October 26 - November 1, 2009

Fortie Family Flyer
October 26 – November 1, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,
I missed writing about this week, and am finally sitting down to write a few weeks later. Not much to tell. It should be a week of merriment and family fun for Halloween. Indeed the children were off to parties and activities with friends but I was burdened with money matters to the point of affecting my health and well being. My mood was such that I was not able to get myself to carve pumpkins with the kids on Saturday (a shock to the family as my artistic nature tends to have me doing such things with gusto); better left to them so they wouldn’t have my darkness around them (ah, the mood swings of said artistic personality). Jennifer started carving a rather difficult project and then didn’t have my guidance to help her and the time to finish her modified simplified version so she left it for me to do as she had to go to work (perhaps to help me I don’t know). I finished carving away the sides to make them thin enough for light to shine through leaving a pumpkin face thick in front to stand out against the light background. It turned out fairly well and the carving was actually rather therapeutic. I find that creating something always helps, though when I don’t feel like doing things I don’t think of using it as therapy. Brian carved a jabberwocky that looked very scary (it throwing up on our front porch and all) and Michelle carved one that said Owl City on it (a local group she likes). Chad, Alicia and Spencer came over for a surprise visit Halloween night. They brought dinner with them, which was very nice. We had a few friends of kids here so we put a few things Tami put on the stove for us with their food and were able to feed everyone (Tami worked until 7:00 pm or so). It was nice to see them and it was good for the spirit as well. Of course we took pictures of the little sock monkey they brought along (Spencer). After a while all the kids left and Tami handed out candy while I worked. Last year I got up on the roof with a ghost on a rope that I would swing in to great the kids at the door but I had enough of the parents ask me not to scare their little kiddies that I decided it wasn’t worth it this year (good grief, it’s Halloween), besides I wasn’t quite in the spirit of the holiday (get it – spirit, ghost, haha) so I just went down stairs and worked.
I went to the temple this week and felt a good spirit there that helped me as I grapple with my problems and questions as to what to be, how to overcome fear, etc, etc, etc.
We went to church and they announced that I was starting the Family History class during Sunday School but only one problem, they forgot to tell me this was going down. I raced home a few minutes before sacrament meeting ended, grabbed the manual and a DVD to play and made it back just as it was time to start the class. We watched the DVD and I went through lesson one and faked it fairly well. Our Stake is finally getting on to new.familysearch.org this week. Well see how things go.
Well, that’s it for Halloween week. Perhaps that’s why the demons were after me. Keep the Spirit (the good one).
Ken and clan




From Elder Fortie:
Well World, we go forth, undaunted. I may perish in the dust in the process due to lack of brain tissue to handle all the overloading of brain waves and information being processed there-in, but at least there will be so much on my mind at the time that I probably wont even have realized it's happened yet, I shall just awake in a happy place! Honestly... I have so many meetings this upcoming week that I think I might cry, for my brain shall melt into a pool of grey matter residing within a echoing cavern of emptiness called my head. The only day my companion and I have to work our area is... oh wait... I forgot, I don't get a day to work my area this week! blech! I have no idea when I am even going to prepare half of the firesides, speeches, presentations, conferences, meetings, charts, interviews, reports, exchanges and "fix the dumb people sessions" that I have to do this week. I think half of them I will end up doing off the cuff and just pretending like I know what I'm doing because I just don't have time to prep. for all of them. Wow... Anyhow, I had a meeting with President Packer this past week, that man is amazing, he gets stuff done, he sat me down and said "Elder Fortie, you are the head zone leader, you are the lead representative of the work of the Lord in Oakland, so I want you to tell me, what this stake can do to help you". We had an hour long chat, and I told him what I thought, and in less then a week, things we have been trying to get the stake to do for months happened. It was great, so that was really exciting.Halloween we were on our way home at 6 P.M. because of the madness that happens here at night on Halloween we missionaries aren't allowed out. And even at 6 I was amazed at the things I saw as I drove home... I'm not going to share, but oh how wicked and abominable this world is becoming. I can see why they had us go in at 6. Be grateful for Utah! People may make fun of it as a little bubble. But heck, I say give me the bubble if that's what I have to deal with outside the bubble!Anyhow, sorry I don't have much time again, I hope and pray you are all doing well! I love you all!Love, Elder Fortie



From Michelle:
Dear peeps,
Quick letter for you today, (and I promise it actually will be this time). It’s late and I am sleepy, so I will make this short and sweet.
This week was a lot of work, and some more work, then some school, and some staying up late to do homework, and then more school. I bet you are all just thrilled to delve more into the details of my oh-so-thrilling-and-eventful life, so here goes.
There are really only two big events from this week. The first was Bob the Baker leaving work. Bob is the really strange and old big brother that I never had. (I know, I have 4 strange big brothers, but he’s the oldest.) I worked with him at Kneaders, and he was probably my favorite person to work with. He just made me laugh all the time and I loved to come in to see him! He was a spaz and we got along so well. He’s the guy that let me tie-dye his work shirts. Friday was his last day, and he made us special food and snacks as a goodbye, and when he finally, officially left, I cried. He’s moving to Arizona to finish school, and I’m really sad. He and I talked about how funny it was that we had gotten so close in the short time that I had been there and how much we would miss breaking the rules and defying “the man” together. It was a really sad day.
The other big event of the week was Halloween of course! In the morning, I didn’t work, so Mom, Jennifer, and I went in to Kneaders to have breakfast! I always serve the food, but had never eaten breakfast there before! It was really yummy and we had a fun time! Then we went home, cleaned, and got ready for the rest of Halloween. Spencer, Chad, and Alicia came over for a while and it was really fun to see them and to see little Spencer in his sock monkey outfit! He is so cute, I can’t even stand it. I never thought I could love a little kid quite so much, and he’s not even my kid! I can’t wait to be a mommy and have little kids of my own! :] Don’t worry, I won’t try to speed the process alone or anything! After we had some dinner with them, I headed to my friend Dallin’s house for a Halloween party! We ate more food, played outside, and then went inside to watch a scary movie in his basement! The guys said they were there for comfort after the scary parts, but I think they spent about half of the movie scaring me even worse, and then calming me down just to scare me again! I guess I bring it upon myself with my jumpy nature though. After the movie, it was time to head home, but I was so freaked out, I made my friend Dallin go check my car and make sure that there were no murderers in my backseat or anything. He laughed at me, but did it willingly, and then told me to call him when I got home so that he knew I would be safe. I love my guy friends! As cruel as they can be sometimes, (they remind me a lot of you Jas) they are sweet and super concerned most often. Every little scrape I get, they freak out over, and if I shiver once, all of their jackets fly at me at once, and they insist on me taking them all. They are really funny and gentleman-ly, and I am glad I have them around! When I got back to my house, I was still a little spooked, and everybody here was starting another scary movie! Well, naturally I couldn’t turn it down, so I watched that one as well! We were all up past 2 in the morning watching the movie! It was crazy and we’ve all been super tired today.
Speaking of super tired, I really REALLY am, so I think it’s time to wrap this up! I love you all and hope all is well! Remember the season that’s coming up next and try to keep gratitude in your hearts! It will make a huge difference.
“The key to individuality is to get rid of that I’m-afraid-of-looking-stupid line of thought”
Love,
Michelle