Gator land

Good evening dearest brother.
I write you from the place where I have to drink my air. There is so much oxygen I feel like Superman. I hope you are doing well. This week was awesome. I went through a lot of school. I had a lot of work and I had a track meet. The track meet I had was awesome. It was also the hardest this I’ve ever done. That 3200 meter is a booty kicker. That’s two miles for those of us using the metric system. I was going for 14:00 and I got 13:50. I then got to do the 800 meter. Again, that’s 1/2 mile. I was going for 3:00 and I got 2:50. I was able to get both of my goals and that was really accomplishing. I am speed. It was super fun. Then I got to hop on a plane and head way down south. Down in these parts we got gators, swamps, and Disneyworld. I can’t wait to go to my kingdom-animal kingdom. I miss you and I hope you are going good. 

Love you,
Big boy Luke

Back flow valve 
Me (.5 version)
Mickey ABSOLUTE BARS
Track meet
Track meet

Letter from mom- week 31

Hi sweetie,

I’m writing in the car somewhere between Port Canaveral and Orlando. After church we drove to Coco beach to dip our toes in the water and do our come follow me lesson.  It was lovely. I love an opportunity to see a new place and admire God’s creations. We are so blessed on this amazing Earth. 

We took the red-eye flight on Friday night. It was brutal this time. Our room wasn’t ready till 3:00 that afternoon so we couldn’t take a Power Nap when we arrived. We were all fuzzy from lack of sleep yesterday. We walked around Disney Springs and found a 50th anniversary baseball for you! 

Tomorrow we are going to Epcot, Tuesday is Hollywood Studios, Wednesday (Sara’s 12th birthday) is Magic Kingdom, and Thursday is Animal Kingdom. We go home on Friday. Michael hasn’t been to Disneyworld since 2018 and he hasn’t been to Disneyland since 2019, so he hasn’t seen Star Wars land or been on Rise of the Resistance or Ratatouille or Mickey and Minnie’s run away train. It will be fun but we miss you like crazy. It will be amazing when you can come with us next time!

Grandma Miller’s sister Aunt Kathleen is sick and may pass-away in the next couple of days. I’m sorry we won’t make it to the funeral because I love Aunt Kathleen. Growing up, my family used to visit them in California every summer and she was always so kind to make us delicious food and make us feel welcome. I’m sure she will have a sweet reunion with her husband Dan and her sisters (Grandma Miller and Jeanette).

We’re looking forward to general conference next weekend. It always brings me peace to hear the words of our prophet and apostles. I know that they tell us what the Lord wants us to know. I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the direction and guidance it gives me. I can’t imagine trying to navigate this life without it. We are so blessed with the knowledge we have and I am so grateful that you are willing to go forth and share with the people of Spain. Keep up the great work Elder! I love you with all of my heart. 

Can’t wait to talk to you tomorrow. 
With love,
Mom

Benjamin,

We're missing you terribly, but we know you're exactly where you need to be. One of the sacrifices of being a full time missionary is not being able to go on vacations. 100% of your time is dedicated to the Lord and then he blesses you for the rest of your life to be able to take epic vacations. Just keep working hard and you'll find peace about your future.

We've been praying this week about your sister friend. We hope that she got baptized and that it went well. We can't wait to hear about it. If it didn't happen for one reason or another, don't worry about it. You've done all you can do.

Everything is going well at home. It's so nice to be in the warm Florida sunshine. It's been a long winter in Salt Lake.

I love you and be safe.

Dad

Letter from mom- week 30

Hi Ben,

I hope you’ve had a great week. Our week was busy. Luke had his first track meet. He had a sore ankle so he wasn’t able to race but he had fun cheering on his teammates. Mary and Luke are busy with schoolwork as they finish 3rd quarter this week. They have lots of assignments and tests in the next couple of days. Mary made two portfolios that will be submitted tomorrow for SBO of Tech and SBO of Art. Both are appointed positions and she has worked hard on both portfolios. She’d really like to win SBO of Art but she’d take either. She knows it will be hard to beat Caleb Cox for SBO of Tech but you never know what could happen. We feel at peace that whatever is supposed to happen will happen. 
Luke is working on his posters and video for Sophomore class elections although his elections aren’t until after spring break. We should be pros at making posters and videos by now but we’re not. It’s still crazy hard! I can’t complain though. At least we don’t have to make a banner!

Our neighborhood celebrated Baylor’s 18th birthday on the 16th. We lit lanterns in front of each house and as always it was a somber occasion. Our hearts go out to the Stout family. 

This afternoon Ed Harman held a fireside at the church about the miracle that happened last year when Carter was saved. Ed Harman was one of the doctors that fought for new treatments that saved Carter. I knew he was sick last year but until this fireside I didn’t realize how he was pretty much dead. I can’t imagine going through that with one of my children. After the fireside we knelt in prayer and thanked Heavenly Father again for the miracle and for doctors that are willing to help people. 

Mary had MORP with Daniel yesterday. She had a blast. 

We can’t wait to talk to you tomorrow.
Love,
Mom

Letters from Sara and Luke

Hello ben I hope you are doing well and having fun! So sorry that I haven’t emailed you in so long. The past couple of weeks have been really busy for me! I just got back from presidency meeting and we talked about what activities we want to do and the people that we can help out. We are going to DisneyWorld this week and I really wish that you could come because you are my buddy to RUN and catch the bus before it leaves!!!(we always caught it it never left without us)We are leaving at 11:00pm on Friday and getting there around 5:00Am on Saturday!(ZZzzzzzz) I don’t know how we are going to get to Costco but I think we are going to stay at Old Key west on Saturday and go to Disney springs and ride the bikes at the Resort and hangout! Typhoon Lagoon is opening back up while we are there because they are closing Blizard Beach again! Typhoon lagoon will look very new when we go but we aren’t going to any water parks this time because we wouldn’t be able to get to Costco in the morning and we wouldn’t be able to go to Disney Springs or go to olivias that day. We also wouldn’t be able to swim at old key west or ride the bikes. So basically we would only be able to go to the parks witch is not bad but I want to hang out at the resort and go shopping for the Little Mermaid Disney back pack because my friend just got back and said the there is a TON of dinky backpacks there and I really want the pixar or the Little Mermaid one! Last night (Saturday) me Mom, Dad, and Luke went to JCPenney and got me a LOT of clothes for DisneyWorld because I was out of shorts and it will be 90 degrees while we are there and so I needed T-shirts and shorts for disney world because it is going to be flaming hot withal we are there! I am so excited and I wish that you could come with us and it will not be the same without you!!! I will tell you all about it when we get to talk to you after our trip!!! Another thing that I did this week was that I went to the Jordan River Temple with Mom and my friend Lexi Taufer! Me and Lexi did Baptisms while Mom did Endowments. We had to wait for an hour for her but it’s ok it was fun to just sit in the waiting room and read the scriptures and the friend and talk for a little bit. We were sitting there and we decided to go back in to the baptistry and do Confrimations only so we did and it was very fun and cool to go back again the workers were really nice to me and Lexi and they were very friendly. The baptistry was empty there were times where no one was in the font. I had to get babtised and then go and be a witness for Lexi because there  was no one there. Normally when me and Luke go there is a TON of people and the wait in like an hour and a half for walk ins and me and Lexi did a Walk in and it was empty. I love the temple I try to go every eek but sometimes it doesn’t work out but that ok. It is really weird because I look for appointments on Oquirh and it is full and then we do a walk in and there is no one there. Same with Jordan River especially when we went on Friday the Temple is Empty!! So sorry that this Email is so long I will be better at emailing you every Sunday. I hope you have a great week can’t wait to talk to you on Monday!!!!!
Love
Sara

Hello Benjamin
Hope you week has gone well. I love you and I think about you all the time. This week was pretty good. I got to take an AP practice test. I think I did great on it. Not too difficult but it was long. I had a track meet on Wednesday. I couldn’t race because I hurt my ankle at practice. I was pretty mad about that. I have another race this week and I’m really exited. I hope I do good. I am speed. Also, the end of the quarter is coming up at the end of this week. I have pretty good grades right now. I really want to get a 4.0 or close to it. After that, it is spring break. I’m so exited. Off school is the best. 
I’m running for class officer next year at Bingham. I finished one of my posters yesterday. I started on my video too. I really hope I can win. I am going to go crazy on the campaigning. I need to talk to everyone.
Hope you’re doing well. Love you and I think about you all the time. 
Luke

Letter from mom- week 29

Hi sweetie,

We had a lovely stake conference this weekend with Elder and Sister Singer (an area authority seventy). It was a big weekend for Dad especially so he’s tired but we are also very grateful for the Spirit we’ve felt and the guidance we’ve been given. We were reminded about the importance of temple attendance and the beautiful promises we have been given by our prophet. On Saturday Dad started visits at noon. The leadership meeting started at 4:00pm followed by a dinner in the RS room for members of the stake presidency and their wives. At 7:00pm, we had the adult session which went until 9:00pm. Dad spoke at this meeting about being steadfast and immovable. His talk was so good. He said some very kind things about me which I was grateful for. We turned our clocks forward for Daylight savings so it felt hard to get out of bed to be at the youth session on Sunday morning at 8:00am. Mary conducted the music for the meeting and she did great. Elder Singer gave a wonderful talk to the youth about repenting and staying on the covenant path. We had muffins and fruit after the youth session and then the general session started at 10:00 and went until noon. Dad had meetings until 3:00 after the session. 

We celebrated Michael’s birthday today. I can’t believe his is 21! I remember how excited I was to turn 21 because then I was able to go on my mission. It is so fun to think that Michael has already completed his mission and been home for a few months. Michael asked for tortillini soup, salad and sourdough bread for his birthday dinner. He asked for a chocolate pudding cake with chocolate ganache and tillamook ice cream for dessert.  It was tasty and we missed having you with us!

Mary and Luke are busy creating their portfolios for SBO/class office elections. Please say your prayers for them. This is a busy time of the year with school plus the stress of elections makes this extra challenging. There are lots of kids running this year. As much as Mary and Luke would love to win, we have faith that it will all work out the way it is supposed to.

Luke joined the track team so I took him to Dr. Valentine for his sports physical. He measured just shy of 6 feet! Dr. Valentine can’t believe the growth spurt he has had. He said Luke is not finished growing (he’s still only 14 years old) and so I must inform you…just as I informed Michael after the appointment…that I think Luke will be the tallest of you boys. He’s pretty excited about that!

Our ward held a mission activity for the youth. I set up a table about Italy and Kamrah Hold set up a table about Spain. She asked if she could use some of your pictures in her slide show and of course i said yes. I cried when I saw your picture with the Spain flag. Thank you for serving the Lord in Spain. We feel the blessings from your service.

We love you and can’t wait to talk to you on p-day.
Love always,
Mom
Dad and I with Elder and Sister Singer. They lived in Bahrain with Brian and Carol Harris (our old bishop in London). We took this picture to send to the Harris’ (and to you of course)

Letter from mom- week 28

Hi sweetie,

This week went by fast. Dad traveled to Kansas City for work from Tuesday to Thursday. Kelly Anderson came to stay in our guest room from Tuesday to Saturday morning. Her boys were all in town for a brothers retreat. There wasn’t room for her at her sons house so she stayed with us since our house is close to Peter’s house. It was nice to have her here and it felt good to be able to host her at our house especially considering how many times we enjoyed staying at their house in St. George. The week went fast considering all that was going on.

Before Dad left for Kansas City on Tuesday morning, Mary called us after she dropped Luke off at seminary. She told us that when she was turning left on 2700 West, there was a car that sped up through an almost red light and hit the telephone pole on the corner. Thankfully the suburban wasn’t hit. She wondered if she needed to go back and we told her no so she went to school. It had snowed the night before so conditions were icy. A little while later, Luke texted me to say there was a police man at his seminary class looking for a white suburban. His teacher Brother Kirkham drove a white Tahoe so they wanted to talk to him after class. At that point, Dad got in the car and drove to the seminary building to tell the police officer that it was our suburban they were looking for. So, Luke and Dad were talking to the police as all of Luke’s friends were coming to school at SoJo. Then, Dad and the police man went to Bingham and got Mary out of class to interview her. We feel so blessed that no one was injured.

We all had dentist appointments this week. Sara has a bunch of baby teeth that are loose but don’t want to come out and her adult teeth are growing over them. She looks like a shark but the dentist didn’t pull any of them so she’s left with 2 sets of teeth. Poor girl. It makes chewing difficult.

I went to the SBO parent meeting at Bingham with Mary and Luke. I saw my good friends Jen Dishman and Lynda Day. The best change in the elections this year is that the kids make 3 posters now and no more banner!!! Wahoo! Luke counted 10 other kids running for Sophomore class officer from SoJo so his race will be tough since there are only 2 spots. Mary is running for both appointed positions; VP of tech and VP of art. It is going to be a lot of work but she feels a little encouraged about it since she has been Chief editor of the year book this year. Say your prayers for both of them. You remember how stressful elections can be?!

Luke won the teachers quorum bake-off with his loaf of sourdough bread this week so he was excited about that.

Michael came and spoke to the stake youth for their mission activity. He did such a great job. The youth in his group were fortunate because Michael was prepared and made it fun. It was joyful for me to peek in and watch Michael in action. He has a gift for inviting the spirit and inspiring others.

Nana had fur mats behind her ears and last time we took her to be groomed, we paid over $100 and they just gave her a trim. So, Dad gave her a haircut himself yesterday. She looks pretty good considering this was Dad’s first time clipping her and it’s nice that her mats are gone.

I’ve been gathering things to send to you this week. Brother Duffin is coming to our house tonight to pick it up. I am so grateful that we get the opportunity to send you a package. I’m not sure if he will be able to take everything- I’ll see how much room he has.

We love you so much. We can’t wait to hear all about your week tomorrow. And, we can’t wait to hear about transfers!
Love,
Mom