05/11/2015

Dear Family,

I loved skyping with you yesterday! That was so fun! It didn't even seem real! haha. I am glad that you are doing great. I loved showing Austin those pitches. I am glad that we were able to do that.

Yeah, that was a big ol' rattlesnake in my hand! I haven't had feeling in my right arm for weeks! Just kidding of course it was a little garden snake that I manhandled. :) That was so cool that I called right at the end of the Cavs game! I got to experience a LeBron buzzer beater (sort of)! It was so fun to watch everybody's reaction (especially Grandpa Reiley)! Keep  me posted in the future to let me know how they are doing.

One thing that I liked in church yesterday was a talk given by a lady named Sister Hammond. She said that sometimes we worry that our kids aren't remembering anything that we teach in FHE or church or scouts or scripture study or prayer or whatever else. She said that our kids will probably not remember what they learned, but they will remember that they did FHE or that they studied the scriptures as a family and that is what matters. 

Thanks for all you do for me! A few extra prayers for our Wednesday lesson with Mike and Teresa would be nice. :-) I hope everybody has a great week! I love you.

Love, Jaxon

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SKYPE: (from Marilyn) - Jaxon doesn't know yet for sure if he will go to the Yakima mission. He will know after the next transfer in 6 weeks. His mission zones are getting rearranged quite a lot now because several missionaries are going home (25) and only 5 are coming out. He is still zone leader with Elder Brazee (I think that is how you spell it). He is the one from Georgia that Jaxon was in the MTC with. He really likes him and they work well together. A cool thing is that the stake high councilman over missionary work that Jaxon is going to work with was born and raised in Victor. He went to Teton and knows the Reiley's well. His name is Steve Ard. He married a girl from Tetonia. Her name is Maryann Hansen, another THS graduate and sort of neighbors to the Reileys, I think. It was fun because Jaxon found a baseball and showed Austin/Carson a few pitches that he used. Austin took pictures and it was fun for Jaxon to explain some baseball.  Jaxon LOVES his mission. His exact words. He said some people come out on a mission thinking that they will just check it out and see what it's like but he said if that is the attitude, they won't survive because it is really hard. If there is an out... most would probably take it. Austin asked him if "The Best Two Years"  movie was realistic, and Jaxon said... "that movie makes a lot more sense now."  When our hour was up, he just said, "well, it's time for me to go."  We all said good bye and he just disconnected! He was much less emotional than when we skyped at Christmas. Oh yeah... he learned to do a Rubik's cube. :-) 

My sister is putting pictures and these letters on his blog - I think I sent that a few months ago, but if you need it, let me know. Thanks for all your support.

PD Hike Battle Ground