letters from Eric and Ryan read over the pulpit today

The 6 missionaries serving from our ward were asked to write a letter about being a missionary to be read to the ward. Today was the day we shared the letters in Sacrament meeting with the congregation. 

First up is Eric's letter (which is the letter I read). He is serving a family history mission on Temple Square in Salt Lake and not a proselyting mission due to his Asperger's. He has been out for 13 months now and will be coming home around Thanksgiving time.

Eric and his trainer, Elder Smith 7 December 2012

This is Elder Perazzo, reporting from the Family and Church History Headquarters Mission, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s the second smallest mission in the church, area-wise (we work at Temple Square and some surrounding buildings; the Temple Square Sisters’ mission is limited only to working directly in Temple Square) but it’s one of the largest number-of-missionaries wise (most of whom being senior missionaries and church service missionaries) and, we like to joke, we’ve got the most baptisms as well, dealing exclusively in family history work. It’s certainly the most unique mission in the church--the young elders here are non-proselyte but we live here so it’s not technically a service mission either.

I work in the Data Quality Zone, on the 6th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We work closely with the employees at the Church’s Family History Department--when any changes are coming to FamilySearch we know ahead of time. For example, soon they’ll be changing the “photos and stories” feature’s name to “memories.” (And now you’re among the first to know. Awesome.)

We have a lot of fun. The missionaries at my mission work in different assignments in different zones around Temple Square--most of us work at the Family History Library. I do that in the evenings. Though we don’t really proselyte, last year we got a new mission president who’s introduced some inspired changes. For example, we didn’t use to need to stick with a companion [while on Temple Square], but now we do. The young elders are now also teaching lessons on Sundays, to senior missionaries of the mission.

So I’d like to share a TESTIMONY BUILDING EXPERIENCE. There’s a lot of good stuff in Preach My Gospel that expresses how important that is better than I can, so refer to that, but also know this: I can tell you that testimony is what separates a decent lesson from a mind-blowing awesome one, because nothing invites the spirit faster than a testimony. And even if you don’t think that you “know” something is true, the spirit will bear witness while you are giving your testimony of it. So good.

I must admit, until quite recently I haven’t been the strongest missionary, and right now I’m having around B+/A-, but I’m working to improve. Once a month we get one-on-one interviews with the mission president; he offers really inspired guidance--listen to his council. This is the hardest thing for me to write about, how detailed I should get, so I’ll just tell you that your mission president will know your specific situation and will receive divine inspiration and advice for you personally.

Okay. What would I say to you now, now knowing what a mission is like?

First, cooking. Balanced diets don’t have to be expensive--V-8 is almost 3 servings of your daily veggies per serving, and Grape Nuts have 100% of your daily while grains in half a cup. Tuna helper is amazing [he underlined  it 3 times]. Tuna’s way healthier than hamburger, and Tuna Helper is way faster & easier to prepare than Hamburger Helper--tuna’s already pre-cooked so that eliminated one step already. And although Tuna Helper doesn’t come in as many varieties as Hamburger Helper, sometimes I buy Hamburger Helper but put tuna in it instead of beef.

Alright, one last thing--a suggestion to my ward on ways to improve setting goals for spiritual achievement. From a Family History perspective, indexing parties are a great goal. It’s relatively easy, it’s actually kind of fun, and it digitizes these people’s names so that they’re up on FamilySearch and thus opened up for ordinances to be completed. Everyone’s happy. It’s a great way to start thinking about your own ancestors and to turn your hearts, and a great gateway to getting into Family history. Ward Temple days are also great; I trust you’re keeping up on that.

Well looks like all I’ve got time for.
Elder Perazzo

Ryan is serving a proselyting mission in the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission. We do not know where he is today as he was transferred this week. We'll find out tomorrow where he wound up. He has been out for almost 9 months now. Here's Ryan's letter to the ward (read by Glen). Ryan with Pres. and Sister Wall about 15 May 2013

Good Morning everyone. I'm doing well. I'm having a good time in Louisiana. The ward I'm working in right now is great. They are always nice to us missionaries. Louisiana is considered part of the buckle of the Bible Belt. It's hard work at times, but I do love it. I feel honored to be called to serve here. In Jeremiah it says that the Lord calls people to be hunters and fishers of men. I'm proud to be trusted as a hunter in the great Louisiana Baton Rouge mission. I feel like this is truly the greatest mission in the world.

One memorable experience that I had was at a Zone Training Meeting. At the end of the meeting our Zone Leaders asked us all to go into the chapel. As we were taking our seats they asked us to ponder about Jesus Christ's mission in life and all that he had done for us. They played a hymn to invite the spirit in. After some time of thinking I began to feel more of the Savior's love for me. I had never before felt a stronger witness of God's love for me as well as the rest of His children. I have found it easier to reach out to others because I know God loves them too. It's a great blessing to be able to help others.

There's is a saying in our mission that says. “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” My advice to those preparing to serve a mission is that you learn to care about others. Care about their feelings, hobbies, and interests. You will gain a stronger friendship with them as you do so. 1 Corinthians 13 is all about charity. In the first few verses it clearly states how we are nothing without charity. No matter how great of skills you have it won't really matter if you don't have the pure love of Christ in you.

I also urge you to have sincere prayers daily. God is your Father and he wants you to tell Him how you are doing. As you do this you will gain a stronger relationship with Him. You will be able to see His hand in your life more often. You will begin to know of His love for you. You will fine a greater capacity to love others. I don't think it is possible to over estimate the power of sincere prayer.

John 14:15 says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” If you have sincere prayers your love of God will increase and your desire to keep His commandments will increase as well. Thankfully your spiritual strength and your ability to do what is right will also grow.

In Alma 34, Amulek basically says we should pray to God for everything. If there is a spiritual goal you aspire to, pray for help. Reading your scriptures will also help. When you read and pray God will help you achieve your goal.

I love y'all. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

we survived our trip to the theatre conference!

waiting for the play Falling to begin

Yes, folks, we once again survived our annual trip to Utah for the UTA (Utah Theatre Association) Conference for junior high and high school students! There are lots of workshops and some plays to see. This year Weber State hosted it in Ogden, Utah. We had a large group with us: 26 students (one being Hannah) and 3 other chaperones.

The survival part comes in the fact that we leave at 2 am on a school bus and not because of the students (we had a great group). Sleeping on the school bus is sometimes freezing and always uncomfortable. It wasn't too bad this year--it wasn't snowing, so it was warmer than usual, but I still didn't sleep well or for long.

The UTA board brings in some famous people in the show business field, but not always names that non-theatre people know. This year, though, they had 2 famous comedians do an improv session and then a question and answer period. They were Greg Proops and Jeff Davis from Whose Line Is It, Anyway? The show was really great. I didn't bring my camera, so here's a photo from the internet. Greg is the one on the left and Jeff is the one on the right.

Friday, while everyone else went on campus, I stayed in the hotel and read, watched a little tv, and did some family history--I have been to so many conferences (14?) that it lessens my interest in attending the workshops.

Anyway, that evening we were assigned to see the musical Into the Woods. It about the stories of many fairy tales intertwining (Rapunzel, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk...). They did an awesome job, but the musical is not my favorite because I don't like where the storyline goes (we saw it a few years ago).

Saturday, Glen, Hannah, and I saw 4 plays together. First up, everyone saw The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged. I love this play and have seen it maybe 4 times. It's a comedy and the 3 actors who are in it condense all of the Bard's plays into one production (the football game with a crown as the football with King Lear, King John, and other Kings from the plays is hysterical). The actors were really talented, but they added a lot of sexual innuendos, so I was not so happy with it. I expected higher standards from the conference (I found out later that Hannah actually got up and left, but I wasn't sitting with her and it didn't even occur to me to do so).

Next up, Glen, Hannah, and I went to Falling which is a play about an 18 year old autistic boy and all the accommodations his family has to make to deal with his behaviors. It was quite serious and I had debated going as I don't really like dramatic plays...I find them painful. It was realistic and painful, but not too painful as it didn't totally hit close to home as Eric is high functioning. Although we had some accommodations for him, he wasn't tearing our family apart.

Then, Hannah got to be on the stage for The Real Inspector Hound. She had made friends with Annie, who is a USU-Eastern student and was the stage manager. The play is about 2 critics watching a play, so they needed people sitting around the critics on the stage as part of their audience. Hannah got to be one of the audience members. She has, by the way, now applied to USU-Eastern and is seriously considering going there. The campus is in Price, Utah, which is about 1 1/2 hours from Provo.

Hannah as part of the on-stage audience

Our last play and event was with everyone in our group seeing the musical The Plain Princess. They did a fantastic job; and since it was based on a children's story, there was no objectionable material. The costumes are always amazing and all of their voices were gorgeous.

Then it was onto the bus and back home again. We got in at 2:30 am, which might be the earliest we've ever gotten back. It was nice to sleep in my bed for a little before I had to get up this morning.

Alex got to sleep over at Aunt Kathy's house, so he didn't seem to miss us at all.

It is transfer week for Ryan, so we'll find out if he stays in Many or moves on on Tuesday.

Eric sent a few photos this week. Here's one taken of him on Christmas day while he is talking to us. Looks comfy, doesn't he?

a little slower paced week/random photos

Well, last Sunday I realized that I haven't really had a lot of time to just be at home with no one under foot and I decided not to sub this week. I wanted to just be a housewife. I liked it as it was a nice change of pace.

I started subbing when Alex was in 1st grade. I usually sub 2-3 days a week and usually go to the temple one day a week during the school year. If I'm not subbing and am home more, it means that something is happening...company is coming, I have a church or school project I'm working on, or I'm sick.

I have summers off, of course, but since everyone else does, too, it's hard to get things done. You know the old saying: cleaning the house while the kids are still growing is like shoveling the snow while it's still snowing. Getting stuff done with people around is just more difficult.

It was a wonderful week. I cleaned (big project--the carpets), organized (my recipe binders, for one thing, though I'm not done), baked (banana bread), etc. I didn't do anything I haven't done before, but it was done at a slower pace. I wasn't trying to cram everything into one or two days because I wouldn't be home the other days.

I got to go to the temple twice this week. Once with some friends, and I went again on Saturday with Glen and his parents. A couple we know were sealed as husband and wife and their son, who was shot and killed during a poker game years ago at the age of 15, was sealed to them. Talk about a wonderful experience! It was really touching. Knowing you can be together, and not just "as long as you both shall live," is a great blessing.


I didn't take any photos this week, but I love photos with my posts, so I've pulled a few from the "vaults" to enjoy.

So, a week full of good things for me. And today I started working on my genealogy again. Fun. Glen is busy with school, work, and church, as always. He currently is working on helping his mom to scan some family photos into the computer and get them posted to familysearch.org.

me and Glen in Alaska summer 2008

Andrew says that the title of his Senior English course is "Literature of Awe." The teacher named it. I can't wait to find out exactly what they are covering. He should be graduating in April.

Andrew and Heather at BYU's MOA when they were dating and I had first met her Sept 2012

Eric just finished a big project this week--a township census project. There were 4 people "working like crazy" to get it done on time. They did.

all the other students just stood there for their photos--not Eric, of course (around June 2000)

Ryan ate some pickled pig's feet the other day. He said it tasted like vinegar and felt like he was chewing on fat. (I once was served a slab of pig fat with a few bristles still in it on my mission...gross)

I guess I could have found one where Ryan's face was showing, but this one of him sleeping on the trampoline cracks me up

Hannah was accepted to SUU (Southern Utah University) in Cedar City, Utah, but she still doesn't know exactly was her plan is. She was also accepted to Corban University in Oregon. It turns out those are the only 2 places she's applied, though she's looked at a ton of schools. She may wait till after her mission to attend college.

I do not know when or where this photo of Hannah was taken, it was just in her folder on my computer

Alex is getting taller! A few more inches and he'll be as tall as I am.

Alex, Christmas 2008. Why do my kids all seem to have their mouths open?