December 29th, 2014

Hey my family! Things are going good!!! It was so much fun to talk to you!! It makes emailing today seem lame compared to talking with you and seeing your faces, but I'll just be grateful to talk with you whatever way they will let me. :) It sounds like the Christmas party was fun! I hope that you enjoy your week off of school that will be sweet. What did owen and Spencer have to tell you? Christmas really was one of the best days of my whole life! I could dare say that looking forward to skyping you guys was one of the things I have been most excited about my whole life. I loved every second of it too! Sorry I am kind of a big baby. So this week we ran into a guy named wayne and he gave a pretty good description of what missionary work is like in his neck of the woods he said, "You guys should know that in this part of town you have more respect than the cops, at least people run away from you." haha I thought that was pretty funny, and it really is pretty true. It has been raining like crazy the past couple days. The darn rain really makes me miss the beautiful snow at home. It has been raining so hard that we couldn't bike so we had to walk, but as we were walking it was neat to notice the finger of the lord in the little things, and it made me really grateful for my bike. I hope that you have a great week!!! Thank you so much for all of the Christmas stuff that you sent me! I am spoiled rotten, it was a really humbling Christmas for me to not be able to really give back very well to all the people that sent stuff. I really am super grateful! I love you guys so much!! Thanks for being willing to talk with me the other day and every Monday :) I love you!! Love Mud

December 22nd, 2014

Hey my homies! I'm glad to hear that things are going good for you! All the Christmas plates delivered, tithing settlement done, and school almost out, that has got to feel pretty good! Heavenly Father must have wanted our Christmas's to look the same cause that is like the exact weather that we have here right now. We went caroling the other night in the pouring ran, it was fun but not quite as fun as the snow. I'm sad that I missed dads singing, I like it when he sings! I am very proud of Jessa for beating dad in ping pong too, I'm hoping that all this biking will improve my ping pong skills somehow. :) This week has been pretty good! Nothing too wild and crazy happened just a pretty normal week. I am super excited to talk to you guys on Thursday!! We are going to go to the Ory's for most of Christmas day so I am really excited! They are an awesome family, we have family home evening with them every Monday night and they are a ton of fun!! Sue came to Church with us yesterday so we were really excited! She is coming along slowly but surely. She finally agreed to say the closing prayer in our lesson the other day and I can't tell you how happy it made me to hear her pray! It was awesome!! That is crazy that the Idaho Falls Temple will be closed for that long but on the bright side when it is open again I will be able to go to it with you!! I hope you have a wonderful week and a Merry Christmas!! Happy Birthday in advance my wonderful mama!!! I love you guys!!!!!!!!! Love Justin

December 16th, 2014

My family!!!!! Ya'll are awesome!!! Thank you so much for the Christmas packages I am super excited! And tell Richard and Jon thanks for the Christmas card and the money I got it yesterday they are awesome!!! And Aunt Tammy sent me and Elder Porter a sweet package will you tell her thanks too? :) You'll have to tell Heidi hi for me I can't believe that she is back already. Jessa's party sounds like it was a good time! Things here are going pretty good! We got transfer calls yesterday and they are keeping me and Elder Porter around for another one. My friend Sister Widdison is getting transferred we are sad to see her go. It seems like this week has been forever long I don't even know where to start.... One of our investigators Sue gave us a 8 foot fake Christmas tree to put in our apartment it is awesome!! It took a little rearranging to fit it but it was totally worth it. If our apartment had any more Christmas stuff in it I'm pretty sure it would be illegal haha We also had a sweet Specialized training were we had a big Christmas party with President and Sister Hansen they are amazing! It was a lot of fun to spend some time with them on a more relaxed level. Joe Dirt 2 was being filmed again just down the street from Sue's house so we went and we were like 20 feet away from David Spade it was pretty awesome! I was wishing Zach and Jake and Dad could be there with me, his mullet is pretty sweet in real life too. We get to skpe with you guys on Christmas so next week I will get you a few more details. :) I think you guys are awesome! Thanks for letting me be a part of your family!! Love ya! Love, Mud

November 17th, 2014

My Family!! I can't believe that it is snowing there already that is crazy!! Tell the poor bishop I'm sorry that he has so much church stuff to do, I think he will get rewarded with extra Mountain Dews in heaven for doing it though haha I hope that Jake get's feeling better! And I hope that you guys have a great week!! This week has been pretty crazy! It has been a long week but a good one. The sisters had a baptism on Saturday and we got one of our investigators "John" to come to it it was awesome! I am still working on adjusting to my new companion I feel like I went from the Energizer bunny to Sid the Sloth, but it is a good learning experience for me. :) It has been getting colder here too. I am kind of a baby to the cold know when it's like 40 degrees I start freezing haha one darn Louisiana summer and it has screwed up 18 years of being a tough Idaho boy. On Saturday morning we did some pretty fun service we had to spread hay in this lady's chicken coop while the chickens we in there so we were fighting chickens and trying to hurd them into one corner it was an adventure haha It sounds like things are going pretty good for you guys! I sure miss you guys!! I have faith that it is going to be a better week this week!! I love you with all of my heart and soul!!!! Love Elder Dye

November 10th, 2014

Hey my family!!! It sounds like things are crazy busy there but you are doing good! I'm glad that the "love birds" made it home safe from their honeymoon and I hope that they are doing good! It sounds like Jessa is quite the little ball player and tell the Bishop to drink a dew or 2 before tithing settlement starts haha Missionary week sounds like it will be a good time!! And I am really jealous that you went on a 4wheeler ride haha Things here are going pretty good! My new companion is Elder Porter and he is from Texas so not very far away. He is a pretty nice kid, the best way that I can describe him is like Colby Hatton but he loves the military. So we have a little bit different personalities but I know that with the lords help we can make it through this :) I appreciate all the prayers, it keeps me from throwing rocks and from saying bad words sometimes! I hope you know that I pray for you guys too!!! This week has been pretty good, we had transfers on Wednesday and it was a little sad to say goodbye to Elder Richardson but that's what life is about enjoying the time while we've got it. I have some cool food to report!! On Saturday we had a pig roast and they roasted the whole pig all night and then had a great big party! It was awesome! I will send you some pictures next week. But with it they had "hog head cheese" which is pretty much boiled pig head mostly the brains and tongue that you eat on crackers and it wasn't to bad We were biking through the hood the other day past this kind of Ghetto park and we saw this kid that was shooting the basketball by himself so we went and asked if we could play with him and we played for a few minutes and got to talking and the next thing we knew we were teaching him the Restoration sitting there on the basketball court! It was Elder Porters first lesson and he did a good job. So dad has always been right when he has said the basketball helps bring people into the church!! I hope that you guys have a great week and that you know how much I love you guys!! Thanks for letting me be part of your family cause everyday I just realize more and more how lucky I am to have you! :) Love your redneck son Elder Dye P.S. Here are a few Christmas Ideas How about a twin tie with Richard Christensen or a wedding picture book. Or a jess for a week haha I am good with anything! Who do I have again?

November 4th, 2014

My family!!! This is my favorite time of the week too :) That does sound like a crazy week! But I am glad that you survived and that everything went well! The wedding sounds like it went good! and I can't believe that you got all of your brother and sisters there and trish in the church that's awesome!! This week has been crazy I don't even know where to start. I am feeling much better! Are you? We have transfers this week so that's why I am emailing you today instead of yesterday. So the big news.... Elder Richardson is leaving and both me and him are training new missionaries. It will be an adventure haha I am a little nervous to be getting one straight from the MTC but dad sent me a letter and told me to be tough, and I wore my "dad twin tie" all day yesterday so I would be tough enough to do what I need to do so here are the possible choices any guesses? Dobie, Nathan Alan Porter, Brayden Christian Sato, Kenzo Simmons, McKay David Staley, Tucker Owen So for Halloween we had set up to go over to 2 different members home cause we had to be in by 6. and both of the members had things come up so we couldn't come. So me and elder Richardson broke into the sisters apartment (cause they were at a members house, and we didn't want to just have to be in ours) and ate dinner and watched Mormon messages until it was time to go home. haha It probably wasn't as exciting as your Halloween but it kept us entertained :) Things here are going great! I am a little scared but I know that the Lord will help me to be able to help my new companion and that I have a great family that will help me too! I hope that you have a great week!! Glad the wedding was good!! I love you!!!! Love, Justin (Elder Dye)

December 1st, 2014

Hey my homies!! I'm glad to hear that things are going pretty good and that you had a good thanksgiving!! I'm glad that everyone at some pie for me too that was very nice of you guys! Thank you so much for the package! I haven't got the big one yet but the other one was awesome! It was so much fun to read all the Natural Helpers letters tell them thanks for me! Things here have been pretty good this week! Thanksgiving was very interesting, we ate some Turkey, Macaroni, dressin(stuffing with chunks of some kind of meat), sweet potato pie, and grape drank. In the hood with our friend jay and his family. It was quite the combination of foods haha The ward had a Turkey bowl thanksgiving morning so that was a lot of fun and than thanksgiving night we got together as a district and had a party together it was fun :) Last Monday was a lot of fun too! We went to New Orleans and went through the French market and stuff it was a lot of fun! We did the pepper palace challenge, which is tasting one of the hottest hot sauces in the world. Even just a tiny drop burns, but it was worth it for the experiences! And then we had a Turkey Bowl with our Zone and that was a lot of fun too! Things with my companion are going better. During companionship inventory this week he told me that I was too childish and I just laughed haha Growing up is overrated! I am having a lot of fun being a missionary, I am just really trying to look for the small things in life and enjoying them :) Thanks for being an awesome family!!! I am so grateful for you!!! I love you so much!!!!! Hope you have a wonderful week!!!! Love Mud :)

November 24th, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving My Family!!!!! You guys are awesome! I am glad to hear that things are going good!! Things this week have been pretty good! It warmed up a little and we had exchanges so that was nice to shake things up a little bit. I don't even know where to start about this week. So first off for some reason they film a lot of movies in Covington and guess what movie set we drove past the other day?......Joe dirt 2 it was awesome!!! I should have went and pushed the security guys over and gotten a picture with Joe Dirt but sadly I didn't. Sid is doing better this week! Thanks for all of your prayers for us, they help us make it through. Two different times this week we were going out to tract, and we were blessed with chances to go and help people rake their leaves it was awesome! The tender mercies of the lord really are all around us!! We are eating thanksgiving dinner in the middle of the ghetto this year so I am super excited to be one of the only white guys in that part of town! I hope that you guys have a great week!! Sorry so short but I am running out of time. I love you and I hope that you have a great thanksgiving!!! I'm so grateful that I get to be part of your family!! Thanks for all that you do for me!! Love Mud p.s. I am so excited to get some thanksgiving rolls your the best :) Things here are going pretty good!! We are just taking things one day at a time :) I am so excited to get some of your rolls you spoil me way to much mama! My companion seems to be doing a little bit better he has a hard time sleeping at night so he is always tired, so we are working on that but other than that he is doing pretty good! Our investigators are coming slowly but surley :) We are going to eat in the ghetto with one of our investigators named jay, I am super excited!! I will send you some pictures of it. :)

November 24th, 2014

Dad! Things are going pretty good here! Are you surviving all of your bishop stuff at home? I'm glad that mom finally let you get a snow blower, darn mom haha I bet Jessa's basketball games are worth watching we have made her into one tough little chick. You guys are for sure the number one thing on my list too! I hope that you guys have a good time in castle dale! We are eating thanksgiving dinner in the middle of the ghetto and we are going to be the only white boys there I am really excited! I will have to send you some pictures. I know that you are right, heavenly father puts us in certain places for certain reasons and I know that he will help us. Sometimes I feel like peter when he walks out on the water to go to Christ , I forget so easily that him and my family and everyone is here to help me and let myself start sinking. but I am working on getting some more faith! I wear my tie a lot too! Whenever I know that I need strength beyond my own I put my dad tie on and I can feel you help me through the day. I love ya dad! Thanks for letting me be your mud!!!! Love Mud :)

October 27th, 2014

Hey my family!! I'm glad to hear that things are going good for you!! How's all of the wedding prep coming? Cause ready or not it is coming pretty quick haha That is awesome that Melissa got to get her endowments out! It has been getting colder here to but not Idaho cold, it has been like 70's with low humidity it is BEAUTFUL!! I guess October is the payoff for August :) Things here are going good! I was a little bit sick this week, I was congested like I have never been before in my life but I am feeling lots better now. I sweated the sickness out like my daddy taught me, just work until you feel better. And Heavenly Father was just reminding me to focus on him and have a good attitude:) Other than that it has been a pretty normal week. The work is getting lots better we are getting lots more people to teach and not just tract all the time. There is like a 20 year old girl named Mallory that we have been teaching for awhile and she is amazing she just really wants to do what's right and she came to Church yesterday (she hasn't been for awhile) and I almost jumped out of my seat I was so happy! And then after Sacrament she met with the Bishop for like an hour, and then we are teaching a 15 year old boy named Noah he is a good kid. We are teaching lots of others too but they are the most progressing! Sorry I don't through out names a lot it is just kind of sad when I tell you about someone and than they drop us or something you know? :) So we were riding by this park in the Ghetto heading to go and teach a guy named John and anyway this little black boy was playing on the toys right next to the sidewalk we were riding on in the park. So when we passed by him he stuck his little head over the bars and yelled at us, "Hey uglies!" and his mom and dad were sitting on a picnic table right next to him and the mom jumped off the table and was like "Lamone we don't talk to people like that" Anyway it was super funny we laughed for a long time :) Things with my companion are good. He really likes to try and scare me so he is always hiding behind things waiting to try and jump out and scream. He definitely keeps things interesting around here!! But we have a good time. I hope that everything goes well with the wedding and that you guys have a great week!!!!! Thanks for all the you do!! Ya'll are the best!!! Love your homie Mud