August fun with the grandkids

I had so much fun with Hailey at the park this month. She loves the swing - the first picture is a little blurry - she was swinging fast! (and lovin it)

Check out Gavin's cute smile - 4 months old!! He is such a good baby.

We went to Beauty and the Beast, Hailey's first play. It wasn't Broadway, but it was really good. We had so much fun and Aubrie is the best mama!

Christ's friend - Tysons update this week

Tyson, I love your thought provoking words and wisdom. Here is his email note from this week. We are almost to the 100 day count down. I am so proud of him and grateful to the person he is and the privilege of being his mother.

Wow well another week has gone by and it is time for emails. This week was very busy we went to exchange with a district leader and his comp. on Monday to Tuesday afternoon. After that we went straight to another Elders Apt. to Exchange with them for the night. Now when I say exchange I mean that we go to their area and I go with one Elder and my missionary companion goes with the other. The reason why we do this is to train the other missionaries and to learn their area a little bit better so we can guide them a little bit better. After that we went to Zone conference on Wednesday. Now a Zone Conference is where we meet with other missionaries from our zone and some other zones. The training that we received was great and I was able to see a lot of things I need to recommit on. We also had the opportunity to give some personal training for our missionaries which was really important. The feeling of the spirit was really strong and I love that feeling of peace and joy that comes from the spirit of god. It is a very special thing to experience. It is something that the world just cannot give. A scripture that I felt prompted to turn to during the meeting was in the bible John 15 I believe verse 16? where Jesus talked to his Apostles and says ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I have commanded you. That really stuck out to me. What a privilege to be able to call Jesus Christ your friend. What does that mean to you to be able to call Jesus Christ your friend and to have him call you friend as well. What an incredible gift that is. this might not strike you too deeply but I was taught a lot of things through the spirit on this scripture and I invite all of you to study this scripture and ask yourself what does that mean to you and pray and ask god to reveal a deeper meaning to you as well. I promise you it is a wonderful thing to be led by your loving Heavenly Father.
Well I think that’s enough of my rambling. I love you guys.
Love,
Elder Andrus

Just saw Julia and Julie

Just a quick post to tell you that the movie Julie and Julie is really great. I actually found it very inspiring and I am still cooking on creating an incentive like that for myself! If you saw the movie let me know what you thought and what if anything inspired you!

Hailey at Lagoon! August 2009 - First time!!

Look what a great little driver she is..both hands on the wheel! Good girl! :)

Tyson's answer to the last post

So I guess I better start off answering the Question that I posed last week. The funny thing is that I forgot about the question until I just sat down today. The great thing about this question is that there is no right or wrong answer and I was grateful to read your insights this week. So why does God let imperfect instruments be a part of his work?
Well first we need to obtain the vision that god has for all of us. Moses 1:39. Okay now that we have that, let's thinks of our own life. Think of kids growing up - what would happen to those kids if they never had to do any form of work especially anything hard to do? How would they grow up? Basically they would grow up to be ungrateful punks. Now imagine how grateful we would be for the gospel if we did not have to carry it to others. Now all of us are not perfect and everyone takes the gospel a little lighter than they should but we would not respect it at all. Another reason: How can an instrument know if it needs to be fixed if it is never played? You could leaved a beautiful Violin left in the closet and an old broken down violin right next to it. If there is no one to play either of them they are of the same worth, which is no worth. Now the funny part about it is that we are all the broken down old violin that most people would never want to touch. But luckily, Our Heavenly Father is the Musician and has a great vision for all of us. When we are picked up by the master's hand to lay a note that is when we are able to feel his incredible love and also the great opportunity to realize what is out of tune. That is why I am so grateful for the atonement like sister west mentioned. There is no way we could be a part of this work without the atonement. There is also no way we could really realize the atonement without this work. Pretty interesting thought isn't it? One last thing to mention is that if all of Our Father's joy comes from his family returning to live with him that should give us a pretty big hint on where our joy should come from as well. Great shall be our joy if we just bring one soul to him. Being a part of this work(missionary or not) is way over any of our heads. But this is one of the most pure and true joys we can experience. I am grateful to be a small instrument in the grand plan, which our Heavenly Father calls our life here on earth. So I guess that is my answer to the question I posed.
Well other than that family I am officially going up to Scranton to be a Zone Leader up there on Sunday. I will let you know the mailing address for up there next P-day. This will probably be the place that I finish my mission. So family I love ya. I hope all is well at home.
Love,
Elder Andrus