12.26.2012

To Daniel December 24th, 2012

Elder Carter!!!! Merry Christmas!!!!! ( eve). I don't think you will get this letter until after christmas, but, I will still write you! :) My week was pretty much fantastic. Alrighty here we go. Monday- We had family night. My team in basketball lost in 3 on 3. So... we didn't get to play in the student vs. faculty game... I was kind of bummed out but got over it pretty quickly. Tuesday- I did home work! Yay! Wednesday- My YM/YW group went caroling! It was super fun! After words we went and drank hot chocolate and ate cookies. Thursday- I played my guitar! Friday- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR 2012!!!!! ( as you can see. I'm not exited at all) It was the student vs. Faculty game. We lost... 42-45. The game was still fun to go to. Mr. Sigg. ( My history teacher) even let his advisory class make posters! They were fantastic. If I do say so myself. :) We also watched a Christmas Story in my 1st hour and in my 2nd hour we played board games! After school I went with My friend Brookelle, her three sisters and her mom. We watched the Santa Clause 2! Her sisters. ( Ages 12 and 8) would argue all the time! It made me grateful I have a fabulous relationship with my siblings! Saturday- I went and picked up my glasses from the eye doctor! Dad and I went shopping for a poster I forgot to get Olivia. Oops. We got it though. It was totally worth it! Basically the rest of Saturday was spent wrapping presents and watching movies! Sunday- I went to church. Olivia and I were invited to play our violins in relief society. I'm pretty sure mom will tell you about that. It was so fun to play music with my best friend! Afterwards Toph sang O holy night! It was breath taking! Today we had the missionaries and a few other people over for dinner. It was awesome! My spiritual thought for you today is... We had the missionaries come over. They read us a poem. Basically it was about this light on the Christmas tree getting too tired to be a light and it was about to stop shining but then a little boy came and pointed to the light and said it was the most beautiful light out of the whole christmas tree. The light realized he was important. This was compared to us being important. Every single one and to never let us hide our lights of the gospel. I love you so so much! Have a fantastic Christmas! I love you! 
Love,
Nina

Mama will write in a moment...


Hola Son!  Merry Christmas Eve!

I'm writing this letter to you on Christmas Eve Dress Rehearsal.  The day we created to try and bring back sanity to Christmas Eve itself.  All has gone exceptionally well.  We had a busy day at church, I attended three sets of meetings.  Our own, a branch at the hospital, and the 13th ward to accompany a trio in a musical number.  We came home and prepared dinner for the missionaries and a few other guests.  Carter Enchiladas, vegetables, peaches and salad.  It was great.  We wrapped and tried to get Christmas complete and now it is about 1am and I think we are done.  Everyone is sleeping under the tree while I write. Not sure how long that will last, but traditions are traditions.  I restocked the tree with cookies a few days ago, so we are able to offer guests a cookie from the tree.  
It has been a busy week trying to wrap up studio projects.  Seems like they lingered long into December this year.  I still have a few things to do tomorrow, but I will try to do Christmas things with Kristina while Christopher and Mama work.  
Note worthy for this week was the end of the world.  Every one says it didn't happen, but I say it did.  I'll share a post I made about it.  All true, by the way.  It goes something like this....

How did the Mayans do it? I mean, I was a doubter, then tonight, as 5:20passed on my clock (yes I know, it was supposed to be am, not pm) I looked out at the blue hour sky and what should I behold, a light falling from the sky, leaving a trail a fire behind it. It was aiming right for saddle peak where years ago I did a mirroring event with scouts. I thought, "If it were Christmas eve, I'd say
 Santa's sleigh was crash-landing!" It lasted what seemed like forever. A slow descent, a rock from outer space, colliding with the snow peaked mountain right outside of Logan destroying all life as was known on that spot of the mountain. I'm sure Paul's chickens (that's another story) had a chuckle. So we all thought it was the entire earth that was going to be destroyed, but, the Mayans saw that rock hitting the earth. I don't think they ever specified the size, or the actual life that would be destroyed. From here I couldn't tell for sure, but I speculate it was probably a poor mouse hole that was destroyed, or perhaps and even keener eye from ages gone by saw a mouse picked off from a falling meteorite on a hill outside of Logan. I saw it. It happened. 12 21 12 was the end of life as that mouse knew it. 
How did those Mayans know?
I'll forever be in amazement. 
I'm no doubter!

Another event of significance was mama's colonoscopy.  Everything turned out great, though it took a bit longer for her to recuperate.  She said the doctor said she looked familiar as they rolled her in, I asked "which end were they looking at?" 
 No seriously, it was a long day.  She is feeling back up to speed today, finally getting her appetite back tonight.  It was a long weekend.  But, it reminded me of another story I posted.  I'll share that with you…

     Okay, another story. I love Propofol. Okay, I'm not a druggy, but when I had my Colonoscopy a few months ago, they put me out with Propofol. I remembered the name because it was part of the cocktail that killed Michael jackson. Well, it was wonderful. I woke up feeling better than I had in years, decades, perhaps my entire life. It was amazing. So, today it was Karen's turn. I had been preaching the wonders of Propofol to ease the tension she was feeling. (besides, she only had to drink a small quantity of liquid while I had to down two gallon jugs of who knows what). Well they come in and the first thing they say to her is, "are you allergic to eggs, soy or peanuts?" I said, "Wait!" I'm allergic to peanuts, why didn't I get that question?" Apparently, since my experience with Propofol, it has been discovered that people with peanut allergies (which I have the most severe) react to Propofol the same way. I said, I didn't. They looked puzzled. Then, a quick dialogue began between the doctor, the anesthestis, and me. Why did I not die or at least go into anaphalactic shock when I had it? They did some quick research and found out that it is made in two places. One a soy based factory, the other a peanut based factory. So, by the luck of the draw, I must have received the soy based product. Man, what a disappointment. They said in 10 years, when I have another checkup, I'll have to pass on the Propofol. Fooey. It was the best thing about the whole procedure....

It was interesting that since posting this, I have received many comments about the peanut aspect and a few that cooberrate my feelings on Propofol.  

Well.  We love you, Daniel.  We are so happy that you have the opportunity to experience Christmas in the mission field.  It is a special day.  There is so much commercialization, and that's okay.  I heard it once said that if a gift giving day didn't occur we would create one.  But how fortunate to have gift giving tied into the honoring of our savior and His birth.  Every gift given has at its root the symbolism of gifts (our lives) given to Him who loves us unconditionally.  Grama Barbara said it the best in the Worthington world (don't know if you get it, let me know and i'll include them here...)

from Grama Barbara…
Well, with all of that we are surely looking forward to Christmas. It is just 2 days away. I think of how blessed we are to be in His church, to be able to read His scriptures and learn of Him, to worship and adore Him. He was the creator of this beautiful earth, he organized his church and brought the priesthood to the earth, He atoned for all the sins in the world and suffered so much that even He a God trembled with pain. He knows our struggles and our woes. He cares about us and is there for us. How blessed the day when He comes again.

It was nice to hear her feelings.  
She is right, you know.  How blessed you are to be the voice and hands of the Savior as He reaches out through you to touch the lives of all those around you.  Every interaction you have is divine.  

Well, I had better close down this day.  
I know you don't have pray until Wednesday.  I just wanted to make sure you had a letter just in case something has changed.  

We look forward to being able to talk with you on Christmas Day.  But even more special, we look forward to having you bless the lifes of unknown souls this holiday season and every day as you represent the Lord.  The message:  He lives.  And because He lives, you, too, can live.
Oh to live and not be encompassed by doubt.  Oh to live and know that life has meaning and purpose.   

Merry Christmas.

Pa...


John Carter
Thirteen/Eight Productions

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