Jeff and Jo

Not a whole lot going on around here except work. Jeff has been building a linen closet with a laundry chute where the chimney used to be. It should be nice when it gets done. Jo will be glad to get her broom and sweeper closet back.

Jo has been doing some canning. She canned tomatoes, green beans and ketchup. She also made apple juice. The garden work is basically done. So now she will have to find something else to keep her busy.

Hurricane Ike went through here last week and did a lot of wind damage. We only had sticks and branches down (lot of them). We were without power for about 4 or 5 hours. A short time compared to a lot of other places.

Sammy and Mama, our dog and cat, are doing fine. They miss Heidi and Kevin, too.

The bird on the flowers is one that we see frequently. I think that he eats the seeds from the flowers. Not a real good picture. We had a hard time getting that one.

Mission Call/ The Peak

As most of you are aware now, Kevin got his mission call this week. If you weren't aware, scroll down and read about it. I have pictures of him opening and reading it. Also yesterday was absolutely gorgeous so Eric, Brent, and I went up to Squaw Peak and took some pictures. They are amazing! We also went to the BYU fall festival and partied it up... kinda :) Sorry it isn't too exciting, only pictures... :)

Dear Elder Rothert

Yesterday I received and envelope in the mail. It was a large one and the moment I saw my name on it I knew what it was. It was addressed to Elder Kevin Rothert and it was from The Office of the First Presidency. My mission call had finally come! At first I couldn't believe it but I immediately called Heidi and told her it was here and I wanted to open it with her. So she came over to pick me up and we went to her apartment calling Mom and home and Dad at work. We put them on speaker phone and then when we finally got to Heidi's apartment we sat down on the couches and I began to open it. (I say finally because that's how it felt to me, she only lives about 5 blocks from me.) I started reading.

Dear Elder Rothert:

That sounded so cool!

Dear Elder Rothert:

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission.

So many thoughts went through my head here. I knew imediately that this was right. The past two weeks I'd had a feeling I was going to be going somewhere Spanish Speaking but I pushed that asside and thought. Wow! This is right! The Lord REALLY wants me to go here. For those of you who don't know, my dad also went to Las Vegas (it was only one mission then). Some may say that was just a crazy happenstance but I know the Lord had a hand in it. I don't know why I was sent to the same area my dad served but I know that the Lord wants me there. I kept reading:

It is anticipated that you will serve for a perious of 24 months. You should report to the Missionary Training Center at Provo, Utah on Wednesday, 17 December 2008.

I knew then I was not going home. I was sad but we'd expected that.

You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish Language.

That was when the tears started to flow...and here they come now. Everything was so perfect. Everything was so right and I could feel it. This was exactly what my Heavenly Father wanted me to do and exactly where he wanted me to go. It still blows my mind.

I looked at the mission bounderies and it's basically all of western Nevada and a little bit of CA here in there. I can't believe it! I was telling everyone after that. I called everyone I could and told people on Facebook to call me. I was telling people all over the apartment complex.

It's such a great feeling to know I'm doing what my father in heaven wants me to be doing.

Day 1

So, Kevin and I had interesting first days. The IRS contacted me yesterday to tell me I didn't sign my tax form and that I had to submit another one within ten days. Well, with all the moving back and forth I misplaced my tax form so, I had to request another one, which the IRS recording said would take 10-15 days to arrive. Yeah, well, about 3 minutes after I got off the phone with the IRS mom found a copy of my form, so it worked out, but it was stressful for a few. The Aguirres will be happy to know that I'm 2 for 2. Both of the classes I have attended so far have contained BYU basketball players and they are both good. :) Kevin's first day was just as interesting, we walked to class together because we both have it at ten, then Kevin came home to try to fix his Spanish class, because for some reason it had no classroom or building posted online. He eventually found out that in order to take that class he had to be living in Spanish housing, which is a little strange since the computer let him sign up, and there was nothing online about that particular requirement. Seems like a weird thing to forget to mention. He eventually signed up for a Human Development class, but he doesn't know if he is keeping it or not. We'll see. I have 17 credits right now, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with them all.. yucky!

School!

School starts tomorrow! Wow! I'm a senior. Unfortunately it probably isn't my last year of school. I'm one of those lucky ones who get to be a super senior! Lucky right? I guess that's what I get for changing my mind so many times. Sometimes I wish things were just a little easier, but then it wouldn't be as rewarding when its finished right? I have seventeen credits as of right now, but I'm thinking about dropping at least one class to make it a little easier on myself. I will make my final decision after tomorrow or maybe Wednesday. Anyways, our apartment is nice, and I like my roommates. I have 3 of them and we all just met for the first time upon moving into this apartment. They are all juniors. Shawndeen is from Kansas City and is majoring in Math Education. Donalee is from northern Washington and is majoring in Biology. She plans to graduate in April and wants to play with dolphins when she graduates. Anna is from Maryland and is majoring in English. We all get along really well and are all pretty laid back so it should be a good year. Also, good news, THEY ARE CLEAN!!!! There is a bad side to that though, I might not have any roommate horror stories from this year. :) Oh yeah, Guess what?! THERE IS SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN! Yeah, you better believe it, we had the first snow on the mountain this morning, SEPTEMBER 1!!! It isn't supposed to snow yet... boo! :(