February 14, 2011 -email

Elder Waite,
Happy Valentine's Day! Last night Sadie and Hallie were fastidiously putting their valentines together to hand out at school today. Yesterday was Stake Conference and Hannah got her Patriarchal blessing as well. We have been de-junking like mad around here (thanks to me!) and Saturday we all cleaned down at the mustard house for a while. We filled the back of the white truck with stuff to haul to DI. Hannah and I went through the bins of coats that mom has been hoarding for when the great depression hits again and we got rid of 4 boxes worth of coats. Now there are only 3 boxes of coats... (Plus we found these cool army-looking BLM coats - we kept them because they are so legit.)

The mission prep is going nicely. I had a dream last night that I was studying Japanese and I had to learn it all before I woke up or else all would be lost... so naturally I just kept dreaming and dreaming and slept in. It was great.

Mom and I are doing the Valentines day party in Sadie's class today so my morning has consisted of cutting out 30 paper hearts and taping them each to a plastic spoon for a game we are going to play. I'm loving being home right now - it feels so good to not be in school.

I'm selling my guitar - to Hannah. I'm not going to be using it for the next 2 years and I doubt I will use it much when I get back. If you want it when you get back I will force Hannah to sell it to you.

After I talked to you on the phone I stayed in Utah for a couple more weeks. For one week I stayed with Aunt Vera and Uncle Caleb - which was fabulous. The Smith's were grand to be with too - Aunt Amy's kids are hilarious. While I was there I went to a bunch of different temples: Salt Lake, Oquirrh Mt., South Jordan, and Draper, all of which were really neat.

I've recently learned that the way to say "sister" in Japanese is: she-may. It's pronounced just like that.

Best wishes Elder - know that we love you so so much!

-Mariah



Family!!

Happy Valentine's Day to all you guys!!! I'm sure you don't need any more reminding but there it is for you. I hope everything goes well for all the love birds at home. We are going to celebrate the Day of Love and Friendship on Thursday with a party at the church building. It’s going to be legit, we will have tacos de vapor with tons of food, and we will have a karaoke thing. I'm pretty stoked, and we are giving invitations to everyone. Congratulations to Hannah on getting her Patriarchal Blessing, it truly is a blessing, especially to be able to read it whenever you want. I know you will enjoy it more and more as time goes on. I've tried to keep mine in my journal and read it whenever I have time at night. However lots of times we don’t have time at night because we are doing important things. Last night we made lemonade from lemons that we picked at the church, it’s pretty good.

Congratulations on cleaning out the old house. Sounds like I missed a riot. My companion is a pack rat and we today I cleaned out some of the things in our house. There was a whole suitcase full of clothes, old pamphlets and just junk that we got rid of, we cleaned the sink, the toilet and also our little mirror. I like our house - it’s small and there is nothing there, but it’s good. Every time we walk in my companion says 'we've been robbed!... oh wait in always looks like that.'
Mexico has been nice today and yesterday, today i{m wearing a short sleeve shirt. I've only wore my coat in the mornings and two days I only had a sweater.

Mariah, concerning you mission preparations I've been thinking about things I wished I had done and I made a list.
Limit soap toothpaste and stuff like that because you can buy it pretty much wherever you are... I think I have a 2 years supply of soap
*MUSIC- take some music, you will thank yourself later
I think I already told you but two bags to check in on the airline and two carry-on bags
*pictures of the family and of the stuff around the house and of your baptism. It’s nice to be able to show people that you were actually a normal person and where you live. Also pictures of the animals, and the picture we took as a family at Fort Calvin where Dad and I were wearing hats.
*a converter from sd card to usb, to use to send pictures home though the computer
Make a study journal right off the bat in the MTC
(The things with *'s may or may not be a wish list of mine.)

I'll keep trying to think of things that I would have liked to do different.
We had a pretty good week here, nobody came to church though. We had a couple of legit people too... but that’s ok. I’m going to try and send some pictures and they can speak more than I can, but I don't have much time left.
Ok, I figured it out it, might take a while though... the first one is of some of our investigators, we went by and they weren’t in their house but we heard sister Loudris laughing across the street. They were making food in this little hut. The picture is big so it’s going to take a long time. I’ll try to make them smaller next week so I can send more.
I love Salina Victoria, I feel at home here. It’s a cowboy town, every Saturday and Sunday everyone rides their horses around town, it’s pretty cool. The horses are actually pretty good looking to.
Well the picture finally loaded so I need to go. Thanks for writing Mariah!
I love you guys.
Love Elder Waite!