Letter to my brother who is on a mission

In our church, we serve missions. 19 year old boys serve the Lord and preach the gospel, trying to help others find their Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ. I thought I would share my letter to my brother who is in Moscow, Russia. 

"Elder Brown, 

This week has been a really fun one! 

Yesterday Dan bought a new suit for interviews with consulting firms. These interviews will be happening over the next couple of weeks and Dan's decided he wants to be a consultant :). 

Today we went to the Brigham City temple dedication -- it was so neat! I loved the part where the temple president promised us that as we attended the temple, we would be blessed to form righteous habits and routines. That is really important to me as I am continually trying to come closer to the Lord and to be the best mother I can be. It is important for me to raise Milah in the gospel, having righteous routines of prayer, reading scriptures, singing primary songs etc. 

Today we picked tons and TONS of tomatoes! Man, you would be so proud of our yummy garden! We picked pails and buckets and boxes full of pumpkins, zucchini, all manner of tomatoes, and watermelon -- yes, watermelon! We have cherry, beefsteak, and the best eating kind (the name of them is something with lady in it i think). They have overflowed the planters and since they outgrew their wire cages, there are plants growing over each other. For instance, there is the yummy eating kind of tomato and it is covered over by cherry tomato branches so I just stuck my hand in through the branches and pulled out 12 or so perfectly red and ripe tomatoes that I couldn't even see in there! The tomatoes have been falling on the ground and rotting and we just hate wasting food, so tonight I made a ginormous pot of spaghetti sauce that doubles very very well as soup :) 

Then you know my one track mind. Well I was trying to solve the problem of the rotting tomatoes (we have pounds of tomatoes every day) and we realized that I am going to learn to can! And I'm going to can this yummy pasta sauce! Isn't that the greatest idea? Well, I got excited about canning all the less expensive fruit and veggies in the summer to eat in the winter. 

I'd been trying to solve a problem for a while; we are told to have a year's supply of food storage, but I really want to keep healthy food. We don't eat a ton of grains or meat or cheese or the typical stuff you'd keep. But we go through tons of fresh salsa, tomatoes, apple sauce, peaches, zucchini for zucchini bread (which we'll freeze), and soups. Then Dan can just take a bottle of soup to work and love it! I am stoked if you can't tell. I think I'll have trouble sleeping tonight because I'm so excited. It's so funny how I get this one track mind about something and then my mind just works it over. Like yesterday we found all these great deals on clothes. I got multiple pairs of pants that were 90.00 pants for 8.00. Anyway, I know that doesn't really matter to you on a mission, but it was fun! And when you are students and don't have a lot of money, saving money is a really great thing! Oh, and finally I've been making sprouts! It's been so fun! 

We were looking at your weather today and it looks like you're already ushering in winter. 

The canyon is gorgeous here. It's still in the high 80s and low 90s most every day. 

We get to see Mom on Thursday and Dad and the kids on Friday -- it's going to be fantastic! 

I've been reading the scriptures in a different way this week. My friend had an idea to "read between the lines." Basically, you pretend like you are part of Nephi's family or observing the events that are happening. I have gained some really neat insights by reading this way :) 

Well thanks so much for your great work you awesome missionary! 

I love you! :)"