission any more, I miss you all, but I'm loving this way to much and I refuse to admit that my time is growing short, your just gonna have to come out here and join me and we'll all just be missionaries together! Lets get to work!
This week I went through the temple with The Matute family as they took out their endowments!!! Sister Matute is the first person I baptized and to be able to go through with her to see her take out her endowments was remarkable! THAT IS WHAT MISSIONARY WORK IS ALL ABOUT!!! Not only was the Matute family there, but in that session, we were accompanied by 35 People that I have taught and helped prepare to go to the temple on my mission!!!! 35!!!!!! Whether I taught them when they were investigators preparing for baptism that have now progressed even further to the eternal blessings of the temple, recent converts that I helped prepare to enter the temple, or less active members that I helped bring back so that they could receive the blessings of the temple they should have long ago worked for. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW FANTASTIC IT IS TO SEE THAT MANY PEOPLE THAT THE GOSPEL HAS HAD SUCH AN AMAZING EFFECT ON THEIR LIVES AND THAT YOU HAVE WORKED WITH TO HELP BRING THEM TO THE MOST SACRED MOMENT IN THEIR LIVES ALL TOGETHER IN THE MOST SACRED PLACE ON EARTH AT THE SAME TIME WITH YOU!!!!! HOLY SPIRITUAL HIGH OF SPIRITUAL HIGH'S!!!!! So many people were just overwhelmed with the spirit and I was just in heaven, I had no idea they were all coming, I thought it was just going to be the Matute's! Oh what a glorious feeling it was to see them all there, and to know I had been a tool in the hands of the Lord to help bring them to that point! Oh it was amazing! Then afterwards I went over to the mission president’s house and we had a chat for a while and I was just giddy, he thought it was funny but was very excited for me.
The rest of our week, to be honest, went kinda slow, everyone is starting school so that made things crazy and near impossible to get a hold of anyone, but I don't mind! I got to go to the temple and participate in that marvelous occasion! My trainee sure has had one great first transfer! The lucky son of a gun got to see us baptize someone his first transfer (something that only happens an average of 2-3 times in our mission) AND he got to see recent converts go through the temple for their first time! I don't think he even grips how amazing that is, that almost never happens! I am one of VERY few missionaries in this mission that have been able to see that happen and I feel so blessed for it!
Other then that I've just been on errands for the president, jumping around the bay on exchanges trying to help some missionaries, I've seen some good success with the work in their areas I've been able to help them get started (haha), now I just wish I had time to see some in mine! But this week we're already seeing things pick back up again, so we are excited!
Well I got to get going, take care one and all, GO TO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK!!! Do you realize how wonderful of a blessing it is to have a temple!? I have been really cracking down on teaching people the importance of utilizing the temples this past week, and I have seen great changes because of it. Keep on smiling! Do something good for someone.
We had stake conference last week (that I had to translate on the spot, we missionaries never get warned about anything) and one of the stake councilors gave a talk where he talked about when he was young he liked to play marbles, but he had one marble he never wanted to use to play, because when you shoot them out you have a chance of losing them, and it was his favorite marble, and he was not willing to let it go, he was willing to let go of his other ones, but not that one. The more marbles you put out the more you stand to gain, but he would not risk this marble, he made excuses and justified keeping it hidden and keeping it. He compared this to sins, or bad habits, some of them we are willing to let go, to sacrifice, but others, we justify, we keep them, we don't want to lose them. The more we put out the more we stand to gain, and we’re willing to give up the ones we don't care about to much, but our favorite ones, the special ones, those we keep, those we hide. He challenged us, as I am now challenging you, to pick your "favorite marble" and give it up. To find your bad habit that you justify, to pick out that little sin that you hide, to throw down your excused problem that you just keep putting aside, that you don't want to give up, the one you "keep", and cast it off! Throw that cat’s eye into the game! Don't make more excuses as you are reading this! Don't brush it off as not really a problem, or that some good people do the same thing and it's not a problem for them! Toss it! Stop harboring it, don't shelter it, DO NOT KEEP IT! Let it go as you have others. Do not hold on to your "favorite marble". Pray for courage to do so, and for understanding as to why it truly will make you a happier person.
Stay strong, and love one another! I have been getting a great deal of training on that subject as of late. I find so many of us that have the true gospel in our lives forget that love one to another is what everything Christ did is based upon. If we are true followers of him, we will follow his example and do as he does. Moroni 7:48 talks of this love, and those that achieve this love, will be like Christ, We shall see him as he is for we shall be like him!
Go with God!Love, Elder Fortie
Spencer's birthday party -
http://picasaweb.google.com/kensbestpics/FamilyAugust2009#
Fortie Family Flyer
August 17 – 23, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
Yes, as I mentioned in my last letter, we made it to Montana in one piece on Sunday (we did pass a pickup that had flipped over, the police hadn’t arrived yet but it seemed that others had stopped to help and everyone was out and sitting on the side of the road so I don’t think they were hurt very bad).
Monday morning I took the younger kids out for a bike ride while the older ones went to visit Tyler at work and do some shopping. Grandpa drove us up the canyon about 6 ½ miles and we rode back to the house. I told the kids to look for some good pictures along the way. Jennifer found a few but they all headed back to the house pretty fast. I was the last one to arrive but I did get some good pictures. I took a nap and then we ate and went out to take some family pictures. It was a bit late and was rather dark in the woods where we went but I think we got a few good shots. We got home late and were thinking of waiting to go to the cabin in the morning but decided that would drag out until the afternoon so we got ready and headed out. We arrived at about 1:00 am and hit the sack.
Everyone slept in except me, I always wake up early. I went out and took the canoe out to wander through the marshes for some nature shots. It’s funny, all the amazing things we had available to us and that was one of the most enjoyable things I did, go out in the canoe looking for good pictures of nature early each morning.
Well, there is no sense detailing each day, for each was filled with the same great stuff – boating, playing on the Sea Doo, canoeing, rope swing, wake surfing, etc., etc., etc. I had planned on a trip most of the way around the lake on the 4 wheelers or motorcycle but never made it. Our 3 days raced by and came quickly to an end with sunburns and aching muscles from activities they haven’t seen for decades (at least on me) as the only evidence we had to show for it (besides pictures). I had never been on a Sea Doo before so my first attempt was with Michelle after she went for the first time with Whitney. She took me around then I went by myself then I then went with Jennifer. The next day I tried standing up and doing some sharp turns. I found that to be a rush. Then on Thursday Brandon drove while I rode on the back to take pictures of those skiing behind the boat. After that I gave my camera to the people in the boat and Brandon was kind enough to let me drive for a while. Cheryl drove around in circles to create some rather large waves for us and we both stood up and raced through the waves jumping over some and getting rather wet from some splashing over the top of the Sea Doo. Finally, toward the end, we jumped a rather large wave only to come down right into the side of another large wave which we proceeded to sink right down into popping out the other side completely drenched. It almost tore both of us off but we managed to hold on and had a lot of fun coming out victories. Those on the boat couldn’t believe we went completely underwater and managed to come out the other side still holding on. It was quite a trip.
They asked me if I wanted to wake surf but I thought my ankle wouldn’t be strong enough. I finally decided to do it and to my surprise it was easier than waterskiing. I never really mastered letting go of the rope and staying on the wake indefinitely but I still had a lot of fun. My kids couldn’t believe their old dad could do such a thing and were rather shocked. They then took me to the rope swing. It was on a fairly steep hill and was a very long rope (maybe 30 feet) which put you out over the water (at the other end) about 15 feet up. I didn’t think my old self could do it but finally decided to try. I was able to hold on and had a blast. I even outlasted my kids on it. They were kinda no shows on most things so I had to have all the fun for them - kids these days. They did go out on the tube the last half of the day and that was fun as Whitney (who was driving) tried to knock us off by having us jump the wakes she turned back into. It was fun. Grandpa and grandma seemed to have a lot of fun on the Sea Doo. They were out on it all while the rest of us tried our hand at surfing and such. They covered that entire lake it seemed.
We didn’t just play all day. I did manage to take some individual pictures of Cheryl and her kids and we also put a new roof (shingles) on their shed which had started leaking. Being the great roofers we are I hope it lasts through the first storm.
Well, Friday came and we cleaned the cabin and headed home. We were rather late and didn’t get home until about 1:00 in the morning making everyone tired and ready to sleep for a while. Even I slept until 8 and realized I needed more (I drove all the way home) so I went back to bed and finally got back to sleep and didn’t wake until 10. We then got up and I got the pictures off my camera so I could take pictures at Spencer’s birthday party. We made it just in time for his party at 1 in the afternoon and Alicia did a great job of putting on a beach party for everyone. The decorations were great, the food was superb and Spencer almost had as much fun as the rest of us. He was having fun but of course had no idea what this great party was for. He enjoyed running through sprinklers with Steve’s kids and playing with wrapping paper and his new Elmo. The cake was a bit strange to him but he got used to it quickly. We stayed and played golf and I won for the first time in a long time. Finally we were all tired and it was time to get home so the girls could pack to go to Washington in the morning.
Sunday morning Tami took the girls to the airport and came home and slept. I was tired all day and didn’t do much but take care of family pictures and write letters and do some genealogy.
That’s the bare bones of the week. It was a lot of fun and being at that cabin waking up to the sound of different kinds of water birds each morning was great. Wouldn’t mind having one of those places myself.
Well, keep your head above water and have a great week,
Ken and clan
From Brian:
Dear family
How is everybody? This entire week we were in Montana. We left you off last week arriving there at the house and now to conclude the cliffhanger episode of “Fortie’s Travels!”
Almost lost my cool there. So Monday Tyler went to work and I wandered about the house shooting pretend guns at small children and sunk so low as to watch some bizarre chick flick with my sister. (Hanging out with my sister wasn’t the low part just for clarification, but the chick flick was.) Then Michelle and I went to Tyler’s work and he got food for us for way cheap. We all worked out in the yard for a while, trimming and stuff. Grandpa mowed the lawn like 14 times for about 5 hours. I think he fell asleep at the wheel or something. We then at night packed up our stuffs and headed for the cabin at about 11 O’ clock. It’s a 2-hour drive.
We got there dragged our stuff in and all went to bed very tired.
Tuesday morning I woke up early and dad was coming downstairs to go out and take some pictures. I went out on the deck to read. The other kids started to get up and they watched “Baby’s day out.” We all started getting our own breakfast. Michelle and Whitney came down slightly resembling zombies. “Ugghhhh Yargggghhh.” They said… sort of. It was hilarious to watch those two try and make breakfast, like dinner and a show.
Michelle flung a knife, dropped a blob of butter on the floor while trying to butter her bagel. Whitney said “what happened to our toaster?… We used to have one.” And then got the “I don’t know what to do next” look on her face. She tripped over the same chair twice in like 2 minutes and almost died, and Michelle sort of meandered around. They could not fit their bagels in the said toaster once it was found and were distraught. They looked like it took great pain to make food. It was funny.
Then we all went outside to go out on the boat. It was cool to watch the kids on the wakeboard. I sat in the boat; I have tried to wakeboard in the past a few times and just end up in the water in the fetal position trying not to swallow the whole lake for several minutes. Not fun to me, not worth it.
Whitney does very well though, getting some good air and even letting go of the rope at times and going on her own. Lots of practice I guess. Connor too for his age tried some cool tricks. Brandon came by on the sea do and I told him to trade me and pull up along the side of the boat so I could ride it. I stepped onto the sea do and it began to drift away. I found myself doing the splits, as I did not want to fall in the water. I stretched farther and farther and Whitney was right there on the back of the boat so I said “Whitney, Whitney! Whitney!! Help!” I was about to go in when she grabbed my arm so I had something to pull against and could pull the sea do back. It hurt so badly, I have never stretched that far and never want to again.
That thing is fun to ride! You get going fast and cruise around the lake. I got up to 53 miles an hour. My favorite thing to do on there is chasing the ducks and try to run them over. And talk to them telling them they won’t escape, laugh maniacally and sing dumb songs at the top of my lungs, oh yeah it’s a blast. Then they sent Connor away to the rope swing. After looking for dad, who was in the canoe, for a while with no success, I went to the rope swing and left the sea do back to Brandon so I could swing. All of us went off the swing. It was about 60 feet of rope on a very tall tree. You go on a platform about 4 feet off ground and swing off into the lake. It’s about a 15-foot drop at the peak of swinging out. I did a Tarzan yell and a wookie call. I told Whitney to go off and do a barbaric YALP and was quite surprised at how well she took the assignment. She did the coolest barbaric yelp I have ever heard from a girl, sounding somewhat like a yeti with an ingrown toenail. Michelle went off once despite her fear of that.
We were all worn out by then and went back to the cabin. Some made dinner, but Brandon, Connor, Jennifer, Michelle and I took the four wheelers on a drive in the mountains. We came back and ate dinner. We were all laughing so hard eating outside on the deck, and wasps kept trying to eat our food. Connor caught some of them in a cup and napkin and lit them on fire. This was sort of morbid during dinner.
I told about how almost all bees and wasps are girls, which I learned from my Trainer on my mission who was a beekeeper. At night we watched the Trail of the Pink panther, which was hilarious until Cleauseu disappeared and never showed up again.
On Wednesday Tyler came in the morning so I had another guy to hang out with. Then we all went out on the boat again. They broke out the surfboard and I tried to get up on it to no avail. I experience the same unpleasant results as I do on a wakeboard. I know if I practiced more I’d eventually get it. I am just not sure if I would be willing to swallow that much lake water until then. Grandpa did it and got up for a bit. When Tyler was out on it I was enjoying being dry after having been out of the water for a while myself, but everyone kept egging me to tackle him. So I jumped off the back of the boat and tackled him off the surfboard.
We got some cool pictures of everyone on the boards. Dad got pictures of Aunt Cheryl, Whitney and Connor looking spectaculous in their garb to impress the masses of Missoula. We made a fire, and sat around looking at the stars and glowing planets. The sky is way clear up there and the lake looks amazing in the starlight. We all had some good talks. Funny how fire and night sky seems to do that. Inspires deep, meaningful conversations and gets you to talk about things you normally don’t.
When we all got to bed I was so seasick, or rather lake sick. It got worse when I closed my eyes. I lay in my bed and it felt like it was rotating in a circle and occasionally sloshing up and down. This went on for a good 30 minutes until I fell asleep. I woke up at about 2 in the morning to Ashley talking in her sleep, speaking only gibberish and nothing I could understand as words. The funny thing was that Tyler kept responding to her. She said “zibaraneubdlsasarbernes.” And Tyler said “What!?” and then she said more gibberish and he said “What!?” again in a very angry tone. Four times he did this. It was hilarious to listen to.
On Thursday we all got up and after some pictures of some people, we hit the boat again. Tyler and I were out on the sea doo trying to run over the birds on the lake. The sea gulls fly away about 30 feet away but the loons just wait and wait like little curious dare devils and then dive under the water right before you run over them. I had been driving and then Tyler traded me and about 1 minute after trading he, while trying to turn sharply and create waves, flipped it over. We were floating in the lake with an upside down sea doo, like “oh dear, now what.” After some careful coordination and a few attempts we got it back over. Tyler Connor and I did commando jumps off the back of the boat. We all went off the rope swing some more and spent some time looking for some fallen goggles that Brandon scarred off of Jennifer.
Then we had to repair a roof of a shed, which did not agree with my seasickness so much. I kept rocking and felt like I was going to fall off and plummet to my untimely demise.
At night we made another fire and everybody told jokes around it. Tyler told this extremely long and pointless yet funny joke about a horse race.
On Friday we all got up early to prepare to leave. We all made breakfast, and cleaned and did laundry to get ready to go. Tyler and I drove back to his house and everybody else met shortly thereafter. They packed up a whole bunch of snacks for us to take and we said goodbye to them all. Then we headed out for home. It took a lot longer to get back than it did to get there for some reason.
On Saturday we got home at about 1:30 in the morning and sacked out. Then later we woke up to go to grandpa and grandmas for Spencer’s first birthday party. He was so cute at his little beach themed shindig. I think it’s mostly for the parents, cause he really won’t remember it. But it was cool. Alicia went all out, with decorations, beach food like little cupcakes with graham cracker crumbs made to look like sand on them. And blue frosting to look like water, with little teddy grahams playing on the cupcake beaches. They had little umbrellas on them too. They were way good. We had Swedish fish and jell-O squares, vegetables and ‘octo-dogs’ which were hot dogs slit up so they looked like they had 8 legs. I got a picture of my octo-dog coming up on the cupcake beach and taking one of the unsuspecting teddy grahams into its clutches. Spencer opened his presents with great vigor and enthusiasm, losing interest after a bit and having to be helped. That was to be expected, he’s only 1. It was funny, he was really surprised and interested in some of the things. He desecrated his cake, probably only getting about 3 spoonfulls actually in his mouth. It was funny. To see him running around with his little hat and beach glasses in the sprinkler was funny. We had a good time.
On Sunday was the dedication of the Oquirh Mountain Temple. It was amazing, the spirit was strong when President Monson talked about Tongans who got funds from some youth so they could go to the temple to be sealed. And especially when Elder Eyring gave the dedicatory prayer the spirit filled the room like a river of rushing water. He had some powerful wording and I wish I could remember it.
It was a good week.
Love you all,
Brian
From Elder Fortie
Dear one and all!!!
I'm sorry to say, but I am not coming home from a mission any more, I miss you all, but I'm loving this way to much and I refuse to admit that my time is growing short, your just gonna have to come out here and join me and we'll all just be missionaries together! Lets get to work!
This week I went through the temple with The Matute family as they took out their endowments!!! Sister Matute is the first person I baptized and to be able to go through with her to see her take out her endowments was remarkable! THAT IS WHAT MISSIONARY WORK IS ALL ABOUT!!! Not only was the Matute family there, but in that session, we were accompanied by 35 People that I have taught and helped prepare to go to the temple on my mission!!!! 35!!!!!! Whether I taught them when they were investigators preparing for baptism that have now progressed even further to the eternal blessings of the temple, recent converts that I helped prepare to enter the temple, or less active members that I helped bring back so that they could receive the blessings of the temple they should have long ago worked for. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW FANTASTIC IT IS TO SEE THAT MANY PEOPLE THAT THE GOSPEL HAS HAD SUCH AN AMAZING EFFECT ON THEIR LIVES AND THAT YOU HAVE WORKED WITH TO HELP BRING THEM TO THE MOST SACRED MOMENT IN THEIR LIVES ALL TOGETHER IN THE MOST SACRED PLACE ON EARTH AT THE SAME TIME WITH YOU!!!!! HOLY SPIRITUAL HIGH OF SPIRITUAL HIGH'S!!!!! So many people were just overwhelmed with the spirit and I was just in heaven, I had no idea they were all coming, I thought it was just going to be the Matute's! Oh what a glorious feeling it was to see them all there, and to know I had been a tool in the hands of the Lord to help bring them to that point! Oh it was amazing! Then afterwards I went over to the mission president’s house and we had a chat for a while and I was just giddy, he thought it was funny but was very excited for me.
The rest of our week, to be honest, went kinda slow, everyone is starting school so that made things crazy and near impossible to get a hold of anyone, but I don't mind! I got to go to the temple and participate in that marvelous occasion! My trainee sure has had one great first transfer! The lucky son of a gun got to see us baptize someone his first transfer (something that only happens an average of 2-3 times in our mission) AND he got to see recent converts go through the temple for their first time! I don't think he even grips how amazing that is, that almost never happens! I am one of VERY few missionaries in this mission that have been able to see that happen and I feel so blessed for it!
Other then that I've just been on errands for the president, jumping around the bay on exchanges trying to help some missionaries, I've seen some good success with the work in their areas I've been able to help them get started (haha), now I just wish I had time to see some in mine! But this week we're already seeing things pick back up again, so we are excited!
Well I got to get going, take care one and all, GO TO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK!!! Do you realize how wonderful of a blessing it is to have a temple!? I have been really cracking down on teaching people the importance of utilizing the temples this past week, and I have seen great changes because of it. Keep on smiling! Do something good for someone.
We had stake conference last week (that I had to translate on the spot, we missionaries never get warned about anything) and one of the stake councilors gave a talk where he talked about when he was young he liked to play marbles, but he had one marble he never wanted to use to play, because when you shoot them out you have a chance of losing them, and it was his favorite marble, and he was not willing to let it go, he was willing to let go of his other ones, but not that one. The more marbles you put out the more you stand to gain, but he would not risk this marble, he made excuses and justified keeping it hidden and keeping it. He compared this to sins, or bad habits, some of them we are willing to let go, to sacrifice, but others, we justify, we keep them, we don't want to lose them. The more we put out the more we stand to gain, and we’re willing to give up the ones we don't care about to much, but our favorite ones, the special ones, those we keep, those we hide. He challenged us, as I am now challenging you, to pick your "favorite marble" and give it up. To find your bad habit that you justify, to pick out that little sin that you hide, to throw down your excused problem that you just keep putting aside, that you don't want to give up, the one you "keep", and cast it off! Throw that cat’s eye into the game! Don't make more excuses as you are reading this! Don't brush it off as not really a problem, or that some good people do the same thing and it's not a problem for them! Toss it! Stop harboring it, don't shelter it, DO NOT KEEP IT! Let it go as you have others. Do not hold on to your "favorite marble". Pray for courage to do so, and for understanding as to why it truly will make you a happier person.
Stay strong, and love one another! I have been getting a great deal of training on that subject as of late. I find so many of us that have the true gospel in our lives forget that love one to another is what everything Christ did is based upon. If we are true followers of him, we will follow his example and do as he does. Moroni 7:48 talks of this love, and those that achieve this love, will be like Christ, We shall see him as he is for we shall be like him!
Go with God!Love, Elder Fortie
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